Part of the lore of my setting is that the race who originally figured out how to create magic items vanished over 1000 years ago. I think the Artificer is kind of cool, but it's a high magic thing, and I can't fit a class able to create their own magic items into my setting.
I have a huge problem with the Rapier. It's pretty much welded into the main hand of every melee character that prioritizes Dex. It comes from a time period way past where my setting is, and I can justify it's existence just fine, since I'm in a fantasy setting. The Dwarves figured out how to make steel good enough to make a blade that light and slender flexible enough that it doesn't break when you use it, but those things were never really meant to be used against people in metal armor or carrying shields. That stuff went out of fashion before Rapiers were invented. It works fine in D&D, sure, but it breaks my sense of immersion and as the only d8 weapon with Finesse, it's all over the place.
I did a lot of work on the lore of my game. I did quite a bit of research. I fell in love with Ancient Rome when I started taking Latin classes in high school. And then I've got swashbucklers running around all over the place. :-p
My campaign setting, and BioWizard's is based on a fantasy version of the Ancient Roman Empire. For my own, I got tired of Ye Olde Generic Medieval as a setting and went off to try and make a setting that would be different. Just like everyone else.
Yup, mine's based on Rome. A Rome with magic, and elvish members of the Empire, obviously, but Rome, rather than the "faux middle ages" you usually have in D&D.
I don't think I'll ever do it again. Much as I love the period and doing something different, there are hardly any resources for Roman themes, and so I have to homebrew literally everything, right down to temple maps (Roman temples were NOTHING like middle ages ones) and so on. It's been a lot of work, and I'm in it now, so I won't change. But I won't do it again.
The really old setting of Thyatis would be a boon for you to look at. I still have all my gazeteers, I'm sooo old
My campaign setting, and BioWizard's is based on a fantasy version of the Ancient Roman Empire. For my own, I got tired of Ye Olde Generic Medieval as a setting and went off to try and make a setting that would be different. Just like everyone else.
Yup, mine's based on Rome. A Rome with magic, and elvish members of the Empire, obviously, but Rome, rather than the "faux middle ages" you usually have in D&D.
I don't think I'll ever do it again. Much as I love the period and doing something different, there are hardly any resources for Roman themes, and so I have to homebrew literally everything, right down to temple maps (Roman temples were NOTHING like middle ages ones) and so on. It's been a lot of work, and I'm in it now, so I won't change. But I won't do it again.
The really old setting of Thyatis would be a boon for you to look at. I still have all my gazeteers, I'm sooo old
I suggested that too. (I also use Mystara as the base world for my setting.)
For me, D&D will always be the middle ages, so between 1000 and 1200AD.
With the Artificer and guns, D&D is being pushed into the renaissance era, but that feels "wrong" to mix technology and magic. (IMO)
I remember a 1E/2E module were players discover a crashed spaceship. In order to properly operate any gun they find, required an intelligence check (which I recall being set at a very high bar)
Then I guess your games don’t include the rapier as that was not invented until the Renaissance (around 1,500).
And of course, it was only invented because people stopped using heavy armor because it was useless against firearms….
Technologically speaking, D&D spans almost 2,000 of history starting in the BC era and going to the mid-late Renaissance period. If you include Artifficers then you’re into science-fantasy Victorian era.
D&D's span of history goes back even further if you really want to stretch it. What do we make of the fact that the Monster Manual has dinosaurs in it?
Well, for one thing I only commented from a “technological” standpoint, not an evolutionary one.
For another thing, seeing as how (AFAIK) Faerûn had no great extinction event that would have whipped out the dinosaurs, why not have have dinosaurs in the late Renaissance?
setting D&D is going to result in some anachronisms, since magic can take the place of technology and science. You could argue that D&D society contains robotics (constructs and golems), nuclear science (radiant damage effects), and medical advances due to magic that far outstrip modern abilities IRL.
