View Single Post

Thread: How to -- 4th century BCE setting

  1. - Top - End - #58
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: How to -- 4th century BCE setting

    On Stirrups. It is important to remember that much of the stuff said about what is possible with vs without stirrups is bubkips; what stirrups do is make a bevy of option far easier. A classic lance charge of middle ages fame being one of the only points where can/cannot comes into play. So really things that take skill to pull off in whatever base game you are drawing from just increase the penalties. Also ban things that require tossing your whole wieght around (for example DnD feats like Power attack, Cleave etc-perhaps require special mounted versions if you think appropriate)

    On bronze: a couple key things about bronze. Tin Bronze (vs alum-bronze or arsenic bronze-whose creation was prone to purity and ratio issues) wass generally better than most iron for a substantial period of time. But it had lots of flaws. It was expensive due to issues of needing too import tin (which is in large part why Britain stayed with bronze the major tin ore came as black cornish crystals) but also social ones-the iron sword could be made more locally, and as such linked with things such as gift giving, pledging/declaring allies or group identity, also the steel swords the nobles would usually come from the same workshops as the iron ones (which came later-on the boarders of your timeline) etc. Also bronze had great advantages over iron in many non-military uses (jewerly, saltworks, etc) and it made more sense to spend the bronze supply on these. Also very few places had bronze when they needed it-the more raided your trade routes the less bronze was available which makes a poor weapon source. So while on a pure mechanical standpoint bronze weaponry was usually better than iron it was far worse in terms of social and economic factors. Steel knocks it out completely though.

    On gems-far fewer cuts were common-mostly polished hemispheres and beveled rectangles

    On time period. One of the reasons I think this discussion may be focusing on a particular time/place is that you are aiming at a tech level and having given a place. Other places didn't necessarily have the desired teech level at the same time. So if it is tech level you want to hold consistent looking at the earlier Sahel and West African Nations could be useful. Places like Timbuktu and Benin were well into "middle ages" tech in some fields but their predecessors could have lots of good work to deal with.

    Also as much as you might dislike the cliche the warring states period seems about right in terms of tech as well. Swords becoming a thing for example. Also some amazing bronzework done in what was then not China south of Qin (today dead center of china).

    Two other groups worth taking a look at and ripping off at the desired tech level would be the Kush (very Egyptian influenced but different enough to be fresh) and Ethiopians.

    Will write more when I get home and have map/timeline/library access.
    Last edited by sktarq; 2016-08-19 at 06:25 PM.