In addition to any natural magical metals I rather like to go with magical metals based on the seven classical metals, these are alchemicly created from the base metals and are not mined, they are known as "Perfected Metals" and are are valuable in the extreme. They are only made by the most skilled alchemist/mage, and take time and effort, philosopher stones are a great help. All Perfected Metals are immune to all but the most extreme or specialized acids. Orichalcum (Perfected Gold): Associated with fire, the sun, ruler-ship/divine right, power generation, and hurts any kind of fiend or creature vulnerable to sunlight. The metal is immune to fire and has the same hardness of mythril. Looks like slightly more reddish gold Lunargent (Perfected Silver): Associated with cold, the moon, purity (from evil), and divine (good) power hurts anything vulnerable to silver, has basic stats of mythril. The metal immune to cold. Looks like slightly more blueish silver Hermium (Perfected Mercury): Associated with psychic power, divine (chaotic) power, healing magic, and is bizarre possessing both super fluid an self adherence properties (a mass of it wont easily be separated from the whole and its not too difficult to bottle). Psychics can be mold the metals shape with their mind, giving it hardness and sharpness when they focus on it, the metal can be enchanted to take several programed shapes by normal people. Hermium is not poisonous, but refining it can be very dangerous because Mercury is, and part of creating magically removes the spiritual taint of poison which can effect the alchemist. Hermium looks like liquid mercury with a constantly rippling effect, and when hardened into a shape has the same stats as steel, but if destroyed it can simply reshape itself. Kypris (Perfected Copper) (also known as Brontium): Associated with conductivity, electricity, arcane technology and divine (law) power. Kypris is a super conductor of electricity, heat, and even mystical/psychic energy. Kypris has the same basic stats as steel, but with twice the hit points, and is immune to electricity. Looks like the soft green of rusted copper, but metallic. Kassiterum (Perfected Tin) (Also known as Zinnteros): Associated with Sound/music, summoning, aid, divine (neutral) power, and purification. Kassiterum has the hardness of adamantium, but not the sharpness and the material itself is immune to sonic attacks. Kassiterum can hurt aberrations, by passing their damage reduction. Kassiterum is soft pure white, never has any inclusions, and make the purest sounds with struck. Apeiron (Perfected Lead) (Aka Thanatite, Khronicum, or Stygium): Associated with death (and undeath), curses, the ethereal plane, divine (evil) power. Aperion has the same basic stats as steel, and has natural ghost touch ability and can block all sorts of natural and supernatural radiation very effectively. Apeiron is dull grey, nearly identical looking to normal lead. Siderite (Perfected Iron): Associated with strength and sharpness, resilience, penetration, space, and defiance to magic. Forging Siderite can only be done with magic and difficulty. Siderite has the same basic stats and counts as Adamantine, though is slightly lighter than steel and has twice the hit points, in addition counts as cold wrot iron as well and will hurt any fae regardless of normal resistances. Siderite is a memory metal, and when bent or warped it will flex itself back to its proper shape unless special magic is used to shape it, it will never dull. Much like cold wrot iron, Siderite is hard to enchant (+2500gp cost to enchant), but makes potent items once it is done. Siderite is a dull mat black, not even metallic looking. There are/can be others, but they are much rarer, such as perfected: cobalt, salt, jade, and sulfur. Also for fantasy games I like to use a "Gnomish Ceramic" that gnomes make from secret materials and dragon bones... or dragon relatives, like Kobolds. Believe it or not this is the condensed version >.>
Thank you very much, I always wondered just what the heck orichalcum was supposed to be. The rest is super cool too, please tell us more! Is bronzium the same as brontium?
AJ, excellent overview! I've been DMing for 30 years, and building my universe for that long. Yet, have largely overlooked many aspects of mining. You just gave tons of ideas... Cheers; Janos
Been playing just as long and if it weren’t for a player at our current table that is a mechanical engineer and amateur black smith, our world wouldn’t have the crafting charts and tables that we have. We recently decided to transition from our own home brews to forgotten realms because we have newer players joining the table and most of the information that is available on line is either FR or Greyhawk. We plan on keeping some of our house rules and systems like the crafting tables and Metal blending rules that was researched for our home brew.
OMG AJ. Videos like this are a dream for us world builders. Please make more like this about fields and practices overlooked but fundamental to past societies. So useful and informative!!
I appreciate the fact that you try to incorporate all editions and yet still manage to maintain a sense of being edition agnostic. Thank you for your effort.
Oh good, one of my players is an artifice armorer, working on his masterpiece. I was trying to figure out what metals would be most appropriate for him to need (and hire people to... acquire), and I find this video! You always seem to have what I need
You are a gift to the hobby. The depth and precision of your research is truly exceptional. As a professional DM, you are someone I look to as a resource when I need to know something, inside and out. Many thanks.
Medieval fantasy-based industry is always one of my favorite topics to touch on when my players decide to converse with the local merchants or villagers. It's a perfect opportunity to drop some tidbits of information on how adamantite is forged or mined, or what tools and practices are employed in pulling it out of the ground. So many opportunities to build lore in a logical way, and the information makes your players feel more grounded, and gives them ideas on where they may want to go in the future.
