Low Tech

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by lachimba

The Bibliography is huge, but I probably would have preffered a shorter version (or even just an online version) that had a sentance or two describing what the sources covered or didn't cover, got right or didn't get right. And more than a few people have pointed out to me that fiction is often wrong, but a fictional source, or two, that got it right would have been nice to have included. Especially given that I am mnore likely to come across that than some of these books.

Fiction
Alexander, Lloyd. Taran Wanderer (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1967). In the fourth book of Alexander’s Prydain series, the young hero tries to learn various crafts and finds them much harder than expected.
de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall, in Years in the Making (NESFA Press, 2005; original publication 1941). The classic "castaway in time" novel, in which a twentieth-century archaeologist finds himself in the last days of the Roman Empire.
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe (various; original publication 1719). The novel that created the "castaway" genre, showing its hero using Age of Sail technology to survive after a shipwreck.
Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose (Harcourt, 1983). A Holmesian criminal investigation in a medieval setting, with scholastic debate and textual interpretation as models of rational inquiry.
Kipling, Rudyard. "The Eye of Allah," in Debits and Credits (Pomona, 2006; original publication 1926). This story is not an alternative history, but something subtler: the stillbirth of a potential alternative history.
Piper, H. Beam. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, in The Complete Paratime (Ace, 2001; original publication 1965). An American police officer is stranded in a parallel world where gunpowder is a religious monopoly – which he knows how to break.
Stephenson, Neal. Quicksilver (HarperCollins, 2003) and its sequels. A wildly entertaining novel with some serious themes, spanning the final years of TL5, informed by serious history—including the history of science and technology.
Stirling, S. M. Dies the Fire (Roc, 2004) and its sequels. An ingenious reversal of the "castaways in time" theme, in which all the advanced technology of modern Earth suddenly stops working, and the survivors have to reconstruct older ways of life.
Turtletaub, H. N. Over the Wine-Dark Sea (Forge, 2001) and its sequels. A series of novels about ancient Greek seafaring, with good detail on nautical tactics and technology.
Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (various; originally published 1889). The original "castaway in time" story sends a man from the Industrial Revolution (TL5) to the age of chivalry (TL3).

Comics
Shanower, Eric. Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships (Image, 2001), Sacrifice (Image, 2004), Betrayal Part One (Image, 2008). A retelling of the story of the Trojan War without the supernatural elements of the Iliad, based on substantial research.

Films
The 13th Warrior (John McTiernen, 1995). Supernatural horror in a medieval setting, teaming up a Muslim court poet with a Viking band.
1492: Conquest of Paradise (Ridley Scott, 1992). A dramatization of Columbus’ discovery of the New World.
1612 (Vladimir Khotinenko, 2007). A historical fantasy treatment of Russia’s Time of Troubles.
Alatriste (Agustín Díaz Yanes, 2006). A Spanish captain’s adventures in 17th-century Europe.
Apocalypto (Mel Gibson, 2006). Brutal conflict between Maya communities on the eve of the Spanish invasion.
Dangerous Beauty (Marshall Herskovitz, 1998). A dramatization of the life of a famous Italian courtesan of the 16th century.
Elizabeth (Shekhar Kapur, 1998). The early life of Elizabeth I of England, in a version that takes considerable dramatic license with history, but with well researched visual details.
The Emperor and the Assassin [Jing Ke cì Qín Wáng] (Chen Kaige, 1999). Intrigue and assassination in third-century B.C. China.
Flesh and Blood (Paul Verhoeven, 1985). A military drama based on the life of John Hawkwood, a condottiero in 16th-century Italy.
Kingdom of Heaven [Director’s Cut] (Ridley Scott, 2005). War and political intrigue during the Third Crusade.
The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001–2003). Set in a fantasy world, but the archaic weapons and gear are modeled on real-world designs and are visualized with great accuracy.
Mongol (Sergei Bodrov, 2007). A semi-historical treatment of the early life of Temujin (later known as Genghis Khan).
The Musketeer (Peter Hyams, 2001). Loosely based on Dumas’ The Three Musketeers.
The Name of the Rose (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986). A murder mystery set in the late middle ages, with Sean Connery in the role of a monastic scholar drawn into the investigation of a crime. Based on Umberto Eco’s novel (see above).
The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005). A historical drama about the founding of Jamestown in Virginia.
Princess Mononoke [Mononoke Hime] (Hayao Miyazaki, 1999). A historical fantasy set in the Ashikaga period of Japanese history (14th-16th century). Technology and industry play an important part in the story.
The Quest for Fire (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981). Conflict between tribes of three different hominid species in Paleolithic Europe of 80,000 B.C. over the newly developed technology of fire.
Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985). Partly inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear, Ran portrays warfare and political conflict in 16th-century Japan, shortly after the introduction of the arquebus.
Restoration (Michael Hoffman, 1995). A historical drama set during the reign of Charles II of Great Britain, focusing on medical practice and the Great Plague.
Stage Beauty (Richard Eyre, 2004). The conflict between the last great male actor in female roles and an aspiring actress on the British stage under Charles II.
The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973 and 1974). The most highly regarded of many adaptations of Dumas’s classic adventure story.
The War Lord (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1965). One of the first historical films to portray life in the middle ages without romanticizing it.
Warriors of Heaven and Earth [Tian dì ying xióng] (He Ping, 2003). Portrays a military expedition in Tang Dynasty China of 700 A.D.
When the Raven Flies [Hrafninn flygur] (Hrafn Gunnlaugsson, 1984). A drama of revenge in pagan Iceland.

