Roleplayer #17, November 1989
Gadgets, Lots of Gadgets!
Ultra-Tech Designer's Notes
by David Pulver
Ultra-Tech
is largely a gadget book -- a list of what gadgets (or more to the point,
technologies) would appear at what tech levels, and rules for using them.
It uses the same format as High-Tech.
There are introductory chapters on general technology used at every tech
level (like power cells) followed by individual chapters covering each TL
(with two TLs to a chapter after TL10).
The hardest part of writing Ultra-Tech was coming
up with new gadgets, since Space
already had one of the best equipment sections of any SF game currently
in print. In analyzing the 30 pages of equipment in Space
I found an awful lot of TL8 devices, a fair number of TL9 items (especially
beam weapons). There were almost no TL10, 11 or 12 devices, and nothing
of any higher TL. But the GURPS
TL system went up to TL16! On the other hand, almost all the classic SF
gadgets seemed to be there, and I would have at least 80 pages to fill .
. . My initial proposal had a large number of sample gadgets, and a full
outline of technology from TL8 to TL16.
Then it came. A massive thing arrived in the mail, bulging
and leaking pages out of a plastic bag. Wondering if this was the mythical
playtest copy of GURPS
Supers, I opened it. It turned out to be gadgets. Lots
of gadgets. And letters, some typed, some handwritten, all to Steve Jackson
Games. As I searched through the two-inch-thick pile for a reason why Roleplayer's
address had suddenly become my kitchen, I found the answer.
Steve Jackson had liked my proposal, and wanted me to write Ultra-Tech.
These were the gadget submissions that had been received by Roleplayer
during the summer and fall, photocopies of relevant playtest comments on
Space, interesting science-fact articles from
magazines, etc. I was to use whatever seemed good, keeping careful track
so that all submissions would be credited.
A few phone calls and a signed contract later, I got to work. The basic
format had been approved. There were to be no vehicles except personal ones
like man-portable ultralights, and no weapons heavier than a person could
carry.
Gadgeteering
The submissions SJ Games had received held a lot of really good ideas (there
are some very fertile imaginations out there!) But their were also many
duplications, of each other or of devices included in my original draft.
Of course, some versions were better than mine, in which case I
used or combined them, but gave the original designer full credit. But even
after including all the relevant equipment in Space
and all the useful submissions, I still had about 70 pages to fill. Now
began the real work. . .
I added a few new rules sections, like rules for hacking into futuristic
computers ("data penetration") and for guided missiles. But most
of the book was to be gadgets and weapons. Some technologies, like the "prismatic"
force screens, were already in use in my own long-running SF campaign. Others
were standard SF props, like stasis webs and psionic amplifiers, or original
inventions. But what I enjoyed most was extrapolation.
I would take a technology already described in GURPS Space,
and see where it led at higher TLs. For example, by combining bioscanners
and contragrav technology, introduced at TL9 and TL12 and assuming it would
get smaller at higher tech levels, I came up with grav-propelled bullets
that could be programmed to home in on individual genetic patterns, seeking
out one person in a crowd. And of course, that technology implied
that a TL earlier, they would be on missiles.
Too often, I felt, SF books and games fail to give a broader picture of
technology. Blasters, space Suits and multiscanners are useful for soldiers
and explorers, but not all gadgets were invented for adventurers! I decided
to devote a few sidebars in every chapter to describe new developments that
might alter the character of daily life. Ultra-Tech
is by no means a future history, but I think it is easier to roleplay a
character or to set a scene as a GM if some props are already there. Describing
a functioning far-future city is always difficult: that's why so
many SF books and movies these days depict a burned-out dystopia. Knowing
that people work and shop by computer and the roads have been replaced by
slidewalks at TL8, or that the average TL12 apartment could be a living
organism floating above the clouds, can give roleplayers a better sense
that their characters really are living in the future, not just
in the 20th century with 30th-century guns.
As I worked on the gadgets, comments began to appear on the SJG-BBS, some
of the changes were incorporated into the manuscript. One of the BBS playtesters
was Scott Maykrantz (who had also sent in some of the better gadgets to
Roleplayer). He provided many useful suggestions (and some really
strange devices). John Nowak, who is working on GURPS
Mecha, sent me several nifty gadgets he had cut from his
own manuscript for reasons of space, and together we developed the rules
for clever and brilliant missiles and gyrocs.
