Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Apr 30, 2004 0:41:46	Are locks common on Athas? With the lack of metal (and ability to work it), I would guess they would be rare.
#2 Kamelion Apr 30, 2004 2:20:10	We had this discussion in my game a little while ago. A little research revealed that early locks were made of rope or wood. In our history, all-metal locks did not appear until the late 9th Century AD. There's a brief summary of the development of locksmithing here. Enjoy
#3 Shei-Nad Apr 30, 2004 11:19:49	That was another question I meant to ask. The thing is, even if there are ways to ''lock'' a door without metal, I doubt that true locks are common. Which brings 2 questions: How do commoners keep their doors locked? Do they at all? What to do with the Open Lock skill? for question 2, I incorporated Open Locks in Disable Device, since I felt locks not made of metal would probably be intricate, or very simple, mechanisms with weights, ropes or so. Anyways, both are closely related, and its less penalising for rogues this way.
#4 dawnstealer Apr 30, 2004 11:47:19	Basically, any lock you can build out of metal, you can build out of wood (or stone). The catch (no pun intended) is that metal is far more durable. The lock above was used by egyptians.
#5 zombiegleemax Apr 30, 2004 12:04:25	Originally posted by Shei-Nad That was another question I meant to ask. The thing is, even if there are ways to ''lock'' a door without metal, I doubt that true locks are common. Which brings 2 questions: How do commoners keep their doors locked? Do they at all? What to do with the Open Lock skill? for question 2, I incorporated Open Locks in Disable Device, since I felt locks not made of metal would probably be intricate, or very simple, mechanisms with weights, ropes or so. Anyways, both are closely related, and its less penalising for rogues this way. Commoners probably don't keep their doors locked (the templars wouldn't have it), but I could definitely see the nobles and traders as having legal locks, and the elves having some not so legal ones. Because of the lower tech level, and the de-emphasis of dungeon crawls, some skills (such as disable device and open locks) have become less valuable. That doesn't necessarily mean (to me) that something should be done about the skills, just that it would be an important FYI for rogue players. One possibility is to merge open locks with disable device into one skill, like in D20 Modern.
#6 Agonar May 01, 2004 1:04:40	Yeah, in our Dark Sun campaign, when we stayed at the Inn, the Doors had rope locks, both inside and out. Open lock skill could be more of a "undoing the knot and then duplicating it afterwards to keep people from knowing it was opened" Other than that, there is nothing to say that metal locks don't exist. Considering that there was once an Age where the world was covered mostly with water, who is to say that there aren't salvaged locks? SKs would have metal locks, and anyone able to find them would use them There is no real reason that there cannot be locks of non-metal materials.
#7 jaanos May 01, 2004 1:59:49	Here's some idea beyond the awesome contributions made already: Stone shaped into a lock by an earth cleric Simply bar system