Tech Levels

Tech Level

Variations Within a Tech Level

The equipment listed for a TL does not appear all at once as soon as a society enters that TL. Instead, items appear gradually after that date.

Shortly after a TL begins, devices from the previous TL will be common – along with experts in skills associated with those items. A player could easily justify a PC with a personal TL one step below that of his society, or with one or two skills that are several TLs out of date. As the TL wears on, devices from the next TL start to appear. If PCs wish to obtain such equipment, they must either invent it or buy a prototype – see New Inventions. Access to prototypes is not sufficient to justify a PC with a personal TL above that of his society! At the GM's option, adventurers may have a skill penalty of -1 or more when dealing with technology of their own TL that is more or less advanced than what they are used to. Treat this as an unfamiliarity penalty; see Familiarity.

Finally, the GM should be aware that not every item of a given TL must appear in every society that attains that TL. The GM always has the final say as to which items are currently available – both to the PCs and in the game world in general.

"Tech level" (TL) is a general rating of a society’s highest achievement in technology (or a certain type of technology). Tech levels run from zero on up. Each TL describes a set of technologies that become available after a certain point in time. The standard TLs, and associated eras on Earth, are:

TL0 – Stone Age (Prehistory and later). Counting; oral tradition.
TL1 – Bronze Age (3500 B.C.+). Arithmetic; writing.
TL2 – Iron Age (1200 B.C.+). Geometry; scrolls.
TL3 – Medieval (600 A.D.+). Algebra; books.
TL4 – Age of Sail (1450+). Calculus; movable type.
TL5 – Industrial Revolution (1730+). Mechanical calculators; telegraph.
TL6 – Mechanized Age (1880+). Electrical calculators; telephone and radio.
TL7 – Nuclear Age (1940+). Mainframe computers; television.
TL8 – Digital Age (1980+). Personal computers; global networks.
TL9 – Microtech Age (2025+?). Artificial intelligence; real-time virtuality.
TL10 – Robotic Age (2070+?). Nanotechnology or other advances start to blur distinctions between technologies ...
TL11 – Age of Exotic Matter.
TL12 – Whatever the GM likes!

Note that TLs have start dates but not end dates. The innovations of a given TL fade as those of higher TLs displace them, but they rarely vanish completely. A blacksmith in 1850s England uses TL3 techniques to shoe the horses that pull the carriage the gentleman rides to catch his TL5 train to London – and those techniques might still exist in TL8, albeit as a quaint hobby. The GM should decide which "dated" technologies remain in use in his game world, and which items from earlier TLs are still commonly available for purchase.

Differences in tech level become very important when adventurers travel between societies. Technology is likely to seem like magic to anyone more than three or four TLs less advanced. If a WWII soldier (TL6) gets dropped back into the days of King Arthur (TL3) ... things get interesting. Of course, time travel isn’t necessary – even today, you can drop back three or four TLs if you visit the right part of the world.

A party always attracts attention if it displays technology from a higher TL than that of the locals. This attention might take the form of worship, awe, curiosity, envy, fear, or hatred – the greater the disparity in TL, the stronger the reaction.

The GM should set a "baseline TL," which describes most societies in the game world, most of the time. However, exceptions may exist.

Backward Societies

A society might have a lower TL across the board. This could be because it is impoverished, isolated (either geographically or economically), resistant to change (such as 17th-century China), or regressed (possibly in the wake of war or natural disaster). PCs from such societies will have the Low TL disadvantage.

Advanced Societies

Likewise, the TL of a particular society might be higher than that of the rest of the game world. If the GM chooses to introduce such advanced societies, he should ensure that PCs who wish to use their advanced technology pay the points and cash to acquire it honestly. PCs from such societies must have the High TL advantage.

Split Tech Level

Realistic societies rarely have the same TL in every field of endeavor; they tend to be advanced in some fields, backward in others. GMs who desire extra detail can rate each society for its TL in a few key areas. It is most efficient to list only those TLs that differ from the baseline; e.g., "TL8 (Communications TL7, Medical TL9)."

PCs have a personal TL equal to their society's baseline TL, but the TL of their technological skills matches that of their society in the relevant area.

Borrowed Technology

A society can be familiar with technology that it does not itself possess. This is frequently the case for low-tech societies with high-tech neighbors, and for colonies. A village with Iron Age technology (TL2) might be quite familiar with the TL3 steel weapons carried by travelers, and richer villagers might have a few, but local smiths could not duplicate or repair them. Express this as "TL2/3." PCs from such societies have a personal TL equal to the lower TL, but may learn the skills needed to use (but not repair or design) equipment of the higher TL.

Tech Level by Field

It is often important to know what a given TL implies for a particular area of knowledge – for instance, when using the Building Up Local Technology and Split Tech Level rules. The tables below outline the effects of TL on four sample fields. Many other such fields exist: architecture, communications, materials, etc.

