History FantasyGunControl / TabletopGames

* So far in ''TabletopGame/KingsOfWar'' the only factions that use gun powder weapons are the Dwarfs and Abyssal Dwarfs. The Dwarfs possess rifles and cannons as common weapons, while the Abyssal Dwarfs combine alchemy and dark magic with their weapons.

* Averted in Swedish tabletop RPG ''Drakar & Demoner'': the ''Chronopia'' module mentions large siege cannons made by the dwarves.
** ...but in previous editions of the game, it was specifically noted that using out of character knowlege of the correct proportions of charcoal, nitrate and sulphur would only produce a slow burning fire, as the laws of physics in the game world was different than on earth.

** Amusingly, the Bretonnian supplement for WarhammerFantasyRolePlay gave us a look at the statute decreeing Fantasy Gun Control. [[LoopholeAbuse A strict reading doesn't support a ban on firearms]]. It bans [[ExactWords crossbows]], but it hadn't been updated since the introduction of black powder weaponry, although such a ban would be within the spirit of the law. There is, in fact, a movement in the port city of L'Anguille laying the groundwork for a call for either a stricter reading, or explicit amendment of the law, so they can openly upgrade the harbour defences with cannon.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' itself the 3rd edition Dungeon Master's Guide provides rules for certain "Renaissance" gunpowder weapons, modern and even futuristic firearms and explosives if they are to be included in the setting. Normally they are highly expensive or not buyable at all, however. ''AD&D'' 2nd edition had the arquebus (an early European musket) available for players to use at the DM's discretion. The 1st edition ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' included in-game statistics for firearms, Gatling guns, dynamite, and other [[TheWildWest Wild West-era]] weapons in the context of a crossover campaign with ''Boot Hill'' (a now out-of-print Old West-themed [=RPG=] sold by [=TSR=] at the time), but it was "strongly urged" that they be limited to specific adventures or areas.

** Given its roots in post-medieval Gothic horror, {{Ravenloft}} has ''never'' adhered to this trope. One of its earliest published adventures featured a blunderbuss-wielding NPC, and its 3E game products include rules for snaplock firearms, early gunpowder traps, and even a sharpshooting prestige class. That is, people can shoot [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent them wolfies]] with {{silver bullet}}s, yeah.

* Played straight in Redspire Game's D20 dark fantasy Dark Legacies, which is a real head-scratcher. The game itself has steam-driven power armour, land battleships powered by coal and other steam-driven vehicles, flamethrowers and automatic crossbows that are fed with ammo belts (the belt-fed automatic crossbows have their own big brother in a version that uses a steam engine to recrank). But no gun...the closest thing is a weapon called the bolt cannon, which is a recently invented cannon that shoots heavy bolts by detonating a small bomb inside. What is especially weird is that Dark Legacies takes place in a future Earth which had survived a demon invasion. Yes there is magic but it's fairly weak, has many drawbacks and very rare. Not to mention that the laws of physics hadn't changed to make guns unusable. It's just that somehow, humanity and its allied race of tinker gnomes have somehow never re-invented gunpower weapons or found any surviving examples from military depots, gun shops etc...

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'' itself the 3rd edition Dungeon Master's Guide provides rules for certain "Renaissance" gunpowder weapons, modern and even futuristic firearms and explosives if they are to be included in the setting. Normally they are highly expensive or not buyable at all, however. ''AD&D'' 2nd edition had the arquebus (an early European musket) available for players to use at the DM's discretion. The 1st edition ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' included in-game statistics for firearms, Gatling guns, dynamite, and other [[TheWildWest Wild West-era]] weapons in the context of a crossover campaign with ''Boot Hill'' (a now out-of-print Old West-themed [=RPG=] sold by [=TSR=] at the time), but it was "strongly urged" that they be limited to specific adventures or areas.
** The ''ForgottenRealms'' explicitly states that gunpowder does not work due to the divine will of Gond, god of invention and creativity. Instead, Gond allows an alchemical substitute called "smokepowder" to exist in the hands of his church, so that its use is easily controlled. There's also a Thayan variant -- very clumsy bombards using some liquid propellant, not scalable down to portable guns. Also, ''pneumatic'' needle guns were mentioned as a typical trick of drow commoners (''The Drow of the Underdark''): it's easier to conceal than a crossbow. Ed Greenwood even wrote a few articles on this issue (the first being named "Firearms: First guns were [[CoolButInefficient not much fun]]") for DragonMagazine.

