Why are guns so unpopular in fantasy?

Why are guns so unpopular in fantasy?

Is there a logical reason why existence of gunpowder weapons would make a fantasy setting worse?

Guns evoke the feelings of contemporary individualism that weren't present in medieval Europe.

At the very least medieval world's feel timeless and sustainable, and improvements to technology seem minimal at best With improvements to existing technology like swords and steel. Guns are a new technology that becomes more commonplace in the 16th and 17th century that turns the universe into a world that isn't so timeless. Instead of feeling like it could be anywhere, it feels colonial at best or already industrialized at worst.

Despite the fact that it's wrong, we have this conception that guns don't require skill to function, which takes away the feelings of heroism.

Also, Tolkien.

An answer you commonly get in threads like this is "because guns are too deadly and break the systems". People saying this tend to forget that an axe in our skull also tends to be no less lethal

Ib4 "FurFag" but Iron claw manages to balance guns and fantasy together quite well.

That being said I dislike them most of the time because it makes combat boring more times than not. Just two people in cover shooting at each other instead of radical melee fights.

I'm of the opinion that matchlocks and the like would only improve settings.

The 30 years war is the perfect setting.

I guess this is the real problem. 5 gobos with muskets could kill your heroic knight in plate with no effort. It makes combat very deadly.

Theyre not good on an individual scale in the timeframe which most fantasy fits in. This means to an adventurer/hero/whatever the players are its basically a clumsy noisy device that does jack shit comparred to a good ole' sword or spell.

Short answer is muh high fantasy

Yeah, it is kinda silly. People seem to treat guns and swords in RPGs as Death Rays and Wiffle Bats respectively.

That's just bullshit. There is a reason why they replaced bows and crossbows even for hunters. Or why Indian tribes that got firearms were able to wipe out ones that didn't.