On the other hand, other social developments probably happen on a much slower scale (due to some members of society having greatly extended lifespans compared to others), so I would say that could result in slowed cultural development (since language, style of dress, art, and even things like governance would likely change on a far longer generational scale on average, especially in cosmopolitan societies), which could explain the "look" of a late medieval/early renaissance society as well.
Personally, my homebrew world probably exists in a quasi victorian/early industrial revolution era (there are some steampunk tendencies), though without wide proliferation of firearms.
The extinction of the dinosaurs is what made room for mammals to thrive. However, with pantheonic creation stories, evolution is largely irrelevant.
D&D simultaneously exists in the relatable past and the unrelateable future. The only thing it shouldn't include is the band of time that we're comfortably familiar with. This is Dungeons and Dragons, not Cubicles and Credit Scores.
OK, now I want to play Cubicles and Credit Scores....
The character sheet is 47 pages long and needs to be filled out in triplicate. If you make any mistakes, the DM won't tell you for 2 years, at which point you'll be audited and sent to collections for unappealable interest and late fees.
The Players Handbook has a chapter just on how to correctly bribe the Dungeon Master for special treatment.
OK, now I want to play Cubicles and Credit Scores....
The character sheet is 47 pages long and needs to be filled out in triplicate. If you make any mistakes, the DM won't tell you for 2 years, at which point you'll be audited and sent to collections for unappealable interest and late fees.
The Players Handbook has a chapter just on how to correctly bribe the Dungeon Master for special treatment.
Also, your place at the table is considered "at will" so the DM has the right to ask you to leave at any time and for any reason. Don't forget to place all your belongings in a cardboard box and turn in your badge before security escorts you from the table.
Also, your stats will be artificially lowered until you have built up enough history playing the game. About 9-10 years ought to do it, just don't miss a session, you don't want that on your record.
For me, D&D will always be the middle ages, so between 1000 and 1200AD.
With the Artificer and guns, D&D is being pushed into the renaissance era, but that feels "wrong" to mix technology and magic. (IMO)
I remember a 1E/2E module were players discover a crashed spaceship. In order to properly operate any gun they find, required an intelligence check (which I recall being set at a very high bar)
The mixing of tech levels and/or magic exists in several different games as well as real life. I don't want to label anybody but anytime European explorers encountered indigenous societies, there was a serious cultural and technological difference. Some to the point where the Europeans were considered magical or divine.
There is no reason that such an instance could not exist in D&D. I think many GMs could have gun/tech cultures intermingle easily with bow/magic cultures.
Regarding your reference to Barrier Peaks, you only needed an INT of 10 or higher to not get a penalty. It was a multiple of rolls with a variety of results.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
The Players Handbook has a chapter just on how to correctly bribe the Dungeon Master for special treatment.
It takes an entire chapter to explain that you need to bring brownies to the session? :)
It includes a (very involved) recipe, and like all modern recipe, contains 10-20 pages of gibberish about the cooks trip to italy prior to giving you the actual ingredients and steps
I would agree that dnd is mostly the Middle Ages, but it does seem to mix and match stuff from all across history. Then again, a lot of the technologies used in game are purely fantasy creations.
Indeed, the typical D&D setting is just vaguely "pre-modern" as far as I'm concerned.
Some aspects of the game arguably even go into the 20th century, halflings in their vanilla Tolkien-esque form are basically cute little pre-WW1 Englishmen.
I would agree that dnd is mostly the Middle Ages, but it does seem to mix and match stuff from all across history.
It's really not "mostly" Middle Ages. It is nothing like the middle ages in any ways that count (cultural, social, technological, etc.), but only in the "window dressing" -- the visuals are middle-ages (castles, taverns, armor, weapons). Everything else is a hodgepodge of stuff from fiction, modern times, sci fi, horror, various time periods, and a bunch of stuff Gygax just pulled out of thin air.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
For me, D&D will always be the middle ages, so between 1000 and 1200AD.