** ''{{Eberron}}'' plays this trope straight. Their justification is that a wand of magic missile or an enchanted crossbow is so common (and far safer and effective in the hands of a conscript) that no one ever really bothered to make guns.
** ''{{Spelljammer}}'' has Giff -- a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy race of mercenary-minded]] [[PettingZooPeople humanoid hippopotami]]. They love firearms, to the point of ''making the big cannon a structural element of a ship'' ("[[http://www.spelljammer.org/ships/deckplans/GreatBombard.gif Great Bombard]]"), ''with its muzzle useable as a ram'', and using smokepowder as a currency. Others usually avoid firearms, because fire is [[StuffBlowingUp unusable]] in phlogiston, powder magazines are [[StuffBlowingUp dangerous]] if hit and smokepowder isn't as cheap as catapult stones. ''Cloakmaster'' cycle shows both sides of the issue.

** Subverted in the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' setting, where it's noted that some enterprising tinker gnomes have created their own versions of firearms. Most people don't use them, since tinker gnomes are notorious for their BunglingInventor tendencies.

* Played straight in Redspire Game's D20 dark fantasy Dark Legacies, which is a real head-scratcher. The game itself has steam-driven power armour, land battleships powered by coal and other steam-driven vehicles, flamethrowers and automatic crossbows that are fed with ammo belts (the belt-fed automatic crossbows have their own big brother in a version that uses a steam engine to recrank). But no gun...the closest thing is a weapon called the bolt cannon, which is a recentlyl invented, five-foot long cannon which shoots heavy bolts by detonating a small bomb inside. What is especially weird is that Dark Legacies takes place in a future Earth which had survived a demon invasion. Yes there is magic but it's fairly weak, has many drawbacks and very rare. Not to mention that the laws of physics hadn't changed to make guns unusable. It's just that somehow, humanity and its allied race of tinker gnomes have somehow never re-invented gunpower weapons or found any surviving examples from military depots, gun shops etc...

* Played straight in Redspire Game's D20 dark fantasy Dark Legacies, which is a real head-scratcher. The game itself has steam-driven power armour, land battleships powered by coal and other steam-driven vehicles, flamethrowers and automatic crossbows that are fed with ammo belts (the belt-fed automatic crossbows have their own big brother in a version that uses a steam engine to recrank). But not gun...the closest thing is a weapon called the bolt cannon, which is a five-foot long cannon which shoots heavy bolts by detonating a small bomb inside. What is especially weird is that Dark Legacies takes place in a future Earth which had survived a demon invasion. Yes there is magic but it's fairly weak, has many drawbacks and very rare. Not to mention that the laws of physics hadn't changed to make guns unusable. It's just that somehow, humanity and its allied race of tinker gnomes have somehow never re-invented gunpower weapons or found any surviving examples from military depots, gun shops etc...

* The Swedish game ''Gondica'' has a Renaissance-esque technological level, and makes swords still important by

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'' itself the 3rd edition Dungeon Master's Guide provides rules for certain "Renaissance" gunpowder weapons, modern and even futuristic firearms and explosives if they are to be included in the setting. Normally they are highly expensive or not buyable at all, however. ''AD&D'' 2nd edition had the arquebus (an early European musket) available for players to use at the DM's discretion.

* Averted in ''TableTopGame/RuneQuest'', to some extent -- although most of the world has approximately Bronze Age technology, the Mostali (Dwarfs) have high-tech superweapons called "guns", which they guard jealously.

**** When Cadderly, the central character of Salvatore's ''Cleric Quintet'', invented a crossbow with an exploding bolt (created using the magical substance, oil of impact), he eventually ended up horrified of it. When a villain ended up with it, he became wracked with guilt and was almost convinced it must be destroyed for the good of the world. Particularly jarring as another character points out that said villain is a wizard capable of shooting explosive fireballs from his hands, and that Cadderly's crossbow was terribly weak in comparison. However, he uses it again in ''The Ghost King'', which takes place several years later, against shadowy monsters invading Spirit Soaring, without showing any reservations about it.

**** R.A. Salvatore sometimes mentioned guns and other non-magical explosives in his ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'' and other Realms novels, sometimes having the protagonists comment that they're too dangerous, and at other times having protagonists treat them as being useful in the right situations:
***** When Cadderly, the central character of Salvatore's ''Cleric Quintet'', invented a crossbow with an exploding bolt (created using the magical substance, oil of impact), he eventually ended up horrified of it. When a villain ended up with it, he became wracked with guilt and was almost convinced it must be destroyed for the good of the world. Particularly jarring as another character points out that said villain is a wizard capable of shooting explosive fireballs from his hands, and that Cadderly's crossbow was terribly weak in comparison. However, he uses it again in ''The Ghost King'', which takes place several years later, against shadowy monsters invading Spirit Soaring, without showing any reservations about it.
***** In ''The Thousand Orcs'', Nanfoodle, a gnome alchemist (and follower of Gond) engineered an explosion that proved to be useful against invading frost giants, and, in a later book, it was said to be more powerful than any fireball that even Elminster could have conjured up.
***** In ''The Stowaway'', a novel that he contributed to along with his son, Geno Salvatore, the protagonist notices an arquebus mounted on a wall in the captain's cabin on a ship that he'd just boarded. Later, during a raid the ship, a couple of pirates enter the cabin, grab a hold of the gun, load it with smokepowder, and play around with it (with one pirate taking aim at the other and pulling the trigger), causing a blast that they both manage to survive.

