GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics

[Kromm]

King and general
Still desire meat, drink, and robe
And roof overhead

— Some hack

The latest from e23 is GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics, by Matt Riggsby and Bill Stoddard. It completes the GURPS Low-Tech series, bringing you the pillars that hold up any empire, large or small. It covers hunting, gathering, raising, and preparing food; crafting everything from fine metalwork up to huge buildings; the trade that generates the money that pays for everything; and the craftsmen and other professional who do all the work. All very mundane, one could say . . . but heroes must come from somewhere, and ignore these things at their peril. And let's face it: Those cool swords come from somewhere, too, and it's rarely Sword-Mart.

[demonsbane]

At last! (Goes to check it).

[Anders]

Seems like an excellent book. But what machines predate humanity?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

But what machines predate humanity?

Earlier hominids appear to have used wedges and levers.

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Earlier hominids appear to have used wedges and levers.

Many apes and some birds use simple tools. Apes even work on tools to better use them (e.g., they clean branches to make sticks).

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Sweet. This now means that GURPS Low-Tech is effectively 288 pages. Has something like these been considered for GURPS High-Tech?

IIRC, High Tech is already 240 or 256 pages in itself!

[Woodman]

Originally Posted by Lupo

IIRC, High Tech is already 240 or 256 pages in itself!

And got volumes of Pulp Guns allready

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Lupo

Many apes and some birds use simple tools. Apes even work on tools to better use them (e.g., they clean branches to make sticks).

So do Caledonian Crows, the current leading bird-brains (for tool use anyways) - and they seem to beat out the apes by deliberately teaching other adults their new tool-making tricks, not just teaching their own young.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Lupo

IIRC, High Tech is already 240 or 256 pages in itself!

Yes, of pure gear, like Low-Tech is. There are no PDFs focusing on life and technology of TLs 5-8, as opposed to the adventuring gear for those times, like these three PDFs for TLs 0-4 do.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Earlier hominids appear to have used wedges and levers.

And I'm an idiot. Sees 'human', thinks 'hominid'. Most embarassing.

[walkir]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Seems like an excellent book. But what machines predate humanity?

IIRC nuclear power plants.