Difference between revisions of "Create (Action)"

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You can build, repair or design almost anything. If you are good, you are an inventor that can build or improve almost any machine or gizmo. If you are a beginner, you need blueprints and tools to work your "magic". What you can do depends on what design principles you are familiar with; an Egyptian priest-architect, Space Corps engineer, and a mage-smith of the Elven Empire work with very different principles, but they all create things. The Create skill defaults to [[Reflexes (Action)|Reflexes]] and an outcome matching this attribute will often result in a [[Setback (Action)|Setback]] on a Create stunt.
  
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==Use in Action==
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You can repair almost any object, given enough time and the right equipment. You can jury-rig from scrounged parts devices whose basic design is familiar to you. You can design and build new inventions, as long as you have the time, tools, parts, and can convince the GM that such a device is possible. These tasks are detailed under [[#Tinkering|Tinkering]], below.
  
==== Tinkering ====
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==Knowledge==
In pulp adventures, gadgets are built with frenzied effort and leaps of genius in very short time. The GM should keep this in mind, then let the players describe what they do and make a [[Create (Action)|Create]] roll. GMs are encouraged to be lenient towards creative tinkers and thinkers.
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You can recognize any technological device, and give an estimate of what it does and how well it does it. You can analyze structures and make educated guesses about their use, including the placement of traps and secret passages. You can recognize the works of others related to your background.  
The following table gives benchmarks for calculating the difficulty of tinkering tasks. Sum the difficulty modifiers from each column to get the final difficulty.
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|'''Difficulty Modifier''' ||'''Time''' ||'''Size'''||'''Construction''' ||'''Complexity'''||'''Power'''||'''Resources''' ||'''Difficulty Modifier'''
 
|-
 
||+0||Month||Personal||Haphazard||Established||None||Factory||+0
 
|-
 
||+3||Day||Portable||Functional||Cutting Edge||One||Lab||+3
 
|-
 
||+6||Hour||Car||Artwork||New Design||Two||Field kit||+6
 
|-
 
||+9||Minute (Limit Break)||Bus||Slick||Conceivable||Three||Basic tools||+9
 
|-
 
||+12||Round||Building||Miniaturized||Inconceivable||Four||Scrounge||+12
 
|-
 
||+15||Basic Action||Town||Benchmark||Reality-defying||Five||Improvise||+15
 
|}
 
  
In general, you can choose to keep one of the factors open and dependent upon your outcome. So, for example, you can decide upon what you want to do, and then see how long it takes (keeping Time open) or you can decide how long you want to spend and make it as well-designed as you can (keeping Construction open).
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==Contacts==
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Grease monkeys gather in garages and greasy bars, and you fit right in among them. Other creators have their own social spots and networks, often inaccessible to those with less savvy. You also know suppliers for parts and customers who want to buy the finished product. As an adventuring fix-it, some of these customers are probably adventurers, spies, and soldiers, who could give you a hand in any number of situations.
  
=====Time=====
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== Perception ==
This is how long you spend on the project.  
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You notice and recognize technological devices anywhere. You can see which are dangerous and which are useful. You notice changes in construction that might indicate doors, traps, or other clues.
  
=====Size=====
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Create is linked to the forms of  
Larger installations take longer to build. This is the size of a normal, functional item of its kind, not including miniaturization.  
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Force,
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Plant, and
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Technology.
  
=====Construction=====
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= Stunts =
How well-made and well-designed the item to be.
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{{ : Create Stunts (Action)}}
 
 
'''Haphazard:''' The device is frail, with exposed wiring and mechanics. It cannot stand normal wear and tear, and looks most unstylish. Most gadgets that techies make during scenarios will be of this category, if nothing else so as to avoid the hassle of the item hanging around and costing xp in the future.
 
 
 
'''Functional:''' The gizmo looks like what it is, revealing its function in its design. It is not pretty, but neither is it frail. In some cases, functionality can have its own aesthetics, tough it usually takes a while for this to become generally acknowledged.
 
 
 
'''Artwork:''' Going beyond the basic design, the item now attracts positive attention and can be considered a fashion accessory. It is still quite obvious what it does.
 
 
 
'''Slick:''' The device looks harmless and conceals its main function. It can be aesthetically pleasing or simply unobtrusive.
 
 
 
'''Miniaturized:''' The item is made smaller than such an item could normally be, which will mislead even those who know what they are looking for. It is simply not conceivable that an item this size could do what this one does, which makes it almost impossible to recognize for what it is.
 
 
 
'''Benchmark:''' At this level, the item becomes normative, it shapes what people perceive as normal. It is suitable for mass production, the basic principles can be imitated and nudges the technological envelope. The GM is the final arbiter on whether this is possible.
 
 
 
=====Complexity=====
 
A measure of how much the device twists technological sensibilities.
 
