They should really fix that in Cabaret Chicks on Ice!

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Personally, I'm looking forward to a treatment of different weapon materials, how is a TL 2 Iron Broadsword different from a TL 3 Steel Broadsword. Just how much better is Obsidian to Flint?

One approach to RPG design is that it isn't so important what the sword is made of, whether it is iron or steel, but what the final quality is, e.g. in terms of GURPS' Poor, Good, Fine or Very Fine. It is simply that making a better sword is easier if you have steel to work with than if you only have iron, and much harder if you are trying to do it with silver.

Information abuot what material the sword is made of should of course still be kept, because it may have social or supernatural consequences, e.g. if you visit a culture where they don't know about steel making, or if some monsters can take half damage from steel but full damage from iron. My point is just that the material won't necessarily have any game-mechanical consequences for the owner - it already had its consequences, when the sword was made.


That's one take on the interaction of metal and weaponmaking, but I'm actually not sure whether it is the best.