Warhammer Online Interview

Warcry has conducted an interview with Robin Dews, asking the General Manager of Warhammer Online a set of questions about the upcoming MMORPG. Check it out:
Q: WarHammer Online is different from other RPGs; it was inspired by the Renaissance age and you can have guns in the game. If you have guns, (gunpowder) why is there a need to have bows? Why don't you have elves armed with a Colt?

A: You are quite right; one of the things that make the Warhammer background very cool is that it is Renaissance fantasy world and not the usual Sword and Sorcery high fantasy. We like to treat it as a game of what if... What if all of Leonardo's ideas had worked and they'd had tanks, submarines and flying machines in mediaeval Europe? It makes the whole background slightly more interesting. At the same time, there were indeed periods in history where guns, bows and crossbows all co-existed. The thing with early firearms is that they were very far removed from contemporary or even 19th century guns. Black powder weapons of this period late mediaeval - were all single shot weapons that had to be re-loaded by hand. This is not the sort of thing that you'll be able to do in the heat of battle. In the game, we intend for guns to be quite lethal, but slow and cumbersome to use. You can fire them to get into trouble (hopefully delivering a near fatal wound to that Orc before he gets too close!) or to get out of trouble (he's killing you...quick blow his brains out!)