With the Artificer and guns, D&D is being pushed into the renaissance era, but that feels "wrong" to mix technology and magic. (IMO)
I remember a 1E/2E module were players discover a crashed spaceship. In order to properly operate any gun they find, required an intelligence check (which I recall being set at a very high bar)
Then I guess your games don’t include the rapier as that was not invented until the Renaissance (around 1,500).
And of course, it was only invented because people stopped using heavy armor because it was useless against firearms….
I've never played with a rapier, but I think you know what I meant. When you start introducing guns, you're leaving the middle ages.
I would agree that dnd is mostly the Middle Ages, but it does seem to mix and match stuff from all across history.
It's really not "mostly" Middle Ages. It is nothing like the middle ages in any ways that count (cultural, social, technological, etc.), but only in the "window dressing" -- the visuals are middle-ages (castles, taverns, armor, weapons). Everything else is a hodgepodge of stuff from fiction, modern times, sci fi, horror, various time periods, and a bunch of stuff Gygax just pulled out of thin air.
Yeah, I didn’t mean that it’s literally like playing a game set in the Middle Ages, rather, a lot of the settings and things are inspired by places and things seen during that time period. I feel like a lot of fantasy story settings are based off of the medieval period.
I guess what I should have said is that it’s mostly it’s own jumble of fantasy, loosely based on some ancient historical time periods—which I believe to be primarily the medieval/Middle Ages.
For me, D&D will always be the middle ages, so between 1000 and 1200AD.
With the Artificer and guns, D&D is being pushed into the renaissance era, but that feels "wrong" to mix technology and magic. (IMO)
I remember a 1E/2E module were players discover a crashed spaceship. In order to properly operate any gun they find, required an intelligence check (which I recall being set at a very high bar)
The mixing of tech levels and/or magic exists in several different games as well as real life. I don't want to label anybody but anytime European explorers encountered indigenous societies, there was a serious cultural and technological difference. Some to the point where the Europeans were considered magical or divine.
There is no reason that such an instance could not exist in D&D. I think many GMs could have gun/tech cultures intermingle easily with bow/magic cultures.
Regarding your reference to Barrier Peaks, you only needed an INT of 10 or higher to not get a penalty. It was a multiple of rolls with a variety of results.
In a D&D setting I would expect technological parity with people living fairly close together (vs across an ocean).
I remember it being pretty difficult. I guess my DM didn't want us to have them.
Part of the lore of my setting is that the race who originally figured out how to create magic items vanished over 1000 years ago. I think the Artificer is kind of cool, but it's a high magic thing, and I can't fit a class able to create their own magic items into my setting.
I have a huge problem with the Rapier. It's pretty much welded into the main hand of every melee character that prioritizes Dex. It comes from a time period way past where my setting is, and I can justify it's existence just fine, since I'm in a fantasy setting. The Dwarves figured out how to make steel good enough to make a blade that light and slender flexible enough that it doesn't break when you use it, but those things were never really meant to be used against people in metal armor or carrying shields. That stuff went out of fashion before Rapiers were invented. It works fine in D&D, sure, but it breaks my sense of immersion and as the only d8 weapon with Finesse, it's all over the place.
I did a lot of work on the lore of my game. I did quite a bit of research. I fell in love with Ancient Rome when I started taking Latin classes in high school. And then I've got swashbucklers running around all over the place. :-p
<Insert clever signature here>
The really old setting of Thyatis would be a boon for you to look at. I still have all my gazeteers, I'm sooo old
I suggested that too. (I also use Mystara as the base world for my setting.)
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Then I guess your games don’t include the rapier as that was not invented until the Renaissance (around 1,500).
And of course, it was only invented because people stopped using heavy armor because it was useless against firearms….
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Well, for one thing I only commented from a “technological” standpoint, not an evolutionary one.
For another thing, seeing as how (AFAIK) Faerûn had no great extinction event that would have whipped out the dinosaurs, why not have have dinosaurs in the late Renaissance?
