Angry Golem Games

DWARVES
&
MINING

D20 system game supplement

Tommi Säntti (Order #22214566)
 INDEX OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION................................................ 3
Forewords........................................................................ 3
chapter 1 - basic steps.............................. 3
Dwarfs............................................................................... 3
what we need to know................................................ 3
where I can mine............................................................. 4
what I can mine.............................................................. 4
how I mine and how much I can mine........................ 4
chapter 2 - mining sites............................. 4
list of environments.................................................... 4
prospecting...................................................................... 5
chapter 3 - mine products........................ 7
gemstones......................................................................... 7
metals................................................................................ 9
stones................................................................................ 10
exotic materials............................................................ 11
chapter 4 - mining outputs...................... 18
lifespan of a mine........................................................... 18
metals output................................................................ 19
stones output................................................................. 22
exotic materials output............................................. 23
precious gemstones, gems and jewels output.... 23
by-product output........................................................ 24

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 INTRODUCTION
Dwarfs and mining is a long love story. What if a group of indentured and experienced
dwarfs decide it's time to claim their portion of mountain as their home by doing what
they know best? That is, mining metals, stones and gems.

Forewords
Wizards build their laboratories, arcane academies, magic towers and libraries.
Clerics may decide to fund missions, form religious enclaves or become an important
members of their church. Thieves may form their own guilds of street thugs,
assassins, beggars or smugglers. Warriors may form their own company of fortune,
if they believe in a Code of Chivalry they may decide to establish a small dominion in
some unclaimed lands or be granted a territory by the king. Every character, once he
becomes a renowned hero (or villain) may think it's time to expand his ambition. It's
time to write in history books their names. People will look at their heroes as leaders
who they can trust, or villains to fear. The purpose of this handbook is to provide the
Game Master and the players with a tool to run a mining activity. It is dedicated to the
dwarf race, but it can easily be adapted to other races. The solutions presented in this
handbook are compatible with any D20 system, so you won't need to make any rule
conversion.

The creation of a mine is made in three basic steps:

1) Identify and prospect the environment for possible deposits (Chapter 2 – Mining
sites)
2) Roll what category of mine product (and by-product) is present (Chapter 3 – Mine
products)
3) Roll for the quality and output of the mine (Chapter 4 – Mining output)

CHAPTER 1 – BASIC STEPS

Dwarfs
Dwarfs are special, or at least have a special place in the heart of many, and if you are
reading this guide we probably share the same thoughts. Even if dwarfs, no matter the
class they belong to, can become high clerics, captains of a company of fortune, chiefs
of a guild of thieves or renowned wizards, their thirst for rare and valuable metals,
marvelous gems and metallurgy is a trait that can't be quenched.
Dwarf communities and mining are indeed one thing. There is no greater pride for a
dwarf other than establishing a successful settlement that could turn into a prosperous
stronghold in the centuries to come.

What we need to know

This guide will investigate what mining is, but the goal is not to have something too
realistic, neither too banal.

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 Where I can mine
Not every environment is good to establish a thriving mining settlement. The
environments we consider interesting are Desert, Jungle, Mountain/Hill, Plain and
Volcanic land. Each of these environment is different, and has a different chance of
containing mine products, with some environment having an exclusive chance of
hiding specific mine products.

What I can mine

As a general rule I could mine everything. However not every mined material is worth to
be mined if we consider a fantasy setting with Middle Ages/Renaissance technological
level. The mine products worth to be mined are divided into four categories: exotic
materials, gemstones, metals and stones. We present specific tables where every
category shows specific mine products.
Exotic materials: coal, petroleum and radio-active materials.
Gemstones: ornamental, semi-precious, fancy, precious gemstones, gems and jewels.
Metals: lead, zinc, iron, tin copper, silver, gold, platinum, mithril and adamantine.
Stones: granite, basalt and marble.

How I mine and how much I can mine

Many techniques exist, so we will see which of them is appropriate for a fantasy world.
We'll talk about mining output and smelting. Every mining site is will not be the same,
quality of the ores may vary, with some ores being more lucrative than others. Also,
every mining site has a limited lifetime and deposits that last generations are very rare
to find.

CHAPTER 2 – MINING SITES

Basically I can mine in any environment. However an environment can't yield any
kind of mine product. For example, a mountain can easily yield any metal, stone,
gemstones, but - unless it's a volcanic region - it will not yield basalt. We conclude
that environments may prefer or exclude a specific mine product. We present a list of
the most common environments where mine deposits may be present. Then we'll talk
about how to conduct a prospecting, assuming that some environments are easier to
prospect than others and take more or less time.

