Pyramid #3/52: Low-Tech II

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

The reason is easy to find if you read the relevant literature or ask Dan: intricately shaped plates ("nothing in armour is flat"), over heavy clothing of tough organic fibres, backed by a solid body, protects better than a flat plate stood on one end and backed by nothing.

I'm perfectly aware of that. Modeling it as +1 DR instead of a percentage reduction in required weight is perverse.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm perfectly aware of that. Modeling it as +1 DR instead of a percentage reduction in required weight is perverse.

??? Dan was working with pieces of armor in museums with actual weights, and trying to average them out and assign game stats to them. From there, it's backformation to general stats.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm perfectly aware of that. Modeling it as +1 DR instead of a percentage reduction in required weight is perverse.

I don't think we have enough data to say what is realistic. In general, since Dan decided that the lightest full-Chest cuirasses weighed about 8 lbs and were about 1 mm thick, the choice was "+33% weight and cost for +0.33 mm thickness and +1 DR" or "+50% weight and cost for +0.5 mm thickness and +1 DR."

I personally wish he had used a percentage bonus in the Hardened Plate rule, but that is easy to house-rule at TL 4.

[Flyndaran]

Does it make sense to everyone else for it to cost so much more to conceal expensive mail armor as for good iron? I wonder if each armor type should have a uniform price just for multiplying CFs for such alterations.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

Originally Posted by aesir23

I don't know about that...I've always regretted being born too late to taste mammoth.

Like everything else -- it tastes like chicken.

[Apparently, if you read various survival anecdotes, every "odd" meat tastes like chicken.]

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym

Like everything else -- it tastes like chicken.

[Apparently, if you read various survival anecdotes, every "odd" meat tastes like chicken.]

I hate that ridiculous non-answer. People use it as a euphemism for bland. That's only because modern farm raised chickens are slaughtered around 6 weeks of age, before they mature in flavor, but after they've lost their eggy flavor.
I can tell you that alligator tastes like reptile should. No, I have no idea what that means, but that's how it tasted to me. :)

Some closely related animals taste quite different. We can't know what non-freezer burnt mammoth tastes like.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I can tell you that alligator tastes like reptile should.

I agree. To me it tastes like something halfway in between fish and poultry. Exactly what you'd expect from its evolutionary heritage.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I hate that ridiculous non-answer. People use it as a euphemism for bland.

Bland in a way that isn't vaguely like beef, pork, or fish.

[Tuk the Weekah]

Originally Posted by aesir23

I agree. To me it tastes like something halfway in between fish and poultry. Exactly what you'd expect from its evolutionary heritage.

I tried to explain it as a cross between catfish, capon, and pork chops (more in texture than taste for the pork chops).

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Does it make sense to everyone else for it to cost so much more to conceal expensive mail armor as for good iron? I wonder if each armor type should have a uniform price just for multiplying CFs for such alterations.

Basing difficulty to conceal off DR is a convenience that can become quite silly.
It needs to be based off thickness, construction and material. cf that furry footed bloke wot woz saved by his pointy-earred mates flashy t-shirt & the Yojimbo/ Fistful of Dollars/ Last Man Standing trick.

Find the armor that DR based concealment makes sense for and work from there?
That could be a Pyramid article in itself.