Was just planning a Star Metal “gold rush” style mini plot, so this was just what I needed to fill it out with more than I could have even hoped for. Thanks for your industrious work AJ!
I absolutely love this video. I love playing the wandering smith/craftsman trying to find the best materials to craft legendary items. This is going to be extremely useful.
Obdurium is one of my favorite fantasy metals that you did not forget it!! Unless it has been reprinted since, thinaun doesn't just strip the soul from a creature it kills, it holds onto the soul of any creature who dies while in contact with it, so it can only hold one such Soul at a time and will release an earlier soul to capture a new one. The distinction here being that a weapon isn't the only way thinaun can capture a soul nor is it the only reason you would want to. If a creature is wearing a ring or other object made of the material, their soul cannot be stolen upon death as the metal will capture their soul instead. Additionally, because the soul is still present resurrection and other such magicks are easier to perform on such a creature. Might also be useful for a creature who has made a pact with a spirit from the lower planes and does not with their soul to be taken away.
I was hoping to find something to inspire me to do some adamant mining in runescape. You delivered in a way beyond my wildest expectations! Thank you so much for your wonderful video!
This is one of my favorite D&D lore videos! It covers so many world building angles and made me think of treasures I could give NPCs and PCs! Thank you!
My writer soul wishes you only blessings from its deepest depth for videos like these. Practical research is the hardest part of any world building. Rarely do writers use it all, but what they use makes the stories so much more real, and here you are giving simply said examples to wow some readers! Great work!
My god, this video is awesome. This is not putting down the other videos, but this is something rarely talked about, and no one puts in this much effort. Can you please do one on Strongholds or even better on commanding a ship for sea voyages?
How wonderful. I love these deep dives into the daily life of fantasy worlds. Looking at the logistics of these places is one of my favorite ways to daydream… or used to be now that my every waking moment is filled with the unending demands of the small folk. Thanks again AJ, alas the crash and giggling in the next room signals the end of my 60 second break. I’ll catch up with you again soon.
My hometown had a quick silver mine (mercury). I've just been assuming since either the dwarven gods or celestia video where we learn about moradins wife that truesilver is aping the naming convention of quicksilver. This video proves that right. Now we need magic wood/mushrooms for all the ironwood lovers.
Fun fact native peoples in The Amazon basin had mined and worked platinum pre European contact. The Spanish thought the platinum was worthless and frequently dumped it in their search for gold.
Actually, in so far as platinum goes, pre-Columbian Americans in Ecuador were refining and using the metal as early as 600 BCE. Mostly as an artificial allow of platinum and gold, with rhodium and iridium contaminants. I also seem to remember reading in my Archeology class that at least one tribe was using natural draft foundries in the mountains to get fires hot enough t to smelt platinum. Been a long time since those classes though. Can't remember what they said about the meso-American Obdurium works though.
Listening to this made me want to see a mockumentary about a D&D mining operation like those on Discovery Channel. "Can a motley crew of kobolds, dwarves, and humans work together to bring in the mother lode?" (It would be filmed by elves, naturally)
Your image/description of a dragon being a master smith was awesome. I want to see that in a cinematic so much! FORGET DRAWVEN SMITHS...this is the rise of the legendary Dragonborn smiths!
When miners used the canary method they felt really bad and sad, so the higher ups had to give in and make a small cage they could close and supply oxygen with a small tank. Which kept the little creature alive and breathing clean air when they passed out.
In this video its almost hard to distinguish when you're talking of real life history and when you're talking directly of the fantasy world in DnD. But really interesting, inspiring and relaxing to listen to regardless, just about all your videos are.
Funny Thing: apparently, back in the day, Amber was also called electrum, because it could be charged with static electricity, similar to a balloon, iirc. Thank you very much for this. It was very interesting.
On a related note, the words electron and electricity come from the Greek word for amber, ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron). The Latin version of the Greek was called electrum and referred to both the metal and amber, as you pointed out.
I love the detailed resources D&D gives for some of these materials. It gives a good way to include players in well-established lore without hardwiring them into set scripts. Like the specific, step by step construction of the Dragonlances. I'm sure all those archmages didn't have the time to personally collect all the exotic, extraplanar materials to create their epic artifacts. On the other hand, the whole party can wind up being just a few of many Bothans who died to bring us this Baatoran green steel.
I always have to rewind your videos or rewatch them again a few times constantly because a particular piece gives me ideas and I start spinning out webs of plans that I have to write down, then back up 4 minutes and listen to everything again that I missed distracted in thought, constantly through every video
For a guy that grew up making several tools, knives, and an oversized splitting maul, some of these magical metals me wish we had more options. Fell in love with Mithril from The Hobit, and was jealous of Bilbo for walking through that mountain that had several Mithril treasures in those hords. Screw the gold, I would be happy with a knife made of that!
Did a lot of blacksmithing in high school and I felt this. An adamantine hatchet would be the most amazing tool. Hard enough to hold a knife edge, even when used to split wood 😍
@@ferrumchnop6617 just got done busting a big chunk of concrete out of the ground and read this while catching a breather... Man I need an adamantine breaker bar!
