[PURE THEORY] Low-Tech vs Fantasy-Tech

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by DrTemp

Are you sure? I can't find anything on even a second printing. Time for that before the end of 3e's life cycle would have been a little short anyway.

Just going on what Bill said:

Originally Posted by whswhs

Low-Tech was one of my better sellers. I believe it has had a second printing, and that's always a good sign.

Anyway, the playtest for that book was 1999. It had a pretty long time to go to a second printing.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by DrTemp

"Low Tech" sounds, well "low". Lame. Boring. "Ancient Tech", on the other hand, has a nice ring to it. ("Basic Tech" might lead to some people mistaking it for an engineering lecture book or something...).

On the flip side, if you see Ultra-Tech, High-Tech, and Low-Tech, you will naturally assume they are three of a set, and cover all the various periods of time that you need. If there were to be an e23 release, or even a printed book, called, say "Magic-Tech" or "Steam Tech" you might expect a book of magic items or in-genre equipment, but you'd know, because the naming convention tells you, exactly what you're going to get.

From a marketing/sales perspective, the -Tech moniker is too well established and useful to toss aside.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Luther

If that book is going to have fantasy in, I much prefer your title. Also, Bill pointed out Low-Tech was one of his best seller, so there's no reason to drop a good name.

Other than the fact that the price point is different, the format is different, the sales expectations are different, and the market is *very* different.

As Kromm said, the final name hasn't been decided yet. But there are several *strong* arguements against "Low-Tech."

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Paul

Other than the fact that the price point is different, the format is different, the sales expectations are different, and the market is *very* different.

As Kromm said, the final name hasn't been decided yet. But there are several *strong* arguements against "Low-Tech."

[taps finger]
It's all about the money with you, isn't it?

Heh, JK, Paul :D

So, having publishing history on its side doesn't help "Low-Tech" much, then? Mebs. Ah, well... the title is much less important to me than the content, anyway :|

Those grapes looked sour ;)

[Luther]

Originally Posted by Paul

Other than the fact that the price point is different, the format is different, the sales expectations are different, and the market is *very* different.

More or less they are different for High-Tech and Ultra-Tech too, yet the title is the same.

Originally Posted by Paul

As Kromm said, the final name hasn't been decided yet. But there are several *strong* arguements against "Low-Tech."

As far as I can see, there are equally *strong*, if not *stronger* arguments against "Fantasy-Tech". I see Peter's solution as optimal: "Low-Tech" with fantasy in a subtitle.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Paul

As Kromm said, the final name hasn't been decided yet. But there are several *strong* arguements against "Low-Tech."

My problem with "GURPS Fantasy-Tech" (and note that I only have a problem with the name -- I didn't buy the original Low-Tech but will probably buy this one, since the only low-TL games I run are fantasy) is that it's just an ugly name.

Everyone has used the terms "low-tech" and "high-tech" in regular conversation. "Ultra-tech" isn't very ubiquitous, but it's at least a logical extension of "high-tech". But the term "fantasy-tech" feels incredibly forced and stilted. It's not a term that people would use in a real conversation except by accident. It's like if you'd named "GURPS Ultra-Tech" "GURPS Space-Tech" instead.

So, leave the "GURPS Low-Tech" name behind if you must, but please keep thinking about a better name than "GURPS Fantasy-Tech". If I think of one, I'll be sure to pass it along.

[splattergnome]

Considering that GURPS is a system which has always had large support for fantasy and alternate history, I would enjoy seeing the new Low-Tech having a fantasy section. I would recommend keeping pure magical items out of it, but even then there are lots of options available, everything from making equipment using fantastic materials based on myth and fiction, items based on legend, lowtech equipment which may have been possible, but were not actually created in our own world (as far as we know it!), and so on - so that it would be of interest for not only Fantasy and Historical gamers, but also Alternate History and even possibly, to a lesser extent, scifi (alien cultures, post-apocalyptic). I don't see the harm in, for example, "realistic" armors for non-human races and the like... if it doesn't take away place from the pure historical stuff, everybody will be happy.

splatty

[joncarryer]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

Name: I like "Low-tech" better than "Fantasy-tech" personally. No reason a "Low-tech" book can't be subtitled "From the mundane to the fantastic" and include hard-core realism and the completely fantastic in one volume. It fits the 4e approach well.

Well, it looks to me like TPTB are pretty set on not going with Low Tech, and the rabid fans a mostly unanimous (??) that Fantasy Tech sucks prunes, so maybe some progress can be made by deluging this thread with alternative possibilities? >:->

Someone's already mentioned Ancient Tech, which has a certain ring to it, or how about Mediaeval Tech (can be shortened to Med. Tech in casual conversation)? Open up a whole 'nother can o' worms, with Tolkien Tech?
Muscle Tech, perhaps? Or throw a nod toward the importance of clockwork, with Tick Tech.

Come on, you're a creative bunch, there must be more ideas out there that can move this aspect of the discussion beyond "I don't like Fantasy Tech", "Well, we're NOT calling it Low Tech", "But I don't like..."

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

Contents:

As useful as demographics and "How many people in the city?" and so on would be, I'd be okay with mere "tech."

...snip...

GURPS does lack something I miss from my AD&D days - prices for big-ticket and "general use" items at low tech. How much is a house? A big table? A ship? A bottle of wine?

...snip...

Just on the off chance that the production people are going to pay any attention to all of this, count votes, that kind of thing, add all of this great stuff to everything else that I've already voted for. (If I keep voting for stuff, I'm bound to get SOMETHING I like in the book when it comes out).

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

I'd like to see discussions of tech advances in boxes, much like the sidebars in Low-Tech:

You mean like the move from wood to cardboard, that kind of thing? :-)

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

I'd like to see the "fantasy tech" include fantastic materials (orichalcum and so on), what-if technology (early balloons and airplanes, Da Vinci-like war machines, etc.), and even items more useful in gaming than reality (metal screw-top potion vials, pastille holders, wand cases, 10' poles, etc.)

And I'd like to see Bill Stoddard write it. Or Shawn Fisher (who once did a huge and very useful equipment list Back in the Day). Or both, actually.

Yup, yup, yup. All good, and all gets my vote. Though I'm with the guy who thinks that 40% of the book dedicated to Fantasy is way too much.

Originally Posted by Broomfondle

I demand 25%!!! And not a paragraph more!! I also demand that the parameters and boundaries of our uncertainty on this issue be clearly defined!!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by joncarryer

Well, it looks to me like TPTB are pretty set on not going with Low Tech, and the rabid fans a mostly unanimous (??) that Fantasy Tech sucks prunes, so maybe some progress can be made by deluging this thread with alternative possibilities? >:->

Look again; both Kromm and I have said, very clearly, that the final name hasn't been decided. "Low-Tech," "Fantasy-Tech," "Fantastic-Tech," and "Stoddard's House of Grass Clippings" are all in the running.

[joncarryer]

My apologies. That sentence was intended to serve a purely hyperbolic function, not to impugn or misrepresent yourself or Mr. Punch.