Anachronistic science/technology in your D&D games?

[Isamu Dyson]

What sort of anachronistic science and/or technology exists in your D&D game(s)?

Keep in mind that the average D&D setting is quasi-Medieval European in nature.

[Re'ozul]

In one game I had dimensional rifts open and close periodically continent wide. The game died before much of anything could happen, but one instance had kobolds with laser rifles (and futuristic armor) fighting black dragons.

The PCs encountered a group of said kobolds that weren't transported back when that rift closed and a lot of fun was had with first fighting them and then trying to figure out what those weird scorching ray throwers were. (that was the thing they ended up describing them as in character).

[BWR]

Depends a little on the setting. In Mystara you might well come across remnants of Blackmoor technology (Temple of the Frog). I haven't had any such thing show up yet. While they haven't met them yet, the Savage Coast is there, with its gunpowder and more advanced tech. the PCs have yet to visit the place, but it's there in my game.
The Oards, teim-traveling clone cyborgs from the future will show up at some point, with their forcefields and blasters and grenades and wristcomms and computers and more.
The Blacklore elves have residual high-tech -> magic item stuff. They think it's tech but it's magic that has been made to look like tech.

[Slipperychicken]

My current game is in Pathfinder. There are at least two firearms (probably flintlocks) we know about: The one our Gunslinger has, and the one which a pirate antagonist (who we just pissed off) uses.

[Rhynn]

Keep in mind that the average D&D setting is quasi-Medieval European in nature.

Renaissance, actually; circa 15th and early 16th century. Full plate harness and two-handed swords are standard, and arquebuses used to be in the core rules. (Then again, handgonnes are perfectly medieval weapons.)

I prefer to set my standard D&D more in the Early Medieval period, something like 400 to 1000 AD.

My Dark Sun setting is a pseudo-Classical setting built over the ruins of a science fiction setting; Tyr's fields are watered by moisture traps and ancient water pipes and sprinklers, and ruins buried in the desert conceal everything from banks of computers and mainframes to ray guns, ornithopters, and art deco androids.

[Ravens_cry]

I have thought of adding semaphore towers much like the ones in Discworld to one world I have planned. Guns are also a given, though they aren't that anachronistic, if at all.

[veti]

Renaissance, actually; circa 15th and early 16th century. Full plate harness and two-handed swords are standard, and arquebuses used to be in the core rules. (Then again, handgonnes are perfectly medieval weapons.)

In old AD&D, "full plate" was an optional rule - there was an advisory note saying that it was a later innovation, and wouldn't be included in the 'default' world. It wasn't included in the weapon tables or price lists.

Arquebuses in core rules? Never seen that, but you may be right.

To the question: I've played a D&D campaign where "magic items" included cars, motorbikes and machine guns. These things weren't common, but they did exist and work (at least until they ran out of fuel/ammunition), for reasons that were never entirely clear to me.

[GenericGuy]

The Sovereign Isles of my setting are steampunk wild west America, but are far enough away to have little effect on the Old Kingdoms (classic D&D medieval) of the east. The Old Kingdoms are ruled by Mage oligarchies, who are keeping technological advances out to keep the populace reliant on them.

Typically I like technology being presented as fundamentally more egalitarian and "natural" than magic, if the two co-exist, but few other players seem to have a similar opinion. Most often my players actively work against those trying to bring technology to the masses, and work for the Mage tyrants or worse Elven slavers .

[originalginger]

I do that kind of stuff ALL THE TIME. Oddly enough, I just posted about one instance in another thread. Depending on your point of view, it may not be anacronistic in the strictist sense, but I think that these examples apply in intent.

In all of these, we were playing either D&D 3.5, PF, or D&D 4e

* Numerous time gates in various areas that would transport the characters between time periods, primarily ancient prehistory in a time before humanoid races, bronze age, late medieval, renaissance, mad-max style post apocalypse, and far future. The characters were able to gain technology and artifacts from one era and bring them through the time gates to another era.


* Tens of thousands of years before, the elves' distant ancestors had been forced to make an emergency landing on the planet in their massive starship, leaving them stranded. They, for a time, were able to use their advanced intellect to subjugate the other (at the time quite primitive) races. During this time they conducted horrifying and cruel experiments on the flora and fauna, creating what would become the goblins, orcs and kobolds, from the other races, and most of the more fantastical monsters from the plants and animals.