 
 
'''Established:''' Run-of-the-mill technology of the day. Why don’t you simply go to the store and bye one?
 
 
 
'''Cutting Edge:''' This is everyday technology that is fine-tuned and adapted with great skill and care, pushing the envelope slightly. ''An expensive racing car.''
 
 
 
'''New Design:''' A brand new item, possible under the tech level but not yet invented. ''Functional holography today.''
 
 
 
'''Conceivable:''' This is something that people of the day can conceive how it would work, but which has never been done and is not normally possible under the local tech level. It may push the technology level by one step, or it might be something people in the past believed to be right around the corner, but we today know that it was not. Allowing this into a campaign gives it a distinct pulp feeling. ''Clockwork automatons.''
 
 
 
'''Inconceivable:''' This is something that would cause the everyday observer to be flabbergasted, and which pushes the local technological level more than one step. The GM should only allow this in weird science campaigns. ''Aircraft in blacksmith technology.''
 
 
 
'''Reality-Defying:''' This is for the truly weird inventions, and is reserved for the cases that simply won’t fit in any of the previous categories. It is generally of Hyperspace technology level.
 
 
 
=====Power=====
 
This is the number of experience points the item would have cost if paid for as a power, and thus a measure of its utility. If you have actually paid the xp, ignore this category.
 
 
 
=====Resources=====
 
This is what you have to work with. It is harder to improvise something out of rubber bands in the field than it is to order your ten thousand mooks to build it using state-of-the-art tools.
 
 
 
'''Factory:''' A full set of equipment, plentiful supplies, and a willing and able workforce.
 
 
 
'''Lab:''' Plentiful equipment and more supplies than you can carry. A truck full of gear or access to a trash hep qualifies.
 
 
 
'''Field kit''' A man-portable tinkering kit, plus access to suitable pieces of larger gear.
 
 
 
'''Basic tools:''' A small toolkit and some junk. A Swiss army knife and what you can loot from a car wreck.
 
 
 
'''Scrounge:''' What you can find in a typical home.
 
 
 
'''Improvise:''' Something to work with, but none of it suitable.
 
 
 
=====Repairs & Tuning=====
 
Tuning or rebuilding an item takes less time, because you don’t have to work from the ground up. The difficulty is the same as for building it, only you get to ignore the ''Construction'' column. Making an improved model of one of your own inventions allows you to ignore the Complexity column; to you it is now established tech.
 

Latest revision as of 23:28, 10 May 2023

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Heroic Action Role-Play

You can build, repair or design almost anything. If you are good, you are an inventor that can build or improve almost any machine or gizmo. If you are a beginner, you need blueprints and tools to work your "magic". What you can do depends on what design principles you are familiar with; an Egyptian priest-architect, Space Corps engineer, and a mage-smith of the Elven Empire work with very different principles, but they all create things. The Create skill defaults to Reflexes and an outcome matching this attribute will often result in a Setback on a Create stunt.

Use in Action

You can repair almost any object, given enough time and the right equipment. You can jury-rig from scrounged parts devices whose basic design is familiar to you. You can design and build new inventions, as long as you have the time, tools, parts, and can convince the GM that such a device is possible. These tasks are detailed under Tinkering, below.

Knowledge

You can recognize any technological device, and give an estimate of what it does and how well it does it. You can analyze structures and make educated guesses about their use, including the placement of traps and secret passages. You can recognize the works of others related to your background.

Contacts

Grease monkeys gather in garages and greasy bars, and you fit right in among them. Other creators have their own social spots and networks, often inaccessible to those with less savvy. You also know suppliers for parts and customers who want to buy the finished product. As an adventuring fix-it, some of these customers are probably adventurers, spies, and soldiers, who could give you a hand in any number of situations.

Perception

You notice and recognize technological devices anywhere. You can see which are dangerous and which are useful. You notice changes in construction that might indicate doors, traps, or other clues.

Create is linked to the forms of Force, Plant, and Technology.

Stunts

The most important Create stunt is Tinkering, a whole complex of rules covering almost any build or repair situation, but there are other stunts you can do using Create. These stunts assume you have (or improvise) the relevant tools for the job.

Blueprints

Inherent

In most cases, the Create skill assumes you are jury-rigging on the top of your head, but if you have blueprints you can do much more impressive things. Appropriate blueprints give a +5 on Create tasks. Creating blueprints is difficult, but above all time consuming - this is not an adventure activity, it is something done as a long-time project. In many cases blueprints are mcguffins, thus allowing the impossible and be impossible to work without.

Craft

Inherent

Action assumes character with Create are handy in most fields, but in some settings it might be important to see which crafts you are skilled with. Choose one craft for each point of skill above 10. Your actual ability depends on your Create skill. Crafts include such things as blacksmithing, whitesmithing, jewellry, carpentry, tailoring, and the like.

