Today I would like to finish my explanation of Wolfgang Baur’s fourth category of technology in his article Worlds and Technology, as found in “The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding” from Kobold Press. He calls his final category “Technology of Life, Food, and Medicine” and while I would generally agree with Baur that ‘mundane’ technology like this should be left to the minimum that players need to continue adventuring, I would argue that another method is to create technology that can be used in many different ways, including both adventuring and everyday.

Building materials

A good example of this is the construction of the homes that the survivors of the world live in. The same method used to allow heroes to carry large amounts of supplies for long journeys can also be applied to strengthen buildings against hurricane winds. A building could be shielded from dangerous magical energy in the same way that people are, and a similar method could be used to create ventilation ducts that allow in fresh air while repelling harmful dust and heat.

Medicine

The healing arts are another good example of this technique. While a metal that can be magically heated is a useful tool in combat and exploration it can also be used to create medical instruments that can be easily sterilized. Magically imbued eye-glasses or jewellery that allows one to see through walls or smell enemies could also be used to identity broken bones or diseases. The same technique that is used to make bracers of speed could be used to create devices that speed up natural healing, causing skin to scab over and heal at a greatly increased rate.

---

That is all for today. I’m hoping to start exploring how some of my thoughts on magic can work mechanically, which will hopefully solidify these ramblings into something more concrete.