Hacking and Troubleshooting
After two months of work, the first draft was finished. My brother Tim was
invaluable for helping me proofread (the main mistakes in the first draft
were where I had read the chapter rather than him) and getting everything
on disk. Steve was understanding when I mistakenly sent him the first part
of the manuscript in Word Perfect. . . which the SJ Games computer couldn't
read. The ASCII version followed the next day, so things turned out all
right.
By then I had an editor, Loyd Blankenship, and the manuscript went out to
playtesters. A month later, I heard back from Loyd. He liked the manuscript,
but had several suggested major changes and a host of minor ones. He also
forwarded the first of what was to be about 200 pages of playtester comments!
All the requested changes made sense, and I began work on the final draft
and incorporating the playtest comments (more of which seemed to arrive
in the mail every day). One thing that playtesters often commented on was
weapon damage; some thought it was too much, others thought it was too little.
Many of the weapons in this book may seem to do a great deal of damage,
compared to those in Space while the armor may
appear to be excessively tough. The major reason for these changes was the
increased power of modern firearms in the GURPS
Basic Set, Third Edition and High-Tech.
A modern-day M16A2 assault rifle does 6d of damage and fires 10 rounds per
second, while today's Hardcorps Kevlar vest has a torso DR of 35. Playtesting
showed that unless TL8+ weapons and armor were correspondingly more effective,
no one would use them; a soldier with a TL7 FN rifle should not be more
effective than one armed with a TL9 particle-beam weapon. Man has always
been good at creating better ways to kill . . .
But the majority of the work on the final draft was clarification and reorganization.
The center charts and tables were added, typos, grammar and rules ambiguities
were cleared up, while some rules were altered to bring them into line with
Supers enabling Ultra-Tech
to be used as a sourcebook for super gadgets. Also, the first draft was
too long, and even at 128 pages, some
things had to be cut. Redundant material was removed and numerous minor
gadgets were deleted. The biggest cut was the rules for genetically engineering
improved animals. They were very interesting, but took up a lot of space,
and needed much more playtesting; hopefully they will show up in a Roleplayer
article at some point.
Ultra-Tech is what I hoped it would be -- the
definitive book of science fiction equipment. I hope everyone gets as much
enjoyment out of using it as I did writing it.
Using Ultra-Tech With Supers
Most of the weapons and gadgets work very well in a Supers
setting, even in Wild
Cards (they can be used as Takisian or Network technology).
Don't worry about introducing very high-tech gadgets, but concentrate on
interesting effects rather than lethality: the more exotic, the better.
Tachyon shotguns and paralysis rifles are excellent weapons for super agents,
while personality implants make classic mind-control devices. The larger
TL13 to TL16 devices (chrysalis machines, teleportation portals and so on)
are all suitable furnishings for the lairs of master meta-villains. But,
except in a 750-point or higher campaign, I don't recommend letting players
or NPCs start with any of the Legality Class 0 military weapons or armor.
Even at TL8 or TL9 they are far more than most 500-point supers can deal
with.
New Weapons
Stasis Webs
Stasis is an induced state in which almost no time passes (a second every
hundred million years, perhaps). Several types of stasis-web generators
are available, but their operation is similar. The duration of the web can
be set for any length of time between five minutes (the minimum) and a billion
years; an atomic clock registers how much (relative) time has passed within
the web, and deactivates the field when the time is up. Something protected
by a stasis web is effectively outside the normal space-time continuum,
and cannot be affected by anything within it. It could fall through
the heart of a star or survive for a billion years. Since only (relative)
micro- or nanoseconds will pass for the occupants of a stasis web, they
cannot take any action while within the web.
Note that the stasis generator is always within the web itself
-- there is no way to turn an activated stasis web off from outside it.
Viewed from the outside, an object encased in a stasis web is a perfectly
reflecting mirror, and no sensors of any type can penetrate into it. The
only way to deactivate a stasis web from outside it is to use a reality
stabilizer, which will instantly cause the web to collapse.
Stasis Cube: A stasis cube is a box which generates a stasis web
around itself. It takes two seconds to set the duration, and one more to
activate the cube, which is then surrounded by the stasis web. It holds
about as much as a backpack (.2 cy, about 40 pounds of equipment); it uses
a C cell, costs $20,000 and weighs ten pounds.