**** R.A. Salvatore sometimes mentioned guns and other non-magical explosives in his ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'' and other Realms novels, sometimes treating them as being too dangerous and sometimes treating them as being useful:
***** When Cadderly, the central character of Salvatore's ''Cleric Quintet'', invented a crossbow with an exploding bolt, he eventually ended up horrified of it. When a villain ended up with it, he became wracked with guilt and convinced it must be destroyed for the good of the world. Particularly jarring as another character points out that said villain is a wizard capable of shooting explosive fireballs from his hands, and that Cadderly's crossbow was terribly weak in comparison. It [[MoralDissonance didn't shut him up]], though.

**** R.A. Salvatore sometimes mentioned guns and other non-magical explosives in his Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt and other Realms novels, sometimes treating them as being too dangerous and sometimes treating them as being useful:

* The Swedish game ''Gondica'' has a Renaissance-esque technological level, and makes swords still important by making muskets and similar weapons about as efficient as they were in reality. One review suggested [=PCs=] use bows instead, because for the kind of combats "adventurers" get into, guns are impractical.
* ''Fantasy Craft'' averts this, and even has feats for Black Powder weapons. However, all items have an "era" that determine if items are available based on the [[TechnologyLevels Technology Level]] of the world and guns are only available in the Reason era or later.
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*** R.A.Salvatore's novels, particularly [[TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]] series, only involved guns and explosives of the non-magical type (usually invented by priests of Gond, a god of creativity and knowledge) as a bad thing -- too much power for too little effort[[note]]A wizard could spend years in study to cast a fireball, went the logic -- whereas someone with enough money could purchase a keg of smokepowder for roughly the same effect in less than a day[[/note]]. To the extent that when Cadderly, central character of Salvatore's ''Cleric Quintet'', invented a crossbow with an exploding bolt, he was horrified himself. When a villain ended up with it, he became wracked with guilt and convinced it must be destroyed for the good of the world. Particularly jarring as another character points out that said villain is a wizard capable of shooting explosive fireballs from his hands, and that Cadderly's crossbow was terribly weak in comparison. It [[MoralDissonance didn't shut him up]], though.
**** In ''The Stowaway'', a novel that he contributed to along with his son, Geno Salvatore, the protagonist notices an arquebus mounted on a wall in the captain's cabin on a ship that he'd just boarded. Later, during a raid the ship, a couple of pirates enter the cabin, grab a hold of the gun, load it with smokepowder, and play around with it (with one pirate taking aim at the other and pulling the trigger), causing a blast that they both manage to survive.

**** Stories in anthologies touching the subject tend to take the position that in explosives are not always worth the trouble and risk in such a highly magical world, especially considering that certain foes could cause them to go off at the most inconvenient moment and protect themselves in the same way they'd protect themselves from a non-magical bolt or arrow. In ''Smoke Powder And Mirrors'' by Jeff Grubb, Khelben himself stands next to exploding barrels of smokepowder and isn't even singed or disheveled. In another Waterdhavian story, one of the contraband-hunting characters receives a ''point-blank [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blunderbuss shot]] in the face''. He recovers from its flash and thunder in as much time as it takes to say "[[DeflectorShields Protection from Normal Missiles]]".

** R.A.Salvatore's novels, particularly [[TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]] series, only involved guns and explosives of the non-magical type (usually invented by priests of Gond, a god of creativity and knowledge) as a bad thing -- too much power for too little effort[[note]]A wizard could spend years in study to cast a fireball, went the logic -- whereas someone with enough money could purchase a keg of gunpowder for roughly the same effect in less than a day[[/note]]. To the extent that when Cadderly, central character of Salvatore's ''Cleric Quintet'', invented a crossbow with an exploding bolt, he was horrified himself. When a villain ended up with it, he became wracked with guilt and convinced it must be destroyed for the good of the world. Particularly jarring as another character points out that said villain is a wizard capable of shooting explosive fireballs from his hands, and that Cadderly's crossbow was terribly weak in comparison. It [[MoralDissonance didn't shut him up]], though.

