As part of my pulp project I started putting together some initial rules for gadgeteering. This is what I have so far.
Gadgeteering works mechanically like sorcery. Rather than having a magic point cost, what the character invests instead is time. Each magic point you'd spend under the sorcery rules translates into one week spent working on the device.
In place of the Manipulation skill you instead have the Fringe Science skill. In place of Grimore you have one of the following skills: Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, or Physics. Each skill not only determines the intensity of the Innovations, but what kind of devices your character can build. A scientist with engineering will be hard pressed to create a clone of someone, while a bio-engineer will have a tough time whipping up a death ray.
Innovations are the "Spells" of gadgeteering, the special effects a scientist pours into his device.
For the Manipulation table on page 192, I simply cut out the reference to the POW attribute, and made the modifier 10. So a deathray with no points of "manipulation" in duration will have enough juice to last for ten minutes. For duration I decided to have the clock start ticking once the device is activated.
Here is a example device
A death ray with Damage, Armor Piercing, a range of 50 meters, and a battery life twenty minutes will take six weeks to construct, and require a Fringe Science score of 60% or greater.
It is still a work in progress, I'm tempted to mess around with the manipulation table a bit. I don't really like the idea of a armored shirt having a duration, so I may add a permanent duration at a steep manipulation cost.
Gadgeteering works mechanically like sorcery. Rather than having a magic point cost, what the character invests instead is time. Each magic point you'd spend under the sorcery rules translates into one week spent working on the device.
In place of the Manipulation skill you instead have the Fringe Science skill. In place of Grimore you have one of the following skills: Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, or Physics. Each skill not only determines the intensity of the Innovations, but what kind of devices your character can build. A scientist with engineering will be hard pressed to create a clone of someone, while a bio-engineer will have a tough time whipping up a death ray.
Innovations are the "Spells" of gadgeteering, the special effects a scientist pours into his device.
For the Manipulation table on page 192, I simply cut out the reference to the POW attribute, and made the modifier 10. So a deathray with no points of "manipulation" in duration will have enough juice to last for ten minutes. For duration I decided to have the clock start ticking once the device is activated.
Here is a example device
A death ray with Damage, Armor Piercing, a range of 50 meters, and a battery life twenty minutes will take six weeks to construct, and require a Fringe Science score of 60% or greater.
It is still a work in progress, I'm tempted to mess around with the manipulation table a bit. I don't really like the idea of a armored shirt having a duration, so I may add a permanent duration at a steep manipulation cost.
