Fantasy Metals

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Jeminai

Has anyone done any conversions on things like Mithral, Adamantine and other fantasy metals?

It depends so much on the source that there isn't any "correct" way to do it. Just make items made of those materials stronger and/or lighter than others, and boost the price appropriately. A more subtle possibility is that a superior material simply boosts the craftsman's margin of success when determining the quality of workmanship, as per crucible steel (see Low Tech Companion 3).

Yet another option, and one quite realistic, is that people will pay extra for a sword crafted in the deepest of the Dwarven Mountainhomes regardless of quality. Sure, regular steel is fine for Sir Joe of Shmoe, but a knight of better breeding wants something he can brag about.

Originally Posted by Jeminai

I use the various fantasy materials in Dungeon Fantasy but I would like to use many more from, various systems. I also like to use metals of the real world like iron and bronze but how would you represent something like Spanish Steel or Pig Iron?

Spanish steel is, AFAIK, just steel made from a naturally occurring high-quality alloy that allowed the local smiths to gain a reputation for Fine and Very Fine swords. Pig iron is an intermediate product in steel production that's pretty much useless for anything else.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Yet another option, and one quite realistic, is that people will pay extra for a sword crafted in the deepest of the Dwarven Mountainhomes regardless of quality. Sure, regular steel is fine for Sir Joe of Shmoe, but a knight of better breeding wants something he can brag about.

Yep. Toledo steel gained a reputation for quality. Indian wootz is another. Same thing happened with certain smiths. If a smith gains a reputation for quality then he can charge extra. After a while the actual quality doesn't matter so long as it came from Toledo or has that smith's name on it. A modern example is all of the fake Rolex and Gucci goods being sold. Gold jewellery is another. I'd be surprised if much of the jewellery sold in a US store today actually has the gold content that is being claimed.

[Refplace]

This was a long long time ago and for 2E I think but I can recall a few of te following.
Adamant was treated as steel but with *5DR
It was also shiny and silver in color.
Orichilum was a green jade colored stone that was easily enchanted and had a higher DR then granite. I think DR*3
Nulucum was artificial and a metal made out of a special process using Orichulim and was an antimagic material.
I used enchanted woods for kind of a sources of raw power magic thing based on the Celtic Tree guide and it would typically give a skill bonus of +1 or +2 and reduce the energy needed to enchant appropriate items.
You can get something similar now from Thaumatology without having to buy the rest from a New Age bookstore :) Or even look it up online now!!

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Orichilum was a green jade colored stone that was easily enchanted and had a higher DR then granite. I think DR*3

Orichalcum was defined anew for 4/e in GURPS Fantasy, as an example of a magical natural substance.

Bill Stoddard

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Orichalcum was defined anew for 4/e in GURPS Fantasy, as an example of a magical natural substance.

Bill Stoddard

Yeah and Adamant was also added in DF but he asked for our ideas and conversions so I went with that :)
Pointing at Thaumatology for the Wood thign was just sheer laziness on my part rather then digging up the info ;)
Has Mithril been done anywhere in GURPS? I would think that would be a licensing issue as I cant recall it from history or mythology.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Yeah and Adamant was also added in DF but he asked for our ideas and conversions so I went with that

Adamant is in GURPS Fantasy also.

Has Mithril been done anywhere in GURPS? I would think that would be a licensing issue as I cant recall it from history or mythology.

I certainly didn't do it. There are some cans of worms best left sealed.

Bill Stoddard

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Adamant is in GURPS Fantasy also.



I certainly didn't do it. There are some cans of worms best left sealed.

Bill Stoddard

LOL
And just so it will let me post this laugh which I appreciated and wanted to show that for I will add....
When is GURPS Social Engineering coming out?
No wait that may require an answer...
Ponders...Got it.
And besides Fantasy having all those materials when Social Engineering comes out we will have better rules on haggling over such rare materials!

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Has Mithril been done anywhere in GURPS? I would think that would be a licensing issue as I cant recall it from history or mythology.

Not officially, no. However, If there's any license invloved, Mithril is something the Tolkien estate must have given up on. I think it's in the D&D SRD.

[Bruno]

It may depend on the spelling?

Regardless, if you're going back to your Tolkein on it, Fantasy Tech has the treated linen curias as an example of an impenetrable material that you can still get injured through. It's thin, so it provides good DR at very low weight, and is impenetrable when crafted as mail, and is very very expensive (the little mail shirt was worth a significant portion of the dragon horde if I recall). Seems like a good sketch of the material.

I can't even imagine what it's like as plate, if it can even be forged into plates. Are there metals that can be drawn as wire and not hand-forged into plates, that aren't uselessly soft?

[Grouchy Chris]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Not officially, no. However, If there's any license invloved, Mithril is something the Tolkien estate must have given up on. I think it's in the D&D SRD.

Mithral is in the d20 SRD, along with halflings, treants, and balors, but mithril, hobbits, ents, and balrogs are not.