**** Stories in anthologies touching the subject only prove that in a high-magical world explosives are rarely worth the trouble and risk when a foe causes them to go off at the most inconvenient moment. In ''Smoke Powder And Mirrors'' by Jeff Grubb, Khelben himself stands next to exploding barrels of smokepowder and isn't even singed or disheveled. And [[spoiler:a stupid wizard-slaying conspiracy]] would do just as "well" with drow-style poisoned quarrels to begin with. In another Waterdhavian story one of the contraband-hunting characters receives a ''point-blank [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blunderbuss shot]] in the face''. He recovers from its flash and thunder in as much time as it takes to say "[[DeflectorShields Protection from Normal Missiles]]".

** Averted in at least one region in ''TableTopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'''s official campaign setting. Then again, magic doesn't work in that part of the world.
*** The Ultimate Combat supplement for Pathfinder spends some time discussing various levels of FantasyGunControl, from 'there aren't even cannons around' to 'Showdown at the Orctown Corral', and noting how they can affect the tenor of the game.

** In Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, rules are provided for gunpowder weapons but their use is discouraged by all the limitations put on them - they are extremely rare, extremely expensive both to purchase and to maintain, they are prone to misfires (capable of actually killing the weilder, with a bad roll) and they don't do any more damage than the cheaper and more reliable bow and arrow.
** Amusingly, the Bretonnian supplement for WarhammerFantasyRolePlay gave us a look at the statute decreeing Fantasy Gun Control. [[LoopholeAbuse A strict reading doesn't support a ban on firearms]]. It bans [[ExactWords crossbows]], but it hadn't been updated since the introduction of black powder weaponry. There is, in fact, a movement in the port city of L'Anguille laying the groundwork for a call for either a stricter reading, or explicit amendment of the law, so they can openly upgrade the harbour defences with cannon.

** Averted in at least one region in ''{{Pathfinder}}'''s official campaign setting. Then again, magic doesn't work in that part of the world.

** {{Greyhawk}} fans tend to be notoriously gun-phobic and it's generally accepted that guns simply don't work in the setting. Exceptions are sometimes made for the hero-god Murlynd and his paladins, [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on the DM]].
** In the ''{{Mystara}}'' campaign setting, this is played with in odd ways. The backstory of the campaign setting is that the pseudo-medieval setting actually takes place long after the collapse of the high-tech Blackmoor civilization, but every so often, high-tech items from Blackmoor or other sources will show up in a given adventure or campaign module. In the Hollow World campaign setting, which is really part of the Mystara setting, there is a valley containing high-tech elves, but their technology is really {{Magitek}}. Curiously, however, while you will never or hardly ever see firearms, you will see futuristic weapons like ray-guns and so forth. For rules purposes, these weapons will function like similar spells, such as magic missile, fireball, disintegrate, etc.
* Averted in ''RuneQuest'', to some extent -- although most of the world has approximately Bronze Age technology, the Mostali (Dwarfs) have high-tech superweapons called "guns", which they guard jealously.
* In LegendOfTheFiveRings, using gunpowder is dishonorable and is illegal by Imperial law. Which, of course, doesn't stop {{ninja}}s from using smoke- and firebombs (which are dangerous to the user as well).

* In ''BlueRose'', although setting is generally around the tech level of TheCavalierYears, there are no guns...but there are "crystons," which are basically just the {{Magitek}} equivalent of flintlock pistols (and are likely a subtle ShoutOut to the flashstones from the ''{{Dragaera}}'' books, mentioned under FantasyGunControl/{{Literature}}).

* The ''IronKingdoms'' setting makes use of guns for nearly every faction in the ''Warmachine'' game.

* Aversion: The furry Tabletop Game ''{{Ironclaw}}'', which features a Renaissance-era technology level, features guns.
** However it should be noted in this case they're portrayed pretty realistically for the time. They have a chance to not work, or worse, they're expensive and have a very long reload time, can't work well in rain, etc. On the other hand they do twice as much damage.

** A rather clear case of GunsAreWorthless, too. Whatever assorted "firearms" of the setting can do, [[AnnoyingArrows arrows]] can do just as good or better, especially considering there are arrow-tips with almost every projectile type aviable for guns. And in hands of namesake Exalted, soon enough toothbrush and nuclear bomb become equally deadly.

