4 ms·

Why one specific narrow slice of fantasy avoids gunpowder. Steampunk fantasy, gunpowder fantasy, non-eurocentric fantasy, science fantasy etc don't have any iss

Why one specific narrow slice of fantasy avoids gunpowder. Steampunk fantasy, gunpowder fantasy, non-eurocentric fantasy, science fantasy etc don't have any issues with gunpowder.

aldarion 3y ago
Agreed. Still, said narrow slice of fantasy is often in love with plate armor, which coexisted with gunpowder.
- checkyoursudo 3y ago
  Plate armor still coexists with gunpowder. It is just that the plates are armoring vehicles now rather than humans. (But I know what you mean.)
  - JoelMcCracken 3y ago
    Cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Arms_Protective_Insert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Arms_Protective_Insert
  - AstralStorm 3y ago
    Breastplates are currently known as ballistic plates. They're just thicker, heavier and made of composites - because they have to take on high powered rifle bullets. The modern fibre combat armor is better than gambeson and probably also many forms of plate. It's lighter and can take blades and even polearms better. Chainmail is in use to protect against industrial equipment.
    - checkyoursudo 3y ago
      Good points!
ysavir 3y ago
I wouldn't call it narrow. I think the fantasy + gunpowder settings are the less common.
gherkinnn 3y ago
So narrow that it encompasses 90% of all fantasy in popular culture? Even science fantasy like Star Wars or Dune are all about swords.
- spoiler 3y ago
  Star Wars has guns. They shoot lasers/plasma instead of lead propeller by gun powder, though. There's fantasies that incorporate various "{propellant}-powered projectile weapons" but your right that they're not common, though (and maybe not considered "classic" fantasy). There's also alchemical way to work in guns into a fantasy setting not reliant on gun powder. Or why not have gun powder; alchemy+magic could be a superset of science even.
  - orbital-decay 3y ago
    > Star Wars has guns. They shoot lasers/plasma instead of lead propeller by gun powder, though. That's just because they're "more advanced" in Star Wars universe, it has nothing to do with gunpowder avoidance. Isolated societies like Tusken Raiders use firearms and that's clearly depicted as a crude tech, long obsolete in the rest of the galaxy.
    - spoiler 3y ago
      Yeah I agree with you, I probably muddied my point a bit, though. I just meant to say that fire-arm style weapons (regardless of propellant or ammunition type) still have a place in fantasy settings
- throw0101b 3y ago
  > Even science fantasy like Star Wars or Dune are all about swords. Shields, personal or larger, hamper many projectile weapons in Dune: the projectile has to 'burrow' through the shield.
  - dllthomas 3y ago
    That's the justification, but not the reason.
edanm 3y ago
Yes, the title on HN isn't the title in the article, which makes your point too: "Why (High) Fantasy Avoids Gunpowder"

Why one specific narrow slice of fantasy avoids gunpowder. Steampunk fantasy, gunpowder fantasy, non-eurocentric fantasy, science fantasy etc don't have any issues with gunpowder.

aldarion 3y ago

Agreed. Still, said narrow slice of fantasy is often in love with plate armor, which coexisted with gunpowder.

checkyoursudo 3y ago
Plate armor still coexists with gunpowder. It is just that the plates are armoring vehicles now rather than humans. (But I know what you mean.)
- JoelMcCracken 3y ago
  Cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Arms_Protective_Insert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Arms_Protective_Insert
- AstralStorm 3y ago
  Breastplates are currently known as ballistic plates. They're just thicker, heavier and made of composites - because they have to take on high powered rifle bullets. The modern fibre combat armor is better than gambeson and probably also many forms of plate. It's lighter and can take blades and even polearms better. Chainmail is in use to protect against industrial equipment.
  - checkyoursudo 3y ago
    Good points!

ysavir 3y ago

I wouldn't call it narrow. I think the fantasy + gunpowder settings are the less common.

gherkinnn 3y ago

So narrow that it encompasses 90% of all fantasy in popular culture? Even science fantasy like Star Wars or Dune are all about swords.

spoiler 3y ago
Star Wars has guns. They shoot lasers/plasma instead of lead propeller by gun powder, though. There's fantasies that incorporate various "{propellant}-powered projectile weapons" but your right that they're not common, though (and maybe not considered "classic" fantasy). There's also alchemical way to work in guns into a fantasy setting not reliant on gun powder. Or why not have gun powder; alchemy+magic could be a superset of science even.
- orbital-decay 3y ago
  > Star Wars has guns. They shoot lasers/plasma instead of lead propeller by gun powder, though. That's just because they're "more advanced" in Star Wars universe, it has nothing to do with gunpowder avoidance. Isolated societies like Tusken Raiders use firearms and that's clearly depicted as a crude tech, long obsolete in the rest of the galaxy.
  - spoiler 3y ago
    Yeah I agree with you, I probably muddied my point a bit, though. I just meant to say that fire-arm style weapons (regardless of propellant or ammunition type) still have a place in fantasy settings
throw0101b 3y ago
> Even science fantasy like Star Wars or Dune are all about swords. Shields, personal or larger, hamper many projectile weapons in Dune: the projectile has to 'burrow' through the shield.
- dllthomas 3y ago
  That's the justification, but not the reason.

edanm 3y ago

Yes, the title on HN isn't the title in the article, which makes your point too: "Why (High) Fantasy Avoids Gunpowder"