Gadgets Require an Unusual Background

The GM might require gadget users to have one of these Unusual
Backgrounds:
Unusual Background (Gadgeteer Friend): If an adventurer has a gad-
geteer friend who equips him with useful inventions, he has an Unusual
Background. This is an unabashed game-balance measure – it is unbal-
ancing to let a single gadgeteer outfit an entire party at no point cost,
however realistic that might be. 15 points.
Unusual Background (Invention): The character possesses one spe-
cific gadget without being a gadgeteer. This must be a unique invention;
if it weren’t, it would just be Signature Gear (p. 85). The player must
explain how his character came to have the item: he invented it through
a lucky accident, his inventor grandfather left it to him, aliens planted
the blueprints in his head telepathically, etc. The points in this trait buy
a single, bug-free item. The owner can copy it, but he must pay the
usual production costs. 5 points if the gadget is Simple, 15 points if
Average, 30 points if Complex, or 50 points if Amazing.