For some reason I first read the title as "A simple guide to meals" and decided to put it on my list to view during lunch. I was a bit confused at first, before I read the title again. 🤣
Cool vid, i really like it when you talk about the more mundane and overlooked areas of fantasy. If you like, it would be cool to hear you talk about monks and all there presence in Faerun.
In LotR, it explained that Frodo's mithiril shirt was more valuable than the entirety of the Shire. If you have armor that is no heavier than ordinary clothing, you would have a huge advantage because the biggest problem with armor is its encumberance.
This is amazing AJ! Real world building not just setting. Please can you do more like this? Like the dragon meat story you read. The little often overlooked aspects of a place that make it real. Gods and creature lore are great but this is mind opening!
It is just silly that stuff like this isn't coming out under the WoTC brand. I love their "lore you should know" series, but this is probably better. good job dude!
WoTC should consider sub-licenses so they can tap some of this 3rd party content for some revenue while allowing the brand to expand. I agree with you, seems silly.
Not that surprising. They're just one company with normal people working there. AJ has the advantage of being a planeswalker. It's easy for him to pretend to be a New Zealander making RUclips videos.
Thanks for this video! I've been looking into Shadiversity's channel which has tons of information about how medieval life really worked, and this takes a lot of those same ideas and provides the "fantasy" twist on how it would work in D&D. I really like the idea of how ores from the elemental planes would be significantly different from what we have in real life. Just comparing modern mining to medieval practices shows just how gifted people were back then. It gives one a new appreciation for our modern conveniences.
My dad’s a farmer. He griped that divining rods “always worked” in our county because of the aquifer. Then he went to a south county with no aquifer, and proved divining rods worked there too.
A gold rush campaign where the party are prospectors could be fun. They could start out finding their claim, then have to negotiate with the local elves to be allowed to work it. After that they'd build up their mine, employing laborers and fighting off bandits who try to shake them down and rival prospectors. Eventually perhaps they might stumble upon something deep within the earth that they really shouldn't have woken up, something ancient and angry. They may decide to collapse their mine on it and save the land, or try to kill it or bargain with it to be able to keep their hard won wealth...
Oh man, imagine playing a bard that wields a sword made of screaming silver, every time your sword strikes it hums like a giant tuning fork. You could change your grip to alter the note, making your fighting into an actual musical performance. Dual-wield them for maximum coolness.
Hi, AJ. I've been hoping for an informative video on bards for some time. I love your approach to describing classes using real world parables to extrapolate the importance of rp and immersion. It would be amazing to see what you have to say about some of the most enigmatic classes such as bards, artificers, barbarians and monks.
@AJ Pickett, I am always pleased that you show the rest of the community the great material from Dragon Magazine and the really well thought out material from AD&D days, so many youtubers that do lore videos always gloss over or just don't say where they get the material from. thank you for all the great content.
I always used Mithral as a stand in for a Titanium alloy. Of course it has a little different properties (on Toril). And in Common Tongue, Platinum could be called something else, even though it's discovery is way earlier than in our world. But I loved this episode brother. I absolutely appreciate your deep dives, especially compared to our real life history. And I have to listen to your ecology episodes. Like the Underdark or Abyssal ecological episodes.
Same here, Mithral/Adamant/Meteorite Iron as a stand in for Titanium. Keep in mind, Titanium used to be a theoretical metal, once labeled as "Unabtainium" at the time. However, I have Titanium Dragons in my homebrew (Loom of Magus), and they are rarely on any world (planet) in Loom of Magus because the metal they are generally linked to is replaced by that AD&D metal on those worlds.
That screaming silver sounds metal as fuck (no puns intended). I imagine a blade that sings increasingly louder as the fight goes on, becoming a nearly deafening ring as the final blow is struck. Definitely going to put a weapon made from this stuff somewhere in my game.
Love this Also if anybody wants to know, gunpowder is made from sulfur, salt peter, and charcoal, and the Giff give you stats for guns and a powder keg bomb. You could say that a stick of dynamite is similar to alch fire
Ive found an ol list of metals that have at some point turned up in dnd. Theres like 50 or so various materials with various properties that can be used for weapons/armor as well as some wood species.. my players have a field day lol
Yes! I've been looking for a decent source with a listing of fictional metals now more than ever, because I'm preparing a Silk Road-inspired campaign setting. This came in at the perfect time!
Great video magical raw magical resource don't get a lot coverage. I was planning on making a material shader for Mithril ore and metal but I had no idea where to begin with its color and texture.
Hey AJ, in the words of Anthony Stoner; Wow Man! Great video & topic, loved the artwork. Some many metals I have never heard of before. That screaming silver Ax would fit nicely in a futuristic setting. Also, the purple moore-lode is inspiring, keep think of cultist having weapons that control the undead, sounds like an adventure to me! Thanks AJ you have a wonderful day!
Fun fact: The reason why platinum mines only started relatively recently is because it's so rare few people of eurasia knew it existed. It's almost entirely found in south africa and south america, at least as far as mineable places go. When raiding the indigenous people of South America, conquistadors dubbed it 'platina' (little silver) and largely ignored it. It had been used in the same way as gold for quite some time.