List of Environments
In rpg fantasy settings many environments exist, however for the sake of this handbook
we consider relevant only a few among them.
Mountains/Hills may yield any metal, any stone, any gemstone, coal and radio-
active materials.
Desert may yield lead, zinc, iron, copper, gold, silver, coal, petroleum and radio-
active materials.
Jungles may yield silver, gold, precious gemstones, gems, jewels and all exotic
materials.

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 Swamp/Marshes may yield silver, gold, platinum, precious gemstones, gems and
jewels.
Plains may yield oil an coal
Volcanic lands may yield granite, basalt, gems and jewels.

Table 1.1 shows what kind of mine product every environment may have, the exception
are ornamental, semi-precious and fancy gemstones, because they can be found only
as by-products of other mine products. We'll see in detail in Chapter 3 – Mine Products
how it works.
So, if your group of aspiring miners is looking for iron, they should start prospecting
mountains, hills or deserts if they want to have a chance to find something.
Otherwise, if your group of aspiring miners is determined to find something in a desert
region they can expect to find lead, zinc, iron, copper silver gold, coal, petroleum or
radio-active materials. The outcome will depend on how good they are at prospecting
an environment.

Prospecting
Prospecting takes time and skill. Some environments are easier to prospect than
others and take less time. Others are difficult terrains and requires more effort. Which
skill is involved depends on the rule-set, however any D20 system always requires to
roll a D20 and a proper DC (Difficulty Class). Which skill is involved is up to the Game
Master. Skills like knowledge in nature, miner profession, geology should work.
In order to conduct a prospecting one prospector is enough, if two prospectors are
involved in the task you may grant a bonus of +2 to the skill check. Now let's analyze
for every environment the chance of finding something worth to be mined. To prospect
every environment we must consider the following elements:

DC: Represents how difficult is the skill check and if successful, a chance exist that
the area contains a something valuable, see Chance of a Deposit. A prospector knows
when he fails a skill check unless he rolls a natural 1, if the prospector rolls a natural 1
then he believes the area is empty. If the skill check fails, but it's not a natural 1, then
the prospecting can be repeated and the DC is reduced by 1.
Time required: Is the amount of time required to complete the prospecting in a
given area. During this time the prospector has to spend all their energy to his task.
If wondering monsters are present then they should employ mercenaries to maintain
the area safe.
Surface covered: Means how much surface the prospector has analyzed in a given
required time.
Chance of a deposit: Provided the skill check is successful, this is the chance that
the environment contains something worth to be mined. So, an automatic skill check
doesn’t guarantee that there is something to mine, a prospector may discover that the
area contains nothing but now he’s aware of that.

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 TABLE 1.1 - DEPOSITS AND ENVIRONMENTS
Mountain/Hill Desert Jungle Plain Volcanic land

LEAD V V

ZINC V V

IRON V V

TIN V

COPPER V V

SILVER V V V

GOLD V V V

PLATINUM V V

MITHRIL V

ADAMANTINE V

PRECIOUS V V V
GEMSTONES
GEMS V V V

JEWELS V V V

BASALT V V

GRANITE V V

MARBLE V

COAL V V V V

PETROLEUM V V V

RADIO-ACTIVE V V V
MATERIALS
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 MOUNTAIN DC 15*
Time required: 1 week; Surface covered: 1x1 mile square; Chance of a deposit:30%

DESERT DC 20*
Time required: 1 week; Surface covered: 4x4 miles square; Chance of deposit:10%

JUNGLE DC 25*
Time required: 2 weeks; Surface covered: 2x2 miles square; Chance of a deposit:10%

PLAIN DC 12*
Time required: 2 weeks; Surface covered: 6x6 miles square; Chance of a deposit:15%

VOLCANIC DC 18*
Time required: 1 week; Surface covered: 2x2 miles square; Chance of a deposit:15%

Once the prospecting is complete and the chance of a deposit is positive, we can
determine what kind of mine product is present.

CHAPTER 3 – MINE PRODUCTS

In this chapter we’ll show how to roll for mine products. We said four categories of
mine products exist. Let's see them one by one and what each category contains. Below
we present a summary of all the possible mine products.
*If a deposit contains these mine products there is a chance that
ornamental, semi-precious or fancy gemstones can be found also.
**These class of gemstones can be found only together with iron, copper, basalt,
granite, marble, coal, petroleum or radio-active materials.

GEMSTONES
Gemstones are classified into six main groups, and each group has an average value
expressed in gp. Also, if the gemstones belong to the ornamental. Semi-precious or
fancy subgroup then the description includes together with what mine product they
can be found.