Television
Blackbeard: The Real Pirate Of The Caribbean (Richard Dale and Tilman Remme, 2005). A BBC dramatization of the life of Edward Teach. Released in the United States as Blackbeard: Terror at Sea in 2006.
Cadfael: One Corpse Too Many (Graham Theakston, 1994). The first episode in a series of mysteries set in medieval Britain.
Rome (Michael Apted, 2005). A dramatization of Rome’s transition from a republic to an empire.

Bill Stoddard

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Fiction
Alatriste (Agustín Díaz Yanes, 2006). A Spanish captain’s adventures in 17th-century Europe.

I find weird that you cite the Alatriste film, but not the novels. Have they not been translated to English and released in the US? The novels are way better than the film, that seemed rushed to me (the film contains parts of the first 4 books IIRC).

Also, what about The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follet and The Psysician by Noah Gordon? I found them decent for historic fiction, though I'm not qualified on the tech used.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I find weird that you cite the Alatriste film, but not the novels. Have they not been translated to English and released in the US? The novels are way better than the film, that seemed rushed to me (the film contains parts of the first 4 books IIRC).

Also, what about The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follet and The Psysician by Noah Gordon? I found them decent for historic fiction, though I'm not qualified on the tech used.

Can't answer for any of those; I've never heard of any of them.

Bill Stoddard

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Can't answer for any of those; I've never heard of any of them.

Bill Stoddard

Well, I don't know if the books got translated and/or released in the US, but check the Capitan Alatriste series by Arturo Perez Reverte, they're quite good.

As for the other two, they're best sellers (and that might disqualify them to some people) but here are the Wikipedia pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physician
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth

Of course, they can not substitute for reading the actual books, and might contain spoilers, but they might make you go give them a look at the library, and you can probably find inexpensive editions.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I find weird that you cite the Alatriste film, but not the novels.

I suspect the authors limited ourselves to things we had personally seen or read. I know I did. The Alatriste books have been/are being translated into English (my father, who also read them in the original, has been reading them and passing them along to my wife when he's finished them), running a few years behind their publication in Spanish. However, I haven't picked them up myself (ironically, the only Pérez-Reverte novel I've read is about fencing but is set in the 19th century, putting it well out of scope for Low Tech), and I imagine the other authors haven't either. I suppose the movie was simply more accessible.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I suspect the authors limited ourselves to things we had personally seen or read. I know I did. The Alatriste books have been/are being translated into English (my father, who also read them in the original, has been reading them and passing them along to my wife when he's finished them), running a few years behind their publication in Spanish. However, I haven't picked them up myself (ironically, the only Pérez-Reverte novel I've read is about fencing but is set in the 19th century, putting it well out of scope for Low Tech), and I imagine the other authors haven't either. I suppose the movie was simply more accessible.

Well, an Amazon search tells me that at least the first 6 have been translated. You should pick them up, they're worth it. In fact, you'll understand many things from the film, because when they made the film, they cited some parts of the books that they then ignored. I remember recommending them for the Low Tech bibliography, during the playtest.

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I find weird that you cite the Alatriste film, but not the novels. Have they not been translated to English and released in the US? The novels are way better than the film, that seemed rushed to me (the film contains parts of the first 4 books IIRC).

Also, what about The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follet and The Psysician by Noah Gordon? I found them decent for historic fiction, though I'm not qualified on the tech used.

APR is one of my favorite authors (his books are available in the US, but hard to find in stores), and I know the Capt. Alatriste series is his most popular, it's my least favorite! The Fencing Master is chock full of Low Tech campaign info, though.

Pillars of Earth has been translated into a STARS mini-series, I whatched the 1st 4 with my father: not great, but not bad at all - very nice set/costume and probably best for someone wanting to watch an example of LT Companion 1 style fiction for inspiration.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Danukian

APR is one of my favorite authors (his books are available in the US, but hard to find in stores), and I know the Capt. Alatriste series is his most popular, it's my least favorite! The Fencing Master is chock full of Low Tech campaign info, though.

Personally, I love Arturo Perez Reverte, but hell, I get it in the original Spanish (one of the very few Spanish authors that I like). Personally, one of his less known, yet excellent books, is [checking English title] The Club Dumas. It was adapted to the big screen, as The Ninth Gate, by Roman Polansky, but it sort of flattens the plot, removing all subplots, that in the novel cross one another, making it hard to guess what's the real plot, until the end of the novel.

BTW, APR started his career as a war journalist, and it shows, in his vivid depictions of war and the effects of violence.

[Danukian]

"El Club Dumas" is my favorite APR book (makes the top ten of books in my house), but not really Low Tech, so I didn't include it. Flanders panel is another contemporary work that would be good for GURPS Mystery, but not Low Tech.

The movie focused on 1 aspect of a many-tiered story, it was a good movie taken separately, but should have been a great one if it stayed true to the book. Jackie Earle Haley should have played Corso for starters! But now the thread is derailed! Quick - back to Low Tech!

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Fiction
Films
The 13th Warrior (John McTiernen, 1995). Supernatural horror in a medieval setting, teaming up a Muslim court poet with a Viking band.

Bill Stoddard

Also a based very good book titled "Eaters of the Dead". A lot of good Low Tech inspiration.