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Arcanowave Rules

Maybe yo want to see the Schticks right away?


Arcanowave in T3 is expanded to include the occultech of Torg and the science of the cthulhuoid 1990:s as well as the bureau's gizmos of 2056. Not all of these schticks are appropriate for all these environments, but most are.

The items described in this chapter are all products of the unnatural science of arcanowave. This science is based on the interaction between magical chi flows and the scientific method, and arcanowave technicians have put this knowledge to the worst possible use.

Although it may mimic the form of common items like guns, goggles, or armor pieces, arcanowave gear is alive. Arcanowave gear is created by growing living matter in the lab, and then infusing it with the spiritual essence of ritually slain supernatural creatures or captured spirits. This living matter is then placed in housings of high-impact plastic, to which it fuses. The resultant material is called Arcanowave Resonating Biopolymer, or ARB.

Arcanoware is so visually distinctive that it is recognizable at a glance to anyone even remotely familiar with it. It is often moist or slimy to the touch, or it may be a hard and bone-like substance covered in a chalky residue. The outer shells of arcanowave gear are invariably decorated with arcane sigils, and are covered with forms that seem vaguely skeletal, or resemble the shells or crustaceans. There is something profoundly unnerving about these devices: those who stare too long at the tiny details of their housings can become nauseous or even psychologically unstable.

Gaining Arcanoware

Most pieces of arcanowave gear must be physically fused to their users in order to work. To be able to operate a piece of arcanowave tech, you must have an Arcanowave Input/Output Port, or AI/O port, surgically installed somewhere on your person. These ports are about the size or a dime, and appear on the surface of the skin as small rings of typical chalk-white arcanowave matter, decorated with a number of occult signs. A specially adapted form of coaxial cable is connected from the arcanowave device to the user's AI/O port. The AI/O port itself extends below the surface of the skin; it terminates in a microscopic piece of optic fiber which penetrates one of the nerves. The AI/O port translates electronic and magical impulses from the arcanowave device into chemicals which can be rapidly transmitted and read by the brain. Any AI/O port can accept data from any arcanowave device, but typically only one device can be connected to any port at the same time. Some Bureau agents and soldiers have jury-rigged splitters to allow them to plug more than one device into the same port in the field. These are recommended only for emergency use, such as when one AI/O port is damaged and a remaining one must do the work of two. Any character who begins the game with arcanowave schticks can have as many AI/O ports as desired.

Surgery

Characters with no arcanowave schticks who wish to acquire them in the course of play must also acquire AI/O ports. Doing so means finding a character who knows how to surgically install them. The installation requires the doctor to make successful task checks with the Arcanowave skill, at a difficulty equal to your Magic. The doctor must have access to a lab full of arcanowave biomedical equipment. If this check fails, the character is not only unable to use the AI/O port, but must find a more skilled surgeon to awaken these abilities in him: he simply doesn't have the spiritual aptitude for it. This may reflect well on the character. GMs should add to the Difficulty if the character is particularly virtuous or spiritually advanced, and subtract from it if the character is especially wicked or depraved.

Experience Points

A character who wants to attune more devices in the course of must pay (8 + X) experience points to attune the new device to her aura. X = the number of arcanowave devices you will be attuned to once you're attuned to this one.

In order to gain a new device, one must also acquire it in the course of the storyline. Arcanowave devices are not exactly easy to come by. They exist only in certain junctures, and even there are often tightly controlled by the authorities, who only disburse them to soldiers and top agents. The best way to get these devices is to capture them in battle.

Exchanging Arcanoware

Unless surgically implanted, arcanowave devices can be exchanged for other arcanowave devices. Each new device must be individually attuned, taking some hours (best done between adventures), but you are by no means bound by your initial arcanowave schtick picks. You cannot have more arcanowave items attuned than you have paid arcanowave schticks for, however.

Surgical Implantation

Arcanowave devices can be surgically implanted in a character. They are still visible, but a surgically implanted device requires no time or action to connect. It only generates mutation points in the sequences it is actually used. The drawback is that you can't easily get rid of the item, and it makes you look truly weird at all times.

Using Arcanoware

Most arcanoware does not require any ammunition or other supplies. But even if they do, don't worry about how the character gets replacement material when it runs out. Like a gunman's constant supply of highly illegal weaponry, this should never be an issue in an action movie context.

