Classic-Castle.com

I would tend towards the idea that Ninja/Samurai are castle. When I incorporated them into my world, I used them as different assassin guilds and did not incorporate firearms. I think the bringing gunpowder into a "castle" theme takes away from the romanticized view of the medieval time period. The advent of gunpowder in warfare changed the whole concept of war and eventually led to the end of nobility in warfare. Not that war was ever that noble.

Will

I wouldn't say that gunpowder alone did all that. European rediscovery of the Roman tactics of battle (massed men in formations, to improve morale and force) did more to change the battlefield than a technology that was mostly ineffective until the American Civil War introduced rifles which rotated the bullet with grooves. I think the power of the modern military is based on formation tactics and long-distance firepower, both of which changed significantly during the Renaissance. Gunpowder had a role, but did not itself "change the whole concept of war and eventually led to the end of nobility in warfare." The chivalric code (and horse-mounted knights) are still with us in the form of Army Leadership techniques (and tanks).

This same discussion is currently happening in General lego. I'm locking this thread and moving it there.

-Lenny