Stasis Chamber: This is a stasis cube the size of a large coffin,
used as a suspended-animation chamber, a vault or a prison. It is essential
to make sure it has the right time setting. Once activated, there is no
way (short of a reality stabilizer) to turn it off until the duration expires.
It can hold one person in a space suit with equipment (or two with no equipment),
or .5 cy of cargo. The generator is designed to be activated from outside
the chamber, but a timer is included so that the user can set the web duration,
then climb into it. It runs off a pair of D cells. Cost is $50,000, volume
is .5 cy and weight is 200 pounds.
Stasis Grid: A stasis grid is a stasis-web generator built into
a building, space ship or vehicle. The stasis web is usually designed to
be activated from within the vehicle or building as a last-ditch defensive
measure (e.g. as the missile strike is about to hit, go into stasis for
five minutes). In space combat, an activated stasis grid provides total
protection against any attack (except tachyonic disruptors) but the protected
ship cannot attack or maneuver! At the beginning of any space combat turn,
the captain should decide whether the grid will be activated or not. Note
that a ship's velocity is retained while in stasis, but since it cannot
maneuver, its course is easily predictable. A stasis grid costs $100,000,
takes up .5 cy, masses 1/2 ton and requires one MW of power, plus $1,000,
.05 cy, .05 ton and 0.1 MW per cubic yard to be protected. For example,
a stasis grid covering a 200 cy shuttle would cost $300,000, take up 10.5
cy, and require a 21 MW power supply.
Tachyon Shotgun
Also known as a displacer, a tachyon shotgun rips opens a warp in space
and sends its targets elsewhere. It is fired like a grenade launcher, and
is aimed at a hex rather than an individual. If the roll misses, take the
number the roll was missed by and add 1d -- this is the number of hexes
the gunner missed by. As for direction, roll another die, designating "1"
as north and counting clockwise around the faces of the target hex. On a
critical miss, the effect occurs in the gunner's hex.
A whirling vortex takes form in the affected hex, threatening to swallow
anyone within it. The attacked gets a Dodge roll (PD doesn't help) to dive
into an adjacent hex and escape before the rift opens fully. Anyone and
anything that fails to escape the hex is sucked into the hole; objects too
large to fit through the warp (one yard in diameter) will be unaffected.
A tachyon shotgun will affect a small stasis field (sucking it through the
hole).
Where a particular rift leads is up to the GM -- interstellar space, an
adjacent parallel dimension, the heart of a sun, the past, or solid ground
just a few miles (or lightyears) away are possibilities. However, it's usually
more fun to send heroes (or major villains) into interesting places they
can adventure in and later return from, than to scatter their component
atoms across the universe. If more than one person is affected at once,
the rift sends everyone to the same (or nearly the same) point in space
or time.
Reality Stabilizer
A reality stabilizer negates the effects of displacer and tachyon
beams, teleportation, stasis, time travel, FTL communicators, force fields
and all gravity-manipulation (contragravity, tractor/pressor beams, etc.)
devices within its area of effect by strengthening local space-time. Any
such device automatically stops working while within the this area of effect,
nor can it affect anything in the area.
Stasis Key: This short-ranged reality stabilizer creates a brief
pulse which will cause any active stasis web to collapse. The stasis web
generator is unharmed. Its range is a one-yard radius (its hex and all adjacent
hexes). It uses a C cell for ten "shots." A Stasis Key costs $4,000
and weighs three pounds.
Portable Reality Stabilizer: Also known as a space/time anomaly
neutralizer, or SATAN-field projector, this is a backpack version which
affects up to a five-mile radius around itself. It can be tuned to cover
a smaller area (down to a five-yard radius) if desired. It uses an E cell,
which powers it for four hours. Cost is $60,000 and weight is 50 pounds.
Heavy Stabilizer: This generates a field that covers a 100-mile
radius within atmosphere, and up to ten times that in vacuum. This version
requires five MW of power and can prevent a ship from engaging its FTL drive
within its area of influence. It needs five cy of space and weighs four
tons. It costs $1,000,000.
(Back to Roleplayer #17 Table of Contents)