tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post7319283442896218112..comments2024-03-06T03:36:43.359-06:00Comments on Robert Fisher: Thinking out loud (3.0): Plate mailRoberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-72481158623668719732012-12-01T00:29:51.185-06:002012-12-01T00:29:51.185-06:00As I understand it, "plate mail" was cur...As I understand it, "plate mail" was current at the same time as "ring mail", "scale mail", "banded mail" and "chain mail". At any rate, D&D was concurrent with a lot of imprecise weapons and armour terminology. Most of this stuff comes direct from sword & sorcery fiction; plate mail for instance turns up in Howard's <i>Hour of the Dragon</i>.<br /><br />If "plated mail" is no good for you, then I suggest "plate & mail", though my preference is toward the former because it looks the least different from "plate mail" (I just think of it as any mail armour reinforced or in combination with significant plating).<br /><br />With regard to padded/leather, it is interesting to note that CM also uses leather as a shorthand for both, in that it lists them together without a shield and then only "leather & shield" afterwards (same with chain, banded and scale).<br /><br />Generally speaking, I like to keep things abstracted with occasional "zooming in" on details during game play.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05646247954542936623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-2610833336196979402012-11-29T10:43:48.695-06:002012-11-29T10:43:48.695-06:00That’s a good point. Having started in the AD&...That’s a good point. Having started in the AD&D era, it still tends to color my view of the game in places. Though I think there’s an argument that “plate mail” didn’t leak out of the game to become something non-gamer armor enthusiasts started encountering until after the retcon occurred.<br /><br />“Plated mail” is not a bad choice. I hesitate to use it myself because, to me, it denotes a specific type of armor. (Mail with plates actually integrated into it.) A suit that is mostly plated mail would be plate mail. But plate mail can also be a mail hauberk combined with breastplate, vambraces, and greaves.<br /><br />But, yeah, the mechanic is abstract enough that it doesn’t really matter. In my game, padded armor and leather armor are mechanically equivalent, but I still call AC7 “leather armor” on my price lists and tables.<br /><br />Though, that may change. I’m on a trend of making some of the abstractions more explicit.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-40648579501759073312012-11-29T08:30:41.448-06:002012-11-29T08:30:41.448-06:00Well, technically, in OD&D "plate mail&qu...Well, technically, in OD&D "plate mail" does refer to "plate armour". Only in the years following was this retroactively adjusted so that it means "plated mail" (for what it is worth, the best term going in the context). Basically "mail" was used as a synonym for "armour" in the 19th century, which is where the trouble arises. Anyway, it is not really a misconception so much as a <i>Chain Mail</i> legacy issue. It is all irrelevant when you consider the level of abstraction really.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05646247954542936623noreply@blogger.com