So amazing! These kinds of information videos to me are priceless! Makes world building easy to have almost all the info on a topic in one place! Absolutely priceless, thank you for your work!
A technology for dealing with deadly gas build-up, some mines would dig 2 shafts, then light a fire at the top of the second one, and that would create a draft through the mine and remove days off for letting the air clear.
My current PC is a copper dragonborn rune knight fighter clan crafter, a blacksmith trained by dwarves. Haven't had a decent chunk of downtime yet, but this video will sure as hell help when I do!!! 😁 thanks for another great video AJ ❤
I was surprised to hear that the eberron metal made it in the video. There are at least a couple more from Eberron but they would fall into the exotic category since they come from the other planes of Eberron. Good stuff, should be relevant to games here soon since the party has a smith.
For as much as I learned about how 'divining rods' or dowsing rods, shouldn't work (in our world), our ancient people relied on it. It was definitely used in ancient China and throughout Europe. And I'm sure many modern people still swear by it. It should definitely be used in our adventures (perhaps with spell use). Thanks for putting our real world myths & knowledge of ancient mining ⛏️ in this lore. We should even put ouji boards in there too
One of my players convinced me that the group's sapphire mine would have veins of iron close by. (They took over a fort/mine from a pre written module.) So their mine, worked by kobolds, produced gems and iron. Needless to say the adventuring party eventually retired with a nice business to keep them wealthy for the rest of their lives.
This is one of my favorite topics in Role-playing Games. I’ve long tried compiling a list of fantasy and science (fiction or fantasy) materials using tv tropes as a reference, I use this list of materials for any of my games since special materials (not simply magic but psionic or hyper advanced) add so much to the setting or even just the one shot (a adventure group clearing out a mine is classic) Every plane I make has new materials to introduce, every planet they visit might have a vein of a material that looks worthless but could be a boon to scientists or mages. If you continue with this video making it a mini series you could make videos on materials from other table top games giving dnd statistics for use. Appreciate the work Dwarven Lore master AJ.
Shout out for the 'Hoggle discovers plastic' reference. Love that movie. I always wondered, if someone _were_ to be dipped in the Bog of Eternal Stench, would that reduce their Charisma to 1, permanently? Or would it be more of a 2d4 sort of deal?
@@AJPickett Man, I'd take the 1 Charisma over that...at least some people might pity you for it...not line up at the edge of the village to throw rocks at you.
Always had trouble researching the more rare and unique metals within DND lore, so a big thanks for this AJ! Greatly appreciated.
Yep, you have it all on tap now my friend!
AJ: what can I say except, your welcome!
Thanks, great content.
I think I’ve learned more about geology and mimerology from this video than I did my actual geology class.
In addition to any natural magical metals I rather like to go with magical metals based on the seven classical metals, these are alchemicly created from the base metals and are not mined, they are known as "Perfected Metals" and are are valuable in the extreme. They are only made by the most skilled alchemist/mage, and take time and effort, philosopher stones are a great help. All Perfected Metals are immune to all but the most extreme or specialized acids.
Orichalcum (Perfected Gold): Associated with fire, the sun, ruler-ship/divine right, power generation, and hurts any kind of fiend or creature vulnerable to sunlight. The metal is immune to fire and has the same hardness of mythril. Looks like slightly more reddish gold
Lunargent (Perfected Silver): Associated with cold, the moon, purity (from evil), and divine (good) power hurts anything vulnerable to silver, has basic stats of mythril. The metal immune to cold. Looks like slightly more blueish silver
Hermium (Perfected Mercury): Associated with psychic power, divine (chaotic) power, healing magic, and is bizarre possessing both super fluid an self adherence properties (a mass of it wont easily be separated from the whole and its not too difficult to bottle). Psychics can be mold the metals shape with their mind, giving it hardness and sharpness when they focus on it, the metal can be enchanted to take several programed shapes by normal people. Hermium is not poisonous, but refining it can be very dangerous because Mercury is, and part of creating magically removes the spiritual taint of poison which can effect the alchemist. Hermium looks like liquid mercury with a constantly rippling effect, and when hardened into a shape has the same stats as steel, but if destroyed it can simply reshape itself.
Kypris (Perfected Copper) (also known as Brontium): Associated with conductivity, electricity, arcane technology and divine (law) power. Kypris is a super conductor of electricity, heat, and even mystical/psychic energy. Kypris has the same basic stats as steel, but with twice the hit points, and is immune to electricity. Looks like the soft green of rusted copper, but metallic.
Kassiterum (Perfected Tin) (Also known as Zinnteros): Associated with Sound/music, summoning, aid, divine (neutral) power, and purification. Kassiterum has the hardness of adamantium, but not the sharpness and the material itself is immune to sonic attacks. Kassiterum can hurt aberrations, by passing their damage reduction. Kassiterum is soft pure white, never has any inclusions, and make the purest sounds with struck.
Apeiron (Perfected Lead) (Aka Thanatite, Khronicum, or Stygium): Associated with death (and undeath), curses, the ethereal plane, divine (evil) power. Aperion has the same basic stats as steel, and has natural ghost touch ability and can block all sorts of natural and supernatural radiation very effectively. Apeiron is dull grey, nearly identical looking to normal lead.
