Opinion seem to vary on this. I think the fundamental question is whether craftsmen tend to spend their time mass producing slightly better items, or whether they concentrate on just making a few excellent ones.
If mass production of anything has occurred, then its very likely passed into general circulation now.
Dwarven armies are defeated some times, after all. Imagine all that iron hardware lying around waiting to be plundered or scavenged. Even if a conquering king makes sure most of it is picked up and locked away in his castle, his ne'er-do-well son (or grandson) probably gives it away at parties a few generations later.
I think there is an unwritten law which says that valueable stuff, magical or not, tends to spread out to cover the largest possible area. I think mass produced stuff ends up becomning "bog standard" - a bit like the +1 swords of D&D.
Every different gaming system seems to have its own "bog standard" items. In Rolemaster its things like +10 Non-Magical lockpicks. In RQ its always been POW storage crystals and spell matrices (and, in RQ2, potions and antidotes).
The real issue is how much of this bog standardising is due to gaming system and how much is true to the gaming world. I reckon the RQ rules mislead us, and that something closer to the D&D approach is closer to Glorantha.
Maybe we should do a little exercise and design up a "(Dream) Dragon's Hoard" (there's none I've seen in in-print stuff).
What do you think?
Richard
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Richard Develyn Tel: (UK)-1732-743591 Principal Architect / Development Manager Fax: (UK)-1732-743597 Network People International http://www.nwpeople.com ------------------------------
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