ORNAMENTAL GEMSTONES (10gp)

Azurite (copper); Agate (granite, basalt); Blue Calcite (oil); Hematite (iron); Lapis
Lazuli (marble); Malachite (copper); Obsidian (basalt); Rhodocrosite (iron); Turquoise
(copper).

SEMI-PRECIOUS GEMSTONES (50gp)

Bloodstone (iron, granite); Carnelian (iron, granite); Chrysoprase (iron); Citrine
(granite); Jasper (granite); Moonstone (granite); Onyx (granite, basalt); Quartz
Crystal (basalt); Tourmaline (granite); Zircon (granite).

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 SUMMARY
METALS GEMSTONES STONES EXOTIC MATERIALS
Lead Ornamental** Basalt* Coal*
Zinc Azurite (copper) Granite* Petroleum*
Iron* Agate (granite, basalt) Marble* Radio-active materials*
Tin Blue Calcite (petroleum)
Copper* Hematite (iron)
Silver Lapis Lazuli (marble)
Lead Malachite (copper)
Gold Obsidian (basalt)
Platinum Rhodochrosite (iron)
Mithril Semi-precious**
Adamantine Bloodstone (iron, granite)
Carnelian (iron, granite)
Chrysoprase (iron)
Citrine (granite)
Jasper (granite)
Moonstone (granite)
Quartz (basalt)
Tourmaline (granite)
Zircon (granite)
Turquoise (copper)
Fancy**
Alexandrite (iron)
Amber (coal)
Amethyst (basalt)
Fluorite (granite, basalt)
Jade (iron)
Jet (coal)
Precious
Aquamarine
Blue Spinel
Peridot
Topaz
Gems
Garnet
Jacinth
Opal
Red Spinel
Jewels
Diamond
Emerald
Ruby
Sapphire

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 FANCY GEMSTONES(100gp)
Alexandrite (iron); Amber (coal); Amethyst (basalt); Fluorite (granite, basalt); Jade
(iron); Jet (coal).

PRECIOUS GEMSTONES (500gp)

Aquamarine; Blue Spinel; Peridot; Topaz.

GEMS (1,000gp)
Garnet; Jacinth; Opal; Red Spinel.

JEWELS (5,000gp)
Diamond; Emerald; Ruby; Sapphire.

METALS
All the metals we are going to consider worth to be mined must possess a practical
and/or commercial value.

ADAMANTINE
This is a fantasy metal. In fantasy settings adamantine is usually employed to craft
weapons, armors and golems. It's origins are not very clear, but it seems to be of
interstellar origin. We can assume that adamantine is a sort of stable isotope that
can be found in the proximity of meteor craters. It's very rare, very powerful and very
expensive. Adamantine also appears in Greek Mythology as the metal of the Gods, and
the god Ephestus employed this metal to craft weapons for their brothers.

MITHRIL
This fantasy metal is a legacy from Lord of the Rings. It is considered by dwarfs the
holy grail of metals. It is strong, light and very precious. However it forms at great
depths, so extracting mithril is dangerous. Finding a mithril deposit is a blessing and
a curse at the same time.

PLATINUM
This underrated metal is employed as currency in fantasy settings only. In the
middle age it was unknown and with no practical or commercial value, indeed
when extracted it was discarded and considered less valuable than silver.
Platinum as such has no a great practical value like other precious metals, see gold
and silver. You may want to give a new dress to platinum by making it an ingredient
in alchemical processes that can turn this metal into an alloy harder than steel.

GOLD
The king of all metals. Wars are waged to obtain gold. Possessing or controlling a gold
mine can change the balance of power in your favor. Dwarfs consider gold as precious
as mithril. While mithril allows to craft armors and weapons, gold can buy almost
everything. Since civilizations have invented the currency, gold has entered the scene
as the protagonist. Indeed you can mint it into coins, make ingots or craft jewels.

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 Gold in the form of ingots is usually employed in big transactions where you need to
incorporate a high value in a reduced volume. Deals between kingdoms are usually
sealed with gold.

SILVER
This is the little brother of gold and has always been considered the replacement when
gold was scarce. It is minted into coins or employed to craft luxury objects. In the past
it was employed as currency for domestic trade.

COPPER
It was the metal who introduced mankind to the age of metals. Copper is essential to
produce bronze and brass alloys, can be minted into coins or melted into bars. It is
a common currency for local trade and is commonly employed to buy common trade
goods.

TIN
Tin itself has little use in the middle age. It becomes useful when melted with copper to
craft bronze. Bronze has the main advantage of being almost impervious to oxidation.
Bronze is used to craft naval parts, doors, statues and some tools.

