In a previous discussion, I'd asked about the Ring of Kingness of whatever, that both symbolized my power as a king and made it easier to be one. It's magic.
You delivered.
At least one of them was a ring that grants an ability I have: The ability to read.
And I realized: Most people in, say, 1200 CE did not have this ability.
What other abilities that folks in our society may have would be considered nigh magical in a D&D-type realm?
Examples: I can do algebra in my head. I can figure out primes in my head. I can, i dunno, know the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 and Washington was the first US President all in my head?
That is: I've got mathematics and history on tap. What else do we have on tap that might be considered fucking magical in a D&D-type realm?
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Well, to go along with reading, I suspect you can also write, which was an even rarer talent.
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble finding a reference, but I definitely remember having learned that there was a time when people believed that anyone able to read text upside down was literally magical ... that it was a supernatural talent. That could easily just be some ego-stoking myth I got fed along the way, though.
I was thinking about a similar but more mundane thing the other day... what sorts of things our basic education would qualify us for at various times... like, how much of what we consider rather average learning would have been considered somewhat advanced training...
ReplyDeletebut to more directly answer your question... perhaps our understanding of hygiene's effect on health.
Basic healthcare. We understand sanitation, how to sterilise things. We understand vitamins, food groups. We might not be able to create medicines but we have a reasonable idea of looking after ourselves.
ReplyDeleteYou know that gunpowder is a roughly 3,2,1 mix of charcoal, sulfur, and nitre (saltpetre). At least, you do now.
ReplyDeleteLevi Kornelsen I do now, yes. I suspect that is less common knowledge, but, agreed, would make it easy to become a king. Maybe not to maintain your rule once the secret gets out ...
ReplyDeleteTony Lower-Basch Oh yes, writing. That I can listen and write down what someone says and tell them what they said later? Yeah, I'm either a witch or a king.
ReplyDeleteMatt Johnson Ohhh, basic hygeine! I can see it ....
ReplyDeleteInjured person: ow ow ow, the thasher cut my hand open!
"doctor": Let's put some leeches and mercury on it.
Me: How about we put a bit of stale bread on the wound instead?
Everyone: Are you a witch?
Brian Ashford Yes! The sheer amount of medicine knowledge in our heads is nuts. I know aspirin is deried from the bark of a willow tree.
ReplyDeleteI know to stay away from excrement, and that a little sunlight physically makes you healthier, while too much actually burns you.
William Nichols We also know to stay away from medieval doctors!
ReplyDeleteBrian Ashford Yes!
ReplyDeleteOh, I could maybe design a bicycle, though machining the steel for the chain would be downright hard.
Is it just me, or most of the time does D&D take place in a world seemingly with hygeine, childhood nutrition, and widespread literacy?
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols It does, but not always. Mostly because the alternative doesn't make for a better game.
ReplyDeleteThen again, these worlds tend to have a stable economy, access to magical healings either through potions from your local general store or from members of the state religion (who are required to be Good people). Also books and transport tend to be available. So really, D&D is quite a few steps up on middle ages Europe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe classes are just people with a little modern learning:
ReplyDeleteFighter: The kidney is here
Cleric: Stitches are just sewing. Also, here's how to sew.
Wizard: I can make gunpowder!
Thief: If people aren't look at you, they can't see you.
Elves are actually French.
ReplyDeleteDwarves are actually Scots.
ok, I'm gonna talk for a while about the ridiculous D&D economy as I understand it.
ReplyDeleteFirst level adventures have got equipment worth, say, dozens of gold. Maybe that's some armor, weapons, magical spell book, lockpicks, whatever.
Maybe in a 3e DM book, I read something like:
-- a peasant might clear 1 cp a day
-- an artisan might clear 1 sp a day.
-- a merchant might clear 1 gp a day.
-- It is 10 cp to a silver, 10 sp to a gold. So, 100 cp to a gold.
OK, so you are walking around with the net -- or maybe gross -- income of years of a peasant's life. Months of an artisans, and weeks of a merchants.
And you want to go adventuring?
ok, fine. You're an idiot. You go adventuring.
Then come to town, and look for healing potions. The local church will sell them to you -- for a dozen gold! That's the sort of wealth people just don't have -- maybe one person in a thousand would have that sort of wealth, and they've got them where anyone can buy them.
And don't even get me started on magic item stores. "Get your 20,000 GP swords here! Worth more than a city makes in a year! Worth a king's ransom! I've got dozens of different types!"
GRRRRR.
Maybe that's the super power I have: basic reasoning.
Just gonna hang this out there: in the closer-to-contemporaneous source material like Orlando Furioso wizards are explicitly “Arab scholars who know stuff we can only view as magic, because their civilization is just that much more advanced.”
ReplyDeleteNot sure how relevant thoughts about Tolkien and white-washing are here, but I do have them.
What happens if I show up to Apocalypse World with my modern sensibilities and knowledge?
ReplyDeleteDo I die and, if so, how quickly?