October 18, 2010: The Lows And Highs

Look, I've tried a dozen different ways to be clever about this, but it's all rubbish. The fact of the matter is:

GURPS Low-Tech is available on e23!

I know, I know -- I'm the marketing guy and I'm supposed to say nice things about our new releases. But I've always been a GURPS-head, even when I'm using other systems -- that reputation for being valuable reference material is very true -- and I've been anxiously awaiting this book.

If you're running a realistic game set in TL0-4, no matter what system, Low-Tech can tell you not only when a technology appeared in our timeline, but it'll give you an idea of what other technologies needed to appear first, and what technologies would logically follow. If you're running a campaign of post-apocalyptic survivors, Low-Tech has dozens of methods to rebuild society, and barriers to put into the heroes' way.

Heck, even if you're running the most high-magic, fantastic, pseudo-medieval RPG around, knowing what rope is made of, what the merchants are using for security, and three different types of flaming arrows is going to be useful.

(You can also pre-order the print version -- 160 full-color pages -- through your local game store. If they don't do pre-orders, Warehouse 23 is also available. The hardcover should ship in December.)

On the other end of the scale, at least in terms of technology, e23 also released Space Gamer #43, containing fiction by Timothy Zahn, optional combat rules for Traveller, some magic swords for D&D, and clever traps for Killer.