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Old 04-29-2010, 04:37 PM   #1
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Default What is the new Low Tech like?

I own the 3rd ed. version of Gurps Low Tech (having bought it thinking, for some unremembered reason, that it was the 4th ed one.) Having seen another thread on the new version's page count, I got curious. What is the new Low Tech like?

Will its layout be similar to the last edition? Discussing things by tech level, or will it be more like the other Tech books, like High Tech and Ultra Tech? Which, from what I can tell, discuss things by type of tech and how they "level up" through time.

Will there be any material reused from the old one? I doubt there will be, but I'm still curious.

Are there any other differences or points of note that I haven't asked?
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Last edited by tg_ambro; 04-29-2010 at 04:38 PM. Reason: Poked around and answered on of my questions
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Old 04-29-2010, 05:03 PM   #2
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

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Originally Posted by tg_ambro View Post

What is the new Low Tech like?
If you have High-Tech for GURPS Fourth Edition, then that tells you almost all you need to know: like that, but for TL0-4 instead of for TL5-8. The biggest differences, aside from the TLs and the specific item entries those imply, are a slightly different chapter order (weapons before, not after armor, and a few other things like that) and fewer weapons relative to other content (27.5% for Low-Tech vs. 48.4% for High-Tech).

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Will its layout be similar to the last edition? Discussing things by tech level, or will it be more like the other Tech books, like High Tech and Ultra Tech?
More like the other tech books. Which is a very good thing . . . the further back in history you go, the less meaningful rigid TLs are. While TL5-8 pistols, say, have clear dates of invention, there's really no sure way to know when swords were invented or people first mined lead. At best, we have educated guesswork, which provides time-ordering more often than firm dates. Thus, we split up tech by type and ordered it chronologically by category. While we certainly listed TLs, they weren't the primary basis of organization for the entire book.

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Will there be any material reused from the old one?
Material reused from the previous edition accounts for a little less than 15% of the new edition. Of course, the new edition is about 50% longer by word count, so this represents ~21% of the earlier edition!
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Old 04-29-2010, 05:20 PM   #3
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

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Are there any other differences or points of note that I haven't asked?
As Kromm has explained, Low Tech for 4e will be more like High Tech for 4e than Low Tech for 3rd edition. One of the hidden implications is that some of the stuff in 3rd edition won't be in the 4e version. For example, the earlier edition discusses aspects of government. The newer edition doesn't.

But that's what the Companions are for. Companion 1, which covers government, education, and other "social technologies," expands considerably on the earlier edition's treatment of the topic. Likewise, the new edition doesn't contain hunting and gathering rules, but Companion 3, which covers subsistence technologies, crafts, and trade and transportation, has not only hunting and gathering rules, but also rules and background material for agriculture, herding, cooking, and food preservation.

So, then, the new edition doesn't map 1:1 to the earlier edition. Rather, the new edition plus three additional PDF-only volumes covers much the same ground in greater detail and expands on it in several areas.
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Old 04-29-2010, 07:39 PM   #4
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

These answer my questions with satisfaction, thanks. Consider me sold on Low Tech, as well as High-, Ultra-, and Bio-. Now it is just a matter of getting them.
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Old 05-10-2010, 09:58 PM   #5
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

Will this book - match the other tech books in how it is published? Will it be a full-color hardbound book? Will we see the book published this year as well?
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:00 PM   #6
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

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Will this book - match the other tech books in how it is published? Will it be a full-color hardbound book? Will we see the book published this year as well?
The book will match the other tech books in how it is published/produced, full color hardbound book.

I don't know where this book is in the process, but Kromm has indicated that he expects it to release in this calendar year, yes.

-P.
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:30 PM   #7
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

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The book will match the other tech books in how it is published/produced, full color hardbound book.
We sent in an enormous list of art references and suggestions for illustrations of archaic tech. . . .

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Old 05-11-2010, 07:23 AM   #8
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

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We sent in an enormous list of art references and suggestions for illustrations of archaic tech. . . .
Excellent! Coming from a gaming background where armor is normally described in a single word (Plate, leather, chain etc), one of the tough parts for me in taking up GURPS was learning some of the more subtle terms. Martial Arts did a great job with weapons, and Im hoping that Low tech does as well with armor. Just having a picture that diagrams the difference between Sollerettes, Greaves, lamellar, banded, splinted and other terms will go a long way towards accessability.

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Old 05-11-2010, 12:00 PM   #9
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

Please be warned that we can't promise art for every item of tech or even a good percentage of artifacts. We always request many times more art suggestions than we could ever use, because a certain percentage of these inevitably won't work with the book's visual style, while those that remain are subject to being wedged in as layout permits . . . and visual style and layout are concerns addressed months after we request art suggestions from the writers. From what I've seen, while Low-Tech will have a clean, easy-to-use layout, it will definitely be text-heavy and art-light.
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Old 05-11-2010, 12:07 PM   #10
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Default Re: What is the new Low Tech like?

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From what I've seen, while Low-Tech will have a clean, easy-to-use layout, it will definitely be text-heavy and art-light.
That seems to be the SOP for all the GURPS books I've seen, which I think works really well for the system. :)
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