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RE: [DL] Mad Scientists
I have a Mad Scientist in my group and we do roleplay
out every single day on the calendar and granted
several of those days go by in a sentence: "Okay, you
travel from X to Y and the trip is relatively
uneventful and takes about 3 days."
First of all there really isn't any restriction on
working on more than one gizmo at once. For example
if you fail your blueprint design phase it says it
takes half the time before you realize that you have
to start over. Okay, all this means is that you can't
make another roll on THAT invention until that time
has passed. Nothing says you can't have other
projects going on.
The Mad Scientist in my group is working on an
invention that is a cross between the flame thrower
and the electro-static gun. It basically uses water
to distribute the charge in an arc of area rather than
a single opponent. It will take him a Flush and 4
weeks to develop this device. He of course failed to
draw a flush his first roll. Okay so 2 weeks of game
time must pass before he realizes that his design is
going in the wrong direction. In the meantime he's
also working on the rifle-scope and will probably make
a roll on that next game.
All this is done over a period of game time. On an
adventure to adventure basis he's done some pretty
nifty on the fly type gadgetry that only requires a
pair of jacks and takes 10-60 minutes to construct.
So far he's managed to do this about one per game.
We've had 2 games and he's invented an emergency brake
for a train that works on a single car not attached to
the engine and a ball point pen. Yes, I said a ball
point pen. He's given it to the posse's resident
jounalist so that he can take notes while out
adventuring.
What really makes the MS in my party interesting is
the fact that he has: Heroic AND Grim Servant of
Death. He also is cursed and has the Bad Luck
hinderance but doesn't know it yet.
What I do with the Grim Servant of Death hinderance is
that all mad science gizmos in his hands suffer a -2
to their reliability even if he didn't build them.
And let me tell you, that ball point pen only has a
reliabilty of 14 and has some NASTY malfunctions. For
those of you interested:
Minor Malfunction: The ball baring becomes jambed in
the tube and refuses to roll and doesn't allow any ink
to flow out. This requires a Fair(5) tinkerin' roll
to repair.
Major Malfunction: The ball baring slips loose and all
the ink drains out of the pen staining anything
nearby. The ink must be replaced.
Catastrophe: The ball baring dislodges and shoots up
the tube spewing ink out the top of the pen. The user
must make a Hard(9) Vigor check or be blinded for 1d20
minutes by the ink.
The journalist in my posse doesn't know what the
malfuctions of the pen are but he DOES know about the
Mad Scientists little problem. He's down right
affraid of the pen. And in a horror game I think
making some one afraid of a simple object like a pen
is quite an achievement.
Who knew a ball point pen could be so interesting? And
it's a very simple Mad Science device that can be
designed and built in under an hour with all the parts
available at the local general store.
Try to encourage your Mad Scientists to go for little
devices like this during the games and only go for the
really big devices between games or over a period of
time.
A mad scientist who is constantly devising tiny little
household gadgets is kind of an unnerving character
Hope this helps.
Jesse
--- "Ashman, Joel" <jea2@c-cor.com> wrote:
> I would offer these thoughts:
>
> 1. Have the MS player work up inventions on their
> own time. Meet
> separately to work out details, make rolls, etc.
>
> 2. Use downtime between adventures for lab time.
> Adventurers need time
> off too. Don't necessarily make them adventure
> every single day of the WW
> calendar. (BTW, I've made up a spreadsheet that
> contains the correct
> calendar for 1876-1877 (as far as Bill Gates is
> concerned) and both years
> fit nice on a single sheet of paper)
>
> 3. Have fun with the MS. Make 'em pay for the
> gizmos. Looking for
> exotic items makes for good small adventures between
> campaigns, or on nights
> that all your players can't make it. Maybe they
> don't quite have enough GR
> to finish a project, or a rare metal to a housing,
> etc. I've used this
> tactic for Magic Users in D&D when they wanted to
> make a magic item.
>
> 4. Also, the MS player could make a different
> character for use during
> extended lab times.
>
> --Joel
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wecarmich@aol.com [mailto:Wecarmich@aol.com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 3:58 PM
> To: Deadlands@gamerz.net
> Subject: [DL] Mad Scientists
>
> I need some perspective and I am hoping that you
> folks on the list can help
> me. I have long been opposed to having a Mad
> Scientist in games which I
> Marshal. I have been concerned with two specific
> problems.
>
> 1. Designs often take a great deal of game time (
> at least from the kinds
> of
> devices I am used to seeing). I want PC's to be in
> the game not being in a
> lab all the time, travelling or not.
>
> 2. I get the feeling that MS's go nutty pretty
> quickly unles PC's spend
> Bounty to pay of the insanities. I realize that the
> marshal can keep that
> in
> check to some extent by the types of dementia that
> are handed out but at
> some
> point these players are likely to become unplayable.
>
>
> A guy with a lot of money and umpteen gizmos, crazy
> or not does not a MS
> make. Therefore here are my questions.
>
> How do you balance invention time with adventure
> time?
>
> What are some ways to keep the MS character playable
> but yet still not quite
>
> normal?
>
> I want to play an MS and give it a real chance after
> having a discussion
> about my concerns with a fellow Marshal. I would
> appreciate your
> suggestions. I am trying to keep an open mind.
> Please enlighten me asbout
> these problems.
>
> Thanx
>
> Walt
>
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