Low-Tech moves ahead

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

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!"

Yeah, no. I doubt it'd happen either. Psychofans (like myself) may not really care much about pretty final copies, but most people do want a certain amount of production quality - when you show a crappy "just slam down the content and to hell with appearances" PDF to other people and say "I bought this from SJG!", it makes SJG look VERY BAD.

And it makes GURPS look bad. And it probably taints e23 in general, really.

Never mind that the charts and tables (oh the endless tables) neeeeeeeed layout work done. Trust me, the playtest versions are NOT tables so much as things that have a vague similarity to tables. They suggest tabular data. They're not tables.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Never mind that the charts and tables (oh the endless tables) neeeeeeeed layout work done. Trust me, the playtest versions are NOT tables so much as things that have a vague similarity to tables. They suggest tabular data. They're not tables.

Even Kromm, when he sends out revised tables for review, doesn't leave them in the template's tab-based format, but does Text to Table on them to make them readable.

Bill Stoddard

[Ed the Coastie]

Originally Posted by whswhs

There's also a decent amount of crunch: my parts include skill defaults between different musical instruments, expanded literacy and numeracy rules, a grimly realistic treatment of low-tech surgery, really huge gun designs, a bunch of ship stats, rope bridge construction, hauling loads up and down slops, and the game mechanics of buying low and selling high, among other things. Dan, Matt, and Peter are welcome to plug their own parts, which are equally full of cool game mechanical stuff.

Would that be designs for really huge guns, or a really huge amount of gun designs?

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

Would that be designs for really huge guns, or a really huge amount of gun designs?

I would imagine it'd be for things like Mons Megs and the cannons of Suleyman the Magnificent.

[lexington]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

Would that be designs for really huge guns, or a really huge amount of gun designs?

Or possibly huge designs for normal guns.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

I would imagine it'd be for things like Mons Megs and the cannons of Suleyman the Magnificent.

Exactly, and a few more, such as the Tsar Gun in Moscow.

Bill Stoddard

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Exactly, and a few more, such as the Tsar Gun in Moscow.

Bill Stoddard

I have to say, you do know how to talk to the ladies, William. /wink.

Nicely done, in other words.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Manufacturing and Architecture: guidelines for figuring out how long it takes to make just about anything from a clay pot to a palace, with logistical considerations and quality options.

How assumption-heavy is that section? For instance, does it only work if the labourers used are SM+0, have human-equilvalent gripping ability, have IQ 10, HT 10, DX 10 and HT 10, are neither Fit nor Unfit, and can and will work only six days a week with meal braks, 8 hours of sleep per day, and the need for clothes and shelter?

[Peter Knutsen]

Does the book, or the Companions, go into what differences various systems of labour make?

I'd really, really, really hate to sound like a Marxist, but using slave labour does change things noticably, and likewise there should be a difference between free farmers owning their land versus tied-down serfs. The problem is, what those differences are isn't 100% obvious to me.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Does the book, or the Companions, go into what differences various systems of labour make?

I'd really, really, really hate to sound like a Marxist, but using slave labour does change things noticably, and likewise there should be a difference between free farmers owning their land versus tied-down serfs. The problem is, what those differences are isn't 100% obvious to me.

The question is: is this relevant to a game? Aside from background, which can be handled with some hand-waving, the answer is, "No."