Unattuned Use

It is possible to use arcanoware that has not been personalized and adapted for you (bought as a schtick), but this is very dangerous and quickly causes mutation. For each such schtick you use, you gain an extra Mutation Point each Sequence. This is in addition to all other Mutation points, and applies even to arcanoware that does not normally generate mutation points.

Plugging In

Plugging an item into an AI/O port has a shot cost of 3 unless otherwise indicated. Connecting one piece of arcanoware as a 3-shot action does not require a skill roll. If you wish to spend less time or to connect several devices at once, you must make an Arcanowave skill roll, with the usual snapshot and multiple action penalties. As long as you score a positive result, you make it. If the result is zero, you fail. A fumble give a number of mutation points equal to your negative result.

Compatibility

Arcanoware is unusually compatible with other types of schticks, particularly Fu and Gun schticks. Arcanowave guns and melee weapons can generally be used with Gun and Fu schticks. There are a few exceptions. All arcanowave close-combat attacks count as weapons, and cannot use Fu schticks that can only be used unarmed. And arcanowave weapons cannot be Signature Weapons, either for Fu or Gun.

Desperate Efforts

Arcanowave users can, in a pinch, draw additional energy from their own bodies to increase their chances of success with an arcanowave device. Each time they do this, they can add an extra bonus die to their Action Value for any single Arcanowave Device check at a cost of one point of impairment for the rest of the fight. Note that most Arcanowave users have a low Chi and Fortune stat; this is usually their best way to boost their powers.

Selling Out (optional rule)

A lot of arcanowave effects cause Impairments. It is possible to give in to temptation, and shrug off these impairments, at the cost of mutation. For each point of impariment that you want negated, you suffer 1d6 mutation points. Abominations, who cannot get mutation points, can pay Magic points instead.

Juncture Modifiers

Certain places are more in tune with the corruption of arcanoware than others; hence there are different Juncture Modifiers. These modify the power of arcanowave, by adding or subtracting the juncture modifier from each character's Arcanowave skill.

Certain arcanoware use or modify the Arcanowave Juncture Modifier, particularly the Heart of Darkness and the Pulser.

Malfunction

Arcanowave devices are notoriously delicate; even a sudden change in the emotional atmosphere of a room can make them harder to operate. Much of the skill in using arcanowave devices is adjusting for the nuances of the spiritual environment. No matter how skilled the user, however, arcanowave devices are more likely to malfunction than normal gear.

Whenever the die roll on an Arcanowave Device task check comes up snake-eyes-ones on both negative and positive dice-you fail to compensate for a sudden change in the occult background radiation of the area and suffer a malfunction. You must add 1d6 to the difficulty of your mutation check at the end of the session and have a device which is temporarily inoperable.

You can then attempt to impose your will on the device and force it to operate again. This action has a shot cost of 3; you must make an Arcanowave Device check with a difficulty equal to your current number of arcanowave schticks in order to get it working again. If you fail, you can try again at the end of the fight, and finally at the end of the session. If all three attempts at repair fail, the device must be replaced.

Special Cases

Slaves

Certain effects work only on slaves. The Tharkoldu of TORG have effects that work better against slaves than against creatures in general. A slave is someone who has formally submitted to you, and who obeys your commands. The world laws of Tharkold support this, but a Slave Chip or some other control mechanism can also be used.

DNA Sequences

Some arcanowave devices use a victim's DNA sequence as a targeting matrix. These devices also contain a DNA analyzer, so that a simple sample of blood or tissue can be inserted into the device for analysis. This analysis usually takes about ten minutes.

The tissue sample should be fresh, ideally taken directly from the victim, but this is rarely the case. Instead, you must try to make do with old or low-quality samples. The Arcanowave difficulty of extracting a valid DNA Sequence is the sample's age in hours. Investigation might be required to find a sample in the first case.

Mutation

Arcanowave tech has a viral quality to it. The magically charged chemicals that the AI/O ports transmit can alter the DNA of those exposed to large doses. This can lead to mutation, birth defects, and personality disorders. Consequently, human users of arcanowave tech employ it only sparingly, plugging it in only immediately before action, and unplugging it immediately afterwards. Abominations, that is supernatural creatures fitted with arcanoware, are already infused with magical energy on the cellular level, and are immune to further harm from the devices. They suffer some other limitations, though, as explained in the supernatural creature rules.