IRON
This metal is employed in warfare. Without iron, no civilization can last long on the
scene. However iron itself is not very useful, unless it is turned into steel. Iron, and
thus steel, has an enormous practical and commercial value, however its abundance
keeps the price under control.

LEAD
Romans employed lead to build water pipelines capable of delivering freshwater to
citizens. They even crafted mundane objects for the everyday use. This habit latest until
they figured out it was toxic. In the middle age, lead was employed as an insulating
and as an add-on in glass-working. The British Empire employed lead to seal canned
food for the navy. We assume that lead has a practical and commercial value, but it
will be the less valuable of all metals.

STONES
This category include rocks that are usually employed to erect buildings. With granite
being the most common, followed by basalt and then marble as the most precious.
Granite and basalt usually forms due to tectonic and volcanic activity, while marble
comes from sedimentary processes. That's why it's unusual that marbles and granite/
basalt share the same group of gemstones as by-product.

GRANITE
This is the most common building material. It is usually found in rocky environment
like mountains and hills.

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 BASALT
It is formed by volcanic activity. It's an uncommon building material but very useful
to build strong and long-lasting roads.

MARBLE
It exists in many colors, and it's considered a luxury. Marble is employed to cover
buildings due to its precious texture.

EXOTIC MATERIALS
This category includes some unusual mining products that probably have a use, but
are employed in rare circumstances only or requires specific knowledge.

PETROLEUM
It is a material known since ancient times. Greeks and Romans knew of its existence.
Many Mediterranean cultures, especially the Greeks, wrote about regions of black and
fire thinking of them as the gates to Hell. What they probably saw was burning oil that
spontaneously emerged on the surface.

COAL
This fossil fuel is essential in metallurgy. It has been used since neolithic. It becomes
an essential mine product at the start of the bronze age. Without coal, steel would be
impossible to produce.

RADIO-ACTIVE MATERIALS
They are all metallic in origin and rare to found. They are of course poisonous and in
the past had no practical use. However we can assume that they can be employed by
alchemists and magic-users to craft weird objects or empower magical items.
We can also consider the Underdark radiation as a phenomenon related to the presence
of this metals, this could explain why dwarfs are resistant to poisons and spells a. Just
wondering of course, not stating.

TABLE 1.2 - mine products

D100 MINE PRODUCT

01-70 STONES See Table 2.1

71-85 METALS See Table 3.1

86-95 EXOTIC MATERIALS See Table 4.1

96-00 GEMSTONES See Table 5.1

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 Roll on Table 1.2 - Mine Products what category of mine product is available in
the deposit, provided the skill check is successful and the chance of finding a deposit
is positive.
If the roll on Table 1.2 results in a mine product that is incompatible with its
environment, than the deposit doesn’t exist, what the prospector found was probably
a fake deposit or just some traces of the mineral.

Dhumbar is prospecting a portion of volcanic land, indeed he hopes to find something

useful in this arid lands but he’s aware that the task won’t be easy. He has been
prospecting for a whole week and the seventh day he rolls a successful skill check.
The player rolls a D100 and obtains 7%. The chance of a deposit is positive, because
volcanic lands has a 15% chance of having a deposit, even if only some gemstones
(gems and jewels) and stones (granite and basalt) have a chance to exist in such
environment. Now the player rolls on table 1.2 to check if the finding is actually an
exploitable deposit. The roll on a D100 is 54, stones are present on the surface, traces
of basalt and granite.

TABLE 2.1 - STONES

D100 STONES STONES by-product

01-60 GRANITE See Table 2.2

61-90 BASALT See Table 2.3

91-00 MARBLE See Table 2.4

Roll on this Table 2.1 - Stones to determine exactly what kind of stones are present
in the deposit and their respective by-product.

Dhumbar is very excited. He knows that the chance of finding something are
now high. While his brother, uncle and cousin are protecting the area he revises
the discovery because he wants to be sure that what he found on the surface exist
underground also, so he starts digging. The player rolls a D100 and obtains 74.
This is Dhumbar lucky day. Beneath the surface there is deposit of basalt, and it’s
even possible that with basalt some gems may be present. So, before giving the good
news to his family, he decides to dig a bit more to analyze more sample of rocks for
presence of gemstones. If Dhumbar had rolled less 60% , which is Granite, then he
wouldn’t be so happy, because Granite can’t be found in volcanic lands and he would
have wasted a whole week of work.

