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Author Topic: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?  (Read 13510 times)

psychologicalshock

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #15 on: April 12, 2011, 05:33:09 pm »

Maybe Toady and ThreeToe where inspired more by Tolkien than Arcanum. That's what I think of. More of a low medieval technology level.

Crossbows have been around since at least the 5th or 4th century BC. They were certainly in common use during the Roman Empire. According to Wikipedia's History of Cannon article, "The first documented battlefield use of gunpowder artillery took place on January 28, 1132, when Song General Han Shizhong used huochong to capture a city in Fujian." They weren't very common until the 1300s or so, which is also when the first hand-held firearms started to appear.

So crossbows were in use for a millennium and a half before gunpowder was in use at all.

Since I am assuming we're talking about Europe they  became popular around the beginning of the High Middle Ages during which time gun powder was discovered and the first blast furnaces were built. So basically, yes gun powder would fit the setting.
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UnrealJake

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #16 on: April 12, 2011, 05:37:31 pm »

Hey.

Hey you guys.

Dwarf Fortress has its own history.

Hey.

Think about that.
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Huochong sounds like what you hear when a ninja hits somebody with a frying pan.

"HUOOOOOOOOOO-"
*CHONG*

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #17 on: April 12, 2011, 06:01:28 pm »

I don't see the problem if the weapons are inaccurate, prone to misfiring, and more likely to blow up in your face than fire, let alone hit something.
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Byakugan01

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #18 on: April 12, 2011, 06:05:47 pm »

Hey.
Hey you guys.
Dwarf Fortress has its own history.
Hey.
Think about that.

Goblins came up with gunpowder. However, the first goblins who invented it cstarted a conquering spree of the other goblin civliizations and other civilizations. The dwarves responded with adamantine weapons and armor, the humans with massive armies, the elves by training the beasts of the land to fight against the goblins , and the other goblins responded by submitting themselves to demonic rule, simultaneosly warring with the other races and their gun wielding brethern. The elves were starved for food since they could not eat their new allies, and resorted to eating the fallen dead of their foes, which in time would become custom although none would remember why. Ultimately, the gunblins were crushed by the unallied efforts of all the other races, and their discovery was lost to thistory. The Dwarves managed to decipher it, but felt it cowardly to use such a weapon and destroyed all evidence of it they came across. Or maybe they confused the works of the demons who led the other goblins with the guns of the other goblins. It matters little how it happened. By year 0 of the age of myth, all knowledge had been lost. And this world gen begins.
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From Mr. Welch's 1350 things he is not allowed to do in a RPG:
148. There is no Gnomish Deathgrip, and even if there was, it wouldn't involve tongs.
171. My character's dying words are not allowed to be "Hastur, Hastur, Hastur"
218. No matter my alignment, organizing halfling pit fights is a violation.
231. I am not allowed to do anything that would make a Sith Lord cry.
240. Any character with more than three skills specializing in chainsaw is vetoed.

Urist is dead tome

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #19 on: April 12, 2011, 06:22:03 pm »

It really doesn't matter. I mean, you might as well make a big deal about dwarves starting in year five with steel when clearly its not the iron age.
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Byakugan01

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #20 on: April 12, 2011, 06:23:40 pm »

It really doesn't matter. I mean, you might as well make a big deal about dwarves starting in year five with steel when clearly its not the iron age.
Nope. But it was fun to write it.
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From Mr. Welch's 1350 things he is not allowed to do in a RPG:
148. There is no Gnomish Deathgrip, and even if there was, it wouldn't involve tongs.
171. My character's dying words are not allowed to be "Hastur, Hastur, Hastur"
218. No matter my alignment, organizing halfling pit fights is a violation.
231. I am not allowed to do anything that would make a Sith Lord cry.
240. Any character with more than three skills specializing in chainsaw is vetoed.

Urist is dead tome

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #21 on: April 12, 2011, 06:30:49 pm »

It really doesn't matter. I mean, you might as well make a big deal about dwarves starting in year five with steel when clearly its not the iron age.
Nope. But it was fun to write it.

Sure..?
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Joshua IX

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #22 on: April 12, 2011, 06:32:21 pm »

It'd be interesting to see if it were allowed in mining, if not in cannons...
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Byakugan01

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #23 on: April 12, 2011, 06:43:44 pm »

It'd be interesting to see if it were allowed in mining, if not in cannons...
...yeah...alot of !!FUN!! going that way.
[You have discovered a magma tube!'
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From Mr. Welch's 1350 things he is not allowed to do in a RPG:
148. There is no Gnomish Deathgrip, and even if there was, it wouldn't involve tongs.
171. My character's dying words are not allowed to be "Hastur, Hastur, Hastur"
218. No matter my alignment, organizing halfling pit fights is a violation.
231. I am not allowed to do anything that would make a Sith Lord cry.
240. Any character with more than three skills specializing in chainsaw is vetoed.

dogstile

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #24 on: April 12, 2011, 07:00:28 pm »

If you're so desperate for grapeshot, why not just ask toady if we can launch beer bombs from our catapults, three or more at a time.
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my champion is now holding his artifact crossbow by his upper left leg and still shooting with is just fine despite having no hands.
What? He's firing from the hip.

psychologicalshock

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #25 on: April 12, 2011, 07:06:00 pm »

I think that explosives and cannons would be great fun. Maybe we can hold back on the muskets.
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Jeoshua

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #26 on: April 12, 2011, 07:06:50 pm »

In my, modded game, I had the dwarves invent gunpowder.  Who else would know more about minerals and how to make things explode dramatically, after all?

They gave this secret to the humans for an ale recipe sometime around the end of the Age of Myth, and have regretted it ever since, vowing never again to share this deadly knowledge, lest the mistakes of the past be repeated.

Basically every history I gen, once humans come into contact with the Dwarves, the Age of Legend begins around the same time.  And then a civ of humans disappears under the mighty Dwarven boot.  It's a bit of fridge logic, but it was enough to give the humans guns.

Plus I get to start Dwarven adventurers in a Dwarven town, if I pick the right civ.
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I like fortresses because they are still underground.

psychologicalshock

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #27 on: April 12, 2011, 07:09:19 pm »

If you're so desperate for grapeshot, why not just ask toady if we can launch beer bombs from our catapults, three or more at a time.

Not a bad idea, I thought of that before also.
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Vattic

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #28 on: April 12, 2011, 08:48:50 pm »

Maybe Toady and ThreeToe where inspired more by Tolkien than Arcanum. That's what I think of. More of a low medieval technology level.
If that's the case some rarely used explosives might be appropriate. Remember the explosives used to breach the walls at Helms Deep? It makes little difference, though, if Toady has decided not to include gunpower unless some kind of explosives come with alchemy.
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gtmattz

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Re: What's the reasoning behind restricting gun powder?
« Reply #29 on: April 12, 2011, 09:33:17 pm »

I want gun powder and steam power, then I would be in dwarf heaven forever.  I am pretty sure once dwarves obtain steam power and gunpowder they can space-travel.
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