I am not sure you were being serious, but let's just say that guns quite obviously don't fit into TES lore, at least not very well anyway. Personally, I'd advise against it, I just won't read otherwise Unless the fan-fic is set in the 5th or 6th Era, then maybe I'd give it a go.

Yes it is. But having Tamriel have a techno-revolution the same way Earth had it's, that would be a bit strange. It would be foolish to see Orcs with AK-47s, Imperials with M16s, ect ect.

The first step to including advanced tech in a TES fiction is to explore the dwemer ruins in Morrowind for early tech. Advanced crossbow technology (Dwemer crossbows are far superior to the Imperial mass-production ones), and some basic steam/magick constructs. Obviously, technology would march on in a different direction that ours. Look at Warmachine/Iron Kingdoms for a good look at what a Tamriel techno-revolution would look like.

Of course they don't fit in TES lore... unless your story is based when technology has been developed. Seriously, why does everyone seem to think guns are bad? They're not. You don't have to have assault rifles and bazookas. Seriously, you're selling yourself short if you don't think guns belong in TES.

EDIT:

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I never said they had to wield AK's and M16's. What about flintlock pistols and muskets?

Lore is a tricky thing. A relevant and vital thing in fanfics is canon. Canon is this: "Is this likely to happen?"

Elswyr vs. Vvardenfall war? Canon approved!
Black Marsh vs. High Rock war? Canon not approved... (unless you have an uber explanation)

But, yes, to find a good plot, you need to dive deep into the depths of TES Lore. Just bring a map and flashlight in case you get lost.
If you want to stray from lore and canon, like in my story, then you have to come up with a good background and description. (although I have yet to master that skill)

If your dude can summon a dragon, then how does he do it? Where does the dragon come from? Where does he get that kind of magicka? Is this the last dragon? Those are the kinds of things you need to answer so to make it clear to the reader.

So, straying from lore can be tricky, but it can be done.

Or, since magick is common (sorta) in TES, why not have guns that harness a person's magick supply, or allows a mage to channel his spells through his gun?

You don't have to use 18th centrury guns to have the type of weapon in your story.

That's pretty much what I said; as long as the story is set somewhere in the future then I think guns would be okay. And of course I didn't think you meant AK-47s and the like. Muskets would be a nice touch, if handled properly.

If your going to have guns ahve the earliest type... Blunderbuss (like a shot gun at first then it has a bellshaped end, it does alot of damage, and is slow and shortranged.)

Inventions come from a need.

What would cause us to think that a culture that can sling fireballs would be motivated to develop metal tubes that threw little pieces of lead? :lmao:

(Yes, my tongue is firmly in my cheek and I am joking, sort of).

Good point, but I suppose not everyone is good with magic?

Consider into your calculations that the basic fireball seems to take multiple casts to kill of anything larger than a rat. You can't possibly excpect to teach fireball spells to a whole army you just levied that'd be as effective as shooting a musket, which has the additional advantage of being reusable in that you can loot them off of dead comrades/enemies. And that at least the early versions of the handgun were cheaper to make than crossbows, easier to use than bows, had sufferable punch power and crossbows were almost as useless in rain anyway.

why have the metal tubes fire lead? A weapon, shaped like a rifle, that fired magickal energy capable of dissolving flesh and disintegrating armor would present a great tactical advantage.

I must have missed yours, when did you post it


:shrug: Different strokes for different folks. Some people like the idea of basing a story off already established lore (in my opinion it keeps a lot of amateur writers from making space ninjas :ninja:) while others enjoy making their own world up. My advice is to keep to fan fics until you are confident you can handle your own entire story.

First of all, lore is a thin line to walk when writing fan fics. You have more than the "stick to lore vs. don't stick to lore" black and white look at it; the best idea is to either make a story about a lore event and adding detail to a legend or to add in one (more than one can be a bad idea) lore deviation. The best example I can think of is, say, adding a new faction; it is not necessarily lore, but it is not against lore. Don't rub any existing lore the wrong way and you can make up whatever you like.