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 TABLE 2.2 - GRANITE BY-PRODUCTS
D100 granite by-product gemstone group
01-50 Nothing

51-70 Agate Ornamental

71-72 Bloodstone Semi-precious

73-75 Carnelian Semi-precious

76-78 Citrine Semi-precious

79-81 Jasper Semi-precious

82-84 Moonstone Semi-precious

85-87 Onyx Semi-precious

88-90 Tourmaline Semi-precious

91-93 Zircon Semi-precious

94-95 Fluorite Fancy

96-00 roll twice on this table
Roll on this Table 2.2 - Granite By-products to determine exactly what kind of
granite by-product is present in the granite’s deposit. If you score 96 or more than you
may roll twice for multiple by-products. Then refer to table 7.4 to calculate the output
of the specific by-product.

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 TABLE 2.3 - basalt BY-PRODUCTS
D100 BASALT BY-PRODUCT GEMSTONE GROUP
01-50 Nothing

51-62 Agate Ornamental

63-75 Obsidian Ornamental

76-85 Quartz Semi-precious

86-90 Amethyst Fancy

91-95 Fluorite Fancy

96-00 roll twice on this table

Roll on this Table 2.3 - Basalt By-products to determine exactly what kind of
basalt by-product is present in the basalt’s deposit. If you score 96 or more than you
may roll twice for multiple by-products. Then refer to table 7.4 to calculate the output
of the specific by-product.

Dhumbar is now very nervous. Finding gems in a basalt’s deposit is not something you
see everyday. Such a finding may change the fate of his family and bring prosperity
to all the clan. He hits the basalt with his pick and grasps the fragment to analyze
the sample. If gemstones are present he should be able to see small shiny grain of
powder. The player rolls a D10 and obtains 77. Dhumbar cry out, he can’t contain his
happiness. He has found traces of quartz and this marks the presence of gemstones,
the concentration is high enough that they can extract both basalt and quartz. In the
meanwhile his cry has attracted some wondering monsters, and his family members
will have deal with them. If the dwarfs survive, the mine will belong to them.
TABLE 2.4 - marble BY-PRODUCTS
D100 BASALT BY-PRODUCT GEMSTONE GROUP
01-50 Nothing

51-90 Lapis Lazuli Ornamental

91-95 roll once on table 2.2

96-00 roll twice on table 2.2
Roll on this Table 2.4 - Marble By-products to determine exactly what kind of
marble by-product is present in the marble deposit. If you score 96 or more than you

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 may roll twice for multiple by-products. Then refer to table 7.4 to calculate the output
of the specific by-product.

TABLE 3.1 - metals

D100 metals metals by-product
01-02 Lead

03-04 Zinc

05-83 Iron See Table 3.2

84-86 Tin

87-91 Copper See Table 3.3

92-95 Silver

96-97 Gold

98 Platinum
99 Mithril

00 Adamantine
Roll on Table 3.1 - Metals to determine exactly what kind of metals are present in
the deposit and their respective by-product. Only iron and copper may contain by-
products.

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 TABLE 3.2 - iron by-products
D100 iron by-product gemstone group
01-50 Nothing

51-71 Hematite Ornamental

72-87 Rhodochrosite Ornamental

88-90 Bloodstone Semi-precious

91-93 Carnelian Semi-precious

94-96 Chrysopidate Semi-precious

97-98 Alexandrite Fancy

00 Jade Fancy
Roll on Table 3.2 - Iron By-products to determine exactly what kind of iron by-
product is present in the iron deposit. Then refer to table 7.4 to calculate the output of
the specific by-product.
TABLE 3.3 - copper by-products
D100 copper by-product gemstone group
01-50 Nothing

61-66 Hematite Ornamental

67-82 Rhodochrosite Ornamental

93-00 Bloodstone Ornamental
Roll on Table 3.3 - Copper By-product to determine exactly what kind of copper
by-product is present in the copper deposit. Then refer to table 7.4 to calculate the
output of the specific by-product.

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 TABLE 4.1 - exotic materials
D100 exotic materials exotic mat. by-product
01-60 Coal See Below*

61-90 Petroleum See Below*

91-00 Radio-active mat.

Roll on Table 4.1 - Exotic Materials to determine exactly what kind of exotic
materials are present in the deposit and their respective by-product. Only coal and
petroleum may contain by-products.
*Coal 50% chance to contain amber or jet; Petroleum 50% chance to contain blue
calcite
Then refer to table 7.4 to calculate the output of the specific by-product.

TABLE 5.1 - precious gemstones, gems and jewels

precious gemstones,
D100 gems and jewels gemstone group
01-15 Aquamarine Precious Gemstones

16-30 Blue Spinel Precious Gemstones

31-45 Peridot Precious Gemstones

45-60 Topaz Precious Gemstones

61-68 Garnet Gems

69-76 Jacinth Gems

77-84 Opal Gems

85-91 Red Spinel Gems

92-94 Sapphire Jewels

95-96 Emerald Jewels

97-98 Ruby Jewels

99-00 Diamond Jewels

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 Roll on Table 5.1 - Precious Gemstones, Gems and Jewels to determine exactly
what kind of gemstones are present in the deposit. These kind of gemstones doesn’t
contain any by-product.

