I have fairly strong opinions and always will. This server is not the place for firearms or gunpowder based weaponry.
- My biggest concern, once you open the gates to modern technology there will be an increased push towards furthering the agenda of breaking the tech lock. That is to say, once we invent guns, it’s only a matter of time until we invent steam engines (which I believe we might already have a form of), electricity, etc. etc.
- It would render many lore items completely useless, magic being the biggest example of this. Firearms, overpowered as they are, would ruin the special guidelines in place to allow a character to become overpowered, so to speak. With magic you can effectively be as powerful as a man wielding a gun, but you have to go through hoops to make sure not all characters are able to just blow up anyone in a mile radius.
-As previously mentioned, the potential for powergaming is too great. There is no way to counter a musket ball, and therefore a legitimate CRP encounter could and would never take place, as the fighters would be dead in minutes if not seconds of the fight beginning.
-The overall feeling of the server would completely change. I see many places, specifically Oren/Helena, pushing for this colonial vibe, which I personally find dull and out of place, but that is a personal feeling, if I don’t wish to RP in the colonial area I will simply go somewhere like Morsgrad with a more medieval feel. The problem with introducing guns is that the medieval fantasy feel would be completely lost on the server, all corners would be affected by it and eventually forced to adopt it out of, at the very least, self preservation.
As one counter argument to the arguments I have heard saying things like “it only makes sense in the year 1800 we would have guns.”
-To this I would like to say, this server is not based in a BC/AD timeframe. It’s a completely different calendar in a different world from our own. Even after 1800 years we would not be out of place as a fantasy setting to not have this type of weaponry. Lord of The Rings itself is set around the year 3,000. Tech locks only make sense to keep the feel of the server alive and not shift it into something that, going off the poll, over half the people do not want to see.
One additional proposal to the staff is this:
- I think we should do a reset of the calendar, and start back over from a year somewhere in the 500-1000 range, so people do not get mixed up in associating the real life year with the IRP year.
I am not sure who to ping about that final suggestion so I’m just pinging the OP @Archipelego