@TheEdVerse @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD Do firearms such as muskets, blunderbusses etc. exist in the Forgotten Realms? Are they common? #dnd
— Joshua Parry (@jvcparry) April 22, 2017
Primitive firearms do exist in the Realms but are not common. #WOTCstaff https://t.co/1NgPD39T2n
— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) April 22, 2017
@jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD Yes; see my Firearms articles in DRAGON # 60 and 70. Gunpowder doesn't work (combust) in the Realms, only smokepowder. Firearms VERY rare.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2017
@jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD 1/3) Bombards use the ground to take their recoil and great weight. Most Realms ships can't handle cannon recoils (wheeled shipboard …
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2017
@jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD 2/3) . . . carriages not invented yet). Airships can get hurled backwards by cannonfire. So most warships use rams, side-shears (against oar
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2017
@jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD 3/4) …s and enemy hull), ballistae (volleys of javelins or heavy crossbow bolts) or mangonels hurling "firepots." Fireballs burn NOT sink
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2017
@jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD 4/4) . . . right away. Many ships carry sandbags, water cistern to quench deck fires. MOST pirates: crossbow volley, then storm and board.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2017
@jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD A pleasure! :}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2017
@techjunkie30 @jvcparry @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD What is the difference between gunpowder and smoke powder? And of course gunpowder won't ignite (work at all) in the Realms. Saltpeter (by itself) will burn, not explode. Smokepowder will.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 24, 2017
@jvcparry @techjunkie30 @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnDIs there a canon reason for this? 1/2) In-game: the Firelord (Kossuth) decreed it so; natural or creature-made attempts to combine ingredients into what we would call …
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 24, 2017
@jvcparry @techjunkie30 @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD 2/3)…gunpowder are absorbed by him (no blast as he takes energy). Out-of-game: TSR execs decided "no firearms," Jeff Grubb later came up..
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 24, 2017
@jvcparry @techjunkie30 @Sernett @ChrisPerkinsDnD 3/3) with smokepowder for the giff in Spelljammer. The ingredients for which are completely different than gunpowder's.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 24, 2017