CHAPTER 4 – MINING OUTPUT

So far we have seen where we can mine, what can be mined, and the chance of finding
a deposit in a given environment. Now we need an answer the question how much
the output of a mine is. Some deposits may yields more than others because the ore is
more dense or it's more pure. Also, we need to calculate how long the mine is going to
last, some deposits are quickly wiped out in a matter of months, others may last years
or decades.

GP VALUE
We will express the output value in GP, without considering any standard measure
expressing weight or volume. This will be true for any deposit of stones, metals and
exotic materials, the only exception will be the gemstones, because these will be
expressed in units by rolling a dice.

TIME
Whatever the GP value is, it will be associated to a range of time expressed in weeks
months. It means that a mine will produce a specific GP value every week.

MINERS
The output will depend on the number of miners working at the deposit. The more the
miners, the higher the output per week. So, the output of a mine will be expressed as
GP/week/miner. This means also that every week/miner will reduce accordingly the
lifespan of the mine.

LIFESPAN OF A MINE
To calculate the lifespan of a mine roll a D100, that score will be the number of weeks
the mine is going to last. If you score a pair (1 and 1, 2 and 2, 3 and 3, etc…), then roll
once again and this time add the number expressed in months, if you score a pair
again then roll but this time you will add the number of years, tenth of years, etc.
Dhumbar and and his three relatives have repelled the wondering monsters and now
the area is free and safe. They know they will have to work a lot to set up the mine, and
yet they don’t know how much basalt and quartz they will found underground. The
Game Master secretly rolls a D100 to determine the lifespan of the deposit and he rolls
33. The basalt deposit is going to last 33 weeks, however having rolled a pair (3 and
3) he can now roll again to add the number of months. The second roll is an 8, which
translates in 8 months (32 weeks) of lifespan added to 33 weeks of the first roll. Both
scores make a total of 65 weeks, and this will be the lifespan of the mine. Once the four
dwarfs begin their mining activity, the lifespan of the mine will be reduced by 4 weeks
every week. The dwarfs will deplete the mine in more or less 16 weeks.

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 METALS OUTPUT
Once we have determined the lifespan, we can calculate the quality of the deposit
and thus the output expressed in gp/week/miner. Ore requires to be processed in a
smelter in order to maximize their value. If the ore is not smelted than its GP value
will be drastically reduced.

TABLE 6.1 - metals output

D10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Lead 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Zinc 1.5 2.5 4 6 8 10 14 20 25 30
Iron 2 3 5 7 9 12 16 20 30 40
Tin 3 4 5 8 10 14 20 25 35 45
Copper 4 5 6 9 11 15 21 27 40 50
Silver 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Gold 15 30 50 80 120 170 230 300 380 500
Platinum 40 80 150 250 350 500 700 900 1200 1500
Mithril 50 100 200 300 500 700 1000 1500 2000 2500
Adamantine 100 200 400 600 1000 1500 2000 3000 4000 5000

A deposit contains metal ores of different qualities and density, roll a d10 on Table
6.1 - Metals Output to determine the quality of the ore. The higher the roll the
higher the gp/week/miner. The value expressed in table 6.1 represents the value of
smelted ore. If the ore is not smelted then consider 25% of the value expressed in the
table. We’ll tell more about smelting and smelters in the paragraph below.

SMELTING THE ORE

We assume that every dwarf care for mining, moving and smelting the ore with a
scheduled and organized turn-shift. The output of ore that can be smelted depends
on the smelter, which exist in different size and efficiency. Selling the ore without
smelting implies a 25% efficiency of the GP value expressed in table 6.1, in other
words without a basic smelting the efficiency is 25%.
Many kind of smelters existed and exist, from the rudimentary smelter made of rocks,
to the more advanced smelter made of bricks. For the sake of this guide we will consider
two categories of smelters, the bloomery and the blast furnace.
The smelter is indeed the heart of a dwarfish mine. Every smelter is defined by the
following characteristics:

EFFICIENCY
Expresses the percentage of ore converted into metal, thus increasing the GP value.
Better and more expensive smelters have higher efficiency.

CAPACITY
Expresses the amount of ore that a smelter can process in a week, in other words the
amount of ore extracted expressed in miner/week.

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 COST
Smelters come in many size and forms, and they are expensive. The bigger they are,
the more they cost.

