dropping a US Marine Medic in a med-fan setting

[johndallman]

That is true:

Originally Posted by B425

... a TL6+
physician performs as though he were
TL6 if he has to make do without the
gadgetry to which he is accustomed,
as long as the surroundings are clean.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

It doesn't take that long to learn how to use an abacus. Although take away the average modern persons' calculator, and they don't seem to know how to math anymore.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

Hello all!

So let's suppose a present day US Marine medic is quietly reading a book in the barracks, with only his Battle Dress Uniform, when a flash of light brings him in a medieval fantasy town. He doesn't know how to read the characters of his book anymore, but he now knows how to read the characters of the street signs and so on of the locale he was dropped in.

Setting aside the typical US Marine Medic abilities (very fit, possibly combat reflexes, combat skills, medical skills, and everything a modern soldier will be having), what are his likely advantages and disadvantages?

High TL is probably a given, Dead Broke since he doesn't have his gear nor access to his money anymore, Mundane Background (He'll be baffled at the 1st barbarian rage, the 1st mage casting a spell, the first bard captivating a crowd with a song, and so on), he won't have Rank since nobody there will recognize the rank he had back home, but what did I miss? (Assume he's not an RPG player and as such has no idea whatsoever what is awaiting him.)

Technically there are not any Marine medics because every Marine has to be a trained rifleman(that is one of the little fetishes and totems that keep a good unit going; but it has practical advantages, for instance in giving CAS a better perspective on infantry needs). "Marine" medics are actually naval medics assigned to the marines because being a medic is to gentle a trade to be organic to Marines. The same goes for chaplains.

That seems like hairsplitting. But you can bet it will be considered important by an old-fashioned Marine.

[cosmicfish]

Navy "green side" Corpsman are not doctors and not Marines, although they do receive a great deal of combat instruction alongside Marines - they are expected to hold their own in combat! They are told that they are warriors first, healers second, and their first objective in combat is to keep as many friendlies fighting as possible, even if they are blind in one eye and unable to walk!

If you wanted to dodge some of the TL issues, I would suggest looking at Army Special Forces, as they explicitly train to work with lower-TL allies and have much more experience and training in improvisation and adapting.

[mr beer]

Does he have any TL8 gear with him? Will he be able to manufacture or develop TL4+ items? If the answer to both of these is no, I see no reason for him to pay for TL 8.

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Originally Posted by mr beer

Does he have any TL8 gear with him? Will he be able to manufacture or develop TL4+ items? If the answer to both of these is no, I see no reason for him to pay for TL 8.

Drop a TL 8 person with the right skills in a TL 3-4 setting, and they're able to Dirty Tech quite a few things. A chemist is gonna be able to introduce black powder and homemade explosives, an engineer, small arms and various items like parachutes, gliders, and so on. As long as the TL 8 person has the right skills, it is so very possible to produce gear you understand (with the probable exception of electronics) with lower tech tools. It won't be on an industrial scale unless the plans are leaked and/or the newcomer introduces advanced industrial machinery, but there's still the possibility of jumping from a Pegasus using a glider or parachute our newcomer made for themself.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Culture20

I refer you to page 168 in Basic. To use Engineering/TL8 with TL3 tools, you will incur a -9 penalty to your skill roll. No computers, no calculators, no drafting tables, no reference manuals, etc. And that's before determining any other modifiers for task difficulty, equipment quality, time spent... Using Engineering/TL8 with improvised (-5) TL3 tools (-9) to design a giant wooden badger (Easy +5) in 1/10 the time (-9) is at a -18 to draw his designs with charcoal on the stone nearby. Someone with Engineering/TL3 and access to actual TL3 equipment might have quills, parchment, an abacus, right angle, compass, etc. and would use their good quality (+1) TL3 tools (+0) to design the same giant wooden badger (+5) n 1/10 the time (-9) for a final -3 penalty. The TL8 person is at a significant disadvantage to all technical skills unless they know the appropriate low tech skills to fabricate normal quality TL8 tools. Otherwise, their best quality TL8 tools will eventually be improvised, which will get them only a -5 penalty instead of the -9 for using TL3 tools.

In terms of combat, the medic might be basically trained in brawling, judo, knife, and staff. Give him a background as a recreational bow-hunter if you want a little extra survival advantage. I don't know if the Hippocratic Oath is followed by military doctors/medics, but that would surely limit combat effectiveness.

Sorry poor word choice on my behalf I refer to disadvantage in the GURPS sense. As in I don't get points.

I do have a penalty to use those skills. There are rules all over the place for dealing with this.

[johndallman]

There's a template for a "U.S. Navy Medical Special Operations Technician" on p12 of SEALS in Vietnam. He has Diagnosis-13, First Aid-15 and Surgery-13, all at TL7.

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Sorry poor word choice on my behalf I refer to disadvantage in the GURPS sense. As in I don't get points.

I do have a penalty to use those skills. There are rules all over the place for dealing with this.

It's worse than a Disadvantage (GURPS rules style), because it's like a leveled, very broad anti-talent, but you have to pay character points for it, instead of get character points. That was what I meant when I said it should be priced accordingly. A character in one of my campaigns had this issue. Chemistry professor from 2014 in a medieval fantasy world. He sold his cell phone to a wizard, but had no chemistry tools he could use. He knew chemistry, but applying it was much more difficult. He settled on learning how to use a crossbow.

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

Drop a TL 8 person with the right skills in a TL 3-4 setting, and they're able to Dirty Tech quite a few things. A chemist is gonna be able to introduce black powder and homemade explosives, an engineer, small arms and various items like parachutes, gliders, and so on. As long as the TL 8 person has the right skills, it is so very possible to produce gear you understand (with the probable exception of electronics) with lower tech tools. It won't be on an industrial scale unless the plans are leaked and/or the newcomer introduces advanced industrial machinery, but there's still the possibility of jumping from a Pegasus using a glider or parachute our newcomer made for themself.

The TL8 person will need to know how to make the tools they need for their TL8 skill with TL4 skills/tools, or the TL8 tools will be improvised (-5 to skill). "I wish I had nylon; this jute twine isn't the same tensile I'm used to." "I've never forge-welded before. What I wouldn't give for my welding gear!" Hopefully they'll be able to take a lot of extra time.
It's a lot easier to learn the lower TL skills and use the current TL tools than it is to try and make your TL8 skills work without the societal infrastructure they assume.