Low-Tech moves ahead

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I can't speak for other people's sections, but so far as my stuff is concerned: almost not at all. Industrialization changes everything.

Yeah. If SJ Games ever wants a High-Tech Companion I'm up to work on it. Or maybe a multivolume series with coauthors.

Bill Stoddard

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Langy

While these both sound very awesome, how applicable do you think they'd be in non-Low Tech games? I primarily play modern or sci-fi settings - would it be difficult to modify these bits to fit with High/Ultra Tech methods and gear?

Some of this is good for when your roughing it or in a space game come across a lost colony or new race.

[Johnny Angel]

I've been looking forward to Low-Tech so much that I actually broke down and bought the 3rd Edition of the book to hold me over until the newer version is released. In particular, a more realistic treatment of shields and some of the low-tech weapons as well as the world building tools will be among the things I'm anxious for.


Does low-tech address castle building at all?

Is there any advice for introducing cinematic elements into a campaign based around low-tech? A sort of heroic grittiness along the lines of R. Howard's novels and the 'Points of Light' world concept are both things which appeal to me.

'Points of Light' is the concept that D&D 4E is supposedly based on. I like the concept; unfortunately, I don't feel that the game system's mechanics make any effort to try supporting that concept at all.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

Does low-tech address castle building at all?

Companion 2 discusses the evolution of fortifications and Companion 3 gives architectural construction rules.

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

Is there any advice for introducing cinematic elements into a campaign based around low-tech?

No. We had our hands quite full dealing with reality.

[Tzeentch]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I can't speak for other people's sections, but so far as my stuff is concerned: almost not at all. Industrialization changes everything.

-- There are significant differences between different scales and organization of labor even before full-on mechanical automation of tasks (e.g. the Roman sculpture industry). Not clear if that would be easy to represent in GURPS terms though.

[NorphTehDwarf]

What about guns? I needs me some matchlocks/hand gonnes. Hellooo malf 13!

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

....

can we buy raw edited pdf w/o any nice pics and stuff(and when that gets out we get it for free)?

Im really looking forward this book (I liked 3ed Low Tech,but it was kinda short on info and crunchiness....with bigger volume and more crunchiness :D )

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by NorphTehDwarf

What about guns? I needs me some matchlocks/hand gonnes. Hellooo malf 13!

Indeed, there will be TL4 (and TL3) Gonnes for sure, and Guns as well I think.

[Enoch]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I don't speak for the company, but as I recall, the pre-release of Thaumatology did lead to a few things being usefully fixed before the print run, and was evidently considered non-catastrophic enough that the procedure was repeated with Vorkosigan (where it definitely prevented some disastrously unbalanced weapon stats from seeing print, all else aside).

So while the internal SJGames decision-making process is their business, I wouldn't be too surprised to see a PDF-first approach again for Low Tech. On the other hand, even now that Kromm has finished the editing, there'll be little matters of (hopefully historically alert) art commissioning and table-heavy layout work to deal with. So nobody should be holding their breath just yet. We hate it when GURPS fans turn blue and expire in front of their computers.

Thanks, I didn't follow Vorkosigan so I didn't know it was prereleased as a PDF. That's good. With Thaumatology I read the PDF and so when I bought the hardcover it's pretty much still in pristine condition. Until I begin a campaign that is.

I'm not holding my breath yet...maybe chomping at the bit. I know there's a lot left to do after the raw text is edited. Art, layout, layout editing, index, and so forth. The thought of the possibility of the process skipping the 'send to printer' and 'wait for distribution' steps makes me feel better about the whole thing though.

-Joshua

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Agramer

can we buy raw edited pdf w/o any nice pics and stuff

That's a question for the publisher rather than the authors, but when the idea has been brought up before, the answer has been along the lines of "not just no, but hell no!"