MAINTENANCE
Operating a smelter generates costs because it must be fueled and cleaned. Every
week the maintenance cost must be paid or the smelter won’t be able to work.

TIER
The same type of smelter may evolve with time. This is especially true for blasting
furnaces, that have seen technological improvements over the centuries. Eventually
the same dwarfs may research and discover techniques to improve their smelters, at
Game Master discretion of course.

SMELTERS IN HISTORY
As we said, we'll consider two categories of smelters, the bloomery and the blast
furnace.

BLOOMERY
This is a primitive smelter, usually made of clay and rocks. It works with heat and it
can be build from common materials. It is not very efficient and it can processes the
ore of up to 10 miners/week. A bloomery occupies a 10 feet x 10 feet square and, once
built, can't be moved.

BLAST FURNACE
This is a more advanced smelter that works with heat and air-fluxes. It's principles
are employed to this day but technology has evolved to increase efficiency. A blast
furnace has a wide range of cost, efficiency and capacity. First blast furnaces appeared
in China in the 13th century.

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 smelters
BLOOMERY blast furnaces

TIER 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Efficiency % 35 50 55 60 65 70 90 100

Capacity 10 20 40 80 160 320 400 450

(miner/week)

Cost(Gp) 0 1,000 3,000 6,000 10,000 20,000 25,000 40,000

Maintenance 0 50 150 300 500 1,000 1,200 1,500

(gp/week)

TIER
Expresses the technological level of the smelter. A bloomery, being a really basic
equipment, is considered always as a tier 0. Blast furnaces represent a different concept
of smelting, and may possesses various degrees of efficiency and capacity.

EFFICIENCY
Expresses the % of ore that is effectively converted into metal. For example, a gold
deposit with quality 3 yields 50gp/miner/week (see table 6.1). Without any smelting
the real value of the output would be 25% of 50gp or 12.5gp, however if I employ a
bloomery the real value of the output will be 35% of 50gp or 17.5gp, and if I decide to
employ a tier 1 blast furnace the value of the output will be 50% of 50gp or 25gp.

CAPACITY
Expresses how much output the smelter can handle in terms of miners/week. A
bloomery can smelt the ore mined by 10 miners/week, while a tier 4 blast furnace can
smelt the ore mined by 160 miners/week.

MAINTENANCE
Expresses the cost to operate the smelter on a weekly basis. A bloomery costs nothing
because it can be built and operated with material that can be recovered or scavenged
almost anywhere (at Game Master discretion). Sometimes it's more affordable to
employ a basic bloomery instead of buying/crafting a blast furnace, especially when
the deposit is composed of common metals, in other words you open the mine, you
strip it and you find another place to exploit.

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 PREPARING THE SMELTER
A smelter requires time to become operational. As a general rule it takes 1 week per
tier to set the smelter up. If it is a bloomery, which is tier 0, it just takes less than a
week. The size of the smelter depends of its tier, consider that a smelter occupies 5
feet*tier square. So a tier 5 smelter occupies 25ft *25ft.

TECHNOLOGICAL ENHANCEMENT (optional rule)

We all know that dwarfs are never satisfied with what they have and always try to
improve their tools and equipment. You may allow the players to enhance the smelter
of a given tier by rolling appropriate skill checks. They may discover that with some
modifications a smelter tier I increases efficiency of 1%, or they may research a way to
make smelters more compacts thus reducing the size, or more simple thus reducing the
rime required to set one up. Feel free to play with the variables, to add new variables
or, why not, new equipment.

STONES OUTPUT
Stones follow the same rules in term of lifespan, however stones do not require any
smelting, so their GP value is not reduced. Roll a d10 to determine the quality of the
stone. The higher the roll the higher the gp/week/miner.

TABLE 7.1 - stones output

D10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Granite 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5.5
Basalt 0.8 1.2 2 2.5 3 3.5 5 6 7 8
Marble 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 12 15

We assume that stones do not require any further process in order to be sold and they
are automatically turned into cubes or slates by miners.

Dhumbar and his fellows made the decision. They are going to exploit the mine of
basalt. According to the dwarf calculations the deposit will yield 4 gp/week/miner if
him and his three mates will work hard. The Game Master rolled a D10 and scored 8,
which means the deposit yield 4gp/week/miner, resulting in 32gp/week. However
the dwarfs know that within the basaltic rocks, many quartzes are hidden and this
is where the true profit lies.

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 EXOTIC MATERIALS OUTPUT
Exotic materials follow the same rules in term of lifespan, however exotic materials
do not require any smelting or refining, so their GP value is not reduced. Roll a d10
to determine the quality of the deposit. The higher the roll the higher the gp/week/
miner.

