TL4 (The Age of Sail)

TL4 (The Age of Sail) tends to be also called the Age of Exploration or Age of Discovery. Depending on the location it overlaps with the earlier TL3 (The Middle Ages) and later TL5 (The Industrial Revolution).

General Developments[]

Note: these are a combination of the material in the Basic Set and GURPS Low-Tech

Signature Technology: Full-rigged ships, Calculus; Movable type (the printing press)

Transportation: Stagecoach; three-masted sailing ships; precise navigation
Weapons and Armor: Muskets and pikes; horse artillery; naval broadsides
- War: Cannon; early bayonets; formal military drill; sailing warships armed with cannon; star forts replace castles.
Power: Improved windmills; belt drives; clockwork
Biotechnology/Medicine: Optical microscope makes cells visible; early synthetic medications
Other Technologies: Cast iron; telescopes; celestial navigation
Social Organization: Nation-states and absolute monarchy; overseas empires; widespread literacy.

GURPS Russia: Russian myths involve a combination of spell-based magic and Low Magic. "Magic items in this setting are almost always either gifts from powerful NPCs, created from formulas learned from powerful NPCs, or Natural Magic"^[1]
GURPS Swashbucklers: "Golden Age of Piracy" (1650-1720) is an extremely magically poor High Fantasy setting with what does exist generally being the product of natives.