RE: [DL] Re: Mad Scientists are so weak

["Clint Black" <cblack@ohtinc.com>]

Hey, I found it.  Here ya go for you Mechanically Inclined psychos.  :)










Spoilers for those posse members who stay out of No Man's Land










Widgets:  A supplement to the Mad Science rules
By Clint Black


Black Jack Moran slammed a shovel through the handle of the door,
effectively jamming it.  "That won't hold 'em long!"

"How many you count?" Sally asked as she checked the shells in her
Winchester.

"Probably twenty.  Looks like the whole mining crew crawled up out of their
graves."  Jack slid the last bullet from his belt into his peacemaker.  "I'm
down to five, how about you?"

"Eight.  That leaves seven unaccounted for as long as we don't miss."

Jack's eyes narrowed.  "I never miss.  But still..." He could hear the sound
of the undead miners growing closer.  "Doc, you got any bright ideas?"

The scientist's head popped up over the top of a broken mining cart filled
with a multitude of discarded equipment.  "Why, yes, yes indeed.  This might
do well.  Jack, do you still have that piece of ghost rock we found in the
mines?"

Minutes later the walking dead broke through the door of the mining shack.
The lack of living victims confused them.  Several clustered around a hole
dug through the floor.

On the opposite side of the compound, Doc, Sally, and Jack crawled out of a
similarly sized hole.  A device nearby, that looked like a velocipede had
lost a fight with a posse of shovels, wheezed and sputtered before
collapsing into a broken heap.



Widgets are to Mad Scientists what Tricks are to Hucksters.  Small, simple
devices that can be quickly made, but that have very limited abilities.

To make a Widget, the Mad Scientist takes a minute to formulate the concept
for the device.  He then rolls mad science against a Fair (5) Target Number
with a +2 for every associated science aptitude he has.  With a success and
every raise, he gets to draw one card.  If he draws only one red card, his
concept is feasible.  If he draws all black cards, the idea is a bust.  If
he draws the black joker, he rolls on the Dementia table as normal.  If he
draws the red joker, he gets an additional raise on his tinkerin' roll
provided it is successful to begin with.  The scientist is not required to
draw the total number of cards and can stop at any time.

If the concept is feasible, the Mad Scientist must make a tinkerin' roll to
build the Widget.  This is an Onerous (7) roll, modified by the available
materials listed below.  With a single success, he gets the base ability for
the category of item he is creating.  Every raise allows him to add one
level of upgrade from one of the sets under each category.  The time
required to build the device is figured as 1 round plus 1 for each upgrade
used.  Thus when time if of the essence, it may be best not to use all
available upgrades.

The materials available modify the tinkerin' roll as follows:

+2 in any lab or area where supplies are plentiful
-2 in areas with little modern conveniences (i.e. a mountain man's cabin)
-4 only what's in his and his companions' pockets


If the scientist somehow manages to get all of the upgrades from all of the
categories, the widget becomes a full-fledged gadget with a reliability of
19.  However, the Mad Scientist has no blueprint for the device he has
created, and thus cannot duplicate it.  He must go through the normal
procedure for devising a blueprint, but he does get a +4 bonus to his roll
for a successful prototype.


Widget Categories:

Please note that you must buy each upgrade separately.  Thus a Mad Scientist
building an armor suit with three raises on his tinkerin' roll, can have -2
light armor for five attacks, Armor 2 for one attack, Armor 1 for two
attacks, or -4 light armor for 3 attacks.


Armor:  The base armor ability is -2 light armor that falls apart after one
attack.

Upgrades:	Armor Level							Duration

Level 1		Light armor -4							2 attacks
Level 2		Armor 1								3 attacks
Level 3		Armor 2								5 attacks
Level 4		Armor 3 (-1 die type to Nimbleness)				10 attacks
Level 5		Armor 4 (-2 die types to Deftness, Nimbleness, and Quickness)	15
attacks


Sensors:  The base sensor gives a +2 to Cognition checks for one sense for
one round, and then falls apart.

Upgrades:	Bonus								           Duration

Level 1		+4 Cognition							          2 rounds
Level 2		Negate one penalty up to -6 (Ex. No darkness penalty up to
moonlight) 3 rounds
Level 3		New ability with current sense (Ex. See heat, hear ultrasonic)
5 rounds
Level 4		Entirely new, but realistic sense (Ex. Motion detector)
10 rounds
Level 5		Supernatural sense (Ex. See spirits, detect supernatural)
15 rounds


Transportation:  The base transportation adds +2 to one person's or
vehicle's Pace for one round, and then falls apart.  When changing mediums
(water, underground, or air), the bonus to movement is added to the base
pace for that medium.

Upgrades:	Medium					Movement	Duration

Level 1		Water					+4 Pace	2 rounds
Level 2		---					+6 Pace	3 rounds
Level 3		Underground (leaves an open tunnel)	+10 Pace	5 rounds
Level 4		---					+20 Pace	10 rounds
Level 5		Air					+30 Pace	15 rounds


Weapons:  The scientist must first decide whether the weapon will be a
hand-to-hand or ranged weapon.  Either base weapon does 2d4 Wind damage to
start with.  The ranged weapon has a base Range Increment of 1, but the
hand-to-hand weapon may add Strength to damage.  Both fall apart after one
use.  If the Mad Scientist ends up creating a permanent Gadget, the Marshal
must decide what kind of ammo/power the weapon uses, and it must still be
reloaded/rewound after 15 shots.

Upgrades:	Damage	Range Increment/Defensive Bonus	Shots/Uses

Level 1		4d4 Wind	2		+1			2
Level 2		1d4		3		---			3
Level 3		2d4		5		+2			5
Level 4		4d4		10		---			10
Level 5		4d4 AP 1	20		+3			15