GADGETS & GEAR -- What Do *You* Want To See?

[Steve Long]

As some of you know, in my "copious spare time" I've been plinking away at Gadgets And Gear -- a Champions equipment supplement on the schedule for next year. It's a nice break from all the editing work I'm doing at present.

 

So, even though the book's release is many, many months away, I thought I might as well start the usual "what do you want to see?" threads. The one I ran for the USPD netted me some extensive powers lists and other great suggestions, so hopefully this thread'll do the same.

 

To save time and trouble, let me explain what the book is, and is not.

 

G&G is a book of personal equipment for Champions characters. It covers all sorts of personal gadgets -- weapons, defenses, sensory, movement, you name it. All gadgets have a template, much like the ones in USPD or the FHG, for ease of use. The gadgets depicted include not only gadgets "inspired by" favorite comics gadgets (Cap's shield, Spidey's web-shooters, GL's power ring, etc.), but lots of original stuff as well.

 

What G&G Will Not Contain, So Please Don't Suggest It

1. Mystic artifacts, enchanted items, etc. (that subject needs its own book)

 

2. Real-world/mundane weapons and tech (that's something to cover in the Dark Champions line)

 

3. Vehicles or vehicular equipment (that subject's covered in TUV, the forthcoming HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook, and other supplements).

 

4. Bases or base equipment (that'll appear in The Ultimate Base).

 

5. Doomsday devices, Cosmic Cube-like "plot device devices," or the like (we've got enough of those in other books, and/or they don't need writeups).

 

6. Rules for gadgeteering, gadget creation, or the like (that'll appear in The Ultimate Gadgeteer).

 

7. Robots or like devices.

 

 

So, with those provisos in mind, what would you like to see in G&G?

[Hermit]

You may have already thought of these, here's what I can think of off the top of my head.

 

While I know you covered it in the 4th Edition Dark Champions, for those new fans, a redo of the swingline/dragging cable you made (ala Batman: tAS) would be great, and was always one of my favorites.

 

Power Gaunlets of high tech nature, be it electricly charged, or whathave you.

 

How about comic book variations on the whip? Be it able to move "like a living thing" , the deadly monowhip ("It's only one molecule thick"..also works for super swords) and other goodies.

 

Jet/Jump boots

 

And variations and logical (by super hero standards) high tech ways for quick costume changes.

[Lord Liaden]

I was very pleased to read that this book was on the schedule. Andrew Robinson's classic Gadgets! sourcebook was always one of my favorites, and inspired quite a few ideas in my games.

 

Just from reading your comments here I get a good idea of what you plan to do. I can see that you have the categories of gadgets pretty well covered, and based on USPD and the FH Grimoire I'm sure the various devices will have possible variations included.

 

Since this is for a role-playing game, I'd expect "Weapons" to have a lot of entries. I would suggest dividing them into "Lethal Weapons" and "Non-Lethal Weapons." Not just by whether or not they're built with Killing Attacks, but whether they're intended to or could seriously injure or kill an opponent (normal or super, by either the type or magnitude of the damage they do), or merely incapacitate them in some way.

 

I'd also like to see a discussion of "squad-level" gadgets: the kind of singular devices that a whole squad of agent-level characters or team of superheroes or villains might bring to a mission, such as a heavy or specialized weapon or device to protect the whole group. This could also cover an "arsenal" of devices which a hero team may have access to, including items captured from villains. A lot of GMs just assign these based on the needs of a scenario, but others prefer to account for the costs in the equipment loads of the characters, so I'd like to see suggestions for how to divide the cost of these gadgets among several characters, rather than one paying for the whole thing.

 

Plot uses for gadgets would be helpful, as a general discussion at the beginning or end of each category of gadget, and/or as "plot seeds" with the description of a particularly exotic gadget. Sometimes an interesting gadget can generate ideas for scenarios all by itself. This might also include the tactical uses of certain types of weapons.

[Hugh Neilson]

I probably won't say this very well...

 

What I DON'T want to see (and don't expect to see either) is a bunch of USPD powers with focuses.

 

I think that, in large part, Gadgets and Gear and USPD, are very closely related books. The key difference is that everything in G & G will have a focus. I can apply a focus to a USPD power very easily. By the same token, I suspect I will be able to make a lot of powers from G & G personal by removing the focus (eg. Spidey's web shooters vs. natural webspinning). I don't need, for example, "Trick Arrows" if all it does is apply a focus to a batch of USPD attacks to create an archer.