Craft Defense

Trigger Action (Defense)

When a Create stunt is made against you, you can defend. This adds +3 to the Create skill when used as the difficulty for the current shot. In a situation where shots are not counted, defending means you are not fully participating - you play defensive rather than engaging in the situation - which means you can't initiate actions or make stunts of your own. Craft stunts are usually directed against some kind of technological device, such as jamming against radar or radar, sand thrown to sabotage an engine, and such. To use this, you must be actively operating the machine the stunt is directed at.

Deep Pockets

Inherent

You can rummage through your pockets and pack to find various odds and ends you stashed earlier. An item found this way cannot be so large that it would not fit in what you are currently wearing. The difficulty depends on the type of gear.

8 Everyday gear
10 Specialized gear you need for your adventuring career
12 Gear others need for their careers
14 Cutting-edge gear, items that use Powers
16 Out-of-context gear, such as a welding torch in a medieval setting. This must still be possible becasue of planar travel or whatever.
18 True rarities, not including macguffins or plot objects

Deep Pockets is not an action, but the item is often in your pack and may require a Basic Action to get ready. You can only try once to see if you are carrying an item, but new rolls are allowed when you get access to things like your tool bag, your big-trunk vehicle, your house, your machine shop, or your secret lair - at least the last two may also give you a bonus.

Demolish

Limit Break

Make a Create roll against the Toughness of an object to destroy it utterly. Even on a failed result, you gain an Advantage.

You need appropriate tools to demolish an object (this can be another power with the GM's approval) and, depending on the tools used, you usually need to be adjacent to your target as well.

If the object is stationary relative to you, double the result of your Create roll. You may have to use other skills like Maneuver to get into such a position. You may have to use other skills (like Maneuver) to get into position on a moving vehicle or similar difficult situation

Disable Mechanism

Basic Action

You can disable a mechanism such as a trap, bomb, or vehicle, making it inoperable and safe to handle. You can break open normal locks, doors, widows, and similar everyday security devices. This also governs computer security. This requires an opposed Create roll against whoever installed the security (12 for normal professional security). Each failed roll takes away one Advantage or gives the device one Advantage to use to resist your efforts. Failing the check by a margin greater than your own Reflexes, you not only fail but suffer a Setback which might mean you take damage or the device is permanently stuck.

Casual security, common for storage, early vehicles, and cheap housing only requires a success.
Professional security such as most house and business locks require an Outcome equal to the difficulty of the check. Each success that fails to get the required Outcome instead gives you an Advantage.
A safe or vault that requires a complicated process to unlock even with appropriate keys function as standard security, above, and also gains one Advantage for each attempt you make. The advice here is to use Action Advantage to counteract the Advantages the safe gets against you.

Examine

Limit Break

You search an area with a diameter equal to your Mind, locating hidden devices with an opposed Create check. Typical things you find are traps, alarms, surveillance equipment, and secret doors. You automatically find all things a normal Recon roll can find - normal concealed objects, improvised traps, doors, and other things that could be found with a quick Scan are obvious to an Examination. A roll is only required against a particularly well hidden thing, such as a trap or hidden passage part of the original construction of the area.

Fake

Limit Break

You create an item that attempts to duplicate another item in looks if not in function. If the item is to have any function, you need a comparable working object to start with. You might also need appropriate tools and materials in order to create a fake. You also need to know what you are faking, either a very detailed description or a very similar objects, such as a document from the same office or another version of the car you are faking. You then need to pass a Create check appropriate to the complexity of the object. Once all of this is resolved, you have a fake that will fool a casual inspection (Basic Action) unless they pass a Create, a Know check, or a check of the skill governing the use of the item against a difficulty equal to your Create.

Ignite

Limit Break or basic Action

Using primitive fire-making tools such as a sun glass, fire bow, or fling & steel to ignite an object is time-consuming. You automatically light an object intended to be lit, such as a torch, lantern, candle, or burning fuse. Other items require a Create check against their Body to lit, if they are capable of burning.

If you have better fire making equipment, such as a [Gadgets_(Action)#Firepot|Firepot]], Slow Fuse, matches, a lighter, or similiar advanced fire making tools, this is a Basic Action.

One-Shot Mod

Limit Break

You can install a single Weapon Modification and use it once. Others can't use the modification at all.

Repair

Limit Break

Make a Create roll against the Body of a damaged item to restore it to full (if sometimes temporary) functionality. For personal gear, this is the Body they were designed for (usually the Body of the user or wearer). This applies to relatively simple repairs, more complex tasks should use the Tinkering rules or is simply hand-waived between adventures.

Search

Basic Action

You search an area with a 1 meter radius adjacent to you. You can find hidden objects, traps, secret doors, and the like with an opposed Create roll. You may also spot an enemy trying to Sneak, the difficulty is their Recon. You can only try and Search an area once, further rolls require Examination.