S̶w̶o̶r̶d̶&̶S̶o̶r̶c̶e̶r̶y̶ Guns

[Deleted member 84247]

I'll have you know that some guy in HoneyFeed discord tried to argue with me due to my use of 'airborne tactics' in a medieval/primeval setting.

Though, in my defense, my MC used the abilities of the each beastmen tribe to form his military tactics and strategy. Like Eagle beastmen became 'bombers', dropping barrel bombs magically-activated to explode without the need for slowmatches, and the Falcons became the 'fighters' and 'transports', landing soldiers behind enemy lines.

That reminds me of what I did in an invasion scene from one of my older stories. My evil vampire MC flew over a city on a giant flying undead turtle, and they became like paratroopers.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Spoilers. Jokes aside, very interesting. It's nice to see the combination of science and magic, and how one thing get substituted with another. Most of all, it's nice that MC isn't a know-it-all, and has to improvise.

Based.

Ah, if there's one thing I can be proud of Kuro, it's that he's using the skills, expertise and knowledge of the people around him to form and execute his plans, not bulldoze his enemies to smithereens like Rambo (and your typical black-haired, sword-wielding isekai protag).

That reminds me of what I did in an invasion scene from one of my older stories. My evil vampire MC flew over a city on a giant flying undead turtle, and they became like paratroopers.

Ah, I can't do that in my story coz the risk for injuries are real. Think of my airborne invasion as like the 'paragliders' of WW2.

Oh, and yeah, another spoiler for @SailusGebel : the Ghouls in my story were trained in medevac procedures, making use of their undead state to cross the battlefield, and protect living soldiers from bullets while they evacuate them from the site.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Ah, I can't do that in my story coz the risk for injuries are real. Think of my airborne invasion as like the 'paragliders' of WW2.

What? I said paratroopers. There is still a risk of injury. It was a night invasion on a quiet flying turtle.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

What? I said paratroopers. There is still a risk of injury. It was a night invasion on a quiet flying turtle.

I assumed those he 'dropped' are undead.

But in any case, still, I can't possibly drop paratroops over a small castle and its parapets. So I opted the paraglide style.

 

[Cipiteca396]

A magic wand is already a gun. It makes sense that they would innovate on the design until it was a fully automatic, thirty fireballs per second death machine stick. So, I'd argue that it's necessary.

The introduction of enchantments to empower the rifle, arcane materials to enhance them, and of all things the ability to generate ammo and propellant from literally nothing-
Countered by the use of those very things to create armor and fortifications... Might be that the invention of the gun was necessary to pierce arcane barriers or certain monster's natural armor.

There's a lot of potential for high-tech magic that's been criminally underutilized. The arms race never stopped~.

Oh, swords are overrated. Use halberds or at least spears instead.

Based. Vampires driving tanks would be cool.

Moving Coffin.

 

[RepresentingPride]

Personally I like it in "The Novel Extra", it's well explained in it. Since the ball are far from the user, the control over the mana in it are hard and since it's more compact than an arrow, the amount of mana someone can infuse in it are smaller. To add at this, every magic user can create mana armor to defend against it and the ball cost a lot to be created to penetrate monster hard skin and mana armor.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

To further illustrate what I've replied here, this is the intro of my novel's Vol. 14.

 

[Shrimp_eater]

I use guns in mine, and my in-story explanation is that people who can actually cast magic effectively aren't that common. Lower-tier witches can use magic but have some limitations, so guns are still a effective weapon for them.

I also have a concept of magical tools being something more wide-spread in this society, tools which can be used by these lower level witches or common people. That include stuff like magical guns.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

Guns are piercing like arrows.
I see guns as arrows, or a more advanced form of it. However, rifles and muskets that take a long time to reload balances out the quick draw of arrows in the day. Six shot revolvers work too, but when you start getting into machine guns then the average civ can kill heroes lol

 

[BlackKnightX]

Flintlocks are cool.

 

[HelloHound]

in all honesty I'm not very impressed with guns, I don't mind them in fantasy but usually after they're implemented in a swords and magic story they're pretty one sided. A plus for efficiency though, one shot one kill

 

[BearlyAlive]

Guns are pretty much crossbows 2.0 in most fantasy settings unless the story is written by the army-loving son of a texan gun lobbyist, where guns are the answer to everything and are superior in every aspect because people are as stupid as the MC. I don't dislike them, but most writers don't really get the balance right. Guns are either just a useless gimmick or are the second coming of school shooting jesus.

Why would a civilization even use time and resources to create a small exploding rock, when you could just cast the spell "small exploding rock"? And the excuse of flexibility and easy handling doesn't count when crossbows exist and have been used for way longer.
Optimizing crossbows to turn into rambo-style machine guns would make more sense in a fantasy setting than creating guns, imo.

 

[RepresentingPride]

Optimizing crossbows to turn into rambo-style machine guns would make more sense in a fantasy setting than creating guns, imo.

