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GameMastery Guide / Creating a World / Technology

Anachronisms

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 161
Anachronisms, meaning things that seem out of place in a given time period, are always an issue in fantasy. Any time you try to draw from the past, your base assumptions as a resident of the present make it easy to accidentally introduce modern conventions. Every GM should be prepared to deal with players calling him on anachronisms she hadn’t noticed (or worse, on things like eyeglasses and clocks which feel anachronistic but in fact far predate the medieval period). So how should you deal with anachronisms?

Simple: don’t bother.

The first thing to remember in designing a campaign setting is that it’s your world, not Earth. Random chance plays a major role in science, and the fact that a given Earth culture didn’t make a specific discovery until a certain date doesn’t mean your culture has to follow the same timeline, so long as the progression is internally consistent. On Earth, different cultures advanced in different fields at different rates—the Chinese had cannons, flamethrowers, and land mines before Europe discovered gunpowder. Don’t let history tie the hands of your imagination.

Archives of Nethys

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Anachronisms