What Do You Want For Yrth

[JMason]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I think the main reason for having a Ministry of Serendipity rather than just "sorry, guns don't work, deal with it" is that it lets you have banestormed-in adversaries with guns, because what fantasy game doesn't want to suddenly encounter the Waffen SS as a break from orcs.

I think it (like so many other things) are left open to use in lots of ways. There is even a bit about Caithness considering using guns to help in the civil war (and make up for a magical handicap with the low mana).

[JMason]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

So have them perpetually on the verge of falling apart. Or play the people trying to undermine them. Or use them as PCs, but as a Technocracy-meets-Paranoia-meets-The Laundry-meets-the Spanish Inquisition nightmare. Whatever.

Though if you prefer a supernatural explanation for the Ban, "black powder tends to attract fire elementals" strikes me as one of the better ones. Of course, this raises the possibility of a post-Renaissance-style Yrth with printing presses, chronometers, the scientific method, early steam engines, and armies of airgun users protected by pike blocks.

I'd buy that!

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

So have them perpetually on the verge of falling apart. Or play the people trying to undermine them. Or use them as PCs, but as a Technocracy-meets-Paranoia-meets-The Laundry-meets-the Spanish Inquisition nightmare. Whatever.

I think the problem is why haven't they failed already? Not really sure, the MoS isn't my principle problem with Yrth.

Though if you prefer a supernatural explanation for the Ban, "black powder tends to attract fire elementals" strikes me as one of the better ones. Of course, this raises the possibility of a post-Renaissance-style Yrth with printing presses, chronometers, the scientific method, early steam engines, and armies of airgun users protected by pike blocks.

I don't see anything wrong with this.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

So have them perpetually on the verge of falling apart. Or play the people trying to undermine them.

The problem is that Yrth isn't unified enough for the MoS to even come into existence, let alone remain stable (for example, how is the MoS supposed to function in Al-Haz? They're all heretical sorcerers who should be put to death if recognized).

[Joseph Paul]

Yeah the Fire Elementals wanting to consume all of the more thermally energetic material would block research into other chemical explosives but could leave slower burning things like wood, coal, and alcohol alone.

So no dynamite but you could get alcohol fueled engines....eventually.

Perhaps magical wards to prevent Fire Elementals from attacking an iron works where the coal is doing an above average job of generating heat?

Hmmm how do the Undines feel about hydropower? Do the Sylphs chafe at being confined for air guns? Do they view windmills and sailing ships as an imposition or usurpation of their space? How do the Dwarves get along with Earth Elementals over extraction operations?

Literally Humanoids vs the Elements....

[Stormcrow]

If I were ever confronted with players demanding to know why the principles of sociology and physics conspire to prevent them having guns, I would

(1) be flattered they were so invested in the verisimilitude of my game that they couldn't see how ridiculous they were being, and

(2) say, "C'mon, you wanna play in a medieval fantasy game with Christians and Muslims or not?"

Because that's the main point of the Banestorm, isn't it? To import those religions. Nationalities don't survive the trip; cultures do but those can be replicated generically (e.g., Caravan to Ein Arris is Arabian-but-not-Arabian); the time period HAS to be advanced for people to spread out and form countries; all those races evolve on the same world in other fantasy settings. What we get out of the Banestorm is the real-world religions, so we don't have to have "generic clerics" or hokey D&D-style pantheons. The setting asks you to please look the other way regarding real-world sociology and physics... unless you like that sort of thing.

If I were to get what I want for the setting, I'd get a few-page report once every ten years updating the major events of the Yrth timeline. That's the only part of Banestorm that doesn't age well.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

(2) say, "C'mon, you wanna play in a medieval fantasy game with Christians and Muslims or not?"

I wouldn't ask that question because I strongly suspect the answer would be "No.".

So I and perhaps others are looking for elements in the setting that would be useful even then.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

Because that's the main point of the Banestorm, isn't it? To import those religions.

Is it? I thought it was to rationalize the common tropes of fantasy rpgs circa 1985. One of those tropes is "Renaissance weapons and armor but no firearms", hence the MoS in the first place.

You can have guns and real world sectarian conflict, which ought to be an obvious truism.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

If I were ever confronted with players demanding to know why the principles of sociology and physics conspire to prevent them having guns...

The problem is that the MoS doesn't solve a plot hole -- it lampshades the existence of the plot hole. A bad explanation is worse than no explanation at all.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

It does seem a bit ridiculous that in a game about elves and magic and vortices that pluck people across worldlines, people are interested in prioritizing physics over fun.

But it's fine for them to prioritize (their idea of) sociology over fun?