On Thu, 9 Jan 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: >Consider Spell-sticks (as described in Orca, p. 224). They went out >of fashion as soon as a sorcerer discovered a way to make all of the >enemy's spell-sticks spontaneously detonate. It's easy to suppose >that a similar spell could be developed for gunpowder. (And remember >that early guns in our own world were already likely to spontaneously >blow up in the user's hand...) This is shown, by the way, in PJ Farmer's "A Barnstormer in Oz". Oz turns out to be a parallel universe where magic works, and the protagonist, Hank Stover, brings in various weapons including an Army-issue revolver and a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), and is indeed a force to be reckoned with -- for a while. But later on he steps away from his revolver for some reason, and sees things like translucent red worms wriggling all around his gun - which discharges all of its bullets at once, as well as all the other nearby ammo. He also hears distant explosions from where the BAR, its ammo & other weapons are stored. Oops. Come to think of it, Glinda the Good from that book bears a certain similarity to Sethra Lavode - astonishingly old yet young-looking, an intelligent leader, skilled in magic, and a ruthless tactician. Sudden notion for a workaround to the gunpowder problem: High powered air-rifles; all you need is a good knowledge of air pressure and good machining. No chemicals to worry about...