Gadgets

Gadgets

"Dreams about the future are always filled with gadgets." — Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Why gadgets?

A sci-fi game needs technological wonders. We live in an age of fading wonder. A massive technological boom left us with devices that only 50 years ago would have been laughed at as absurd in terms of their capability and ubiquity. The device revolution in the real world has been quite profound, and coming up with new stuff might be challenging at first, but soon enough you and your table are going to want your own techno-gadgets to further define your corner of the 33,000 worlds.

This chapter is to help you modify the gadgets already in the game and make new ones.

What's a gadget?

A gadget is a device usable by a character that has an in-game effect. Gadgets allow you to bend and break the rules of Hyperlite. They're like magic items in elf-and-dragon games. A toolkit is a gadget. A weapon is a gadget. A robot is a gadget, too, but it's a super-set and has more properties, and more restrictions. See Robots.

Gadgets can provide die modifiers, skill boosts, ability boosts, and pretty much whatever you or the table can think of. They may be single or multi-use, or as permanent as the boundaries of your scenario will allow. The important thing to keep in mind is that all these advantages and capabilities must come at a cost, and have limits. If they don't, they'll drag your game down.

How do I use this in a game?

The easiest use of a gadget is to customize something that already exists. A scope for a rifle would be a gadget. An advanced drug booster for a medical kit would be a gadget. In general, customization gadgets grant a semi-permanent bonus until they're destroyed. Setting prices for these is more art than science -- you don't want to make something powerful too cheap, unless you also make it fragile and somewhat hard to replace.

Custom gadgets are challenging to define, and the best way to get better at it is to just add them to your game as they come to you, and see how they play out. A big help in this process is to give a new item a small number of uses until it either breaks or needs to be recharged.

Gadget Principles

1. Limit uses.
   Start with 3, and limit it to one use per scene.

2. Control effect.
   Hyperlite is a 2d6 game, so a +1 makes a big difference in a test of self. Max modifier should be +/-5.

3. Make it cool.
   This is the hardest one because it's the least mechanical. There are lots of games that have lists of descriptors for helping with this, and Hyperlite will have them, too. It just doesn't yet!

Gadget Traits

Function What does it do? Limit yourself to a single sentence. It's usually better to have two gadgets than one that does two things. Keep it high-level, focus on what it does and save the mechanics for last.

Requirements What is required to use the gadget? Consider one or two of these:

• Abilities & Skills
• Careers & Origin Worlds
• Psionica

These can all help you shape your gadget, and make it cooler.

Activation Always on? Does it require a warm-up or charging period? Must you put fuel into it first?

Durability How long will this gadget last? How many uses before it's useless? Define the number of times the gadget can be used, and how often. Define in terms of the scene and the session first, then decide whether the gadget is temporary (limited uses, no recharge) or permanent (unlimited uses, requires recharge).

Cost & Availability In general if a gadget provides a 1-time +1 to a check to a limited set of tests, e.g. a rifle scope that provides a +1 to hit targets that are Too Far, should cost about 100 SEC. A first-aid kit that provided an additional +2 to checks to treat severe trauma would cost about 250 SEC more than the standard.

Scale costs according to this table, but this is only a guideline. See Robots for more guidelines on setting prices and development costs.

Availability can be controlled by development level and/or legal situation where the adventure is taking place. When in doubt, a Streetwise character might know someone who could provide the goods for a price.

Development Notes

Time to Build Base time is 1 week of dedicated effort. Tie tests of self to project completion progress. Gadget complexity acts as a multiplier on build time.

Shop / Lab Space A character needs a dedicated space for projects. This could be a lifestyle expenditure, a club benefit, a hideout feature, or a starship feature.

Guidelines When in doubt, limit the number of uses to 1 per scene and 3 total. Price and scarcity should scale with power of the gadget. The most interesting gadgets do not have specific mechanical applications such as bonuses to abilities or skills, but possess evocative traits. Examples include,

• A rod that becomes immovable when activated
• A belt that allows the wearer to defy gravity
• Eyewear that can see through starship hulls
• A shirt that makes electronic surveillance ignore you