Personal Basics - what are they made of?

[Bruno]

I'm not sure I'd include the candle, but a little notepad makes sense.

Looking at my purse, I have chapstick, tissues, some pens, some paper, all my medication, a cellphone, a tablet, a whistle (Fox-40), a tiny LED "flashlight" (single LED light), a parcel hook, a small "Swiss army knife" style pocketknife, a few sweets, a single meal bar, a battery for my cellphone... an enormous amount of random paperwork...

Out of that, I'd allow the packet of tissues (Alternative to hanky/towel), a pen or pencil (cheap), a little bit of paper, the crappy flashlight as an alternative to firestarting equipment, ONE of the pocket knife or the parcel hook, and if you want to give up the knife/fork/foon/spork/whatever option I'd let you have some other small tool.

Note that prior to about the 1600s, forks are exotic and unnecessary in England and I don't think they really appeared in Europe prior to ~1500s (eat with the hands God gave you!). You probably also eat with your pocket knife rather than a special food knife. Therefore a European would only really need the spoon, which is probably wood, for special eating utensils. [1]

But you would probably have a napkin-style piece of cloth for wiping your hands and/or wrapping up leftover food and taking it away with you. It has more in common with the towel than the pocket-square or handkerchief.

[1] I have an overwhelming urge to yell "BABBA YAGA DON'T TOUCH MY SPOON!" now... Which is how the boy got himself into trouble in the first place, now that I think about it.

[Black Leviathan]

Based on equipment options if not the weight of the kit, I'd say any light source other than a simple firestarter is out. The same for rope, it's just too big and not basic enough. I think a table knife is in there but not anything sturdy enough for combat and probably blunted so it doesn't poke through whatever pouch your personal basics are in.

Cutlery seems to be an assumption and a good one.

A cup in a culture that doesn't have disposable cups would likely be an essential as a lot of places would fill your cup rather than handing you one of theirs, But it wouldn't be a very large cup at that weight.

I feel like a toothbrush, cleaning stick, sonic dental probe goes into those basics but I really just don't feel comfortable with a gross mouth and couldn't picture dungeoneering with crud between my teeth.

I think in some periods basics would include perfume/cologne to take the place of regular bathing.

I feel like any personal basics would contain a small rugged box, maybe waterproof to hold your pills or precious items

[Donny Brook]

I have houseruled that the survival/camping version of personal basics doesn't exist. (Most of my campaigns have very little inferred likelyhood of camping anyway spontanous camping.) So if you want to have that stuff, buy it and list it on your sheet.

Instead I assume that anyone who has their Cost of Living paid up carries around the usual setting-appropriate small conveniences of their TL and status.

And yes, in our RW setting that does mean a woman character has more of this sort of 'stuff' than a man character.

[jason taylor]

Having the right size and shape of bags can be important. Today I got an electronics organizer that is nearly flat and will fit in my bag. It's main purpose was to keep cords from being lost or worn out.

The first time I got a key carrier it kept coming apart. I got a new one with a simple mechanism that threads a rubber or soft plastic ring through a hole in the frame and anchors it by the simple means of plopping it over a protrusion. No more screws to small to use a screwdriver on.

A power pack is something to have for anyone that is likely to be away from an outlet. Unfortunately all of mine have to be precharged at an outlet before going anywhere (sort of like stuffing a camel with extra drink and fodder before crossing the dessert). One has a wind-up and another has a solar but those are secondary.

A flashlight is one of the most needed things to have around in the city. I remember once when me and my dad were stranded by packed snow (in a depression with hills all around) and we needed light to free the tires. I determined to myself never to be without one again.

One thing about the Swiss Army Knife that is good is that it is instantly recognizable. A lot of modern knives look to much like something a gangster would be packing.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Personally, I'm more interested in the contents of group basics. Basic Set mentions that it includes some rope, but provides no details, and "how much rope do we have" is a perennial question among adventurers.

I have a bunch of notes where I've been fleshing out the content of some kits ("hmm, this would make a good Pyramid article someday. . . oh, never mind"), but I haven't gotten around to group basics.

Anyone interested in taking a shot at it? I appreciate the simplicity of abstracting the whole mess of equipment to a weight, a cost, and a GM understanding of "okay, you're covered for camping and cooking tasks". But for detail-oriented groups, it'd be fun to see some suggested group basics loadouts.

(Side note: Any interest I have in detailed kit loadouts may have been spurred by playing Star Frontiers, which – for better or worse – has delightfully detailed kits. Right down to how many doses of Biocort, Antitox, etc. are in your Medkit, how much wire and how many fasteners (!) are in your Techkit, etc. I don't think I need that much info, but it's kind of a fun read, if nothing else.)

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'm not sure I'd include the candle, but a little notepad makes sense.

