Splitting TL0 into several TLs?

[DataPacRat]

Default TL0 covers everything from 2,400,000 BC to at least 3,500 BC. When focusing on a pre-TL1 setting with several cultures with various advancements, might it be worth treating some of what's filed under TL0 as being different TLs? Eg, that ground-stone neolithic weapons would be a TL higher than pressure-flaked ones, which could be a higher TL than c. 2,000,000 BC era's hammer-flaked ones? (For lack of better terms, TL0, TL-1, and TL-2. ... And maybe TL-3 held in reserve for whatever is between chimpanzees' ant-collecting sticks and flaked-stone.)

It feels like it might be useful for a TL0-focused setting, but I'm not well-versed enough in GURPS' technicalities to know where something might trip up.

[AlexanderHowl]

One of the issues is that there are different types of TL0. Some of them are going to be focused on flint, some of chert, and some on bamboo. If I was going to do it though, I would have the following five divisions:

Paleolithic (H. habilis): IQ-2 hominids, simple hammer tools and points, no fire, and limited language. TL 0h.
Paleolithic (H. erectus): IQ-1 hominids, complex tools and points, fire, and spoken language. TL 0e.
Paleolithic (H. sapiens): IQ+0 hominids, sophisticated tools and points, woven fabrics, fire, pottery, complex language, and symbolic art. TL 0s.
Mesolithic (H. sapiens): As above plus horticulture and pastoralism. TL 0m.
Neolithic (H. sapiens): As above plus gold, copper, writing, complex societies, and structured religions. TL 0n.

[Flyndaran]

Recent sites are blurring a lot of the early tech and even definitions of species. While, fun, this is likely to create false precision.

[Yako]

I would also consider how much this will actually affect TL based skills and such.
A different tech level after all is an actual barrier for learning skills and the like.
I would have to do some research, since this is a bit specific, but I do think it is at least fair to assume that different ways to produce stone tools are a lot easier to pick up than, say, switching your weapon making skills from stone to bronze.
In my opinion, the best choice would be to pick one standard and have every variation be treated as a perk or quirk.
For example, if the standard is paleolithic, getting to have a mesolithic level of skill would be one perk and getting to neolithic another.
...and a quirk for starting off at a lower level.

Also, do remember that this is NOT an isolated problem!
TL 2, the Iron age, covers both celtic and germanic tribes as well as the roman empire and we can easily argue that there is actually an even more significant split there!

And beyond that, all those splits vary between fields of technology.
Celtic weapon making for example was pretty good, but their Oppida really do not quite compare to Roman cities from all we know, etc.

Since tech level is a relatively cheap trait, perks and quirks are really the extend of what is reasonable.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

Default TL0 covers everything from 2,400,000 BC to at least 3,500 BC.

GURPS Ice Age for 3e is of the opinion that some prehistoric groups had TL1 medicine: some medicinal herbs, stitching wounds and very minor surgery. It's available on Warehouse 23.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by johndallman

GURPS Ice Age for 3e is of the opinion that some prehistoric groups had TL1 medicine: some medicinal herbs, stitching wounds and very minor surgery. It's available on Warehouse 23.

A lot of GURPS Ice Age was reprinted in GURPS Dinosaurs (And Other Prehistoric Creatures).

[Mavelic]

There is also Pyramid 3/56 Prehistory.
Maybe there is what you're looking for

[joshualevy]

I don't think it is meaningful, but in California archaeologists have the "archaic" period and the "pacific" period, based on use of the bow and arrow. In the archaic people used darts / spear throwers while in the later pacific people used bow and arrow.

In many parts of the world, ceramics were an early technology, so you could have pre-ceramics and post-ceramics.

But in both cases, I'm not sure it really matters from a gaming / technology point of view.

Joshua

[Turhan's Bey Company]

From my point of view as both a GURPS rules writer and somebody who has an advanced degree in archaeology: Most of the developments in TL0 are useful for scientific typologies but not for gaming. Functionally, a lot of distinctions made by archaeologists have effects below GURPS's level of granularity. For example, there's little difference in in-game performance between a core-formed stone tool and a flaked stone tool.

More importantly, a new tool or technique does not imply a new TL. TLs aren't just catalogs of specific items. They imply bundles of technological capabilities which are summed up in other kinds of rules. For example, the economics of a TL provide a baseline income for jobs at that TL, and the assembled medical knowledge of a TL dictates rates of healing. If you don't have evidence of things like that changing significantly during the TL (and we don't), then it's a TL where different bits of gear appear through its course, just like every other TL. Just as some TL6 items are available early in TL6 and some late in TL6, some TL0 items are available early in TL0 and some late in TL0.

The one quibble I have with GURPS TLs--and it's something we really would have loved to change in Low Tech--is breaking the Neolithic out from the Paleolithic. The rise of farming and sedentary lifestyles leads to enormous economic changes (which means it deserves a separate line on the income by TL table) as well as the wholescale creation of new technologies. Not just farming, but domestication of animals, ceramic, fermentation, and so on.

[AlexanderHowl]

A similar argument could be made for the Mesolithic as well.