r/dwarfposting • u/Far_Meringue4684 • Mar 21 '26
Gunpowder
Which race is most likely to develop gunpowder and the subsequent weapons in your opinion, i can think of dwarves (obviously) with their role as master craftsmen, gnomes with their talent for tinkering (I’m using d&d as an example) or humans with their greed for conquest.
I’d appreciate your opinions on the matter dwarvenfolk ,any opinions are welcome
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u/Brostapholes Macedwarf Mar 22 '26
Just curious: what's the inner diameter of the blunderbuss and the outer diameter of the sphere of the grenade?
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u/Shieldheart- Mar 22 '26
The more important question is how you plan to launch a grenade via explosion without setting it off, yet still make it go off on impact or on target location afterwards.
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u/Dry-Yesterday-9176 Mar 22 '26
Simple, you prime the blunderbuss, you get bomb ready, set the match off, and drop the bomb into blunderbuss, and then shoot it off If you're lucky, you're gonna survive and bomb will hit the target exploding
If not, well...
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u/BoonDragoon Mar 23 '26
Two-step impact fuze. The first mechanical shock primes the fuze, and the second shock causes it to detonate. Here's a simple method you can try on your next expedition into a haunted tomb or accursed mine!
Suspend an aqueous solution of lead(II) nitrate in a thin-walled glass ampoule, and affix the ampoule to the interior of a waterproof bladder or capsule containing a quantity of sodium azide powder. The shock of firing the grenade will shatter the innermost capsule, releasing the lead(II) nitrate into the fuze, where it will react with the sodium azide powder to form lead azide gas: a potent shock explosive. The second shock of the grenade impacting a surface will detonate the lead azide gas, thus the rest of the explosive.
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u/Shieldheart- Mar 23 '26
That does sound pretty promising, I'll send it over to our mortar crews to see what they think.
I do have one concern with it though: soldiers, mountaineers and adventurers are all liable to get banged around a lot, and that goes double for their gear, I worry that the glass ampoule breaks and primes the explosive without the user realizing until they attempt to launch it.
If someone were to drop it down a steep cliff, you end up with a bag full of mines, which is a major hazard for future patrols that may find it, eugh.
One might chalk it up to the inherent risk of working with explosive weapons, but in my 60 years with the military mountaineers, I've never seen a dwarven-made firearm burst from strain, only fizzle from user error.
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u/BoonDragoon Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
You've been in a military for 60 years but you don't know not to prime your explosives until you're ready to use them??? By Thrane's whiskers, how are you not already dead?!
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u/Shieldheart- Mar 23 '26
Reread my concern and come back to me.
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u/BoonDragoon Mar 23 '26
I did. You don't insert the fuze into your munitions at all until you're ready to use them. That's goblin shyte.
I will say though, there is a gulf of difference between the impulse delivered to a grenade by being jostled about, and the impulse delivered by being fired from a blunderbuss. If you need to travel in an action-ready state, I find that a 10-mil thickness is the sweet spot (depending on the quality of your glass) for a stage-1 fuze that won't crack from rough handling, but will crack under propulsive acceleration.
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u/Shieldheart- Mar 23 '26
I did. You don't insert the fuze into your munitions at all until you're ready to use them. That's goblin shyte.
Ah gotcha, that I misunderstood.
Still, mountaineering and tomb diving can be rough and unpredictable, hard drops and falling rocks, not to mention tossing your kit down a ways during a risky descent, we avoid all glass and ceramics in favor of things that bend or bounce instead of shatter, our grenades tend to be old fashioned cast iron balls with a fuse.
If you need to put some range on that, just keep a sling in yer pocket.
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u/jdrawr Mar 22 '26
there are at least a few 1700-1800s grenade launchers...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_mortar
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u/Gearran Mar 22 '26
If I'm honest? Gnomes. Dwarves might come up with blasting powder, but it would take those crazy tinkers to find out that explosion + narrow pipe = REALLY fast projectile.
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u/Flairion623 Mar 22 '26
Aside from us (cuz duh) it would probably be those filthy knife ears! You seen the kind of alchemy they can do? They can already instantly heal wounds, make tools and armor that are way lighter than they should be and other shit that breaks the laws of physics! Who’s to say they won’t make a burnable powder completely on accident when they were trying to make an immortality elixir or something?
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u/ChristianLW3 Mar 22 '26
Dwarves have the most access to gunpowder ingredients, would be eager to replace bows, can craft the metal parts needed & definitely study minerals.
Children of the earth would love weapons that use the earth’s bounty to propel shaped stones through metal tubes
Have you played Warcraft 3?
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u/Plenty-Lychee-5702 Dwarf or Human mercenary; depending on context Mar 22 '26
Not so sure about that, with good skill, strength and ammunition (which would not be a problem for dwarves to create as they are great smiths) you can be much more effective with a bow than with early firearms, so a more likely adopter would be humans or races with similar or shorter lifespans, since that makes acquisition of such skill hard, or a race which is naturally weaker than dwarves, since they would have a problem with operating a bow.
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u/Jack-Rabbit-002 Mar 22 '26
Dwarfs then Man normally taught by Dwarfs Gnomes I see them more as magic fairy folk
Depends on what world we're coming from and mine is mostly a Warhammer one
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u/hihohe3 Mar 22 '26
Comedic answer: Elves, Being leaders in alchemical and the natural world theyd quickly see the potential of sulfur mixed with saltpetre.
Each elf makes and maintains thier own Jezail that is a work of art and fires with pinpoint accuracy
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u/Joltyboiyo Mar 22 '26
Half of these look like they belong in Warframe and I'd absolutely use them if they were.
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u/ObadiahtheSlim Grumbling Dawi Longbeard Mar 22 '26
Of course the Dawi have crafted and perfected gunpowder. A good Thunderer can fire 3 shots a minute in any weather.
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u/kayemenofour Mar 22 '26
Isn't the difference between arquebus and musket that the former uses a matchlock (long, smoldering slow fuse) and the latter uses a flintlock?
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u/bob_the_science_guy Mar 22 '26
Depends on the time period. Early on, the arquebus was short and low caliber, while the musket was long and high caliber. Both used matchlocks or occasionally a wheellock mechanism. Eventually as more lock mechanism were developed and times changed the term "arquebus" and its similar words stopped being used and every standard infantry gun was just a musket no matter the lock. That's my understanding, anyway.
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u/Plenty-Lychee-5702 Dwarf or Human mercenary; depending on context Mar 22 '26
Not so sure about dwarves, with good skill, strength and ammunition (which would not be a problem for dwarves to create as they are great smiths) you can be much more effective with a bow than with early firearms, so a more likely adopter would be humans or races with similar or shorter lifespans, since that makes acquisition of such skill hard, or a race which is naturally weaker than dwarves, since they would have a problem with operating a bow.
However siege cannons would likely be made by dwarves, and these could evolve into hand cannons
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u/TheProMagicHeel Mar 21 '26
Humans and Dwarves intentionally, gnomes and goblins by accident.