Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Tech Levels on the Wiki

Looking for something to do after finishing my new trade pricing table, I started transferring the region tech level stuff to the wiki.  You remember that idea?  Well, it has not died on the vine; I wanted to get some distance on it, mostly because it is a very difficult headache.  Even the lower levels stuff, tech 5, makes a long page on the wiki.  The goal is to be a straightforward and direct as possible and to concentrate on how the tech level of an area will apply directly to the players.  That is why the first two headings are "Entities" and "Encounters."  The first describes the what the people are, how they're organized and numbered.  The second, what they're carrying and how they're likely to react to the party upon initial contact.

I can see with tech 6 how rapidly this expands, from one probable form of encountered group to four.  If I let this sort of thing progress geometrically like that, I'll have 36 group types to describe by tech 10.  Presuming I don't have 4,096 types (I'll leave it to the mathematicians in our audience to figure that one out).

That's a fine goal . . . and it would be great to have that many different possible groups that the players could meet in the world.  But like every other damn thing I dream up nowadays, it's a monumental task that I will never gawddamn finish (like sage abilities, that haunts me).  But the fun is in the journey, not the destination, right?

Anyway, like the Equipment Notes I wrote about a few months ago, that did eventually expand, it is another thing for the reader to keep a watch out for.  I'll be working on the tech tables for a time until something else takes control of my attention.  And yes, for those who are worried and wondering, I am working steadily on my miserable, rotten, frustrating, difficult, unthankful and yet curiously beloved book, the Fifth Man.


3 comments:

  1. This is nitpicky, but maybe I'm just missing something. How do you get 36? Geometrically, you ought to have 1, 4, 16, 64, 256, 512 groups at tech level 10. Linearly, 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 groups.

    The idea is awesome, though. A good one to revitalize my encounter lists.

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  2. One squared, two squared, three squared . . ,

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  3. Aha! An exponential progression. Thank you.

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