--- In rpg-create@yahoogroups.com, Peter Knutsen <list@...> wrote:
>
> I've decided that in the Ärth setting, "meteoric iron" is a
> fantastically good weapons alloy, equivalent to advanced steel (+2
> bonus), because it's cool and it simulates many *myths* about the
> material, even though realistically meteoric iron should probably
> be a mere +0, perhaps with a tiny degree of rustproofness relative
> to ordinary "iron".

Meteoric iron is actually a natural alloy of iron and nickel. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_meteorite.

The common meteoric iron-nickle alloy taenite has a hardness of 5-5.5 on the
Mohs scale. For compariosn, iron has 4, simple steel has 4.5, and hardened steel
has about 7.5. Taenite is also magnetic, and IIRC, meteoric 'iron' is often so
free from impurities that it becomes rust-free.

> So that's the scale. Where should I place silver, bronze and copper?
> (Information about other metals and alloys, such as gold, is welcome,
> but not badly needed.)

For hardness, I refer you to the Mohs scale:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness

However, hardness says nothing about how brittle a material is. Glass, for
instance, has a rather high Mohs value of about 7.

Pure gold and silver are very soft (Mohs value 2.5-3), not suitable for weapons.
Silver daggers in history were mainly decorative. The Precolumbian Mesoamericans
had lots of gold, but for weapons they used obsidian. Silver and especially gold
are also very heavy - it would be difficult to wield a gold sword.

- Klaus