TABLE 7.2 - exotic materials output

D10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Coal 1 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 6 8 10 15 20
Petroleum 2 3 5 7 9 13 16 20 30 40
Radio Active
Materials
3 6 10 14 18 26 32 40 60 80

Coal
It has been mined since the 2nd century BC by the Romans. Indeed tin and coal were
the reason Britain was invaded and occupied by the Empire. Coal itself doesn't require
any particular machinery to be mined, it's all about pick and shovel.
Petroleum
It comes in different qualities and quality defines the value of petroleum. In ancient
times it was extracted when it emerged on the surface and most of the times it came
in the form of bitumen or pitch. Petroleum was used as an incendiary material and as
an insulating in ship-making.

PRECIOUS STONES, GEMS AND JEWELS OUTPUT

The output of such kind of deposit is not calculated, as per stones, metals and exotic
materials, in gp/week/miner, instead it is calculated in terms of gems extracted per
week. Roll a d10 to determine the quality of the deposit. The higher the roll the higher
the amount of gems extracted, no matter the amount of miners.

TABLE 7.3 - precious gemstones, gems and jewels

D10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Precious
Gemstones
(500gp)
1D8-7 1D8-6 1D6 1D6+1 1D8 1D8+1 1D10 1D10+1 1D12 1D12+1
Gems
(1,000gp) 1D6-5 1D6-4 1D6-3 1D6-2 1D6-1 1D6 1D6+1 1D8 1D8+1 1D10
Jewels
(5,000gp)
1D4-3 1D4-2 1D4-1 1D4 1D4+1 1D6 1D6+1 1D8 1D8+1 1D10

All gemstones found in a deposit come impure and have to be cleaned. This task is
accomplished by master jewelers. Dwarfs, as well as gnomes, know the trick of the
trade. As a general rule an impure gemstone possesses 10% of the value listed in table
7.3. In order for a gemstone to be sold at it’s full value it has to be cleaned. Cleaning a
single gemstone, be it a precious stone, a gem or a jewel, requires the dedicated work
of a professional for one week.
For example, a quality 4 precious gemstones deposit has yielded 2 gemstones this
week. The potential value of the gemstones is 1,000gp, however they can’t be sold
at this market value, because they are not clean. If the dwarfs want to sell both gems
they’ll earn no more than 100gp. If a master jeweler is present he can clean both gems
in two weeks and only they can be sold at their full value, that is 1,000gp.

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 BY-PRODUCT OUTPUT
The output of such kind of deposit is not calculated, as per stones, metals and exotic
materials, in gp/week/miner, instead it is calculated in terms of gems extracted per
week. Roll a d10 to determine the quality of the deposit. The higher the roll the higher
the amount of gems extracted, no matter the amount of miners. This kind of gemstones
always come as a by-product of other deposits.

TABLE 7.4 - ORNAMENTAL, SEMI-PRECIOUS AND FANCY GEMSTONES OUTPUT

D10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ornamental
(10gp) 1D8 1D8+2 2D6 2D6+2 2D8 2D8+2 2D10 2D10+2 2D12 2D12+2
Semi-precious
(50gp) 1D6 1D6+2 2D4 2D4+2 2D6 2D6+2 2D6 2D8+2 2D10 2D10+2
Fancy
(100gp)
1D4 1D4+1 1D6 1D6+1 1D8 1D8+1 2D4+2 2D6 2D6+1 2D8

INDEX OF tables
TABLE 1.1 DEPOSITS and ENVIRONMENTS 6
summary 8
TABLE 1.2 MINE PRODUCTS 11
TABLE 2.1 STONES 12
TABLE 2.2 GRANITE BY-PRODUCT 13
TABLE 2.3 BASALT BY-PRODUCT 14
TABLE 2.4 MARBLE BY-PRODUCT 14
TABLE 3.1 METALS 15
TABLE 3.2 IRON BY-PRODUCT 16
TABLE 3.3 COPPER BY-PRODUCT 16
TABLE 4.1 EXOTIC MATERIALS 17
TABLE 5.1 PRECIOUS GEMSTONE,GEMS AND JEWELS 17
TABLE 6.1 METALS OUTPUT 19
SMELTERS 21
TABLE 7.1 STONES OUTPUT 22
TABLE 7.2 EXOTIC MATERIALS OUTPUT 23
TABLE 7.3 PRECIOUS STONES, GEMS AND JEWELS OUTPUT 23
TABLE 7.4 ORNAMENTAL, SEMI-PRECIOUS AND 24
FANCY GEMSTONES OUTPUT

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