Siderite (Perfected Iron): Associated with strength and sharpness, resilience, penetration, space, and defiance to magic. Forging Siderite can only be done with magic and difficulty. Siderite has the same basic stats and counts as Adamantine, though is slightly lighter than steel and has twice the hit points, in addition counts as cold wrot iron as well and will hurt any fae regardless of normal resistances. Siderite is a memory metal, and when bent or warped it will flex itself back to its proper shape unless special magic is used to shape it, it will never dull. Much like cold wrot iron, Siderite is hard to enchant (+2500gp cost to enchant), but makes potent items once it is done. Siderite is a dull mat black, not even metallic looking.
There are/can be others, but they are much rarer, such as perfected: cobalt, salt, jade, and sulfur. Also for fantasy games I like to use a "Gnomish Ceramic" that gnomes make from secret materials and dragon bones... or dragon relatives, like Kobolds.
Believe it or not this is the condensed version >.>
That's an amazing list, and I love the description associated with each here. Thanks!
@@maxwellschad9555 thanks, I was honestly worried about making the post to long.
Good content is never too long.
Thank you very much, I always wondered just what the heck orichalcum was supposed to be. The rest is super cool too, please tell us more! Is bronzium the same as brontium?
This is straight up invaluable.
Why thank you sir.
AJ, excellent overview! I've been DMing for 30 years, and building my universe for that long. Yet, have largely overlooked many aspects of mining. You just gave tons of ideas... Cheers; Janos
Glad it was helpful!
Been playing just as long and if it weren’t for a player at our current table that is a mechanical engineer and amateur black smith, our world wouldn’t have the crafting charts and tables that we have.
We recently decided to transition from our own home brews to forgotten realms because we have newer players joining the table and most of the information that is available on line is either FR or Greyhawk. We plan on keeping some of our house rules and systems like the crafting tables and Metal blending rules that was researched for our home brew.
OMG AJ. Videos like this are a dream for us world builders. Please make more like this about fields and practices overlooked but fundamental to past societies. So useful and informative!!
Happy to do so!
I appreciate the fact that you try to incorporate all editions and yet still manage to maintain a sense of being edition agnostic. Thank you for your effort.
Oh good, one of my players is an artifice armorer, working on his masterpiece. I was trying to figure out what metals would be most appropriate for him to need (and hire people to... acquire), and I find this video! You always seem to have what I need
You are a gift to the hobby. The depth and precision of your research is truly exceptional. As a professional DM, you are someone I look to as a resource when I need to know something, inside and out. Many thanks.
My pleasure Chris!
Medieval fantasy-based industry is always one of my favorite topics to touch on when my players decide to converse with the local merchants or villagers. It's a perfect opportunity to drop some tidbits of information on how adamantite is forged or mined, or what tools and practices are employed in pulling it out of the ground.
So many opportunities to build lore in a logical way, and the information makes your players feel more grounded, and gives them ideas on where they may want to go in the future.
Now this, this is the good stuff right here.
Was just planning a Star Metal “gold rush” style mini plot, so this was just what I needed to fill it out with more than I could have even hoped for. Thanks for your industrious work AJ!
I love these kinds of videos. I’m more interested in HOW the DnD universe works than what happens in it.
Didn't know I needed this video.
I absolutely love this video. I love playing the wandering smith/craftsman trying to find the best materials to craft legendary items. This is going to be extremely useful.
Obdurium is one of my favorite fantasy metals that you did not forget it!!
Unless it has been reprinted since, thinaun doesn't just strip the soul from a creature it kills, it holds onto the soul of any creature who dies while in contact with it, so it can only hold one such Soul at a time and will release an earlier soul to capture a new one. The distinction here being that a weapon isn't the only way thinaun can capture a soul nor is it the only reason you would want to. If a creature is wearing a ring or other object made of the material, their soul cannot be stolen upon death as the metal will capture their soul instead. Additionally, because the soul is still present resurrection and other such magicks are easier to perform on such a creature. Might also be useful for a creature who has made a pact with a spirit from the lower planes and does not with their soul to be taken away.
I was hoping to find something to inspire me to do some adamant mining in runescape. You delivered in a way beyond my wildest expectations! Thank you so much for your wonderful video!
Glad I could help!
This is one of my favorite D&D lore videos! It covers so many world building angles and made me think of treasures I could give NPCs and PCs! Thank you!
What a great topic to make a video about! Thank you for clarifying all the different D&D metals for us!
Thank you for taking the extra time to time stamp the chapters! Now i can use this video as a quick reference!!!
Your content is just getting more and more incredible. I wouldn't be surprised if WotC watch your channel to learn about lore.
Fantastic video. Never expected this subject to be covered!
My writer soul wishes you only blessings from its deepest depth for videos like these. Practical research is the hardest part of any world building. Rarely do writers use it all, but what they use makes the stories so much more real, and here you are giving simply said examples to wow some readers! Great work!
