TL5 (The Industrial Revolution) and TL6 (The Mechanized Age) both belong to the Age of Steam. While the formal Age of Discovery was over there was still a lot of TL4 (The Age of Sail) around in the early part of this period.
General Developments[]
Note: these are a combination of the material in the Basic Set and GURPS High-Tech
- Signature technologies: Mechanical calculators; telegraph
- Transportation: Steam locomotives; steamboats; early submersibles; balloons and early airships; Bicycle; macadam road; screw propeller
- Weapons and Armor: Early repeating small arms; rifled cannon; ironclads
- Arms and Armor: Barbed wire, breech-loading artillery, breech-loading rifle, ironclad warship, mechanical machine gun, nitroglycerine, revolver, rocket.
- Power: Steam engines; direct current[1][note 1]; coal; batteries
- Biotechnology/Medicine: Anesthetic; antiseptic; canned foods;, evaporated milk; hypodermic syringe; pasteurization; vaccination; Germ theory of disease;
Other Developments[]
- Agriculture: Four-course crop rotation, seed drill.
- Information Technology: Newspaper advertising, photography, public library, scientific journals, telegraph.
- Machinery: Cotton gin, interchangeable parts, powered loom, reaping machine.
- Material Science: Crucible steel, friction match, rubber.
Magical Settings at this TL[]
- Classic: Old West: Generally a very magic poor High Fantasy setting. What magic does exist is in the possession of Native Americans and alchemists.
- Classic: Steampunk: This where the line between the supernatural and science starts blurring. Magic as a force is dismissed out of hand but supernatural forces are explained via science. For example, Henry Moore's 17th century concept that ghosts are in reality 4 physical dimensional beings is promoted by Johann Karl Friedrich Zรถllne very late in this TL[note 2]
This list is taken from the GURPS Repository.
- Batteries (Basic Set, p. 288; GURPS High-Tech, p. 13)
- Business Cards (GURPS High-Tech, p. 18)
- Copying Press (GURPS High-Tech, p. 18)
- Ethanol (Fuel) (GURPS High-Tech, p. 15-16)
- Handcuffs (Basic Set, p. 289)
- Rotary Press(GURPS High-Tech, p. 17)
- Slide Rule (GURPS High-Tech, p. 18)
- Steam Engine, Semi-Portable (GURPS High-Tech, p. 14)
- Steam-Powered Rotary Press (GURPS High-Tech, p. 17)
- Steel Cable (Basic Set, p. 288)
- Suitcase (Basic Set, p. 288) see also Containers and Storage
- Suitcase Lab (Basic Set, p. 289)
- Talking Board (GURPS Horror, p.47)
- Thermos Bottle (Basic Set, p. 288)
Related Material[]
- TL5 Equipment
- TL5 Weapons
- Tech Level
- GURPS Bio-Tech
- GURPS Steamtech
- GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style
- GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire
- GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists
Notes[]
- โ The basic set lists direct current and alternating current as separate TLs while GURPS High-Tech doesn't
- โ "If a fourth-dimension creature existed it could, in our three-dimensional universe, appear and dematerialize at will, change shape remarkably, pluck us out of locked rooms, and make us appear from nowhere." - Carl Sagan, Cosmos pg 219