The Low Tech You want

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I still think that TL0 should have been divided into two when we had the chance...

I expect that it was because so few gamers play TL 0 characters, or have characters interact with TL 0 societies in detail. Adding the distinction would have been nice, but I'm not sure how much effect it would have had.

As for the Iron Age/Medieval distinction, lumping them together would give one TL for over 2,000 years of history (we have one TL for most of prehistory, but that is different). And there were some significant differences ... improved agriculture, a few more crops, large-scale use of wind and water power, the spread of abstract monotheism, and so on. Of course this gets you into the skirmish between the Romanists (who keep finding hints of more TL 3-4 technologies in the Classical world and interpreting them optimistically) and the Medievalists (who like to see a chance in the West's attitude to technology with the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century).

[nik1979]

1) Building Lowtech landscapes I and 2 but rather given an easier to follow step by step method. Manor Building.
2) Rules in converting real historical settings to gurps. Tips like, using the price of wheat to indicate inflation so that you have a more accurate CoL and conversion.
3) Like the other posts: HORSES! (something to lure my future hypothetical daughter into gaming).
4) Armors galore! and stuff discussed in the recently closed thread. Mirror armor, Brigandine, eastern and not just asian armors.
5) Not just East or West, i find middle east and eastern European the least detailed.
6) Frequency of appearance of industrial goods (armors, swords, glass works, etc.)

then a wiki of all the the historical house rules of the boards.

[Lord Carnifex]

Judging by forum traffic, clearer rules on scaling melee weapons and armor for varying SM creatures would be welcome. As would (as others have pointed out) adjusted armor weights/DR's.

Personally, I'd like to see a certain amount of alternate history/fantasy items. Hardened glass weapons, or unique tools that might have been developed by non-humans. I don't need much, just a sprinkling here and there of Dwarven digging implements, dragon saddles, and orichalum armor.

[Philomath]

No alternate tech (weird-tech, para-tech, steam-tech, etc). These deserve their own books.

Ships - their costs, construction times and required materials, manpower requirements, travel times, etc.

Mounts and beasts of burden - not just horses, camels, diatrymas, and oxen (even if not all European or historical). Their care and requirements and travel times. At least a few pages here.

Vehicles - A short section like Fantasy has would suffice.

Armor - The long needed revisions to the weights provided in Basic.

Crafting - I very much second the suggestions of Polydamas and DouglasCole. When players want to make stuff I want to be able to hand them a book and say "Do what you can during downtime. There are the rules in chapter X." When building a world I want to be able to dig into the micro-economics. I'd love a whole chapter here and sidebars peppered throughout. If High Tech had an extra line per item (or even a couple words on material and time) I would have found it the most useful book to date for world building. Magic has this for magic items. We need this for mundane items!

Economies! - The small taste in Fantasy was good, there just wasn't enough there though. There have been some good discussions here and some great Pyramid articles. This should have it's own chapter!

Weapons - I'd cry if more than about 20 pages were dedicated to this. There are some things missing from the core that could go here. A weapon design system would patch the holes in the whole system better than a big chunk in this book could ever do.

Survival - The hunting and fishing stuff from 3e Low-Tech was good but a lot of good stuff was cut in playtest IIRC (anyone know if the old playtest stuff is archived or accessible? I'd love to go through it again.)

Agriculture - High Tech had a bit on corn in a sidebar. Take that and run with it. Add labor requirements, production changes from TL advancements, and expansions of the storage stuff in High Tech. Show how the TL advancements change the requirements. Add a note on how magic plays with production (expanding on Fantasy's treatment.)

Culture - Show how the different points above go together in different ways. Show the daily life of people at different points on the Status scale. Show the assumptions made by gamers contrasted with the reality.

There's so much more I want to say on this but I gotta go.

[nik1979]

I second the ships. too little information about TL3 galleys and their ilk can be found around the web. It would be great if we had more detailed information.

[Dangerious P. Cats]

I'd like to see Low-Tech be a more historical work, rather than being just about technology being about how technology generally affects society. A guide on making Historical settings would be really useful as well, like what sort of things to consider and therefore research.

[DanHoward]

I want a big book on gear and everything associated with it: climbing tools, breaking and entering, survival, farming, mining, smithing, weapons, armour, architecture, transportation, etc with brief explainations of when and where they were used and lots of rules to modify and customise them. I also want rules to allow characters to make anything they want within their respective TLs plus a big Jobs List.

As an example I want enough information to build an inn from scratch starting with the building materials and labour costs and then fill it up with furniture, food, drinks, suitable staff, etc. I want to know how much to pay each worker, what sort of characters I might encounter, what sort of expenses the innkeeper would have, how he brews his ale, what times of the day he would be busy, where does his inventory come from, etc etc.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

As an example I want enough information to build an inn from scratch starting with the building materials and labour costs and then fill it up with furniture, food, drinks, suitable staff, etc. I want to know how much to pay each worker, what sort of characters I might encounter, what sort of expenses the innkeeper would have, how he brews his ale, what times of the day he would be busy, where does his inventory come from, etc etc.

Dayammm, Dan! That example could be a book in and of itself!

[DanHoward]

Heh. I didn't say Low Tech could deliver. I was just answering the original question.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Heh. I didn't say Low Tech could deliver. I was just answering the original question.

That sounds like Gurps: Medieval Auditors?

I kid because I sadly would buy it.
The closest I can think of is the non-game e-book by Lisa Steele, "Fief: A Look at Medieval Society from It's Lower Rungs"