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[Additional rules and gadgets on this page.]
Blackjack [TL9]
(vehicle gun)
This is a five-barrel electromag Gatling gun. It's named after its bore size: 21mm.
It is the smallest cannon-sized gun.The damage listed below is for solid ammunition. (Other types are listed on pp. 111-112 of GURPS Vehicles, second edition.) The stats do not include ammo. The weight, volume, and cost for every 100 rounds is 3.47 pounds, 0.23 cubic feet, and $278. See p. 177 of Vehicles for rules on very-high RoF guns. Skill: Gunner (railgun)
This is the biggest, baddest projectile weapon you can mount on a
vehicle. It shoots halfway to the horizon, straight through mountains, and
leaves a crater the size of Kansas City.The bore is David Pulver's suggested maximum: 800mm. It's a long-barreled gravity gun with a light automatic electric loading mechanism. It does a basic kinetic damage of 6dx720 with run-of-the-mill solid bullets. Its bullets are 128 cubic feet in size, weighing 9.6 tons each, with a cost of $153,600 per "shell." The half-damage range is 27 miles. The maximum direct-fire range is 42 miles. The maximum indirect fire range is 105 miles. You can convert this to an RoF of 1 by simply reducing the power requirement to 7.68 million. Skill: Gunner (railgun)
This gadget looks like a pair of sci-fi sunglasses. After concentrating and making a successful Will+3 roll, the wearer can fire twin laser beams from the lenses. Use the character's DX to hit (with a -3 penalty). If the glasses are used regularly, the character can buy off the penalty like a maneuver. Accuracy is 5. Snap Shot is 10. RoF is 2. Maximum range is thirty yards. There is no half-damage range. It gets 15 shots from an A cell, weighs next to nothing, and does 3d impaling damage. Psionic Helmet [TL11] A character wearing this helmet can use any psi skill in a single power group. There is a different version of the helmet for each of the following groups: telepathy, ESP, psychic vampirism, electrokinesis, psychokinesis. The character's skill level is always 10, plus 1 for every level of Strong Will. 
The helmet runs on a single E cell with 50 charges. Each successful
skill roll drains a charge. The power level is 10. You can raise the level by spending two charges for every +1.If the power level is raised above 13, you must make a malfunction roll. The roll is (level minus 11) or less on three dice. For example, at level 17 the roll is 6 or less. If a malfunction occurs, use the table on p. 11 of the Compendium II and the E cell is instantly drained. Psionic helmets are durable and weigh next to nothing, but they are bulky. They have DR 1. Attacks that target the character's head are at +1. If the user is already psionic, this helmet acts as an amplifier. The character uses his own skill level. He can increase his power up to +13 without making a malfunction roll. The TL12+ version is a skullcap, eliminating the targeting modifier. It malfunctions the same way except that the E cell is not instantly drained. Healing Crystal [TL12] A healing crystal looks like a multifaceted, golf-ball-sized piece of clear glass. Any character who holds or carries a healing crystal will automatically make his HT roll to recover lost hit points. A normal character rolls once per day, but a character with Regeneration rolls more often. After a month, the power is drained and the crystal offers no benefits. A healing crystal weighs about a fifth of a pound and has a value of several thousand dollars at TL12. At TL13+, they are much easier to find and are worth about a tenth as much. Flying Saucer Detection Unit [TL7] This TL7 device can be built by anyone with Electronics, Weird Science, a toaster, and a month of free time. First, make a successful roll against Weird Science (at -6) to brainstorm the ideas. If you recently saw an flying saucer, reduce the penalty to -3. If you saw aliens or made physical contact with them, reduce the penalty to -2. If you have access to advanced technology, reduce the penalty to zero. 
