Prototype

All the benefits listed for Concept
rolls apply equally to Prototype rolls.
Furthermore, the GM may choose to
waive the penalty for questionable
equipment. Many fictional gadgeteers
work out of a basement or a garage!
Time Required: This is unchanged.
However, the times under New
Inventions assume an eight-hour day,
which might not be enough for a cine-
matic gadgeteer! If the inventor pulls
long shifts, he must make daily HT
rolls as described under Long Tasks
(p. 346). On a failure, he has no skill
penalty – he just loses FP. If he reach-
es 0 FP, he collapses and must rest for
1d days to recover. Add this to the time
required.
Cost: Calculate the cost of the nec-
essary facilities using the table above.
Use Base Cost for an item at the cam-
paign TL, and add the amount under
TL Increment for each TL beyond that.
A gadgeteer may divide these costs by
10 if he has already paid for facilities
for a similar project of equal or higher
complexity and tech level.
Example: A gadgeteer working on a
Complex item must pay a Base Cost of
$250,000 for the necessary facilities. If
his invention is a device three TLs
above the campaign TL, he must add
three times the TL Increment for a
Complex gadget, or $1,500,000, bring-
ing the total to $1,750,000.
As with regular inventions, there is
also a cost for each attempt to build a
prototype. For an invention at the
campaign TL, this is just the retail
TL Increment
$100,000
$250,000
$500,000
$1,000,000
price of the item. For a device from
above that TL, start with the item’s
retail price at its native TL, double this
for each TL of difference, and accu-
mulate the cost!
Example: A gadgeteer working on
an invention with a $4,000 retail cost
would pay $4,000 per attempt to cre-
ate a prototype if the device were at
the campaign TL. If it were three TLs
more advanced, he would double the
cost three times and add: $4,000 +
$8,000 + $16,000 + $32,000 = $60,000!
When a gadgeteer invents a gadget of a higher TL
than his own, the GM should roll 3d on the following
table for each bug (or simply pick something appro-
priate).
3 – Roll 3d per use or hour of constant use. On a 6 or
less, the gadget attracts the unwelcome attention of
aliens, time travelers, Men in Black, Things Man
Was Not Meant To Know, etc. (GM’s choice.)
4 – The gadget is huge! If it would normally be hand-
held, it is so large that it needs a vehicle to move it
around; if it would normally be vehicle-borne, it
must be mounted in a really big vehicle (like a bat-
tleship) or a building; and so on.
5 – Each use or hour of constant use consumes $250
worth of resources – exotic chemicals, radioactives,
etc.
6 – The device has 1d+1 side effects; see the Random
Side Effects Table (p. 479).
7 – Anyone carrying the gadget is so inconvenienced by
its awkward shape and balance that he has -2 to DX.
Vehicles or vehicular gadgets give -2 to vehicle con-
trol rolls.
8 – The gadget has 1d-2 (minimum one) side effects.
9 – A powered device requires a big power supply – for
instance, a vehicle power plant. If it would normal-
ly require this much power, it needs to be tied into a
continental power grid, and causes brownouts
whenever used. If the device is unpowered, treat this
result as 10.