** R.A.Salvatore's novels, particularly [[TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]] series, only involved guns and explosives of the non-magical type (usually invented by priests of Gond, a god of creativity and knowledge) as a bad thing -- too much power for too little effort [[hottip:* :A wizard could spend years in study to cast a fireball, went the logic -- whereas someone with enough money could purchase a keg of gunpowder for roughly the same effect in less than a day.]]. To the extent that when Cadderly, central character of Salvatore's ''Cleric Quintet'', invented a crossbow with an exploding bolt, he was horrified himself. When a villain ended up with it, he became wracked with guilt and convinced it must be destroyed for the good of the world. Particularly jarring as another character points out that said villain is a wizard capable of shooting explosive fireballs from his hands, and that Cadderly's crossbow was terribly weak in comparison. It [[MoralDissonance didn't shut him up]], though.

* The makers of ''MagicTheGathering'' have stated this trope explicitly a number of times, but apparently [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=6499 muskets]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=201149 do]] exist in some planes. Also, the [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=33695 Goblin Sharpshooter]] appears to be using some sort of [[GatlingGood gatling gun]]. And sometimes they go straight to magic ray guns. Guns, nothing. This game has [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=1133 rocket launchers]].

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'' itself the Dungeon Master's Guide provides rules for certain medieval, modern and even futuristic firearms and explosives if they are to be included in the setting. Normally they are highly expensive or not buyable at all, however. 2nd edition ''AD&D'' had the arquebus (an early European musket) available for players to use at the DM's discretion. The DMG from the 3rd and 3.5 editions give some rules for "Renaissance" gunpowder weapons, which seem decent. And expensive. And modern assault rifles, and even laser/antimatter rifles.
** The ''ForgottenRealms'' explicitly states that gunpowder does not work due to the divine will of Gond, god of invention and creativity. Instead, Gond allows an alchemical substitute called "smokepowder" to exist in the hands of his church, so that its use is easily controlled. There's also Thayan variant -- very clumsy bombards using some liquid propellant, not scalable down to portable guns. Also, ''pneumatic'' needle guns were mentioned as a typical trick of drow commoners (''The Drow of the Underdark''): it's easier to conceal than a crossbow. Ed Greenwood's even wrote a few articles on this issue (the first being named "Firearms: First guns were [[CoolButInefficient not much fun]].") for DragonMagazine.

**** Stories in anthologies touching the subject only prove that in a high-magical world explosives are rarely worth the trouble and risk when a foe causes them to go off at the most inconvenient moment. In ''Smoke Powder And Mirrors'' by Jeff Grubb Khelben himself stands next to exploding barrels of smokepowder and isn't even singed or disheveled. And [[spoiler:a stupid wizard-slaying conspiracy]] would do just as "well" with drow-style poisoned quarrels to begin with. In another Waterdhavian story one of the contraband-hunting characters receives a ''point-blank [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blunderbuss shot]] in the face''. He recovers from its flash and thunder in as much time as it takes to say "[[DeflectorShields Protection from Normal Missiles]]".
*** Side note: All of the above are _true_ of gunpowder as well. The balance is that firearms, while not any better than a crossbow in any practical sense until the US Civil war, are extremely easy to load and operate, making them great for empowering the lower classes but not so great for the hereditary monarchies of medieval Europe to maintain their monopoly on military force. So, depending on how much credit you want to give the author, this may be a clever way of slipping some in-setting ValuesDissonance into the story, making the characters true believers in the quasi-feudal system that keeps the peasants at the bottom where richer and better-supplied people like the protagonists and their foes can easily run over them without repercussion.

** ''{{Spelljammer}}'' has Giff -- a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy race of mercenary-minded]] [[PettingZooPeople humanoid hippopotami]]. They love firearms, to the point of ''making the big cannon a structural element of a ship'' ("[[http://www.spelljammer.org/ships/deckplans/GreatBombard.gif Great Bombard]]"), ''with its muzzle useable as a ram'' and using smokepowder as a currency. Others usually avoid firearms, because fire is [[StuffBlowingUp unusable]] in phlogiston, powder magazines are [[StuffBlowingUp dangerous]] if hit and smokepowder isn't as cheap as catapult stones. ''Cloakmaster'' cycle shows both sides of the issue.
** Given its roots in post-medieval Gothic horror, {{Ravenloft}} has ''never'' adhered to this trope. One of its earliest published adventures featured a blunderbus-wielding NPC, and its 3E game products include rules for snaplock firearms, early gunpowder traps, and even a sharpshooting prestige class. That is, people can shoot [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent them wolfies]] with {{silver bullet}}s, yeah.

* In ''BlueRose'', although setting is generally around the tech level of TheCavalierYears, there are no guns...but there are "crystons," which are basically just the {{Magitek}} equivalent of flintlock pistols (and are likely a subtle ShoutOut to the flashstones from the ''{{Dragaera}}'' books, mentioned above).