[Torg] Weird science question?

[Sam Frazier II]

Seeing how I have a Weird Scientist in my current group, I'll tell you how I'd handle it, then perhaps someone else can inject correct input.

BTW, I don't have my books with me, so I'll be guessing on some of this stuff.


>>>Long time Torg player, first-time poster. :)<<<
Thanks for reading, we all enjoy hearing from  first-timers. It makes our input feel more valuable than it may actually be. Welcome.
>>>We were playing Torg the other night and had a Weird Science
question come up. Yeah, it may be a lost cause. But...<<<
No such thing as a lost cause in my book. Our axioms don't support it.

 
>>>How do skill gadgets work?<<<
We use the Terra Sourcebook for our gadget use and creation. So once you have a gadget, it has an activation cost which must be purchased prior to use. After that, you use the gadget with a skill which is appropriate for the gadget. Effects are determined by the powers placed in the gadget and occur after use. Activation cost is only necessary once an adventure. Our gadgeteer has found out having 5 gadgets are useful, but expensive. He hasn't learned control for when to use his gadgets and when not too. It isn't surprising he spends more possibilties per adventure than anyone else, thus the fewer possibilities invested in his character.


 
>>>There don't seem to be any examples in either the NE or Terra
SBs. Presumably they work like attribute gadgets, but we're a little unsure on
that, too...<<<
Perhaps we've missed this one example in my game, but from my understanding they would be boosting a skill. So similar to an attribute gadget. I"ll have to look that up when I get home.

 
>>>Hopefully the basic question & answer is the same regardless
of which gadget creation rules are used, NE or Terra, and the version of basic
rules.<<<
I'm going to suggest useing the Terra source book, with the Infinivese book, Land Below, Nile, and another one I think for the list of powers.


 >>>So for instance, Two-Fisted Fred (PER 8, two adds in Evidence
Analysis, total 10) wants to build a weird science magnifying glass that
provides Evidence Analysis. It has a system limit of 8. He builds it, doesn't
add any boosters.<<<

I'm not sure I remember a power that gives Evidence Analysis so I'm not sure where the system limit is coming from. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though and assume this is a "Sherlock Holmes" power.

 
>>>What does that 8 do?<<<
If it has a system limit of 8, then that is Effect Value of the gadget. Well this is making the assumtion during the building of the gadget the Houseing Value of the item is 8 or greater, and the Weird Science roll generated was greater than 8. So if Two-Fisted Fred (TFF) uses the gadget to do his evidence analysis, the value is 8 + Bonus from the roll.

Now If I'm correct in Assuming there is no power that gives Evidence Analysis Skill as the effect, and I'm pretty confident there isn't, then this would be considered a booster gadget, and they work differently. Instead of providing the skill at a specific value, they provide a boost off of the power push table (If my memory is correct) which gets added to the players skill.

I'll inquire from our gadgeteer and review the books...gah next tuesday. My gadgeteer has all my gadget making books.


 >>>Presumably it works similar to attribute gadgets, but we're
unclear on that too. A crane and a computer are mentioned as examples of STR
and MIN gadgets. But the implication and common sense is that these function
independently of the user. Someone using a crane doesn't add the crane's
strength to their strength to lift a crate.<<<

This is a piss poor example IMHO. The crane is an object, not a weird science gadget. In order to be a weird science gadget, it'd have to be modified by the Weird Scientist with a power or boosters. Same with the computer. It is an object, the starting point for the gadget itself. It has to be manipulated (not by a program, physically modified) into a gadget. 

 
 >>>But there are times when a gadget might add to the user's
existing attribute, or skill or both. The... Silk Panther? in the Terra SB has
+2 climbing gloves. These don’t replace his Climbing, but add to it.<<<
Correct, and this is what I'm thinking you are actually going for with this gadget.


>>>Two-Fisted Fred's uber-magnifying glass would presumably be
similar. He wants to boost his own skill: the magnifying glass doesn't function
independently of him the way a crane does.<<<
Well the crane does need someone to direct it, but it does do all the STR Lifiting by its own.


 >>>Maybe it has something to do with the rules on gadget-armor that
add to TOU rather than replace it (we think), but we got a little confused at
that point.<<<
It sounds like that is the point of confusion. I've been through Terra's Gadget making enough to know I need to go through it each time creating a new gadget. 


 >>>Of the options above, C seems really really over-powerful. And A
can be powerful for those skills with high system limits, and make the actual
purchase of personal skill adds redundant.<<<
Actually it is none of your options. It'd be either 

D) TFF uses the Magnifiying Glass with an Evidence Analysis of 8 

or 

E) TFF uses the Magnifying Glass to boost his Evidence Analysis by whatever 8 is on the power push table, and the gadget takes shock stated on that push.

I image the magnifying glass would be a booster, highlighting specific objects to the character. 



>>>But B sometimes seems a bit underpowered.<<<
I was somewhat confused by B. It isn't underpowered, it means the gadget was built by a non-Nile Weird Scientist. A Nile Weird Scientist would add boosters galore to the thing to get that 8 system value up to as high as his Mind Weird Science skill would allow.

After re-reading B for numerous times, I think that is what I said initially. If TFF used the gadget for Evidence Analysis, then the Effect Value would be 8. If TFF didn't use the Gadget, his Effect Value would be 10 (8 Per + 2 skill adds).
>>>Hope that makes sense...<<<
A little yes and a little no. I hope this reply helps.
 
 
>>>Thoughts?<<<
 I have alot of them, these are the safest ones I can provide you.
SDF II


      
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