04-15-2018, 10:01 AM | #41 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
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04-15-2018, 10:45 AM | #42 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
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Technology doesn't mean hardware. Ideas and techniques with no associated tools can still be technology. EDIT: Of course a flip side of this is that the existence of the raw materials needed for a technology doesn't imply that technology is actually implemented.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. Last edited by Ulzgoroth; 04-15-2018 at 10:53 AM. |
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04-15-2018, 11:07 AM | #43 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
The system would be a technology. If they've calculated the schedule on which the village witch or itinerant priest needs to come by and magically fertilize the field in order to maximize sustained yield and have organized finding, recruiting and training fertilizer mages enough to apply it on a large scale then that schedule would be a technology, and a divergent one from the ones familiar to a TL 3 to 6 agronomist. But Yrth doesn't do that. They just notice their crops are starting to fail and then beg for the Church or the overlord to send them a magician to banish the curse. And the answer they get is uncertain and they might just come after the nearest possible witch, stones in hand and hope that fixes it.
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04-15-2018, 11:14 AM | #44 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
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It just may not work well enough to actually increase yields much, especially during normal years as opposed to bad ones. So it probably wouldn't change the TL.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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04-15-2018, 03:19 PM | #45 | |||
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
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"Look at a number of commonly used spells, assign them to approximate TL equivalents, and see if these cluster around one or two TLs as usually defined; if so, use a rough equivalent TL in that range. If that doesn’t work, the TL concept may not fit the setting. (...) Settings with magically based TL ratings are effectively alternative histories, where the point of departure is the invention of reliable magic." - GURPS Fantasy pg 66 Quote:
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"For example, one ceremonial casting of a 100-point Bless Plants spell will double the crop yield on 6.5 acres (see Agrarian Magic, p. 95). That’s a small wheat field, but a substantial vineyard – and good wine sells for more than good bread, so doubling the yield pays off even more." (Fantasy pg 71) Then you have Low magic which is the official version of Hedge Magic "Low magic is magic that anybody might pick up, without systematic formal study, and use in everyday life or emergencies." (Fantasy pg 71) The next level up brings one to Craft Magic where special rituals can cast spells and even enchant items (Talents as Magic Fantasy 160) Heck, GURPS Banestorm directly references you back to GURPS Fantasy in regards to "the social consequences of widespread magic" but doesn't tell us just what that magic involves. Rune magic is known on Yrth (pg 171) as is Ritual Magic (pg 184), and Blessed magic so it is clearly magic beyond just magery based magic...but how much beyond? The older versions of Yrth clearly state that twice the number of people with magery know spells (ie 4%). But why would anyone ever learn a skill that per the way magery works they could never cast outside of a high mana zone? The answer is craft magic. If that isn't enough there is the issue of how much of GURPS Thaumatology applies on Yrth. Last edited by maximara; 04-15-2018 at 04:00 PM. |
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04-15-2018, 04:20 PM | #46 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
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Sure, that's something that sufficient agrarian magic, properly deployed, could do. It's not what will be achieved if "They just notice their crops are starting to fail and then beg for the Church or the overlord to send them a magician to banish the curse. And the answer they get is uncertain and they might just come after the nearest possible witch, stones in hand and hope that fixes it."
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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04-15-2018, 09:53 PM | #47 |
Join Date: May 2009
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
Beaming down to a planet doesn't break the Prime Directive. Starfleet does it all the time. If the spaceship was going to explode, it would be the only thing they could do. The Prime Directive only applies to Starfleet personnel for some stupid reason. What reason would Merrik want to sabotage his ship? So he can have power on the planet? I just don't buy it.
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04-16-2018, 09:02 AM | #48 | |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
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04-16-2018, 09:15 AM | #49 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
All this stuff about "Bread and Circuses" is moot. The rulers of 892-IV weren't interested in introducing new technology and changing the status quo. They weren't particularly concerned whether the population learned about aliens, and the population didn't seem to care either. Anybody finding a communicator would apparently just scoff at the device of a barbarian.
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04-16-2018, 09:33 AM | #50 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
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Re: A question about Tech Levels
I'd go further and say it's entirely tangential. I thought we were trying to decide what a Rome-inspired TL(2+7) would look like.
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