 

I'm far more interested in the power constructs themselves, stuff that hasn't been done in USPD. Some of the comic book gadgets you cite would be excellent. There are some that get argued all the time (Cap's shield, as you said), so let's see the Hero Guru's take on these. Wonder Woman's lasso comes to mind.

 

Have to agree with the "cosmic cube" omission. I think I can design a "XXX Point VPP, OAF Cube" myself [there, I just did it!] if I see the need to stat one out. Besides, I think there's a need to differentiate between a book of things a GM may let characters have and a "plot device" ability. If we need a "cosmic cube", I'd rather see it in a scenario where we also get some examples of how to use it. A creative "plot device" gadget would be OK ("Mind Tranfer Machine", perhaps?)

 

As for mystic devices, well it's pretty easy to change the source of power and voila - it's a mystical Champions item. Again, something we can do ourselves very easily.

 

So what could be included. Hmmm...

 

How about a chapter on the ever-popular Utility Belt, with lots of good low point gadgets for inclusion there? This could also be a good opportunity to talk about "GM Permission" items (eg. flash defense goggles or an infrared visor in a **gasp** Multipower **gasp** OAF Utility Belt .

 

A section with some creative weapons for agents (perhaps falling in the point values of VIPER agent sidearms) would be nice. It's easy to power these up (or down) for use by more (or less) powerful characters, but some creative attacks for those poor agents would be nice, and easlily adopted by a PC looking for something different.

 

How about some more Elder Worm technology for Slug and all his buddies. [slug and his buddies ARE still out there somewhere, right?]

 

Maybe a section on powered armor? Not whole suits, but possible inclusions in that powered suit.

 

Is it stretching too much to put the "remote controlled robot" under the category of "Gadgets"? I'm recalling the Red Doom character here, or It, the Living Colossus, or even Iron Man's remote controlled systems.

 

How about a super power dampener (personalized and wide area effect) for those fascinating "let's see how you do WITHOUT your powers" situations.

 

Assuming this will be a big book, I'd like to see more than just hand-held battery powered devices (if you hadn't noticed).

[JmOz]

This wound up a little rambling, sorry, consider each segment a seperate idea, with no real coherent order

 

I want to double (even though I suggested already in a chat ) a section on "Miniture Gadgets" , essentialy gadgets ready to be placed in a Utility Belt, I know you do not want to organise the book by points (and I agree with you for the most part) but it would be nice if you chose a certain value as a baseline for this chapter (Say 30 points, as I remember some writer suggesting it in a 4th edition book for UT Belt MP's, now who was that again ) and did not make any of the basic write ups over it .

 

I would actualy like to see one or two doomsday devices (I know fat chance), but agree that any more than that would be overkill

 

A deeper look at the Foci rules, including the expanding to include a Inherent/external catagory (For where the power comes from, so a laser pistol is inherent, but a crystal that focuses the heroes mind powers would be external, PLEASE IF YOU USE THIS COME UP WITH A BETTER NAME FOR IT). Also a couple of paragraphs on when to use Inobvious and Obvious, special interest to when the foci is NOT in use (so if the Hero has a sword hidden in a cane that when sheathed is NOT OBVIOUSLY a sword , but in use is OBVIOUSLY a sword, should it be an OAF or IAF)

 

A chapter on Super clothes (Power Armor, Costumes, Space suits---Super Hero Style). One word on Power Armor, While some basic suits would be appreciated, I would probably not "Build" a complete suit, but instead have some "Exo-suits" that grant strength and protection, but for the flight they can get a "Jet Pack" and for the weapons systems some "Missile Launchers" etc...

 

I would like to see a chapter on "Ammunition", again with a eye on that it will most likely be going into a MP. This would be things like Blast Ammunition, Swing Line Ammunition, Net Ammunition, etc... So a Archer will have Blast Arrows, a gun weilder would have Blast Bullets, a person with boomeranges would have "Blastarangs" etc...

 

Movement orientated Gadgets

 

Multi Gadgets (multi class gadgets)

 

Confinement gadgets (Handcuffs and more)

 

Sensors

 

weapons, Weapons, ohh yes and WEAPONS (ammunition can be moved into here as the second part of the chapter)

 

i would like to see some "Filed off serial number gadgets", One that I would really love to see is a "Cold Gun" ala Captain Cold, etc...

 

Again try not to copy from USPDB (This will be hard as that book is so full of good powers)

 

Will post as I think of things

[ParitySoul]

Here is a few variations that don't get much play:

 

1. Bio-devices. Examples being the Guyver suit from the Guyver anime. Great power armor but what happens when it becomes organic? But a section on 'living' devices would be cool. Like alien tech that dribbles into superhero settings from time to time.