These types of videos on the nuts and bolts of D&D are my jam. The flora one was great too. :D
This one is fairly well researched :) Thank you and Enjoy!
My god, this video is awesome. This is not putting down the other videos, but this is something rarely talked about, and no one puts in this much effort. Can you please do one on Strongholds or even better on commanding a ship for sea voyages?
How wonderful. I love these deep dives into the daily life of fantasy worlds.
Looking at the logistics of these places is one of my favorite ways to daydream…
or used to be now that my every waking moment is filled with the unending demands of the small folk.
Thanks again AJ, alas the crash and giggling in the next room signals the end of my 60 second break. I’ll catch up with you again soon.
I'll be here :)
My hometown had a quick silver mine (mercury). I've just been assuming since either the dwarven gods or celestia video where we learn about moradins wife that truesilver is aping the naming convention of quicksilver. This video proves that right.
Now we need magic wood/mushrooms for all the ironwood lovers.
Always love exotic materials! I can't wait to sip tea as I listen to this all
Indeed!
2 videos in a row I've arrived early. Clearly, I am blessed by the Sages.
One of my players is a blacksmith so this is very useful, thanks
That's quite the collection of metallurgic lore. Well done!
This was a great addition to the usual line up of monsters. It's giving me all sorts of ideas for villainous weapons in my games! Thank you AJ!
Fun fact native peoples in The Amazon basin had mined and worked platinum pre European contact. The Spanish thought the platinum was worthless and frequently dumped it in their search for gold.
Face palm
this is now my favourite video you've put out. I need to made a cheat-sheet from all of this to add to my DM binder.
I started doing that about half way through the video
Actually, in so far as platinum goes, pre-Columbian Americans in Ecuador were refining and using the metal as early as 600 BCE. Mostly as an artificial allow of platinum and gold, with rhodium and iridium contaminants. I also seem to remember reading in my Archeology class that at least one tribe was using natural draft foundries in the mountains to get fires hot enough t to smelt platinum. Been a long time since those classes though.
Can't remember what they said about the meso-American Obdurium works though.
Heh!
All very interesting. I always appreciate the real world information you provide. It’s a very nice touch.
Listening to this made me want to see a mockumentary about a D&D mining operation like those on Discovery Channel. "Can a motley crew of kobolds, dwarves, and humans work together to bring in the mother lode?" (It would be filmed by elves, naturally)
I am a fan of the Gold Rush show (I mean, look at my last name and figure out why), so, yeah that video idea appeals to me a lot.
Your image/description of a dragon being a master smith was awesome. I want to see that in a cinematic so much! FORGET DRAWVEN SMITHS...this is the rise of the legendary Dragonborn smiths!
Mentioned this to some people and they pointed me to Themberchaud the current Wyrmsmith in Gracklstugh of the Underdark.
Another factor of mining in D&D is burrowing monsters like Badgers and Dragons. Many larger creatures would make tunnels that may open a mineral.
One of your greatest videos. Thank you.
This is really great if you have a player using the Artificer class, so many goodies for them to find and study.
When miners used the canary method they felt really bad and sad, so the higher ups had to give in and make a small cage they could close and supply oxygen with a small tank. Which kept the little creature alive and breathing clean air when they passed out.
That is just such an incredibly sweet twist to that little bit of knowledge in my head, that I'm just grinning like an idiot! Ty for sharing! ☺
This video is pure gold
Thank you for this one
In this video its almost hard to distinguish when you're talking of real life history and when you're talking directly of the fantasy world in DnD. But really interesting, inspiring and relaxing to listen to regardless, just about all your videos are.
Funny Thing: apparently, back in the day, Amber was also called electrum, because it could be charged with static electricity, similar to a balloon, iirc.
Thank you very much for this.
It was very interesting.
On a related note, the words electron and electricity come from the Greek word for amber, ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron). The Latin version of the Greek was called electrum and referred to both the metal and amber, as you pointed out.
Wow! what an inspirational video! dozens of ideas for unique items. i particularly like arandum and that metal from pandemonium.
Glad you liked it!
I love the detailed resources D&D gives for some of these materials. It gives a good way to include players in well-established lore without hardwiring them into set scripts. Like the specific, step by step construction of the Dragonlances. I'm sure all those archmages didn't have the time to personally collect all the exotic, extraplanar materials to create their epic artifacts.
On the other hand, the whole party can wind up being just a few of many Bothans who died to bring us this Baatoran green steel.
Hit F for the Bothans
Not just exceptional, your videos are the best. Thank you for so much help in world building and dm inspiration.
You are my go-to for great material. You simply never disappoint. Thank you for another informative and useful video.
I always have to rewind your videos or rewatch them again a few times constantly because a particular piece gives me ideas and I start spinning out webs of plans that I have to write down, then back up 4 minutes and listen to everything again that I missed distracted in thought, constantly through every video
It's what I do.
For a guy that grew up making several tools, knives, and an oversized splitting maul, some of these magical metals me wish we had more options. Fell in love with Mithril from The Hobit, and was jealous of Bilbo for walking through that mountain that had several Mithril treasures in those hords. Screw the gold, I would be happy with a knife made of that!
