Here's a page where anyone can list devices and equipment for Gigacrawler, the sci-fi dungeoncrawl game we're making...Each device has a tech level, if the device's level is higher than a user's tech level, s/he must make a tech level check against the device's level. (d10 + PC tech level vs d10 + device tech level.) Failure indicates the device (1-3) cannot be made to work by that PC until such time as s/he gains new relevant skills that might help him/her use it and can try again or (4-6) malfunctions in some way dangerous to the PC or the item (though the PC may attempt to use it again if s/he survives).
Once a creature gets it to work properly once, assume the device is understood and can be reused properly at will.
If a PC with a low tech level receives a device they are not sure they want to try to use during character creation, they can trade it to another PC or look for someone else to barter with during the game.
Tech Levels
Example of someone at that tech level (example of device they would not have to roll to use/operate/exploit)
1 Weasel (pile of food)
2 Smart Monkey (stick)
3 Primitive human (knife)
4 Medieval human (crossbow)
5 Renaissance to Age of Reason-era human (clock)
6 Steam-era human (film camera)
7 Contemporary Earth Child (Nintendo)
8 Contemporary Earth Adult (Car)
9 Contemporary Earth Adult Techie (Sound-mixing board)
10 Cyberpunk Era Child (cyber-implant)
11 Cyberpunk Era Adult (cyber-reactive vehicle)
12 Cyberpunk Era Techie (combat robot)
13 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Child (android pet)
14 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Adult (hovercar)
15 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Techie (starship)
16 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Child (low-grav shoes)
17 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Adult (custom mutation injector)
18 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Techie (gene resequencing vat)
19-21 Star Wars (Faster-than-light drive)
22-24 Star Trek Federation (Replicator, transporter)
25-27 Alchemical cultures. Technology so advanced human nature/existence becomes fundamentally different in most ways ("Since we acquired the ____ we no longer feel the need to _____")
28-30 Technology and lifeforms merge imperceptibly
31-33 Godlike
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If you are creating a character who has pieces of equipment, these will be determined randomly. Until the list is collated and numbered, you can count the results below and use this to randomize which devices your PC owns.All PCs are assumed to start the game with a backpack or sack and the kind of clothes you might wear if you lived in the future and only saw a mirror once every 3 weeks.
Prices are not listed, as the Gigastructure mostly operates by barter. The universe has no common currency. Cultures which do use currency may or may not value the same sorts of items as PCs, depending on species' survival requirements, so prices vary wildly.
Things to remember when creating devices:
-New PCs will roll randomly on this list for equipment
-Armor class points are roughly scaled to match The Role Playing Game That Is Mentioned In The Title of This Blog, so if something offers the protection of leather, that's 2 points of armor, if something offers the protection of plate that's 7
-Blunt weapons and the like do current physique + (whatever) damage. Most other weapons just have their own weapon strength. I've tried to provide some guidelines in the examples below.
-Please do not forget to include a tech level. It saves work for me, and the less work for me, the happier I am to continue this project.
Devices and equipment:
1. Distortion grenade: creates a 15' diameter sphere of energy that wildly distorts all magic effects within it. Range: It can be thrown current physique x 3 feet. Tech level: 25
2. 20th century automatic pistol. Range: (d4+1)x10 yards (roll when weapon is acquired, then that's what the range is from then on). Weapon strength: 10. Holds 10 +d10 shells. Comes with 3d10 shells. Tech level: 8
3. Hunting knife. Weapon strength: 7. Tech level: 3
4. Low grav shoes. Allow the wearer to hover up to 2 feet off the floor even in ordinary-gravity locations. Adds +2 to dodging and any other activities that might logically be aided by such devices. Tech level: 16
5. Anti-Logic grenade. Creates a 15' diameter null-logic zone. Any action attempted in the zone has only a d100% chance of occurring. Other irrational effects are possible at GMs discretion. It can be thrown current physique X 3 feet. Tech level: 26
6. d6 gallons of water. Sounds lame, I know, but in a day or two you'll find you're the most popular member of the party. Sleep with one eye open. Tech level: 1
7. Bulletproof jacket. 4 points of armor. Tech level: 4 (I know, flak jackets weren't made in the middle ages but a medieval person would know what to do with one)
8. Entropic field generator. Device the size of a hockey puck. Provides variable d12 points of armor (roll every round). Tech level: 16
9. Food! "Che Oyardee Aghetti O's" or whatever it says. Anyway, point is it's good. Well it's ok. Well it's d4+1 days worth of food, which makes you king around here. Tech level: 1
10. Baseball bat. Weapon strength: Current physique + 2. Tech level: 2
11. Witch Box. This alchemical device can absorb one spell (spell does not take effect or ceases to take effect--this can be done even if it's not the user's turn during combat), which the user can then release any time later at will. Re-released spells are cast as if at a magic level of 17 (roll success or failure as normal). The box is destroyed after the spell is released. Box is the size of a Rubik's cube. Tech level: 20. (Despite being the product of a level 25 culture, it is designed to be relatively easy to use)