Human characters using arcanowave tech must keep track of the number of sequences (or portions thereof; always round up) they spend with one or more arcanowave devices plugged into an AI/O port during each session. At the end of each session they have had an arcanowave device plugged in, they must make an Arcanowave task check, with the number of sequences as the Difficulty. This check is called a Mutation Check. If a character fails the test, take the outcome of the check and consult the Mutation Table, below.

Example: Antonio Iawara has had an arcanowave device plugged into one of his AI/O ports for a total of 16 sequences this session; this is the difficulty of the check. His Arcanowave Device rating is 15. At the end of a session, he makes an Arcanowave Device check to see if he suffers any side effects from this prolonged exposure to arcanowave energy. His roll is a -2, for an Action Result of 13 and an Outcome of -3. A ring of small tattoos, each of them a tiny mocking face, spontaneously appears on the back of his left hand.

Mutations can be bought of. You can channel the power of the arcanowaves into new arcanoware, thus reducing tension on your body and soul so that the mutation recedes. For each Arcanowave schtick you bye, you can delete one mutation from your character, along with all game effects. But then you will have all the more reason to use it again, gaining new Mutation Points. Life is tough.

Exorcism

Sorcerers knowing Summoning can exorcise arcanowave mutation points, but only from targets who truly wish to be purified. You must get rid of all your arcanowave schticks. Someone who has and intends to keep arcanowave schticks cannot be exorcised. Few are willing to pay this price after having tasted the power. It is possible to accept a geas to abstain from arcanowave for a time (say, one session) and then make an exorcism, but with a -5 penalty. Only one exorcism of mutation points can be attempted on a particular character in a game session. The Fu path of the Immutable Clay has no such restrictions.

Notes for the Faint of Heart

Although the ever-present threat of arcanowave mutation looks nasty at first, keep in mind that fights in T3 rarely take more than three sequences from the first shot to the last punch. And the average session rarely involves more than three fights. So your mutation check Difficulty should only rarely hit the double digits. For GMs who run marathon sessions, allow characters to add their Constitution ratings as a bonus to their Action Values when making a mutation check.

Mutation Table
Negative Outcome Symptom
1 Minor cosmetic blemish, such as small patch of discolored skin, spontaneous appearance of stigmata or occult tattoos, lengthened fingernails
2 Obsession or revulsion with arcanowave. You either refuse to use any of your arcanowave schticks or your non-arcanowave schticks during the next session. This is a role-playing decision.
3 Noticeable cosmetic blemish, such as large patches of discolored skin, sharpened teeth, considerably lengthened fingernails
4 You develop a Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde-type psychosis. During the next session, you will be actively working against your character's normal interests. The new personality has goals set by the GM, but in most cases you play it yourself, or you gain no experience. If this occurs several times, it will be the same personality each time
5 Major cosmetic blemish, such as vestigial wings, fins, insect eyes or fish scales.
6 Listlessness and depressions during the next sessions means you have no Fortune points.
7 A true mutation, such as claws, a tentacle, a carapace and so on. If you wish, you can now acquire a suitable Creature Powers Schtick for the new mutation. Otherwise, the new physical feature is only ugly and useless. As long as you don't have the Creature Powers skill, you are still a human and not an abomination.
8 Minor permanent psychological disorder such as chronic insomnia, propensity to abuse addictive substances, compulsive behavior or some equally nasty habit.
9 Haunting: your arcanoware seems to come alive to haunt you. Next session, you must invent a number of disgusting and unpleasant things your arcanoware does without your conscious control, or you gain no experience. The GM can of course invent more.
10 Lunacy: during certain periods, such as under the full moon, you think you are a monster. You will behave with bestial savagery, but remember nothing afterwards. The GM generally plays this out.
11 Avatar: you find that you are haunted by your own dark nature, taking physical form. This is a supernatural creature with approximately you own power, that tries to seduce you into joining him or undo all you strive for. It knows all your secrets and is so tied to you it is immune to Summoning.
12 Radical personality change; you acquire some disgusting habit, notion or mannerism that sets you aside from normal people. Cannibalism, constant drooling, or some other extreme habit. You can keep up a semblance of normality for a short period of time, but never for long.
13 or more Complete degeneration; you no longer even resemble a human. Your new appearance looks monstrous and deformed. Most people who reach this point elect to buy the Creature Powers skill and become abominations.


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