Dark Fantasy Ideas

[ericthered]

Barbarians...I kind of like the idea of berserkers with firearms. Not sure how best to handle that mechanically, but I see screaming Cherokee on horseback.

Very strong characters might want to carry huge guns that never appeared in our world.

Only in infinite worlds... perhaps you mean Comanche?

TL4 actually produced a fair number of stupidly large guns. Look at the Wall gun in low tech page 93.

I don't think either of those really captures the beserker though. Cavalry tactics are too tactical, and the big gunner doesn't feel like the best use of beserk. For me the iconic TL4 beserker is Blackbeard the pirate, shot five times and slashed 20 before he went down. The giant pirate with a cutlass and thirty something pistols stashed on his body... that's a beserker.

On the other hand, playing the beserker template without the beserk disadvantage might be workable.

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Scouts are tricky.

In real TL 4, scouts will take muskets over bows if they can get them, as loud as muskets are.

On the other hand, maybe stealth is more important in DF than battles or hunting. Also, scouts in DF can be better with their bows than any RL archer

Through TL4, the bow continues to be used heavily. Its just not used heavily by Europeans, because it takes a lot of training to use effectively. The gun's advantage is first that its shocking to interact with if you haven't seen it before (which comes up a lot in colonial actions), and that you can give one to any dweeb and he can kill the knight, samurai, Janissary, or other assorted dedicated life-long warrior who you've spent years training. He's not the equal of the life-long warrior, but he has a chance, unlike previous eras.

I'd guess the scout sticks with the bow. At least for TL4. In TL5 he becomes a sneaky marksman with a riffle and really nice range.

Originally Posted by Varyon

If instead you want to be able to fire more often, consider a breechloader...

Another option is a revolver ...

Finally, there's something like the Kalthoff Repeater ...

These are all TL 5. In fact they are high TL 5. Which if that's what the OP wants, is fine, but lets not call it TL4. Or even normal for the majority of TL5.

Thinking of the iconic warriors and conflicts of TL4 might help:

• Pirates
• Conquistadors
• Swashbucklers
• Pike and Shot
• Japanese Warring states period
• Qing Conquest of China