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<blockquote data-quote="vulcan_idic" data-source="post: 2309147" data-attributes="member: 19615">I believe you're referring to Eratostenes of Cyrene, closer to 2200 - 2275 years ago (lived approximately (275-194 BCE).&nbsp; He accomplished this feet by comparing the length of shadows in two places separated by a great (and known) distance at noon on a specific day (the first day of summer).I'm afraid I have to concur with the group in favor of a skill check or the more restrictive ability check.&nbsp; It is certainly not outside of the realm of possibility and makes for good story and excitement.&nbsp; I can easily see this being the sort of thing retold for years as a favorite moment - remember the time I figured out how to DD to the BBEG with Trig?&nbsp; Those are the moments it's all about.I just have to point this out because it's one of the things that really annoys me.&nbsp; This is *NOT* a medieval setting.&nbsp; It's a fantasy setting.&nbsp; The two are dramatically different things.&nbsp; A given setting can be both, but it's not neccesary and often not desireable.&nbsp; The point of playing these games is not to experience just how dismal life has been before now but to experience a wildly different sort of world, the kind of which can only be seen in the mind for it is outside the bounds of natural possibility.&nbsp; A setting as most in the worlds of D&amp;D are with moderate to high magic, rampant literacy, castles in the air, and fire breathing dragons are not historical at all, least of all medieval.&nbsp; To force the two together is ludicrous.&nbsp; You can certainly create a historical, medieval sort of fantasy setting - but that carries with it other sorts of logic, which is fine, but the vast majority of D&amp;D worlds (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, etc. - especially Eberron) do not operate with that sort of logic and are not intended to.&nbsp; I find it annoying when people I'm playing with forget that and try to hobble fantasy to medieval history.&nbsp; Come up with the basic assumptions of your own homebrew world, or adhere to the assumptions of the setting that you're playing in so that the world operates cohesively and - bottom line - have fun with it.&nbsp; I know it's really not fun for me when a DM says &quot;You can do XYZ in Waterdeep, Forgotten Realms because they couldn't do that in 1250 Italy.&quot;&nbsp; I know they couldn't, but it's immaterial - they also couldn't cast Magic Missle, but I can do that, right?Sorry about that.&nbsp; Rant over. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="vulcan_idic, post: 2309147, member: 19615"] I believe you're referring to Eratostenes of Cyrene, closer to 2200 - 2275 years ago (lived approximately (275-194 BCE). He accomplished this feet by comparing the length of shadows in two places separated by a great (and known) distance at noon on a specific day (the first day of summer). I'm afraid I have to concur with the group in favor of a skill check or the more restrictive ability check. It is certainly not outside of the realm of possibility and makes for good story and excitement. I can easily see this being the sort of thing retold for years as a favorite moment - remember the time I figured out how to DD to the BBEG with Trig? Those are the moments it's all about. I just have to point this out because it's one of the things that really annoys me. This is *NOT* a medieval setting. It's a fantasy setting. The two are dramatically different things. A given setting can be both, but it's not neccesary and often not desireable. The point of playing these games is not to experience just how dismal life has been before now but to experience a wildly different sort of world, the kind of which can only be seen in the mind for it is outside the bounds of natural possibility. A setting as most in the worlds of D&D are with moderate to high magic, rampant literacy, castles in the air, and fire breathing dragons are not historical at all, least of all medieval. To force the two together is ludicrous. You can certainly create a historical, medieval sort of fantasy setting - but that carries with it other sorts of logic, which is fine, but the vast majority of D&D worlds (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, etc. - especially Eberron) do not operate with that sort of logic and are not intended to. I find it annoying when people I'm playing with forget that and try to hobble fantasy to medieval history. Come up with the basic assumptions of your own homebrew world, or adhere to the assumptions of the setting that you're playing in so that the world operates cohesively and - bottom line - have fun with it. I know it's really not fun for me when a DM says "You can do XYZ in Waterdeep, Forgotten Realms because they couldn't do that in 1250 Italy." I know they couldn't, but it's immaterial - they also couldn't cast Magic Missle, but I can do that, right? Sorry about that. Rant over. :) [/QUOTE]

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