A small barrel of Black Powder

The enemy lurks in shadows
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Hobnail
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:15 pm

One of the character in my campaign has found a small barrel of black powder - it was being transported from Nuln and fell off a barge.

Having trouble deciding what it might weigh and be worth?

The 2E Armory lists Black Powder as 3s per shot.......

Any thoughts?
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Orin J.
Posts: 514
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:39 pm

i'm assuming a "small barrel" is more or less watermelon sized for this-

Assuming the general average of blackpowder used to fire a gun is around half an ounce (a bit high here i think but they use large bullets in the old world) you would probably be able to wring 80-100 shots worth of powder out of it, depending on how stingy they were and if they had the right tools to separate the powder out. money-wise i doubt the merchant would be so forgiving and it'd probably fetch 110 or so gold (taking off some for the lack of bullets in the cost and a bit more for their overhead) assuming you can fence it without anyone realizing it's technically stolen, the powder didn't get damp in any way, and they don't simply try to rip you off. i'd portion it off into powderhorns myself and sell it that way to avoid anyone noticing the barrel maybe is stolen....

weight wise i'd assume the same encumberance of a keg of ale, 2.
easl
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2019 7:04 pm

Hobnail wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:17 pmAny thoughts?
Here's a link to the Jamestown Cooperage: https://www.jamestowncooperage.com/fort ... casks.html. They talk about cask size and have pictures. Here's a bit you might find relevant:
"British military of the 18th century used several different sizes of copper or sapling bound casks to ship gunpowder throughout the empire. Cask sizes included quarter kegs, half kegs, kegs, half barrels, and barrels. Quarter kegs (holding 6.25 lbs) and half kegs (holding 12.5 lbs) were mostly found in civilian use. Kegs (25 lbs), half barrels (50 lbs), and barrels (100 lbs) were mostly employed for military purposes."
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