Did a lot of blacksmithing in high school and I felt this. An adamantine hatchet would be the most amazing tool. Hard enough to hold a knife edge, even when used to split wood 😍
Adamantine maul or sledge hammer for it's bonus damage against structures and a mithril ripping hammer lmao
I wouldn't mind a breaker bar and set of impact sockets. Lol.
@@ferrumchnop6617 just got done busting a big chunk of concrete out of the ground and read this while catching a breather... Man I need an adamantine breaker bar!
For some reason I first read the title as "A simple guide to meals" and decided to put it on my list to view during lunch. I was a bit confused at first, before I read the title again. 🤣
OwO i cant eat this
Once again, a smashing video. Each one of these floods my mind with plans and ideas.
Cool vid, i really like it when you talk about the more mundane and overlooked areas of fantasy. If you like, it would be cool to hear you talk about monks and all there presence in Faerun.
These are the lore videos I love the most.
Hey AJ could you do a list of the 10 best to worst layers of the abyss to spend an hour in
In LotR, it explained that Frodo's mithiril shirt was more valuable than the entirety of the Shire.
If you have armor that is no heavier than ordinary clothing, you would have a huge advantage because the biggest problem with armor is its encumberance.
AJ, thank you my friend for this post. I actually asked you about this topic a few years ago.
Awesome!
This is amazing AJ! Real world building not just setting. Please can you do more like this? Like the dragon meat story you read. The little often overlooked aspects of a place that make it real. Gods and creature lore are great but this is mind opening!
It is just silly that stuff like this isn't coming out under the WoTC brand. I love their "lore you should know" series, but this is probably better. good job dude!
WoTC should consider sub-licenses so they can tap some of this 3rd party content for some revenue while allowing the brand to expand. I agree with you, seems silly.
Not that surprising. They're just one company with normal people working there. AJ has the advantage of being a planeswalker. It's easy for him to pretend to be a New Zealander making RUclips videos.
Such nuggets of wisdom always make for the tastiest of snacks. Thanks, AJ!
Thank you for all your work! These are my favorite types of videos that you produce
Thank you!
Thanks for this video! I've been looking into Shadiversity's channel which has tons of information about how medieval life really worked, and this takes a lot of those same ideas and provides the "fantasy" twist on how it would work in D&D. I really like the idea of how ores from the elemental planes would be significantly different from what we have in real life. Just comparing modern mining to medieval practices shows just how gifted people were back then. It gives one a new appreciation for our modern conveniences.
My dad’s a farmer. He griped that divining rods “always worked” in our county because of the aquifer. Then he went to a south county with no aquifer, and proved divining rods worked there too.
I was hoping to hear more on Orichalcum. Mentions of it in official dnd texts I've found don't elaborate on what mechanical benefits it would grant.
play Earthdawn ;)
A gold rush campaign where the party are prospectors could be fun. They could start out finding their claim, then have to negotiate with the local elves to be allowed to work it. After that they'd build up their mine, employing laborers and fighting off bandits who try to shake them down and rival prospectors. Eventually perhaps they might stumble upon something deep within the earth that they really shouldn't have woken up, something ancient and angry. They may decide to collapse their mine on it and save the land, or try to kill it or bargain with it to be able to keep their hard won wealth...
And if you get bored.... Random earthquake, everyone died 🤣
Yes!
Amazing video. Incredible. Cannot thank you enough for sharing all of this.
Oh man, imagine playing a bard that wields a sword made of screaming silver, every time your sword strikes it hums like a giant tuning fork. You could change your grip to alter the note, making your fighting into an actual musical performance. Dual-wield them for maximum coolness.
This is perfect. I had just started looking into exotic materials for some world building and you released this video a few days ago. Brilliant.
Yesssssssssss! Thank you! I've been trying to make a good weapon creation and customization system. This will help a lot!
Hi, AJ. I've been hoping for an informative video on bards for some time. I love your approach to describing classes using real world parables to extrapolate the importance of rp and immersion. It would be amazing to see what you have to say about some of the most enigmatic classes such as bards, artificers, barbarians and monks.
I'll second that! ❤
@AJ Pickett, I am always pleased that you show the rest of the community the great material from Dragon Magazine and the really well thought out material from AD&D days, so many youtubers that do lore videos always gloss over or just don't say where they get the material from. thank you for all the great content.
This video is so metal.
Man this is good stuff to work into ambiance and natural traps
A real mine of great ideas and inspirations , very informative . Well done sir . 🍺
I always used Mithral as a stand in for a Titanium alloy. Of course it has a little different properties (on Toril).
And in Common Tongue, Platinum could be called something else, even though it's discovery is way earlier than in our world.
But I loved this episode brother.
I absolutely appreciate your deep dives, especially compared to our real life history.
And I have to listen to your ecology episodes. Like the Underdark or Abyssal ecological episodes.
Same here, Mithral/Adamant/Meteorite Iron as a stand in for Titanium. Keep in mind, Titanium used to be a theoretical metal, once labeled as "Unabtainium" at the time. However, I have Titanium Dragons in my homebrew (Loom of Magus), and they are rarely on any world (planet) in Loom of Magus because the metal they are generally linked to is replaced by that AD&D metal on those worlds.
