Exploration and TL

[Crzyraccoon]

So I'm making a new campaign that will take place in a very young and alien low tech world that the PCs will be explorers of the mysteries of the world. I have a good idea of the world itself but I don't have a good idea on the TL of the "homebase" of the PCs.

I want a TL or a split of TLs that high enough to have a good variety of tools and able to achieve good social organization, but low enough that they can't explore the world and know it with ease and need talented explorers (AKA the PCs) to go out.

I'm think of the range of TL2-4.

[Flyndaran]

Environmental dangers determine what TL is required.
Up until TL 4-5 clocks, it was impossible to do more than guess at longitudinal position at sea. So leaving sight of the coast would be extra risky before then.

What weapons needed would also depend on wild animals and intelligent enemies. In the alien nation of land sharks, nothing short of rifles would work.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Up until TL 4-5 clocks, it was impossible to do more than guess at longitudinal position at sea. So leaving sight of the coast would be extra risky before then.

There is the option of celestial timing. All you need to do is measure the distance between the moon and a reference star, consult your almanac to determine exactly what time that distance would occur, and then compare to the local time. That would give you longitude, and a good navigator with good tables could pinpoint location to within 15 miles or so.

Clocks are TL4, but a pendulum is useless on the rolling deck of a ship. The marine chronometer, which used precision springs instead of a pendulum, is a TL5 invention (earlier attempts were made, but were too inaccurate to be of much use). The charts that allow good lunar distancing are also TL5, but were a substitute/backup to chronometers until the latter became relatively cheap.

[David Johnston2]

If you want actual global exploration rather than just migration, then probably TL 4 to early 5

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

If you want actual global exploration rather than just migration, then probably TL 4 to early 5

You can get pretty far with island-hopping like the Polynesians but if the geography is set up that way someone's already been there in an outrigger canoe before you and really long trips tend to be one-way colonizations anyway.

So if you want long distance ocean voyages you want mid-TL4.

Land-based trips can be longer at lower TLs but you run into a "Marco Polo" phenomenon where they take so long that they're once in a lifetime events and there is no mundane return worth the extreme difficulty of the trip.

You probably need to be at the higher end of your TL range.

You haven't mentioned magic or other exotic abilities but these would basically count as higher TLs in their own right.

[Crzyraccoon]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You can get pretty far with island-hopping like the Polynesians but if the geography is set up that way someone's already been there in an outrigger canoe before you and really long trips tend to be one-way colonizations anyway.

So if you want long distance ocean voyages you want mid-TL4.

Land-based trips can be longer at lower TLs but you run into a "Marco Polo" phenomenon where they take so long that they're once in a lifetime events and there is no mundane return worth the extreme difficulty of the trip.

You probably need to be at the higher end of your TL range.

You haven't mentioned magic or other exotic abilities but these would basically count as higher TLs in their own right.

Well in terms of magic and exotics, I'm thinking of having wizards but if so, magic would be new to the homebase and the PCs would start with little knowledge of magic. There will be more powerful and exotic magics but they will be unknown to the PCs and homebase.

There will be exotic species that PCs could play, I'm thinking of having the homebase being a multispecies society. I'm thinking for species are humans or a humanlike, a balloonlike species, a fourlegged species, rodentlike species and so forth with very odd shapes for sentient species. With that being said, the balloon species can use flight to see in a birds eye few, something that couldn't really be done with tech until TL5 with hotair balloons and efficiently at anytime like the species until TL7-8, and the fourlegged ones can carry more items and act as mounts.

[Crzyraccoon]

I just posted a thread here of the changed stats I will be using for this campaign.
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=132976

Because of this, the characters will have double the HP and FP, which will make them more durable and able to make longer journeys.