Guns in fantasy

 

I've decided to make a long article about matchlocks and cannons because it can be fun. I've invested a lot of thought on this already, why not share it altogether? 

Why early firearms are normally not a thing on a medieval fantasy world and what happens when they do? What are the implications on a given setting? 

1.  Though arquebuses redefined warfare in the great scale, combats at street level or "adventurer mode" are not very affected. Matches cannot be lit and cannons cannot be loaded in a hurry in the middle of a tavern fight: unless you do the whole dance hidden somewhere, it will be very obvious to everybody that you intend to cause violence. They are bad weapons outside open war, because they cannot be kept "readied": the match consumes, and the gunpowder is either dispersed or susceptible to explode. Keeping watch on a routine night with a loaded gun is not just inviable, but also will give your position by light and smell; only for having you exposed after the first shot. You might keep humans at bay with the threat of a single shot, but it won't work on wolves or other animals. Bandits may still use them on an ambush, though. 

 

2. More firearms means more room for swords, specially more scimitars. The logic on this is because plate armor is suddently not as worthy, and less plate armor means cutting weapons are not facing their great nerfer. On warfare mode this means lighter cavalry and cuirassiers; on adventurer mode this means a golden age for sword duels (see that the golden age of romantic swordsmen appears in both japan and europe after the guns have popularized: in tercios, musketeers and samurai)

3. The appeal of certain monsters is to engage them in melee. This is true specially for fantasy staples like dragons, ogres and other big things, but also mass mooks like orcs or goblins. It is inevitable that once guns exist, they lose part of their appeal. Monsters whose attacks are magical or spiritual are comparativelly not affected, such as vampires, witches, ghosts, etc. Monsters that attack deviously such as snakes, beasts or clever human are also equally interesting. On war mode, makes war be a more historical thing of human vs human instead of law vs chaos or human vs orc, unless you give orcs guns too, at which point they are not mooks anymore. On adventurer mode, this means less combat overall: is harder to pull out filler battles. When it happens, the combat is probably a named NPC or plot-driven henchmen. Knowing myself, monsters that give little aesthetic value in this new situation are not just out of the campaign, but out of the setting altogether. No Smaug type dragons has an upside: allows me to use the oriental ones; if not as physical creatures, as divine ones.

4. Just as arquebuses changed the value of plate armor, the existance of cannons changed the way castles and fortresses were built. Anachronisms can still be had, but they probably require a bit of the fantasy side of the fantasy setting. I am using plate armor made from a spiderweb alloy that is good against bullets, though very expensive and only used by nobles. This keeps cavalry charges somewhat viable in the setting´s near future. On the fortress side, bastion forts were the standard response through the renaissance so my plans to include fortress-based feudalism are still cool without using magic at all. The more aesthetic castles if needed can be placed inside said fortresses, in all their spectre of colorful clichés. There are many other points but atm I feel that I've layed out the main ones.

 

 

  

Fall 2025; New Project, weapons and armor (EDITED)

Most recent notes on my current rules.

 

Attributes are this, with -1 to +3 modifiers applying to things: 

Strength (bonus to damage, carry load, bonus to HP)
Dexterity (success: avoid an attack, as an action. On a 6, you can then do a non-combat action)

Magic (amount of mana dice mostly)

Charisma (willpower + leadership + divine touch)

Weapon (choose bonus to sword, bow or unarmed. A malus means bad with ALL weapons)
Career (from a list of mundane trades or skills)

 

 

Attacks are rolled with 2d6 counting each result separately, with 6s being critical hits (Number beside each weapon). Pcs will get more d6 for each melee attack as they grow in HP

Dagger: 2
Sword: 2; free attack if your opponent misses. Expertise can be trained.
Bastard Sword: As above, but 2 + STR if used in 2 hands. Heavy in belt.
Axe/Mace: 2 + STR. Heavy in belt.
Flail: 3 + STR, lose next turn on a miss. Heavy.
Spear: 2; Your attack goes first, enemy does -1 damage if hit. Heavy. Critical 3 if using 2 hands or in a horse.
Polearm: 3 + STR., 2 hands. Your attack goes first, if hit, enemy does -1 damage.
Greatweapon: 3 + STR, 2 hands, heavy.


Bow: 2, can aim. Heavy. Expertise can be trained.
Crossbow: 3, 1 turn reload, can aim. Heavy.
Arquebus: 4, 1 turn reload. Heavy. Cannot be blocked by shields.


For each attack dice rolled:

 

1 to 3: miss
4 to 5: hit, 1 damage
6: hit for critical damage.

Normal armor reduces total damage by 1

Mithril plates reduce total damage by 2

If you are using a shield, you can roll 1d6, avoiding any attack on a 6 

 

Notes about Mithril: In-world, is not a metal, but an alloy of giant spider´s cobwebs and steel, and is popular because it means the difference between a lethal and non-lethal gunshot (usually taking 4-5 hp). It is neither easy nor cheap to make, but powerful warlords do not bother commissioning full plate armors unless they are bulletproof. Alchemy and alchemists are a very important part of the setting, which is also what pushed me to accept firearms into it: it's just weird to have alchemists making all sorts of pseudomagical inventions and not having simple gunpowder available.

 

Other magical or enchanted armors will have specific effects, or add extra HP to the wearer. 

 

 

UNARMED COMBAT: Critical damage equal to 1+STR, and maybe no damage on 4-5s. Not sure about it but i'd rather make it so there is more grappling and narrative things with this.

SAVES: in combat, saves can be done through DEX ot STR rolls searching for a success. Characters with 0 or -1 in an attribute roll 2d6 or 3d6, taking the worst result.

 

HURT CHARACTERS: anyone under one third of their HP is wounded and rolls stunts at disadvantage (rounding up, so 2 hp of 4 is wounded)

HORSE COMBAT: Warhorses can charge for an extra 1d6 damage. Some are trained to attack by kicking or biting. Figthing as an infantry vs any mounted unit is made at disadvantage, or alternativelly at -1 damage (not sure). Maybe some exception could be made on polearms. We'll see.

 

Expertises: Each weapon expertise works differently. Swordsmen can add 1d6 to their attacks for each rank, per combat or cutting stunt; rechargeable on talking cutscenes (very useful for 1v1 duels but not for battle warfare). Bowmen add the rank to their critical hit damage. Unarmed fighters add 1d6 to each and every attack. Mace-axe expertises can work by rolling 1d6 per rank to perform an area attack: on a partial success, it happens next turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra: actual handwriten notes for this entry, alongside a couple of harpies.