How does a lack of steel effect a campaign setting?

[Bibliophile]

I'm starting a new campaign in a few weeks, and I'm currently thinking of having it set in a pre-steel world. Available armor and weapons would be iron and bronze, with only the greatest smiths in the world having the knowledge to make steel.

The mechanic I'm planning on using to differentiate between different metals for weapons/armor works like this:
*Iron weapons are as normal, bronze gives a +1 to hit, steel gives a +2 to hit.
*Iron armor is as normal, bronze gives a +1 AC, steel gives a +2 AC.

So in what other ways would this difference of available metals affect the campaign world? What technology would and wouldn't be available? And what do you think about my rules for weapons/armor?

 

[Steverooo]

I'd go the other way, with Bronze as the standard, and Iron as +1, Steel still +2.

PS: Bronze is heavier, Iron & Steel about the same. Iron and Steel have more Hardness than Bronze, of course. Maybe Steel = 10, Iron = 8, and Bronze = 6? YMMV...

 

[Bibliophile]

Hrm... I was working off of wikipedia, which said iron weapons were softer than bronze, and mentioned that the regular roman legionaires had iron swords whereas their commanders had swords of bronze. Is this wrong? Or does D&D give wrong relative hardnesses for the metals?

 

[Turjan]

I always thought pure iron was too brittle?

 

[Ibram]

Is the game actualy set in an early Iron Age setting? if so then...

You'd want to go down the list of weapons and determine what would be made from each metal, and which would'nt exist at all:

Iron and Bronze Weapons: Maces, Daggers, Shortswords, hatchets, battle axes, shortspears/longspears, bows, warhammer, light crossbow

Steel: as above but add longsword

Non-existant: Polearms, great sword/axe, heavy/repeating crossbow, Rapier

existing armors: padded, leather, studded leather, hide, scale, brigadine (maybe), breastplate (again a maybe)

non-existant: chain and plate armors

 

[Ibram]

I always thought pure iron was too brittle?

it can be... but pure iron is very hard to produce. Its the carbon mixed in that determines the strenght of the blade, and though the early smiths didnt deliberatly add carbon to the mix some was present.

 

[Bibliophile]

Thanks Ibram, that sounds like good stuff, but what about other influences on the society? Are there any common tools that wouldn't be available without steel? What about transports (can you make sailing ships without steel?) ? How else does a society without steel differ from one with it?

 

[isoChron]

Ancient egypt ships were made of ropes and wood without any iron. That's ok if you don't travel a lot over open oceans.

Spells like Wall Of Iron are real treasure generators in such worlds.

Arms and Equipment guide listed Bronze with Hardness 9 HP 20/inch; -1 on attack and damage.

Wood will become much more used for common things and steel or iron chips may be used as coins instead of silver or gold.

 

[Ibram]

damned fine sailing ships were made before iron/steel was invented, wooden pegs and bronze nails can do the trick quite well.

You are limited from building things "big" with bronze and iron. wagons, ships, are smaller then things made with steel. Its also not possible to make large metal items (like plow blades) without good Iron/Steel.

Yet many things can be made with bronze/iron (damned good stuff to). In many ways our basic tool set has'nt changed much over the past 3k years. Early metalsmiths made surgical tools from bronze that were as functional as modern ones.

The trouble with bronze is that its soft and its... complicated... to make. Bronze is a copper-tin alloy, and so both those metals were needed in large quantities. Their were vast trade networks in the ancient world carring those metals to settlements where bronze was smelted. combined that with the softness of bronze and your metal tools would be more expensive.

 

[Steverooo]

non-existant: chain and plate armors

Actually, maille (mis-named "Chainmail" in the Victorian Era) existed in Roman times (Lorica Hamatta). The Lorica Segmentata used by Centurions would correspond to Banded Mail, in my book. YMMV...

In the various "Material Ages" (Stone, Bronze, Iron, etc), the tools didn't really vary, so much, just the materials that they all were commonly made of. Some of the weapons and armors hadn't been invented, yet, but wood was still used for bows, arrows, and spears, etc. Other changes influenced the world, more (lack of medical care, alchemy instead of chemistry, the theories of the elements & humours of the body, lack of compasses and watches (making navigation almost impossible), etc.)