Building Salvage Tech

The rules for the design and construction of Salvage Tech are divided into several parts.

Operants
First, you must determine the Operants of the invention. Operants are the "verbs" of Salvage Tech... what the item in question is intended to do, upon completion. There is no limit to the number of Operants that may be featured in a single invention, but each Operant adds another level of difficulty to the construction.

The seven basic Operants for Salvage Tech inventions are: Destruction, Transportation, Repair, Creation, Transmutation, Manipulation, and Communication.

Communication
This Operant governs the transmission, receipt, or exchange of information. It is most commonly used to construct devices which allow distance communication in the UnderWorld (a location which is not kind to radio waves, and in which cellphones can fritz at a moments notice). Difficulty is based upon the range and the method.


 * Range:
 * Local (same domain)     1
 * Intermediate (same part of city)2
 * Long (entire UnderWorld) 3


 * Method:
 * Text                    1
 * Voice                   2
 * Image                   3
 * No Reciprocity          x4

Creation
This Operant governs the creation of something from nothing, and is one of the hardest to pull off (this is the Operant which is used in the creation of Junkmen, for example). The difficulty of this Operant is based entirely upon the complexity of the objects being created, and must be determined by the Conductor with the following guidelines:


 * Simple materials of no real use: 3
 * Simple, useful materials: 4
 * Complex compounds (food, for instance): 5
 * Complex Systems: 6
 * Living machines: 12 (Fizzers) to 20+ (Junkmen).

Destruction
Any Salvage Tech weapon uses this as its primary Operant: the ability to deliver damage to a target. The form that delivers this damage is defined by the player creating the invention: electricity, pure Radiance, ready-whip, spray cheese, it doesn't matter as the mechanics are the same. You determine the range and the damage delivered by the item to determine how many difficulty levels it costs.


 * Range:
 * Personal                0
 * Immediate               1
 * Distance                2


 * Damage:
 * per coin of damage      1
 * Temporary Damage        x.5

So, a gun that fires bolts of electricity siphoned off the third rail &mdash; a distance weapon with a damage of 5 &mdash; awould cost 7 levels of difficulty. If the gun only did stunning damage, it would cost (7 x .5 = 3.5), which rounds up 4 levels.

Manipulation
This Operant's usage is twofold. First, it can be used for the physical manipulation of objects--creating robotic arms for lifting, as an example. Second it can be used to manipulate individuals, via the domination of their willpower. Difficulty is based upon the number of coins available to the device for Head Counts.


 * Per Head Count Coin:              2
 * Physical Multiplier:              None
 * Mental Multiplier:                x3

Repair
The returning of an item or a person to their natural, undamaged state. This Operant's cost is based upon the number of coins it uses to perform Head Counts. These Head Counts are the means by which wounds are healed, or damage (i.e. wounds to objects) is repaired.

Repair Coins: 2 levels of difficulty for every 1 coin. For example, a healing ray that mends wounds with a 4-coin Head Count would total 8 levels of difficulty.

Transmutation
Transmutation is the changing of one thing into another. This Operant is another of the more difficult ones in the Salvage Tech arsenal. Again, the Conductor will have the final say regarding the difficulty of constructing inventions using this Operant. General guidelines for determining difficulty are based upon the similarity of the objects in question.


 * Variations of the same object:    4
 * Similar Objects:                  6
 * Dissimilar Objects:               8
 * Usable against living targets:    x3

Transportation
This Operant governs movement from one location to another. Difficulty is based upon the mode of transportation, with multiple modes each one adding its difficulty to the whole. Size, rated in passenger capacity is also a factor.


 * Mode of Transportation:
 * Ground (wheeled, tracked)         1
 * Ground (legged--can climb)        2
 * Water                             1
 * Water (submersible)               2
 * Air (flight)                      2


 * Size:
 * Personal (user only)              0
 * Small (user + passenger)          1
 * Medium (4-6 passengers)           2
 * Large (6-20 passengers)           3
 * Immense (20+ passengers)          4

Extras
In addition, Salvage Tech items may be given Defining Traits (as characters), or inherent secondary skills, which would bestow bonus coints to any user's Head Count. These items also add difficulty levels to the construction: 1 per Trait or Secondary Skill.

Some items can also deliver temporary Head Count penalties to their target, at a cost of double the intended penalty (1 coin of penalty for two levels of difficulty). To lower the cost of an item, limitations may be attached to it. These limitations must be fully worked out with your Conductor. Examples include:


 * Limited Use (runs out of fuel or ammo)
 * After Single Use                            -4
 * After multiple uses (set with Conductor)          -3
 * After day                                   -1
 * Fuel or ammo is rare                additional -2


 * Unreliable (requires successful Head Count to activate)
 * 2 successes needed                          -2
 * 3 successes needed                          -4
 * Negative Defining Trait                     -1
 * Penalty to Skill Use                        -1
 * Other                                       ??

Construction
Now that you have your total difficulty, you divide the number as evenly as possible, into 3 categories: Design, Materials and Construction. Each category represents a portion of the invention process. Design represens the development of the initial concept and drawing up of plans; Materials represents the acquisition of the necessary materials; and construction represents the final stage, where the item is actually built.

Each portion's difficulty is thrown separately. Full success is needed, or that portion must begin again, this time at a higher level of difficulty (+1 for each failed attempt). Each level of difficulty corresponds to the number of days each portion takes, even on a failed attempt. Note that if the Artificer fails any stage often enough, the difficulty can grow to exceeed the Artificer's ability (the difficulty being greater than the number of coins in the Head Count). In this case, the invention is a failure, and must be scrapped.