How much would/should changing the default setting from High Medieval to Late Bronze Age change the game? For example, lowering AC across the board to simulate the lack of general armour. How much would that affect balance?
>you get hit by an arrow>your cleric/priest rubs literal shit on it to "heal you"> you die of sepsisWhy would I want to play that? Dumbass
>>97350722Depends on how deep into the rabbit hole you want to go. I'm lazy and already use none, light, medium and heavy armour, done, so that would just map directly to BA equivalents. Adding in rules for items breaking more or weapons being less durable could be alright. Lowering AC means more damage which means more danger, ymmv with whatever dnderiviative you're up to but you'll likely have to reformat encounters or rests and whatnot. Tailoring the spell list could help you preserve the vibe. Mythras/Runequest is a bronze age rpg with a lot of material and some following, haven't run it but might be worth looking into.
>>97350722Bronze Age heroes don't need armor, OP, when they already have balls of steel & the aid of their patron deity.
> be Bronze Age hero> have to fight Sphinx >Yeah its alright I managed to score this really rare and cool iron breastplate>Sphinx kills me with one paw, iron breastplate didnt do shit
> be in the Bronze age> iron chariots have scared my god away>lose the battle> wtf I thought I was in the Bronze Age
>>97350832>bronze age >balls of steel
>>97350722On average, polities will be smaller and more centralized, religion also will be more localized, with many cults not having much reach beyond their immediate parish; slavery is probably ubiquitous, people are much the same as ever.See - Complaints to Ea-nāṣir found incized on clay tablets, for not delivering purchased copper, and for what he did produce being inferior.The courtyard of his house was full of complaint missives, and I have often wondered if we will ever dig up a curse tablet directed at the same man.
>>97350918Yeah they're balls made out of a mythical metal at that point.
>>97350722AC and HP are ways to calculate unquantifiable concepts like the chance to be hit by a weapon in combat and to what degree it hurts you. For the sake of the game, you do not have to adapt DnD crunch logic and make it so people simply get hit more in combat and have to work around that. It is worth noting that throughout the overwhelming majority of combatants throughout human history from the bronze age to now fought with little to no metal armor.
>>97350931> your armor will never have this amount of swag
>>97350965>Ahanakahud Oled >who's balls were fallen from the sky
>>97350722Pick a system that fits. I'm using Worlds w/o Number for mine. Then change the names on things but otherwise leave them alone. I want high lethality and more open and mystical magic, so WWN works well, for me. If you're doing D&D, then just rename things and take out things that make no sense.Don't try to refigure the entire system to suit a setting change. It's a pain in the ass. Just look at Dark Sun. It contributes nothing.Pic of the first page of my own bronze age game I toy w/. That's the world map, on it.
> be Bronze Age Hero> The Gods gift me weapons and armor>they're all steel > ayylmao
>>97351007I usually see the "without number" games suggested more for their generators than anything, what's the system like?
>>97351610Mostly plays like D&D w/ a nod to skills and pretty high lethality but not so high that players get frustrated. The generators are definitely what's best about it, but its magic/psionics system, although unnecessarily complex at first w/ shock/strain, leaves a lot of intentional room for player innovation. The biggest downside is that treasure is mostly on you as the GM. The upside is that it's all compatible with anything ever published for D&D, so not very hard to find things to borrow.Honestly aside from its magic system, it could be literally any other D&D retclone or osr or whatever the hell they're called.
>>97350982Someone said that that helmet shape would funnel arrows straight into your eyeholes.
Idk why but bronze is way more aesthetically pleasing than iron/silver/gold.
>>97350722Subtract everything in pic related from the campaign.>No "universal" religions--all religions are specific to a single race, or even to a single ethnicity within a race>No mounted warriors with stirrups>No trebuchets or catapults>No war galleys>No concreteAnd, most important of all:>No distilled liquor
>>97351755That list and those ideas are pretty bad.>No "universal" religions--all religions are specific to a single race, or even to a single ethnicity within a raceThat's just wildly false. Hi the Akkadian Empire. Where they also rode horses, by the way. And Egyptians were using concrete for the pyramids all the way back in 3000bce. History starts being written down around 2000bce by either the Egyptians or Mesopotamians (I'm sure Assyriologists and Egyptologists love fighting about which came first).I mean they didn't have cavalry. But ride horses? They certainly did. Also alcohol distillation goes back to the Mesopatamian bronze age.
>>97351712Yeah, the arrows will deflect into the downward parts. That's why actual historical armor has the highpoint over the part you most want to defelect AWAY from.
>>97351825>I mean they didn't have cavalry.War chariots were the cavalry of the time.
>>97351846For sure. But they also just rode horses.
>>97351848Yeah I'm not disputing that, but I think op is right about the lack of stirrups. I don't think they even had saddles, they just rawdogged straight horseback.
>>97351866>is right about the lack of stirrupsYeah that's correct.
>>97351755Also this is just super misleading. "Large glass objects" is a technology of the iron age? Sure man. Because the glass objects being made in the bronze age weren't big enough to count? Wtf does that even mean? They were making jewelry, containers, art objects and other objects outa glass mostly to display wealth. Which is also what glass was primarily used for in the iron age. I'm curious what iron age glass objects go big enough that the image wants to count it as a "new" technology?
>>97351755Ok and the signature technology of the Middle Ages is "steel?" You mean that thing we only figured out how to make widely available in the 19th century? The Middle Ages abso-fucking-lutely were not defined by the use of steel. That's just batshit nonsense.Sorry. I promise I'm now done sperging about how ridiculous the claims in that image are.
>>97351664Thanks for the explanation.
>>97351755Nooooooooooooo
>>97351958They did have these though, anon. You and a buddy, sitting at the local tavern, drinking a barrel of beer each outa your own fuck-huge straw. It sounds comfy.
>>97351912there was definitely steel around. Problem was, smiths/refiners didn't understand why it happened, so every steel bar/item was precious.
>>97351988For sure--not denying that. But read that picture. The "signature technology" of the Middle Ages is listed as being steel. That's just wacky-crazy-nonsense.
>>97350722I’ve played a game (GURPS) which has support for the bronze age, and here are the main impacts.Bronze is not much softer than iron, but it is a lot more expensive. Armor and high metal weapons, namely swords, are comparatively limited. Most people have to rely on non metal armors like padded linen or leathers. Due to the low armor values all around, the dominant weapon is the Spear, as its extremely cheap even with bronze mods and performs very well against poorly armored opponents. The weapon list becomes a lot more limited, though what was lost is mostly polearms and swords. Bows are very effective due to generally lower armor values. Iirc the full list of warhorse equipment is not invented yet, so dedicated cavalry characters will struggle.Assuming you don’t use magical healing, medicine is about as primative as usual. Proper medical techniques are not available until the Renaissance in GURPS.
>>97352027And that's the biggest problem w/ a Bronze Age game.>Take any other fantasy game>Remove some stuff>VoilaIt doesn't create more fun.
>>97351884Glassblowing was not invented until the first century CE.
>>97350722What system