Over time, this history was lost, their technology fell out of use, and the world fell into a lengthy dark age. When the game began, the starship was still present and was considered a holy site, and it's strange radiation was the source of magic in the world. There were untold hundreds of ancient technological artifacts that were prized by many, but understood by none.

Later, we would also revisit the setting, only this time playing through the era when the Elves first arrived.


* In some ways similar to the previous one. A setting that takes a lot of inspiration from the Atlantis myths, as well as the Stargate Series. A once prominent and advanced civilization suddenly disappeared long ago, and has since become legend, rarely believed to actually have existed. Soon after the game begins, it is learned that this civilization did not in fact disappear, only hid themselves. They return, bringing 50's style ray guns, disintegration beams, robots, flying cars, and other old-school sci-fi cinema type technology.



There are definitely others, but those are the most interesting that I can think of right off.

[CombatOwl]

What sort of anachronistic science and/or technology exists in your D&D game(s)?

Keep in mind that the average D&D setting is quasi-Medieval European in nature.

My upcoming game will feature scrying orbs used like televisions. Because the game is going to be about a reality TV show where teams of adventurers do excessively dangerous dungeon crawls...

[AuraTwilight]

Warforged Motorcycles.

2151 AD. War is beginning...

[Kerrin]

I once ran a campaign set in the post apocalyptic world of Thundarr the Barbarian. All kinds of zany things popped up for the characters to deal with. It's like sword and sorcery meet lost knowledge about science and technology.

[Eldan]

What sort of anachronistic science and/or technology exists in your D&D game(s)?

Keep in mind that the average D&D setting is quasi-Medieval European in nature.

If we're high middle ages Europe, then there probably either shouldn't be any plate armour or there should be guns. So, the tech level in D&D has always been schizophrenic.

I've also included machines that were based on the Anykthera mechanism or Egyptian steam engines.

[Grim Portent]

In my setting the tech level is mostly dark ages/early middle ages, but with more advanced metal working and construction methods. Things like one kingdom building vast complex buildings using more recent architecture and canal systems that span far more space than any medieval society would make.

[Eric Tolle]

Best in mind, one of the early offshoots of D&D was the Arduin Grimore, which had an utterly gonzo mix of magic and technology, thanks to interdimensional travel. The multiversal Trading Company had in addition to standard offerings of adventure gear, laser rifles and phasers. One of the pc races was undead elves descended from source pirates, and another were six-foot tall ants from a crashed source ship.

[Spiryt]

If we're high middle ages Europe, then there probably either shouldn't be any plate armour or there should be guns. So, the tech level in D&D has always been schizophrenic.

As long as setting is not actual Europe, pretty much, there's nothing schizophrenic about it.

After all, nothing says that in fantasy, imagined word, different technologies and trends/fashions in them must appear in any similar way.

[Eric Tolle]

As long as setting is not actual Europe, pretty much, there's nothing schizophrenic about it.

Which would be good if most screenings didn't take pains to resemble Medieval Europe in architecture, culture, politics...everything except for magic and no gunpowder. It's actually kind of annoying when everything in the world is different down to its geography, yet we still have medieval Europe. That's why I like settings such as Eberron, Dark Sun, Glorantha and the like, which actually try to do things a little different.

[Dawgmoah]

What sort of anachronistic science and/or technology exists in your D&D game(s)?

Keep in mind that the average D&D setting is quasi-Medieval European in nature.

Wow, I had a completely different take on the question than some of the other responses.

For me the horse collar and heavy iron shod plow are major economic changes rippling across the, "known world." The horse collar nearly tripled the amount of muscle power cheaply available on the ranch or farm while the iron shod plow allowed the thicker clay based soils in a parallel Northern Europe to be tilled.

Newer techniques in casting and forging iron are closely held secrets and working in steel creating major innovations in warfare. Mankind has been at the mercy of other races for since the beginning of time: the only reason they survived was their high reproduction rate and adaptability to climates the other races did not favor. Now, with their more advanced technology, they are becoming a greater challenge to the non humans.

This is based on Western Europe circa 1,000 AD.