[GURPS Basic] Why no farming mechanic?

[Minuteman37]

So I was just browsing through the basic set skill chapter when I came across the farming skill and got curious about how it works in GURPS. Though to my surprise I found no mention of any sort of agriculture outside of the texted blurbs for both Farming and Gardening, in fact gardening mentions how it's smaller in scale then farming, but I'm never given any sort of metric to measure that by.

I was at least expecting (and was completely ok with) a basic abstraction system like "you can support S people at T Tech Level +/- your degree's of success or failure multiplied by U% on your farming roll modified for environmental factors like -V for W or +X for Y"

But no, any sort of farming rules are completely absent even though for our entire history it's been what the vast majority of people did.

[Brandy]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

But no, any sort of farming rules are completely absent even though for our entire history it's been what the vast majority of people did.

...while also being a vanishing minority of what adventurers do.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by Bookman

...while also being a vanishing minority of what adventurers do.

Isn't the farm boy hero a well established trope?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

It's not really a significant adventuring activity, though, is it?

That said, see Low-Tech Companion 3. And Pyramid 3/33. And Pyramid 3/52.

[Brandy]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

Isn't the farm boy hero a well established trope?

Yes. And his story begins when...


...he leaves the farm. :)

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

Isn't the farm boy hero a well established trope?

True, but he's usually leaving or has already left the farm when we first see him.

For times when the farm is still an important background element of the game, you'd probably want the rules in GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics.

[Anthony]

GURPS Basic doesn't bother with any details of non-adventuring jobs, which describes Farming.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Anthony

GURPS Basic doesn't bother with any details of non-adventuring jobs, which describes Farming.

Well, there are rules for invention. But they're probably included to support Gadgeteer, which wouldn't function without them.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

It's not really a significant adventuring activity, though, is it?

That said, see Low-Tech Companion 3. And Pyramid 3/33. And Pyramid 3/52.

Not normally. But if the adventure is about a tribe of migrants founding a civilization, it takes on a new role.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by robkelk

True, but he's usually leaving or has already left the farm when we first see him.

Note for example that GURPS Fantasy has an occupational template for the peasant hero, inspired by figures such as Kikuchiyo and Sam Gamgee.