From: Kevin Rose (vladt@interaccess.com)
Date: Fri 19 Jul 1996 - 18:25:19 EEST
> I don't believe in travelling smiths. Why would a metal worker travel? How
> would a metal worker carry all that equipment and hundreds of pounds of metal
> around?
I saw a reference to bronze smiths traveling in a book about ancient
technology. It was based on the piles of obviously broken bronze tools
and weapons that were hidden next to sites in non-Roman Europe. The
evaluation was that they stored the metal (using the "customers" metal to
build new tools and weapons for them) and just carried tools, which are
pretty minimal for bronze.
> I have been interested in smithing for more than twenty years
> and have made a few things with my anvil and forge, including some sword
> blades. At the moment the only RW travelling metalworkers I can think of are
> tinkers who just have enuf stuff to repair pots and pans. Any comments?
>
Iron is another matter, as it requires anvils and other heavy/bulky
things. Or so it has been argued.
> 6) We have a guy in our group who constantly re-writes his character sheet
> and every time he transfers his stuff over to the new sheet, his skills
> improve without making experience rolls.
Three options I can see: kick him out; have the NPCs he faces be much
tougher/more accurate than the other PCs (You crit him in the head -
fortunate that he critically parried that. . .); or have his character
die and lose a bunch of skills every so often.
The tendency towards probability/character enhancment, in teen-age
players, is fixable. I've seen people reform when under intense pressure
for a while. I've also seen them not and get horribly slain again and
again, or leave in a huff. I've seen games where everyone knew that "Joe"
cheated. He was the one who always demonstrated how the monster/trap/ambush
worked to the other players. . .
Kevin
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