DnD and Technological Progress...

The fabric of our lives.

So I've been thinking a bit on technology and innovation and how that relates to DnD 4e. This encompasses warfare, of course, but also other areas. Now Eberron took this notion and ran with it, of course, though in my opinion they ran too far. Or rather they took it in directions that changed, fundamentally, the underlying fantasy of the setting and turned it into a setting more akin to the age of the telegraph and the locomotive.

While magic and basic machinery certainly would be used for benevolent inventive means by people within the setting it's a mistake to make them mirror technology far more advanced than the sword and sorcery setting which mirrors our own ancient past of batting with swords and arrows and such. It misses the long slow crawl of improvement. And it is in this area where I am experimenting. Specifically I'm experimenting with it in the setting of our current and our last campaign - The Midlands, for lack of a better fitting term for it.

The Midlands are comprised of many races and classes and such but they primarily focus on the big players - the nations and the large organizations and how their actions mold and shape history. The main four power players in terms of nations are:

• Religious and overpoulated Hionia
• Freedom-loving Denia - an oligarchy of sorts
• The mercantile senate-run Eldunmark
• The warlike kingdom of Torion

Also of note:
• The warring minor evil and corrupt kingdoms loosely called Acheria
• The desert lands of the Scarlet Brotherhood to the south
• The Eladrin of the Feywild
• The Order of the Cleansing Blade - seeking to unite all of the Midlands but loyal to no one nation of their own
• The Order of Undomiel who seek the lost lore of Numenore which comprised all of the Midlands long ago before it split apart and fell into ruin.

Now that you have the basics of the setting (like all good settings you really only need to know the broad brush basics to have a handle on the rest) let me finally get to my point about advances in technology.

Each of the four main nations has different outlook and goals, as you can see. It would stand to reason that each of them would push for advances that further their individual causes. Thus I came up with the following:

Eldunmark:
The cotton engine (or "gin" for short). Eldunmark and the dwarves invent this to begin the ramping up of textile production. The low price increases demand which strengthens trade and spreads the Empire's power. This increased the need for labor. Eldunmark's population has swollen with workers - many from Hionia. The Scarlet Brotherhood's influence on the dealings of Eldunmark mean that mental control over the populace is still in effect in many areas and this has lead to the increase in slavery and the rise of the slave trade within the Midlands. Slavery is mainly economic in origin with those workers finding themselves trapped with no way out save fleeing.

Why this works without breaking the setting: Face it, it's about clothes. Having a wardrobe is often considered normal for PCs or nobles and the peasants often look the part but everyone today is so used to mass manufactured clothing that the idea of someone making their own seems foreign to us. Mass production of fabrics does nothing to upset to typical fantasy world view. In fact this sort of thing might already be assumed to have happened in many worlds. But since the simple mechanical separation of seeds from cotton greatly increases the capacity for production it brings with it all sorts of social changes such as the need for more labor, increased trade, and a burgeoning upper middle class that isn't aristocracy. It, again, adds more to the setting without fundamentally changing very much rules-wise or setting-age-wise.

Hionia:
Hionia creates a simple medicine that can disinfect to counter the plague that broke out in its overcrowded borders. The sale of this has propelled Hionia out of poverty as well as reduced the death toll which has basically swelled the population even more.   Thus began the spread of Hionians across the Midlands bringing the word of their gods and healing to the afflicted.

Why this works without breaking the setting: We're used to the idea of the heroes being fixed and cured magically because of the nature of the DnD game mechanics and the Cleric (now leader) class(es). But that sort of healing is always termed to be the exception rather than the rule. And even things such as potion brewing is expensive to do, perhaps, but not difficult in the sense that NPCs can have access to these sorts of skills.

So a small advance in medicine like a minor healing and curing potion would make a huge difference to the population… but not impact the player characters and the game at all. What it does instead is offer a new opportunity to create stories and hooks for the players. Now a group of mercenaries aren't just stealing weans from caravans but medicine to heal a plague-ridden village. That sort of thing.

It makes a step forward that is small enough to change the feel of the setting in only a minor way but at the same time it really enriches the setting. So that's a winner there I'd say.

Torion:
Torion invented the Thundertip Arrow. While these do not do much more than say a controller's larger powers the real key difference is that it puts controller powers into the hands of the more common archer. This changed warfare and quickly gave Torion the might it needed to start thinking about conquering

Why this works without breaking the setting: One of the best weapons in warfare is the ability to do damage to multiple opponents at once. Make each attack harm the enemy more. Creating something that ups the damage of an attack will cause crunch game-balance problems, so that's out. What's left is mass damage attacks. Some people would put the cart ahead of the horse here and start looking for a magical atom bomb but the advances in say, the development of the machine gun, is a better model for advances in DnD warfare. Thus we have the ability to have a controller-like power be put in the hands of a regular soldier.

What this will do is allow for the DM to create enemy Controller monsters that use an attack like a thundertip arrow as an encounter power. This takes into account the rarity of the arrows. While they can be made they are not in the hands of every soldier. Just like not every soldier carries an RPG and such. Nor does having a weapon with superior technology prevent, say, a Zulu-like attack that wipes out the technologically advanced army with overwhelming numbers and such.

But what this does do is change the balance of power and make the nation who has it much more powerful in the grand arena of warfare. And like the real world once this advance is seen in battle as ensuring a victory it won't be long before rival nations will be adopting a similar or exact replica of this sort of weaponry. Again this serves to change the story dynamic and create richer adventure opportunities for the PCs.

Now in order to keep game balance in mind if the PCs get their hands on a dozen of these arrows it will surely turn the tide in any battle… but as a DM you can compensate for this by increasing the number of enemies, for example, or making it necessary for those weapons to be given to organizations that the PCs support to shore up weaknesses elsewhere, or by making it necessary for the PCs to use them "in flavor country" where you describe in vague terms combats that the PCs undergo as time passes without going through them individually round by round. Or you could allow the PCs to keep one of them but make it so they have to swap out a power for the use of that one. Or let them use it in addition to their other powers but adjust the strength of the enemy up accordingly to rebalance the encounter.

Denia:
Denia's ranks have swelled as well, like all lands, because of better clothing and medicine brought by Hionia and Eldunmark. But also by slaves escaping across the mountains from Eldunmark. Denia's contribution to the state of the Midlands is their rediscovery of lost Numenorian invention - the printing press. With this Denia has spread its message of personal liberty across the midlands and this has been called by many rulers "dangerous propaganda". The spread of elven learning and notions of freedoms spreading.

Published work: The Red Book of Numenor. A small mass published manifesto extolling personal freedoms and the casting down of large governments or institutions. While it is commonly believed that this book espouses the beliefs of Numenore it really is a reproduction of the publication which brought about the downfall of that mighty nation and is the reason why all knowledge of the printing press was destroyed long ago.

Why this works without breaking the setting: Reading is something taken for granted by everyone in DnD for years (unless you ever had to play an old school barbarian that is). Having the rest of the population have access to printed works is no big deal. And since the printing press would still be in its infancy only the most important works would be mass published in the beginning. It wouldn't yet reach the "Barnes & Noble" stage, say. How this adds to the setting is the spreading of propaganda by governments and religions who surely would be the first to try and take advantage of this, the first mass media.

So what is the point of all of this? To advance the march of history and to upset the balances of power through natural progress. To create new dynamics between he nations and between groups and between individuals to shake things up and create all sorts of new tensions, conflicts, and of course, adventure opportunities.

All this without magical trains, planes and automobiles. =P