Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to get used much in actual combat, partly because of its cost but also because guns are cumbersome. It's easier to just take a heavy crossbow, or get the wizard to missile-spell things into oblivion. This is probably by design.
As for time period, I tend to think of it as a mishmash, not really comparable to any time period from Earth's history. Basically, lack of fossil fuels, social pressure from the Wizards' Guild, and probably other factors, prevent an industrial revolution from happening. However, that doesn't mean no one does any scientific research. So chemistry, biology, and Newtonian physics are pretty well understood and medical knowledge is fairly advanced. (Interesting fact: I've never run across non-magical healing in any other fantasy-themed game, which probably says something about something.) The Mathematician talent says "knowledge of math below the calculus level", but I'd say that a character could learn calculus if they found a teacher. (Expert Mathematician, anyone? Biology is covered by (Expert) Naturalist; chemistry by Chemist; physics by Engineering or Mechanician.)
So you get places that have a fairly high level of technology (think Renaissance Europe or Song-dynasty China), but that's not universal and plenty of places look like pre-colonization Africa or the Americas, Dark Ages Europe, or the ancient Mediterranean. The (usual) lack of large quantities of gunpowder means that a large force of low-tech warriors can often defeat a smaller force of higher-tech troops, keeping a balance.
Shields? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they were pretty much used until gunpowder began to rule the battlefield. They're still used today by police and probably others as well. You could probably find shields in Cidri made from just about anything except Plexiglas. What they looked like would probably depend mostly on what kind of opponents their bearer was going to be fighting. Per ITL, Cidri is a big place.
That's probably more than two cents, but I'll drop it in the jar anyway... - Meg On 3/5/13 3:23 PM, Rick Smith wrote:
Hi all, We can all agree that TFT is set in the time period known as "Fantasy". However, the inclusion of gunpowder tends to make us think that TFT belongs fairly late in human history. That said, gunpowder is not an entirely happy addition to TFT and I know of several TFT GM's who simply don't use it. Neglecting the early gunpowder era, what era of human history would TFT shields best simulate? At what point are TFT shields closest to being realistic? Warm regards, Rick. ===== Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com. Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body "unsubscribe tft"
===== Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com. Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body "unsubscribe tft"