If I remember right, it's what Rudeus in mushoku tensei created and used with the "mini earth compressed spear" as arrow.

 

[Rhaps]

I'll have you know that some guy in HoneyFeed discord tried to argue with me due to my use of 'airborne tactics' in a medieval/primeval setting.

Though, in my defense, my MC used the abilities of the each beastmen tribe to form his military tactics and strategy. Like Eagle beastmen became 'bombers', dropping barrel bombs magically-activated to explode without the need for slowmatches, and the Falcons became the 'fighters' and 'transports', landing soldiers behind enemy lines.

You are absolutely in the right, my man.

If St. Olga of Kiyv can use pigeons to turn a whole fucking city into a sea of fire. With how crazy real life is, your MC is doing the logical thing.

Now if you have cavalry riding motorbikes instead of horses...

Optimizing crossbows to turn into rambo-style machine guns would make more sense in a fantasy setting than creating guns, imo.

The Chinese came close to this with their semi auto crossbows, auto loading and feeding with magic wouldn't be that hard

 

[Corty]

Reading the comments, I say, just drop the literal sun on them mofos with a spell. No radiation, no problem. (that's what mages are capable in my current story if they are used correctly)

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Now if you have cavalry riding motorbikes instead of horses...

I have that in my other story, Paulina Rex...just look at this cover. Inspired by that artwork, "Napoleon Crossing the Alps".

 

[PancakesWitch]

difference between arrows, guns, and magic becomes better on LitRPG settings where they're related to classes and get unique skills that make them differentiate from one another better. So even if a magic gun could be better than bow and arrows, archers get insane skills like shooting a dozen arrows at once and stuff like that while guns can specialize on piercing damage

 

[Goodmann]

If you create a magical shield against 'high-velocity', all guns are useless until the shield fails Or a shield vs. 'x metal', with greater cost if y & z are also denied. Gunners would need rounds with everything -- lead, copper, tungsten, iron, silver, gold(!!), bone,tin,zinc, wood, rock...

 

[LilRora]

Guns are totally fine for me, it's just that mamy authors don't use them well. They don't have to be balanced or anything, it's completely fine if one is way better than the other, you just need to have excusivity. If magic is exclusive to a small number of mages, then the common folk, who have no magic, will resort either to magitech (or some other name for a similar concept) or physics - guns included if the world is sufficiently advanced. Considering that magitech will be too expensive for the common folk and likely to be resticted, and there's only one remaining answer.

It'll differ across various settings, that's a given, but still. Point is, if something is restricted, sooner or later something else will replace it, and even if it's worse, it'll still be used.

In other kinds of settings, guns can be used as the undetectable weapon, because if we have a world where each magic user can sense magic, including for example spells, traps, wards, and other magic users in their vicinity, then a gun will be weapon that, while likely weak, is undetectable, or at least less visible, than any equally powerful magical attack or weapon.

There's a ton of other ways to use them, for example in a world where each person only has one specific kind of power, and guns can supplement it, or in stories with conditional/ritualistic/expensive/unpredictable magic, where a gun might not be a great weapon, but where it's faster and more reliable than magic.

I say that guns are boring only if they are used badly. There's a lot of ways to make them great, if not as a part of worldbuilding itself, then to spice up the plot with another variable. And that doesn't only apply to crude weapons like muskets or pistols, but even modern rifles and other advanced guns.

My personal favorite level of advancement for a fantasy world with both guns and magic is either around today's, maybe a bit lower, or completely futuristic, the last of which has a huge downside of being very difficult to write.

They also can be cool, or rather, they have their own unique potential. There's a reason why gunslinger is its own, well-liked class in many games, and it's not just the weapon they hold. From experience, though, I'd say while their cool factor isn't generally that great, they have huge potential to be badass instead.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

Guns are better suited to visual media like comics, anime, or movies.
They're boring to write about because they make combat repetitive.
Example:
Jack shoots at Tom.
Tom takes cover behind a wall.
Tom exposes himself and returns fire.
Jack takes cover.
And so on.
In traditional combat scenes, especially in genres like fantasy or historical fiction, there's a lot of emphasis on the skill, strategy, and physical prowess of the combatants. Martial arts, swords, spears, and bows allow for a detailed description of each movement, creating a choreography where each action and counteraction can be vividly portrayed. Firearms, on the other hand, often simplify this choreography into mere pulling of triggers and ducking for cover.

Moreover, they are difficult to balance. Either they are written as superfluous, and a cultivator can stop a bullet with their hand, be immune or even cut them in half with a sword, or they are so powerful that they make anyone a lethal threat (somewhat like in real life).

In contrast, primitive firearms like arquebuses introduce an element of suspense and strategy due to their limitations. Their slow reload times and unreliability can create tense moments in battle, where every shot counts and combatants have to carefully consider their actions. This reintroduces a level of personal skill and strategy into combat, aligning more closely with the narrative style of many fantasy stories.