Arcanowave Rules

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

Arcanowave devices use the Powers skill. That is, all arcanowave devices can be used this way - some can be used with other skills, such as Guns, Martial Arts of Fix-It.

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.

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 in Magic points equal to the result on this bonus die. Whenever you overspend your Magic points in this way, you must either get a new Arcanowave Flaw or Arcanowave Schtick.

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 use up 1d6 magic points.

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.