FASERIP

UNLIMITED INVENTIONS! (including really crappy ones!)

FASERIP RPG rulebook pages 50 to 51 specify that Building Devices (and general invention) has a set of requirements as follows:

  • Inventing character must have a and ability Rank high enough to count as a power (FANTASTIC or higher) in the type of power source the invention will use;
  • Usually this is the character's Reason Rank;
  • Some characters should be allowed to use Psyche instead;
  • A suitable environment to create the invention may be required by the gamemaster;
  • An extended period of time up to a month must be spent in the game by the inventing character working on nothing but the invention;
  • At the end of this period and so as to cause minimum disruption to the rest of the gaming session the player of the inventing character must spend 100 Karma and then make the roll to see if the invention has been successfully created.

If the roll is successful the character has created a SINGLE USE PROTOTYPE. This prototype works for one gaming session or one use whichever comes first. After this period the prototype is useless.

To eventually have a permanently working new invention the inventing character must successfully make TEN of these same prototypes. After this the invention becomes a new Power for that character.

Each extra power or effect of an invention requires the identical process even if the device is combining all the powers.

However, there are numerous examples of shall we say less than Fantastic inventors in fiction, and even in comic books. Especially in cartoons and comic books for young children inventors usually make erratic, unreliable and sometimes dangerous devices or new magic spells. In fact this is almost the default pattern rather than successfully and repeatedly making prototypes. This was true even of the original Fantastic inventor...

To simulate this, the gamemaster may elect to ignore the requirement of Fantastic or above Power Rank and allow anyone who wishes to try and invent something. It might be that the character is doomed to failure. However in a game with Karma it is also possible that a character who is otherwise not gifted as an inventor might have enough accumulated Karma to fudge their way through whatever requirements are set. In which case they have created a severely underpowered item in most cases. But even a Bad or Average flying belt is still an impressive item!

In addition to this, the gamemaster might allow an invention to succeed even if the roll to invent it fails but impose a severe technical limitation on it.

TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS for Inventions: roll 1d10:

  1. 1- BULKY: the invention is much more bulky than it should be, inflicting a -2RS penalty on the user's Agility when it is in use
  2. 2- STEAMPUNK: the invention hisses, clanks and has needlessly complicated gears and tubes all over it. This negates any ability for stealth or surprise for the user and anyone around them. It also inflicts a -1RS penalty on the user's Agility when in use
  3. 3- ALARMING SMELL: the invention emits vapors or liquids with a pungent unpleasant smell. Anyone tracking the character using the invention has a +4RS bonus on any tracking roll.
  4. 4- ERRATIC FUNCTION: this invention has a Reliability score. Randomize its Rank. Each time the invention is used the Reliability score roll must be made successfully or the invention fails to work. An invention that fails its Reliability does NOT count as having already been used up.
  5. 5- BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED: the good part: unlike a normal prototype, this invention has 1d10 total uses before it becomes useless and nonfunctional. The bad part: it requires expensive batteries that run out after each use.
  6. 6- HARMFUL: the invention inflicts Bad Rank damage on its user each time it is used.
  7. 7- ADDICTIVE: the invention is addictive to use. Anyone using this invention must make a successful Psyche roll or become addicted to messing around with this invention even when it no longer works.
  8. 8- BAD LUCK MAGNET: this invention attracts minor bad luck in its immediate area. Things just don't go well when the invention is around. It's jinxed or has some kind of hoodoo attached to it.
  9. 9- BAFFLING: the invention has controls and instructions that are so needlessly baffling that a Silver Rank feat on Reason must be made to get the invention to work.
  10. 10- DOUBLE TROUBLE: roll two effects on this chart and combine the results!