 

2. Robotic companions: Dino-mutt anyone? K-9 from Dr. Who is another example.

 

3. Giant Robots: A variation on powered armor actually, I know Ult: Vechicals does the technical breakdown but say something an evil scientist uses would be nice.

 

4. Spy gear : Beyond the utility belt. Computer hacking tools, laser cutter pens, anything that Q might have dreamed up at one time. Super X-ray binocs, grapnel system, THE SUPER CAR!

 

5. Drugs, Drugs, Drugs! Anti-super drugs, Temp-super drugs, strange alien virus that give psionic powers sold on the market as a headache medicine. Etc.

 

6. Power amplifiers. Aid to be sure, but some creative versions. Like a helmut that gives people a massive 'creativity' boost...but at the cost of slowly driving them insane.

 

I'd love to see devices that have real cost to use them too. Radiations, side-effects, mental aberations. Just the fun stuff.

 

Sure Dr. Omazo's death chair allows you project your will to kill people, but did you know it caused brain cancer in the user? Mwahahaha!

[ParitySoul]

Oh,oh! Missed one:

 

Rocket Powered Skateboard!

 

Done.

[Steve Long]

I'm sure the various devices will have possible variations included

 

They will, never fear. Some of the standard variations include “Strong” and “Weak” versions (built on more or fewer Active Points, or otherwise better or worse than normal); “Realistic” versions (designed to mimic “reality” more closely -- such as applying a Limitation to a Glider Cape that requires the user to use both his hands to control the gadget, or a Force Field Belt that imposed DEX Roll penalties because the field makes it hard to handle objects); “Experimental” versions (which have an Activation Roll or other Limitations reflecting the fact that they’re prototypes, don’t always work properly, or the like); and versions with more or fewer Charges.

 

Since this is for a role-playing game, I'd expect "Weapons" to have a lot of entries.

 

Yup. AAMOF, of what I've written so far it's about half weapons. But that's in part because they're easy to think of.

 

What I DON'T want to see (and don't expect to see either) is a bunch of USPD powers with focuses.

 

As a basic guideline, I'm 100% with you, Hugh. But there's a problem with this viewpoint: if applied strictly, it eliminates a huge number of potential gadgets (in fact, so many that I probably couldn't write the book). I took pains to make the FHG more than "USPD with Expendable Foci," and it is. I'm taking pains to differentiate USPD and G&G, too, but ultimately there are only so many ways to build certain things and some amount of overlap is inevitable. I'm afraid you're going to have to suffer through a whole bunch of trick arrows and suchlike -- if for no other reason than that if I publish a book of gadgets that has no trick arrows, the fans will (justifiably) be scornful and angry.

 

Wonder Woman's lasso comes to mind ... How about some more Elder Worm technology for Slug and all his buddies?

 

These are mystic items, and therefore going to get left out. There'll be a gimmicked-up lasso, though.

 

A section with some creative weapons for agents

 

VIPER and UNTIL already cover this territory so thoroughly I'm not going out of my way to emphasize them in G&G. There'll be plenty of weapons and gear agents could use, but they're not specifically designed as "agent gear."

 

Maybe a section on powered armor? Not whole suits, but possible inclusions in that powered suit.

 

Already written it. It's got a little series of accompanying tables that let you randomly roll up a powered armor suit, if random rolling is your thing.

 

Is it stretching too much to put the "remote controlled robot" under the category of "Gadgets"?

 

Yup, 'fraid so. Time to edit my list above.

 

A chapter on Super clothes

 

Already got that -- it's called "Hot Couture."

[ParitySoul]

If no robots, where are they going to get some coverage?

[Crimson Arrow]

Most of mine are weapons from comics, and I bet many are already on the list.

 

Hi-Tech survival kit (collapsible ladder, Life Support bubble, fire extinguisher, emergency multi-tool).

 

Blue Beetle's Air Gun (whatever it was he called it), the one that fired compressed air.

 

Marshal Law's pistol. Fired lots of different types of ammo.

 

Judge Dredd's Lawgiver (ditto). I know that's more sci-fi, but there's an obvious overlap with Marshal Law's gun.

 

In fact, I would like to see more examples of trick ammunition. I can't see why it could be presented as that and then you can choose a strong, medium or weak version for your grenade, arrowhead or special bullet, as appropriate. It should include non-damaging options like a wire for sliding down, flare rounds, fire extinguishing bombs, etc.