Transportation

TL0 – Skis; dogsleds; dugout canoes.
TL1 – Bare horseback; the wheel (and chariots); shipbuilding; sails.
TL2 – Saddle; roads; triremes.
TL3 – Stirrups; oceangoing sailing ships (longships, roundships, etc.).
TL4 – Stagecoach; three-masted sailing ships; precise navigation.
TL5 – Steam locomotives; steamboats; early submersibles; balloons and early airships.
TL6 – Automobiles; continental railways; ocean liners; submarines; aircraft.
TL7 – Nuclear submarines; jet aircraft; helicopters; manned space flight.
TL8 – Satellite navigation; SSTO ("single stage to orbit") spacecraft.
TL9 – Robot cars; space elevators; manned interplanetary space flight.
TL10 – Fast interplanetary space flight.
TL11 – Manned interstellar space flight.
TL12 – Fast interstellar space flight.

Superscience! Reactionless thrust; contragravity; faster-than light (FTL) travel; matter transmission; parachronic technology; time machines.

Weapons and Armor

TL0 – Wooden and stone weapons; primitive shields; hides for armor.
TL1 – Bronze weapons and armor.
TL2 – Iron weapons; iron armor (including mail); siege engines.
TL3 – Steel weapons; early firearms; plate armor; castles.
TL4 – Muskets and pikes; horse artillery; naval broadsides.
TL5 – Early repeating small arms; rifled cannon; ironclads.
TL6 – Smokeless powder; automatic weapons; tanks; combat aircraft.
TL7 – Ballistic body armor; guided munitions; combat jets; nuclear weapons.
TL8 – Smartguns; blinding lasers; unmanned combat vehicles.
TL9 – Electrolasers; heavy laser weapons; battlesuits; combat robots; designer viruses.
TL10 – Compact laser and heavy particle-beam weapons; Gauss guns; nanotech armor; nanoviruses; antimatter bombs.
TL11 – Compact particle-beam weapons; disassemblers ("gray goo"); defensive nanites.
TL12 – Gamma-ray lasers; “living metal” armor; blackhole bombs.

Superscience! Monomolecular blades; force-field technology; gravitic weapons; nuclear dampers; disintegrators.

Power

TL0 – Human muscle power; dogs.
TL1 – Donkeys; oxen; ponies.
TL2 – Horses; water wheels.
TL3 – Heavy horses and horse-collars; windmills.
TL4 – Improved windmills; belt drives; clockwork.
TL5 – Steam engines; direct current; batteries.
TL6 – Steam turbines; internal combustion; alternating current; hydroelectricity.
TL7 – Gas turbines; fission; solar power.
TL8 – Fuel cells; advanced batteries.
TL9 – Micro fuel cells; deuterium-hydrogen fusion; high-temperature superconductors.
TL10 – Helium-3 fusion; antimatter.
TL11 – Portable fusion power.
TL12 – Portable antimatter power.

Superscience! Broadcast power; cold fusion; zero-point energy; total conversion; cosmic power.

Biotechnology/Medicine

TL0 – First aid; herbal remedies; primitive agriculture.
TL1 – Surgery; animal husbandry; fermentation.
TL2 – Bleeding the sick; chemical remedies.
TL3 – Crude prosthetics; anatomical science.
TL4 – Optical microscope makes cells visible.
TL5 – Germ theory of disease; safe anesthetics; vaccines.
TL6 – Antibiotics; blood typing and safe transfusions; heredity; biochemistry.
TL7 – Discovery of DNA; organ transplants; pacemaker.
TL8 – Genetically modified organisms; gene therapy; cloning.
TL9 – Human genetic engineering; tissue engineering; artificial wombs; cybernetic implants.
TL10 – Brain transplants; uploading; bioroids; uplifted animals.
TL11 – Living machines; cellular rejuvenation.
TL12 – Full metamorphosis; regeneration.

Superscience! Fast-growth clone tanks; psi drugs; regeneration ray.

Superscience

"Superscience" technologies violate physical laws – relativity, conservation of energy, etc. – as we currently understand them. Examples of superscience technologies appear under Tech Level by Field, and several articles of superscience equipment appear in Chapter 8.

By definition, it is impossible to set a firm TL for superscience – we might discover faster-than-light travel tomorrow, a thousand years from now, or never. Equipment TLs are always debatable, but superscience

TLs are arbitrary. To reflect this, the rules give the TL of superscience developments as "^" instead of a number. The GM is free to assign such innovations to any TL. To note a superscience invention that appears at a specific TL in a particular game world, put a “^” after its TL; e.g., "TL3^" for a TL3 superscience item.

Remember: superscience doesn't have to change a society's overall TL, create a new technology path, or cause a divergent TL. It just adds totally new developments to all the usual technologies for a given TL in that society.

Tech Level and Genre

When designing a game world with a specific genre in mind, the GM should be sure to choose a TL that will meet his players' expectations for the genre. Some examples:

• Sword & Sandal: Gladiators, chariots, and amazons. TL1-2.
• Medieval Fantasy: Knights, wizards, and castles. TL3.
• Warring Provinces Japan: Samurai and ninja. TL3-4.
• Swashbucklers: Pirates and musketeers. TL4.
• Wild West: Cowboys and Indians. TL5.
• Steampunk: Fiction of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. TL5, diverging to TL(5+1).
• Pulp: Archaeologists and detectives between the World Wars. TL6.
• WWII: Axis and Allies. TL6.
• Cold War: Capitalism vs. communism. TL7.
• Modern Day: You're living in it! TL8.
• Cyberpunk: Netrunners and cyborgs. TL9.
• Space Opera: Interstellar adventure. TL10+, plus superscience.