system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Fantasy] Is there a reason so many fantasy stories don't include gunpowder?
gpt
It really depends on the universe.

In the Forgotten Realms universe, gunpowder is inert because the god of gnomes got tired of gnomes inventing it and blowing themselves up. Gnomes still blow themselves up, but now they have to work harder at it.

Other universes gunpowder is a highly kept secret.

Still others never bothered to weaponize it because magic is so useful. For example, in How the Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom gunpowder and cannons exist but how much magic you can pack into something depends entirely on its mass. So an arrow or spear will always be able to deal magnitudes more damage than a bullet just because of how much you can enchant them.