 

Sandman's Gas Gun.

 

Golden Age rocket pack (as per "The Rocketeer" or "King of the Rocket Men").

 

I am sure some more will come to me.

[death tribble]

Jet Packs or Flight packs in a variety of guises from Jets to wings to helicoptor attachments.

 

Blasters that fire things other than bullets and lasers so grapnels (as lethal weapons as well); entangles (not major but minor), stuff, flash and entangle (like glue over the eyes); projectiles that do little damage but propel you back at some rate (extra KNB)

 

Handcuffs and hand to foot restraints

 

Spring boots

 

Devices that make you partially invisible or cause attacks to go straight through you (desolid for the latter)

 

More as I think of it or am inspired by colleagues.

[ParitySoul]

Hell, most the JSA is ripe for gaget ideas. Sandman, Hourman, Dr. Midnight, Starman, etc.

 

I'd love to see the Star Rod and Belt type items.

 

Funky powersource, ho!

[Talon]

What I'd like to see:

 

Continued innovation in the area of easy-to-read summaries of the powers. USPD and FHG made big strides in this area, but there's no reason not to keep moving. In particular, computers and frameworks seem in need of improvement, and I can see both being included in at least a couple writeups.

 

Listing (or index) by Active points (including variants), so that players can look for VPP or MP slots with ease.

 

Close attention (as in FHG) to having limitations match special effects. A radio gadget should be useless if the character is hit with a Hearing Flash -- unless it uses neural link technology or something, it should have an appropriate Limitation.

 

A "bargain basement" section with 1-5 point gadgets for characters with just a few points to spend. (Also known as "how to get radios for everyone after the first session".)

 

Perfect math so we don't have to check it.

[Steve Long]

If no robots, where are they going to get some coverage?

 

Well, they've already gotten a good bit in the various Star Hero books and the HSB. A detailed examination of the subject will be forthcoming in The Ultimate Automaton, though that's not on the schedule yet.

 

A radio gadget should be useless if the character is hit with a Hearing Flash -- unless it uses neural link technology or something, it should have an appropriate Limitation.

 

Well, I may have missed one here or there, but pretty much every radio or like device printed in a 5E book has a Limitation already covering this. But that's a good general suggestion. I think the gadgets I've written up so far do a good job in this department, and the "Realistic" options go even further for those who want "realism."

[Steve Long]

Perfect math so we don't have to check it.

 

LOL! "A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

 

But really, the problem isn't that the math isn't perfect. The problem is that too many of the fans fuss around and check the math rather than just accepting it as being the One And True Correct Word. :)

[Hugh Neilson]

Originally posted by Steve Long

Re USPD:

As a basic guideline, I'm 100% with you, Hugh. But there's a problem with this viewpoint: if applied strictly, it eliminates a huge number of potential gadgets (in fact, so many that I probably couldn't write the book). I took pains to make the FHG more than "USPD with Expendable Foci," and it is. I'm taking pains to differentiate USPD and G&G, too, but ultimately there are only so many ways to build certain things and some amount of overlap is inevitable. I'm afraid you're going to have to suffer through a whole bunch of trick arrows and suchlike -- if for no other reason than that if I publish a book of gadgets that has no trick arrows, the fans will (justifiably) be scornful and angry.

 

I like JMOz' suggestion on "Ammo", which could be trick arrows, boomerangs or blaster clips.

 

And I'm sure we'll see some EB's, RKA's, etc., because these are basic attacks. But I also expect NOT to see a "Weapons" chapter where every gadget is "Xd6 EB". For weapons, I'd rather see "Xd6 EB" and then some other special effect specific settings as a multipower.

 

Part of the problem (and same for USPD) is that, while we can all build an EB, leaving no EB in Fire, Electiric and Sonic powers clearly leaves a gaping hole.

[Hugh Neilson]

OOOH OOOH OOOH

 

Some weapons that use "Usable as an Attack" in a game-balanced and non-sleazy fashion!

 

[it must be good for something, right?]

[Talon]

Originally posted by Steve Long

Well, I may have missed one here or there, but pretty much every radio or like device printed in a 5E book has a Limitation already covering this. But that's a good general suggestion. I think the gadgets I've written up so far do a good job in this department, and the "Realistic" options go even further for those who want "realism."

 

You have done a generally good job with this, which is why I complimented you on it right before making this statement. I just wanted to make sure that the standard continued to be high, especially for gadgets which tend to have a little more real-worldliness to them than spells or superpowers.