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setting D&D is going to result in some anachronisms, since magic can take the place of technology and science. You could argue that D&D society contains robotics (constructs and golems), nuclear science (radiant damage effects), and medical advances due to magic that far outstrip modern abilities IRL.
On the other hand, other social developments probably happen on a much slower scale (due to some members of society having greatly extended lifespans compared to others), so I would say that could result in slowed cultural development (since language, style of dress, art, and even things like governance would likely change on a far longer generational scale on average, especially in cosmopolitan societies), which could explain the "look" of a late medieval/early renaissance society as well.
Personally, my homebrew world probably exists in a quasi victorian/early industrial revolution era (there are some steampunk tendencies), though without wide proliferation of firearms.
The extinction of the dinosaurs is what made room for mammals to thrive. However, with pantheonic creation stories, evolution is largely irrelevant.
D&D simultaneously exists in the relatable past and the unrelateable future. The only thing it shouldn't include is the band of time that we're comfortably familiar with. This is Dungeons and Dragons, not Cubicles and Credit Scores.
OK, now I want to play Cubicles and Credit Scores....
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
The character sheet is 47 pages long and needs to be filled out in triplicate. If you make any mistakes, the DM won't tell you for 2 years, at which point you'll be audited and sent to collections for unappealable interest and late fees.
The Players Handbook has a chapter just on how to correctly bribe the Dungeon Master for special treatment.
Also, your place at the table is considered "at will" so the DM has the right to ask you to leave at any time and for any reason. Don't forget to place all your belongings in a cardboard box and turn in your badge before security escorts you from the table.
Also, your stats will be artificially lowered until you have built up enough history playing the game. About 9-10 years ought to do it, just don't miss a session, you don't want that on your record.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
It takes an entire chapter to explain that you need to bring brownies to the session? :)
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
The mixing of tech levels and/or magic exists in several different games as well as real life. I don't want to label anybody but anytime European explorers encountered indigenous societies, there was a serious cultural and technological difference. Some to the point where the Europeans were considered magical or divine.
There is no reason that such an instance could not exist in D&D. I think many GMs could have gun/tech cultures intermingle easily with bow/magic cultures.
Regarding your reference to Barrier Peaks, you only needed an INT of 10 or higher to not get a penalty. It was a multiple of rolls with a variety of results.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
It includes a (very involved) recipe, and like all modern recipe, contains 10-20 pages of gibberish about the cooks trip to italy prior to giving you the actual ingredients and steps
I would agree that dnd is mostly the Middle Ages, but it does seem to mix and match stuff from all across history. Then again, a lot of the technologies used in game are purely fantasy creations.
Indeed, the typical D&D setting is just vaguely "pre-modern" as far as I'm concerned.
Some aspects of the game arguably even go into the 20th century, halflings in their vanilla Tolkien-esque form are basically cute little pre-WW1 Englishmen.
It's really not "mostly" Middle Ages. It is nothing like the middle ages in any ways that count (cultural, social, technological, etc.), but only in the "window dressing" -- the visuals are middle-ages (castles, taverns, armor, weapons). Everything else is a hodgepodge of stuff from fiction, modern times, sci fi, horror, various time periods, and a bunch of stuff Gygax just pulled out of thin air.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I've never played with a rapier, but I think you know what I meant. When you start introducing guns, you're leaving the middle ages.
Yeah, I didn’t mean that it’s literally like playing a game set in the Middle Ages, rather, a lot of the settings and things are inspired by places and things seen during that time period. I feel like a lot of fantasy story settings are based off of the medieval period.
I guess what I should have said is that it’s mostly it’s own jumble of fantasy, loosely based on some ancient historical time periods—which I believe to be primarily the medieval/Middle Ages.
In a D&D setting I would expect technological parity with people living fairly close together (vs across an ocean).
I remember it being pretty difficult. I guess my DM didn't want us to have them.