Handling Different Technology Levels

[trilobite]

I am currently working on a savage prehistoric type D&D campaign in which there are several different technology levels present ranging from Stone Age to Bronze Age to Early Iron age.

What I am trying to figure out is how to handle the cost and availablity of different weapons and armor. What is the cost of a bone or stone pointed spear as compared to a bronze headed spear, etc...

A bone headed spear would have -2 to hit and damage while a bronze one would be only -1 to hit and damge. I want to make iron weapons special though and steal ones even more so. How do you think I should handle this?

 

[smilinggm]

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"A D20 System (TM) Guide to Arms and Armor from the stone -age to the Resaissance"

This is a heafty 351 page book that will answer all of your questions for your campaing. It is a great book.

 

[Whisper72]

Well... one of the ways to look at it is as follows...

First of all, if stone is the 'base' material, it is essentially similar to metal weapons in 'regular DnD'. If bronze is essentially +1 compared to 'base', then bronze is essentially masterwork compared to stone. You could use that price difference...

Another way to look at the difference is one of 'base' versus _magical_ weapons. From the POV of a prehistoric person, a steel weapon WOULD seem magical...

Furthermore, the issue of price seems to me somewhat moot, as prehistoric and most bronze age civilizations did not really _have_ money based economies...

It would be an issue of trade. In that sense, rarity is the main issue. If metal weapons are extremely rare, ppl will be willing to trade more for it. Thus, it depends upon the amount of trade between the technological different peoples and the amount of weapons spread out. On the other hand, from the POV of the more advanced peoples, the simpler weapons would be pretty much valueless, except maybe as 'art', as trophies or remembrance of olden times. No-one in his/her right mind would want a stone spear if bronze spears are readily available...

So to answer your question, cost and availability are the main variables here, but they are dependent upon eachother. The rarer the 'better' weapons are, the costlier they will be...

 

[EdL]

I am currently working on a savage prehistoric type D&D campaign in which there are several different technology levels present ranging from Stone Age to Bronze Age to Early Iron age.

What I am trying to figure out is how to handle the cost and availablity of different weapons and armor. What is the cost of a bone or stone pointed spear as compared to a bronze headed spear, etc...

A bone headed spear would have -2 to hit and damage while a bronze one would be only -1 to hit and damge. I want to make iron weapons special though and steal ones even more so. How do you think I should handle this?

NOTE: Early Iron Age weapons are worse that bronze weapons!!! Steal is very rare! How to make it is either a matter of accident or known to only a very few select armor/weapon smiths. The reason iron took over from bronze was because it was more plentiful and, therefor, cheaper. (Once you knew the secret of how to smelt it, anyway.)