2973 Pop Goes The Gorgon
on November 7, 2016
Chapter: Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Crossover
Characters: Hank, Lord Trahl Alla'a
Location: The Black Mountain
Scale, Hank, Handler and Gertrude are all visiting us from “Cowboys and Crossovers”
http://cowboysandcrossovers.thecomicseries.com/comics/
Drawn by Ron Bender (Well, when they aren’t being drawn by me, that is…)
Bullets are faster than a gorgon gaze? Good to know!
I think its a range thing, she probably wanted to use her reveal for intimidation and didn’t quite get the idea of a "gun" before it was too late… 🙂
Perhaps the bullet turned to stone just before it went through her skull. 🙂
I think eye contact is required.
Yeah, eye contact is necessary. She had to find her target's eyes, which gave him enough time to pull the trigger before any damage done to him.
Never bring a snake to a gunfight!
Smith and Wesson beats gorgon gaze piss easy!
Strangely enough, I thought of this particular scene from the movie "Wizards."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZqRzHnI8s
Harry Dresden definitely would approve.
Well, somebody died alright.
It was a request, not a command, and he complied.
Since no one else seems to be saying it… "BOOM HEADSHOT!"
In all seriousness though Hogan has a great point, firearms are an unknown variable in most fantasy settings usually due to the instability of gunpowder and the ability to ignite things from a distance with magic.
("Oh you have a handful of metal and explosive powder? Here allow me to ignite all of it for you while its still within shrapnel range of your body…")
Yes, but that assumes that the opposition has any idea what a gun or gunpowder is, or how it works, before they bite it. So far, only a certain survivalist gnome I can think of would figure it out almost instantly, and he would not be with the Rannites. 🙂
Agreed, proper working guns or similar would make a major impact in a feudal magical setting… right until the opposition figures out how they work and how spells like Heat Metal as well as Protection From Normal Missiles (Just to draw from typical AD&D material…) works like a charm against them :p
But one of the assumptions of most fantasy settings is that magic is relatively scarce — a high percentage of adventurers have it, but most people don’t, and even those that can weild magic are operating under some strict limits (mana, spell slots, something).
Plus you can get around heat metal spells with anti-magic barriers (at least in some settings), and Protection from Normal Missiles by putting sells on missiles, using mystical materials, etc. Not to mention tricks like ambushes, firing from outside of spell ranges (which may require rifling, depending on the spell and the magic system), and so on.
In a fantasy setting where magic users already don’t have it all their way, gunpowder tips the balance pretty strongly against them. Because you can train a musketeer in a few weeks, a decent rifleman in a few months, but it takes years to train a qualified mage in most magical settings, and relatively few people can use magic, so the war of attrition favors the guys with gunpowder even if the mages can get in some impressive licks of their own.
On the other hand, spells like Major Creation and Fabricate let you make bigger, better guns than the opposition (and don’t get me started on auto-resetting traps of those spells). A magical industrial economy beats a nonmagical industrial economy – though of course, someone has to think of it first.
True, though that often requires much higher magic availablitiy. Niven’s "After the Magic Goes Away" is a fascinating look at a high-magical society in collapse as global mana supplies are exhausted (the book’s very much a product of the oil crisis of the 1970s), and Harry Turtledove’s "The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump" is a really entertaining look at a society where industrial-scale magic IS the major engine of technology.
And of course there are things like Shadowrun that bring magic into a preexisting high-tech setting, so there are lots of variations of the theme to play with.
"…and Protection from Normal Missiles by putting spells on missiles…"
It wouldn’t even take much, even low-level magic would work, such as Continual Light or (to be a bit more subtle) Nystul’s Magic Aura. It wouldn’t give any bonuses to hit or damage, but it does make it a magical weapon.
No, the reason is the time needed to get them good enough. First firearms wouldn’t be really impressive for someone used to magic and/or enchanted crossbows, and it takes lot of effort to optimize them to something like this.
This is true, the early muskets sucked. The only reason they were used was because it was far easier to train and equip a bunch of commoners to use a musket competently, than it was to train that same competence and equip those men with bows and crossbows. With muskets, army size quickly exploded in size to where Napoleon’s Grand Armee had nearly 700,000 men in 1812 before the invasion of Russia.
First firearms weren’t impressive compared to longbows and trebuchets. But they were easier to lean, so they had a place on the battlefield, and once people started using them they started improving them, while the longbows and trebuchets were already as good as they were going to get.
Same deal with magic in most fantasy settings. You get an occasional genius wizard who comes up with something new, but tech is basically stagnant over centuries.
Although Rich hasn’t chosen to mention it, the guns Hank and Scale carry are Ironkeel Specials. They may look like percussion revolvers, but there is a little bit more to them than your typical Colts.
DAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaang, son!
YES! Finally! I really hope the tables are turning now!
Double Badass Mode:
"But… But… Looking at a gorgon’s eyes is instant death!"
"Oh, I know. That’s why I had my eyes closed."
Told ya 🙂
Btw: she’s "gor-gone" now. But gorgon heads are still dangerous *nods*
… that was almost as deadly as Hank’s aim… 😐
This is why it’s generally a bad idea to remove your helmet in battle. Clearly, she didn’t get the lesson from Starship Troopers.
To be fair, the guy is Starship Troopers probably would have been killed anyway.
DOUBLE TAP!
EMPTY THE CYLINDER AND RELOAD!
unless that’s a LeMatt, he fired his six. he fired five previous page.!
Scale has guns too. Some of the shots in the previous comic could have been fired by her.
His wasn’t the only gun up there. It might be the only one that goes "blam!" tho.
“Only the light is faster than me“
Huh, so that’s why the gorgon wasn’t named in the Characters section!
Hm, but her snake ferret creature *was* named. Maybe our heroes will find a use for it. 😛
Yes. Now featuring the Arcanovore as a tasteful accessory to a rich heiress.
Missed the sound effect in Panel 9 the first time. Hilarious.
Also, the detail of her inelegant demise, with the legs up and the cloak falling like that, is one of those simple touches that make a good scene great.
t!
I have been waiting for that!
Hank the most underestimated man in the multiverse. IRA underestimated him and lost Shelterville now the Grgon joins the list of the vanquished.
Pro Tip: removing the metal helmet that just saved your life is not a good idea
HANK IS MY HERO
YEESSSSSSS!!!!! Head shot, very effective!
Okay, THAT crit he confirmed.
THAT’S how you dare interfere in the affairs of the followers of Ranna
FATALITY!
Paladin. Call him a paladin. It may not be entirely accurate, but it gets across the idea of how dangerous he is in a way locals can understand.
Have gun, will travel, reads the card of the man:
A soldier of fortune in a savage land.
Nuff said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvxu8QY01s
Before my time, but there was that reference in "Stand by Me". 😉
Hmm, she’s not having much success hunting for magic items 😀
Oops…
Colt Peacemaker 1
Gorgon 0
All I can say is- I have been waiting a long time to see that happen.
Bravo.
Trick shot- over the shoulder. He wasn’t LOOKING at her! No eye contact, no petrifaction!
"Now die!" … Shouldn’t that be "Now petrify!"
(5 minutes ago)
Hank: "Some say it's best not to shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes."
Gaggia: "Ah, no! BIG no!" You REALLY want to shoot a Gorgon faster than that, or it'll be the last shot you DON'T make."
Hank: "… 'preciate the advice. I'll make use of it."