Futuristic and Alien Artifacts
Futuristic and Alien Artifacts
Anachronistic Devices
The tech levels given for equipment assume a "realistic" campaign. The GM is free to have any technology appear at an earlier TL – especially in a cinematic campaign. For each TL by which the listed TL of a device exceeds that of the campaign, double the cost and weight of the device.
Example: Steam engines are normally TL5, but dwarves in a TL3 fantasy setting might use steam-powered mining machinery. Such equipment would cost and weigh four times as much as usual.
Adventurers sometimes encounter advanced or alien devices. These rarely come with instruction manuals, and often rely on scientific principles unknown at the heroes' tech level. [[Gadgeteers may use the Gadgeteering During Adventures rules to deduce the function of mysterious artifacts. Everybody else must use the rules below.
First, the experimenter chooses an operation skill. This choice is often a guess – although the GM might provide clues that make it an educated guess. Those with the Intuition advantage can use it to narrow down their choice of skills.
Next, the GM decides whether the chosen skill is appropriate. An "appropriate" skill is one used to operate a device known to the experimenter that serves a purpose similar to that of the artifact. It need not be the artifact's actual operation skill. For instance, Guns is appropriate for a ray gun fired using Beam Weapons skill, while First Aid is wholly inappropriate.
Then the experimenter rolls against the chosen skill. If this is an appropriate skill, the GM rolls 3d, adds the investigator's margin of success or subtracts his margin of failure, and consults the Enigmatic Device Table, below. If the skill is inappropriate, treat the roll as a failure by 10; in other words, roll 3d-10 on the table.
Exception: If the experimenter rolls a critical success on an inappropriate skill, he realizes that the chosen skill doesn't apply and may try another skill.
Each attempt takes one minute. Repeated attempts are possible, but the roll on the table is at a cumulative -1 per attempt after the first. Someone else can start from scratch, though – other people often bring fresh insights to a problem.
Enigmatic Device Table
Roll 3d, apply the modifiers below, and consult the table. For repeated attempts by the same experimenter, reroll duplicate results.
Modifiers: A bonus equal to the margin of success, or a penalty equal to the margin of failure; +2 for Danger Sense; +4 for Intuition; +2 if the device has labels in a language the experimenter can read – or +4 for actual manuals (at the GM's option, a Research roll at -5 might turn these up); +1 to +5 for a simple device, or -1 to -5 for a complex one; -1 for manipulating the device at a "safe" distance using psi or magic, -2 for probing it using tools or robotic manipulators, or -4 for poking it with a stick, hitting it with a hammer, etc.; -1 per attempt after the first.
0 or less – The experimenter takes 3d damage and the device is destroyed. (If the device is indestructible, it vaporizes everything within 10 yards...)
1 – The device's primary effect is applied to the experimenter, if possible; if not, he takes 3d damage from the device.
2 – The device's primary effect is applied to someone nearby, if possible; if not, someone nearby takes 3d damage.
3 – The experimenter takes 2d damage.
4 – Someone nearby takes 2d damage.
5 – The experimenter takes 1d damage.
6 – Someone nearby takes 1d damage.
7 – The experimenter suffers superficial damage (e.g., his eyebrows are burned off).
8 – Someone nearby suffers superficial damage.
9 – The experimenter suffers an embarrassing mishap: he gets a body part stuck to (or in) the device, or suffers an unpleasant minor side effect.
10 – The experimenter forms an erroneous theory concerning the device's purpose, possibly being misled by a secondary function or side effect.
11 – Nothing happens. The experimenter gains no useful insight into the device's nature or operation, but at least it didn’t do anything nasty...
12 – The experimenter locates one of the device's less-obvious controls (but doesn't learn what it does).
13 – The experimenter discovers the on/off switch (or safety, for a weapon).
14 – The experimenter gets a clue concerning the purpose of the device.
15 – The experimenter gets a clear demonstration of the device's primary function (possibly by blowing a large hole in something inanimate – and expensive – nearby). He can now operate this function, at -4 to skill.
16 – The experimenter discovers how to activate a single secondary function reliably (that is, with no skill penalty).
17 – The experimenter deduces the location and general nature of all controls pertaining to the device's secondary functions, and can use these functions at -4 to skill.
18 – The experimenter figures out how to activate the primary function of the device at no skill penalty.
19 – The experimenter discovers all of the device's functions, and can use them at no skill penalty.
20 or more – As 19, plus the experimenter finds a totally serendipitous – and useful – application of the device that the creators never thought of!