[Lord Liaden]

I apologise if this has been covered in detail in another Hero book and I missed it, but I think this would be a good venue to discuss variations on Breakable Foci: ways to give them additional quantifiable Defenses representing extra toughness; ways to incorporate a Body stat so that some devices don't completely break down when they take any Body damage (without making them Unbreakable); modifiers for repairing or replacing various Foci based on available resources and Skills.

 

A more thorough discussion of the drawbacks of Unbreakable Foci would be nice, too, if appropriate.

[JakSpade]

Heh Heh...

 

"All the 1pt gadgets you can keep down for a dollar!"

 

I would think that a gadget book should hold information for many types of heroes:

 

Realistic: Police officer gear (pepper spray, hand cuffs, night sticks, battering ram, gas masks, eye protection, special boots, etc)

 

Heroic: James Bond or Lara Croft gadgets (flying hats, garrots, boot knives, swing lines, mini lasers, rebreathers, collapsible knives, lock pick tools...)

 

Superheroic: Jet boots, blaster gauntlets, force field and invisibility suits, special use items (arrows, pills, shuriken, tiny bombs), gasses and drugs, eye gear...)

 

that's it for now...

Jak

[Tom McCarthy]

Might as well throw down some unpalatable or untenable suggestions:

 

How about a bit of discourse on the BODY and DEF of gadgets and gear ? While the rules for assigning a DEF and BODY to foci are relatively clear, I keep finding myself in midfight wondering just what it takes to break a given object. (And I of course should recognize the contrary case - Blowtorch in CKC has the DEF of his fuel tank explicitly stated in the text.)

I also wonder if there might be a simpler system or guidelines a GM can use to assign values that have dramatic applicability (like if Blowtorch's tank had DEF equal to campaign DCs + 4 instead of 23, how much more interesting is the fight ?).

 

How about a paragraph or three on the engineering skills needed to create or fix the gadgets (was it "psionic engineering" in Ultimate Mentalist ?) ?

 

Obviously, you need to start by grabbing writeups from a number of already published sources, like Nighthawk's gear, and STARGuard's staff, for example.

[Mark Rand]

Hi all,

This book is on my list of books to buy, as is VIPER. I'd like to see bladed weapons, from a simple knife to a lightsaber, or, if you prefer, an energy sword.

Yours,

Mark Rand

[Tom McCarthy]

Now that I think more about it, I might even want an optional detailed gadget building rule set. A way to make a gadget with an arbitrary BODY and DEF (and other defences) and arbitrarily set the points at which it loses its powers or abilities.

 

Like a suit of light body armour which is very durable, like

Armour (3 rPD, 3 rED), OIF armour

but somehow isn't destroyed by the first hit which does 4 BODY.

 

I'm thinking it might be some 'Incomplete Character' style riff on Automata or Computers. A character class which defaults to a BODY, DEF, and one or more powers. Inaccessible foci might have powers or skills to make them inaccessible (Security Systems ? Lockpicking ? Clinging ?). Foci which don't lose their powers until destroyed would take the similar Automaton power, and pay correspondingly higher prices for DEF. The gadget would be purchased at a fraction of the total cost (perhaps not 1/5th; some fraction keeping it in line with comparable foci under the current system).

[Steve Long]

I would think that a gadget book should hold information for many types of heroes

 

I tried to make this clear in my initial post, but I guess I didn't, so let me state it outright:

 

Gadgets And Gear is a Champions supplement. It's not going to have gear primarily intended for Dark Champions characters, Fantasy Hero characters, Star Hero characters or the like -- just comic book supers-style gadgetry. Of course, you could adapt many of the gadgets to other genres or types of campaigns, but it's not intended as a multi-genre gadget book, any more than STK is.

 

After all, just trying to think up and prepare game write-ups for a slew of comic book gadgets is work enough -- if I tried to cover all the genres at once, the book would end up being 600 pages long and I'd give myself a mental breakdown creating it!

 

an optional detailed gadget building rule set

 

That sort of thing is gonna have to wait for The Ultimate Gadgeteer. I definitely want to create a set of optional rules such as you're describing, but I can't cover it in sufficient detail in G&G, and I don't want to do a halfway job on it.

 

 

Thanx for all the suggestions so far, everyone -- keep 'em comin'! These "what do you want to see" topics are always helpful.

[Wormhole]

Some suggestions for the weapons section:

 

Taser Whip

Taser Gloves

Cryogun

Razor Disc Launcher

Diamond Toothed Chainsaw