[Rq-rules] [OT][General FRP]Riddle of Steel

[Sven Lugar]

Simplified: the riddle of steel is: even though steel can cut a man.. 
Man makes steel & can destroy steel (ie: melt it down) & thus is 
stronger than steel.

Here' some thoughts for you that simplify history to the extreme but 
should spark campaign ideas: In history Mankind didn't go directly from 
bronze to steel, an "Iron Age" came first. Bronze is "harder" on the Moh 
scale when tempered than is iron but is far more brittle & shatters on 
side-loading stresses. Soft iron can often bend (an example from the 
Viking Sagas is when a duelist trading blows with another fighter in 
Holmgang [a very formal duel] he has to straighten his sword after every 
blow) but doesn't shatter as readily as bronze. It will also hold a 
sharper more durable edge when properly tempered. It was with Iron 
swords that the early "Arian Barbarian Invaders", such as the later 
Kelts, defeated the Bronze edged civilizations. Iron swords would often 
break or cleave thru a bronze sword & that is a very great advantage. 
Steel was not common until the Bessemer process made it  "iron Age 
smiths in Northern Europe found the remains of a massive 
Meteoritic-Steel strike & made some rather nice nickel-iron blades from 
that (possibly the source of the Legendary swords such as Excalibur, 
Curtana, Joyeuse, etc) which were even better than the contempary Iron 
swords. Note that early iron swords such as most spatha, gladii, Keltic 
broadswords lacked a fuller (misnomered blood groove) & were heavier. 
The fullered swords were lighter, stronger & better.
This information could give you a nice range of weapons within a logical 
structure:
1) common bronze swords with standard Armour points & reduced by 
continued damage.
2) Spell enhanced bronze weapons making them a runic weapon that is the 
equivalent of an iron weapon. Perhaps even superior to an iron sword in 
cutting until damaged or the spell broken.
3) Uncommon iron weapons with slightly greater Armour points - these are 
great weapons perhaps mistaken for a runic metal
4) Rare steel swords of the old pattern with even greater armour points 
& doing greater damage. More likely to break bronze weapons & armour. 
This is a true Runic weapon
5) So extremely rare as to be mythic fullered steel swords made from 
meteoritic steel, well made & legendary doing a lot more damage & having 
a lot more amour points. Thus likely break bronze weapons & armour. A 
legendary Runic weapon.

I hope those ideas & information helps. Good luck Tony.
Skol,
Sven

postmaster at runequest.za.org wrote:
> I suppose this could be RQ related. Some of you may recall the old Conan
> movie and "The Riddle of Steel" I was thinking of integrating a bit of
> this thought process in my campaign, especially as my game world is pretty
> much bronze age to early iron age. Some specialised lads may have steel,
> but its very rare.
>
> So what was the riddle. Any ideas of how one try to solve the riddle. Off
> the top of my head, I am thinking of perhaps a heroquest, or similar for
> some long lost/alien knowledge. Or perhaps the longer someone devotes his
> research time to solving the riddle (Against what skill, a weapon or maybe
> knowledge?) he then gets some sort of special bonus. Dunno what, maybe he
> gets a plus X change of a special attack or such.
>
> Any thoughts?
> Tony
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