For that candle in personal basics, I specifically have fantasy/low-tech in mind. It's your sole nighttime light source when you don't have a torch. (And I really mean a small candle, like good for an hour or so. If a fantasy PC wants a real night light, buy and carry a proper candle.)

For modern tech, I suppose a keychain flashlight would be fair to include in personal basics.

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I think a table knife is in there but not anything sturdy enough for combat and probably blunted so it doesn't poke through whatever pouch your personal basics are in.

I once thought that it'd be fair to assume an official GURPS small knife as included in personal basics – until I realized that the knife's cost is many times that of the basics! Even if cheap quality.

So if a PC needs to fall back on a personal basics freebie knife – call it utility knife – I'm thinking it should be thr-2 imp dam, -1 TH, Reach C only, no Parry, and cheap. On its own worth, maybe, $2. (Still too good a tool for the cost?)

(Actually, stats for such a minimal knife probably already exist in Low-Tech or somewhere.)

Anyway. All unnecessary detail, but mildly interesting in a game with focus on resource management.

[Dalillama]

Group basics off the top of my head:
Tarpaulin: made of leather, oilcloth, waxed canvas, nylon depending on TL and locale
Rope: ~40' total, usually cut into 4'-8' lengths.
Pot: cauldron, Dutch oven or wok type, made of copper, bronze, or iron.
Carving knife or cleaver, spatula or ladle, cutting board, quern or mortar and pestle
Hatchet, large knife, small saw, small shovel, possibly pick/mattock. Two or more of these may be the same item (e.g. entrenching tools.)
Gutting knife, skinning knife, fish hooks (bone or shell at most TLs) and line (usually thinner than rope, also good for snaring small land animals).

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by tbone

For that candle in personal basics, I specifically have fantasy/low-tech in mind. It's your sole nighttime light source when you don't have a torch. (And I really mean a small candle, like good for an hour or so. If a fantasy PC wants a real night light, buy and carry a proper candle.)

Make the candle a tallow one, and if things get really dire you can eat it.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Assume for a moment that the "Personal Basics" described in the Basic Set consists of a camping mess kit: an 8" fry pan, 8" plate/bowl (depending on POV and side depth), 1 qt soup pot with lid, 1 cp mug, and utensils (knife, spoon, fork in those cultures that use one).

At TL8 the plate, mug, and utensils are likely to be plastic, with the rest aluminum. At TL7, the standard was aluminum for everything, and at TL6 from what I could tell everything was steel.

At TL4, I can see the pan and pot being cast iron, with a tin, silver, or pewter fork; not sure about the mug.

But what about the other TLs? What would you expect the standard to be for TL 5? TL 2? TL 0?



(Also curious to know what people expect to see in Group Basics.)

As others have said, personal basics are things for eating and grooming, not cooking, and they are much smaller than an 8" pan or an 8" bowl ("Includes utensils, tinderbox or flint and steel, towel, etc., as TL permits. $5; 1 lb.")

The materials depend on social status and the kind of society: a Roman might have a silver toothpick, a tinned brass patera, and a brass-hilted knife, while the Suebi he is drinking with uses a horn cup and an iron folding knife in a boxwood hilt.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I have houseruled that the survival/camping version of personal basics doesn't exist. (Most of my campaigns have very little inferred likelyhood of camping anyway spontanous camping.) So if you want to have that stuff, buy it and list it on your sheet.

Instead I assume that anyone who has their Cost of Living paid up carries around the usual setting-appropriate small conveniences of their TL and status.

And yes, in our RW setting that does mean a woman character has more of this sort of 'stuff' than a man character.

Before the 19th/20th century, people really did carry more of this stuff than 21st century people do at home though. So at a medieval table it was expected that you would bring your own knife, maybe a spoon or a glass if you didn't want to eat and drink out of the host's cheap earthware or woodware for visitors. And soldiers and campers pack a basic grooming kit and eating kit with minimal space and weight. Generally, one vessel for drink or stew which can withstand a ladel of hot stew or porridge is a good idea.

Edit: Here are some suggestions for 1382 England, although they go beyond Personal Basics into good knives, amusements, etc. http://www.peelaffinity.net/?page_id=179 Personal basics should be more like a spoon, maybe chopsticks or a tiny folding knife, something to drink beer or eat stew out of, a small towel or napkin, tweezers, a razor, a comb, and a toothpick or toothbrush, maybe a tiny mirror at high tech.

Edit the Second: See Low Tech pages 35 and following, High Tech pages 58, 59

[Phantasm]

I count Personal Basics as a mess kit mainly because I have not found a "mess kit" in any of the -Tech books, and it's clearly missing from the camping gear in the Basic Set.

As for the price and weight, the Boy/Girl Scout aluminum kit is about 1 lb. all together. I may have been off on the width of the plate/pan. Adapting tin, light steel, copper, and clay eating bowls is just as good, and probably just as light. (One pound is a lot heavier than most people realize, IME.)