That screaming silver sounds metal as fuck (no puns intended). I imagine a blade that sings increasingly louder as the fight goes on, becoming a nearly deafening ring as the final blow is struck. Definitely going to put a weapon made from this stuff somewhere in my game.
Love this
Also if anybody wants to know, gunpowder is made from sulfur, salt peter, and charcoal, and the Giff give you stats for guns and a powder keg bomb.
You could say that a stick of dynamite is similar to alch fire
Roughly, but will also knock prone and break glass
Fantastic video! I would love to see another one talking about minerals/gemstones if you can find any lore about that
Will do!
This is the video I always wanted but never found thanks aj
Most welcome
This is fantastic! I'll have to return to this to take notes!
I'm going to do the same thing!
His index in the description is my first step.
Ive found an ol list of metals that have at some point turned up in dnd. Theres like 50 or so various materials with various properties that can be used for weapons/armor as well as some wood species.. my players have a field day lol
where can I find this? would love to know ab the woods for my druid :)
Tell us
Yes!
I've been looking for a decent source with a listing of fictional metals now more than ever, because I'm preparing a Silk Road-inspired campaign setting.
This came in at the perfect time!
Loved this one. I always like to see the background lore for the many wondrous items. Thanks AJ!
Great video magical raw magical resource don't get a lot coverage. I was planning on making a material shader for Mithril ore and metal but I had no idea where to begin with its color and texture.
Hey AJ, in the words of Anthony Stoner; Wow Man! Great video & topic, loved the artwork. Some many metals I have never heard of before. That screaming silver Ax would fit nicely in a futuristic setting. Also, the purple moore-lode is inspiring, keep think of cultist having weapons that control the undead, sounds like an adventure to me!
Thanks AJ you have a wonderful day!
Wow! So many metals! Thank you for this well made video.
Always cool to move a bit of realism into a fantasy setting like AD&D. ❤💪
Can I just say that I love this video to pieces
Fun fact: The reason why platinum mines only started relatively recently is because it's so rare few people of eurasia knew it existed. It's almost entirely found in south africa and south america, at least as far as mineable places go. When raiding the indigenous people of South America, conquistadors dubbed it 'platina' (little silver) and largely ignored it. It had been used in the same way as gold for quite some time.
That *is* a Fun Fact. I love Fun Facts. 👍
Africa has got a super resource of Platinum.
Spain also dumped a lot of platinum into the sea at some point. That must really hurt now.
So amazing! These kinds of information videos to me are priceless! Makes world building easy to have almost all the info on a topic in one place! Absolutely priceless, thank you for your work!
Spread the word (and the link)
A technology for dealing with deadly gas build-up, some mines would dig 2 shafts, then light a fire at the top of the second one, and that would create a draft through the mine and remove days off for letting the air clear.
My current PC is a copper dragonborn rune knight fighter clan crafter, a blacksmith trained by dwarves. Haven't had a decent chunk of downtime yet, but this video will sure as hell help when I do!!! 😁 thanks for another great video AJ ❤
Love the video it's nice to learn about fantasy metals that aren't just mithral or adamantine
I was surprised to hear that the eberron metal made it in the video. There are at least a couple more from Eberron but they would fall into the exotic category since they come from the other planes of Eberron. Good stuff, should be relevant to games here soon since the party has a smith.
For as much as I learned about how 'divining rods' or dowsing rods, shouldn't work (in our world), our ancient people relied on it. It was definitely used in ancient China and throughout Europe.
And I'm sure many modern people still swear by it. It should definitely be used in our adventures (perhaps with spell use). Thanks for putting our real world myths & knowledge of ancient mining ⛏️ in this lore. We should even put ouji boards in there too
Another great video AJ!
One of my players convinced me that the group's sapphire mine would have veins of iron close by. (They took over a fort/mine from a pre written module.)
So their mine, worked by kobolds, produced gems and iron. Needless to say the adventuring party eventually retired with a nice business to keep them wealthy for the rest of their lives.
This is one of my favorite topics in Role-playing Games. I’ve long tried compiling a list of fantasy and science (fiction or fantasy) materials using tv tropes as a reference, I use this list of materials for any of my games since special materials (not simply magic but psionic or hyper advanced) add so much to the setting or even just the one shot (a adventure group clearing out a mine is classic)
Every plane I make has new materials to introduce, every planet they visit might have a vein of a material that looks worthless but could be a boon to scientists or mages.
If you continue with this video making it a mini series you could make videos on materials from other table top games giving dnd statistics for use.
Appreciate the work Dwarven Lore master AJ.
Shout out for the 'Hoggle discovers plastic' reference. Love that movie. I always wondered, if someone _were_ to be dipped in the Bog of Eternal Stench, would that reduce their Charisma to 1, permanently? Or would it be more of a 2d4 sort of deal?
Hmmm, -2d4 Charisma and each person encountering them needs to roll to save vs the stench of suffer the poisoned condition.
@@AJPickett Man, I'd take the 1 Charisma over that...at least some people might pity you for it...not line up at the edge of the village to throw rocks at you.