D&D needs improvement

[Agback]

Platinum Pieces - Where in the heck did medevil soceities learn how to smelt platinum?!

You would have to ask the Incas about that. Though perhaps they are too low-tech to count?

(Hint: Like gold, platinum doesn't need to be smelted: it is so unreactive that it occurs in nature as native metal. It is just desperately rare on Earth because it is a siderophilic element, and therefore most of what we got is concentrated in the core.)

 

[Agback]

Yeah, right. I'd site the japanese two-sword style, which is better docciumented then the european equivalent, but i can't recall it's name.

Ni-to-kenjutsu?

 

[Larcen]

I haven't read this entire thread yet so I don't know what direction is has taken since the first page, but I happened to see something today at another site that struck me as very relevant to this discussion, despite that it's an exerpt from the 1E DMG:

"Advanced Dungeons amd Dragons is first and foremost a game for the fun and enjoyment of those who seek to use imagination and creativity. This is not to say that the highest degree of realism hasn't been attempted, but neither is a serious approach to play discouraged. In all cases, however, the reader should understand that AD&D is designed to be an amusing and diverting pastime, something which can fill a few hours or can consume endless days, as the participants desire, but in no case something to be taken seriously. For fun, excitement, and captivating fantast, AD&D is unsurpassed. As a realistic simulation of things from the realm of make-believe, or even as a reflection of medieval or ancient warfare or culture or society, it can be deemed only a dismal failure. Readers who seek the latter must search elsewhere. Those who desire to create and populate imaginary worlds with larger-than-life heroes and villains, who seek relaxation with a fascinating game, and who generally believe games should be fun, not work, will hopefully find this system to their taste."

I think that sort of wisdom and clarity is timeless enough to encompass all editions of D&D. God bless you, EGG!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Like gold, platinum doesn't need to be smelted: it is so unreactive that it occurs in nature as native metal.

I just recently saw some gold and platinum ores in Russia...it's not quite pure, but it is very, very metallic. Extracting the metals from the ore is not that difficult.

Extraction only gets difficult when the metal is reduced to trace levels, like in a sample of "Gold-in-quartz," a white, marble-like stone with spider-web veins of gold in it.