Questions about Alternate Worldline Design.

[Rowan]

Originally Posted by Idiosyncratic

Bronze will definitely not be used for normal stuff. Remember, bronze was expensive. The whole reason that iron was such an advantage was that it's extremely common - Far more so than tin and copper.

So, even with a lack of extremely common iron, you feel bronze and perhaps later brass would not be used because of expense? Even in the face of a lack of other viable metals? If that's so, then are you saying it's still a viable option to have say bronze and brass hanging around, but still have the societies making more common use of stone, bone and obsidian materials for tools and weapons?

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

As far as I know, tin and zinc are less useful for tools and weapons on their own. They might be used as coinage. However, I also like the idea of using small gemstones as a currency.

Something else you should consider is whether you'll include fantastical elements. For example, if Adamant (Fantasy pg 22) or similar "Essential" stone is available, either naturally or through magic, then stone weapons could become much more resilient. The exact effects are up to you of course, but it could justify making Good-quality blades without an armor divisor, and potentially full-length stone swords. Stone Armor (Low Tech pg 106) would also benefit greatly from Adamant. Of course, such weapons and armor will be far more expensive than their metallic counterparts; Fantasy recommends x30 cost (CF +29).

Originally, the setting included some fantastic elements, but I tossed them in favor of a more mundane setting as I've several other settings with Fantastic elements.

As to small gemstones. Could those be viable as wide scale currency? I know the ancient Chinese used to deal with shells, but had some difficulty in keeping up with the availability of the shells.

What about bone? Porcelain? Bamboo?