I would apply the same idea to guns: so long as it is realistic and tasteful, guns can be a good thing. Gunpowder is sure to exist in Tes, and, as said, people have use for it; so there would be no reason not to put in muskets or pistols. However, if you go completely against Tes and add in tanks or something equally ridiculous, you are no longer writing a Tes fan fiction. I'm pretty sure some of the pirate ships out west have cannons (I still hold that cannons are canon)

And if you want to know anything about lore, ask the lore section, the imperial library, or the uesp wiki. One thing to keep in mind though is that, as has been said, most lore are legends and myths, easily manipulated by the informed author. For example, one thing I researched for a story was the Alessian Rebellion (when Alessia and Pelinal overthrew the ayleid and conquered Cyrodiil); I made sure to keep within most lore, but one thing I always kept in mind was that most all of the sources had been altered over time (ie the Song of Pelinal), which gave me a lot of leeway.

So, ask us before you do anything drastic, but so long as you use common sense you should be fine. Good luck, I'll try to critique your story when I get the chance :goodjob:

PS No, Peleus, I didn't forget about your hand in that, and I'm still too busy to partake right now

Twas in the fallout section, and I haven't seen many of you venture there

Wow this really exploded over night (for me anyway). All of this is beginning to give me ideas, unfortunately I go on retreat today, which is an overnight thing with my school. I'll be back by tomorrow afternoon and I should have a basic plot by then. So I'll post it here and see what you all think. By all means feel free to continue on posting.

For this reason:

Bobby woke up and put on his hat. He put his gun in his hand and he ran outside.
------------------
Rachel saw Bobby wake up and then she got dressed and went out after him. The dog that was there barked. Then a super mutant came and she saw Bobby shoot him.
--------------------
Dogmeat the dog barked when it was the super mutant. Then it died.

Example of a Fallout RP.

Nah, the grammar and spelling is too good.

Though honestly, the Fallout section isn't bad, it's merely bad by our standards. The vast majority of RP sites are much, much worse. One line with no capitalization and no punctuation with l33t speak throughout. And they call that the standard for RPing. And the Fallout section is okay. It was getting better, but a lot of the good RPers there left, like Francois Lachon. I'm not sure what direction it will take. As much as I'd like to think it will get better, I just don't know.

You mean to tell me we're alone in this universe? That no other intelligent life exists out there? Surely by the sheer number of planets/forums there have to be some that are worthwhile (excluding those that were started by people from here; ie Illusionaria, Chorrol, etc.)

Oh sure, there are some real gems out there where people actually take writing seriously, but the majority that most people are going to see are terrible. Take FF.net for instance. There are a lot of truly great writers there, but take one look at the RPing section and it's like stepping into the Twilight Zone. It's all absolutely terrible. Same for most that have large populations and are frequented often. I've found that the best places to RP can be the smallest forums, where you only have a few, dedicated people.

As far as fanfiction goes, there are a lot of places where you can find quality stuff, but more often than not it'll be overshadowed by the sheer amount of crap that surrounds it. To see what I mean, go to fanfiction.net, go to any section with a huge fanbase, such as Kingdom Hearts for instance, turn off the rating system so that it doesn't automatically delete M rated stuff (Which is a minority anyway.), and look at the first ten fics. All utter trash, I'll almost guarantee it. Are there good fics there? Yeah, but the casual observer will never see them.

:whisper: In Cyrodiil, we call such a thing a 'staff'. :lmao:

meh. a mages staff take too much effort to make. Besides, you can't exactly mass-produce staff's, but if you could mass-produce magic rifles...

Well, I've conjured up, a basic idea/plot. I don't know if this has been done but if it has, let me down gently. I was thinking of something along the lines of 'What if the Daedric invasion had succeeded?'. In case you're not sure, I am referring to the invasion led by Mehrunes Dagon, into Cryodiil (Oblivion). If it makes it easier, I could type up a little intro, so I can explain things in greater detail.

"What if" scenarios are always fun. If you want to go with it, go with it. I'd certainly read it. I must say, though, be careful. If you have the war succeed, you have a lot of trouble on your hand. This sort of project would take a lot of effort, but that's where all the fun is at.

Oh, I like the sounds of that! It will be risky though, I must say. I'll certainly be reading it though, and if you have a few problems or there are some faults, people will point them out and you'll likely improve that way.

Actually, if done well, it would be a very cool idea to write about. I would read it

Hmm, there was an RP a while back that dealt with the aftermath of the invasion. A slave camp or some such. Never really got far, if memory serves. But an interesting idea, nonetheless. I'd be interested in reading and offering my own critiques if necessary.

Thanks for the support guys, I'll write up a prologue this afternoon.