Then get a toaster. Dismantle it and add a lot of old transistors, cannibalized parts from a remote-control car, and pieces of a CB radio. Make an Electronics roll. Add +3 if you really, really want to locate flying saucers.If the roll succeeds, you have a toaster-sized contraption that plugs into the wall and makes the lights in your house dim when you turn it on. Any character who builds an FSDU automatically gets the Electronics Operation (FSDU) skill at IQ level. A successful roll locates the nearest flying saucer. A second roll determines its destination and ETA. The Portable Landing Pack [TL12] This gadget breaks the user's fall just before impact. It is the size of a pack of cigarettes. It is clipped to the user's belt or tucked into a pocket. In the final yard of any fall, the character gently but quickly slows down to almost a complete halt, drifting like a feather for the last few inches to a perfectly safe landing. The portable landing pack costs $1,500 and weighs ten ounces. It runs on a single A cell which is good for twenty landings. This device also exists at TL11, but it is much larger (and oversized backpack unit), weighs much more (100 pounds), and gives the wearer one safe landing with a single D cell. Skill Pills [TL9] When a character takes a skill pill, he acquires one skill for a limited time. There is a different type of skill pill for every skill — there is, for example, a Geology pill, a Karate pill, and a Detect Lies pill. The more esoteric the skill, the more difficult it is to synthesize a chemical that will endow the user. Skill Bonuses. The skill level gained from a skill pill is a bonus to the attribute on which the skill is based — there are IQ+4 pills, DX+1 pills, IQ+2 pills, etc. So, every skill pill is defined by the skill name and the bonus to the skill's attribute: Karate+4, First Aid+1, Broadsword+0, Merchant+7, etc. Taking multiple pills does not offer any significant increase in effects. At most, the character who takes a handful at once will get an extra +1, but the side effects will be even worse. 
Duration. The higher the bonus, the shorter the effect lasts. A bonus
of zero (you get the skill at attribute level) lasts 1d+1 hours. A bonus of +1
or +2 lasts for 1d-1 hours, with a minimum of 30 minutes (a roll of 1). A bonus
of +3 or +4 lasts for 1dx10 minutes. A bonus of +5 or +6 lasts for 1dx5
minutes. Any bonus of +7 or more lasts for 2d minutes.Pills with a bonus of +5 or more are called "bursters." The name comes from both the skill level the user gets and the fact that these pills traditionally have quick, violent side effects. Combat/Weapon bursters are notorious for giving the user a mind-numbing migraine, bloody nose, or flashbacks. Availability. Skills without defaults are unavailable in pill form until TL13. At TL13 and up, any skill is possible (though some are still very rare, expensive, or have serious drawbacks). At TL9 and TL10, skill pills are experimental; all have some sort of drawback or side effect. In general, the lower the difficulty of the skill, the easier it is to find. Easy skills are all over the place at TL10 and up, especially in cities. Average skills require some sort of connection, from a successful Streetwise roll to personal contact with a specific dealer. Hard and Very Hard skills are rare and secretive enough to make them the object of an adventure. Mental skills are more plentiful, simply because there are so many mental skills. Physical skills tend to have greater drawbacks, especially addictions and physical side effects. Side Effects. Side effects and drawbacks include mental quirks while using the drug, permanent mental quirks, temporary and permanent mental disadvantages, addictions, Fatigue costs, premature aging, loss of another skill while using, temporary and permanent attribute loss, changes in appearance (such as dilating eyes or blotchy skin), increased psychic signatures, and temporary or permanent loss of advantages. It's best to list one or two drawbacks for any broad category of skill pills before they are introduced into the campaign. For example, you can say that all Easy physical skill pills drain 2 Fatigue per use and are mildly addictive after prolonged use. Or, all Combat/Weapon skill pills temporary lower HT by 1 during use and give the character a quirk. Cost: Skill pills are sold in threes. A 3-pack costs $50 per +1 for Easy skills, $100 per +1 for Average skills, and $200 per +1 for Hard and Very Hard skills. These costs are halved at TL11+. Every world that has skill pills has cut-rate and expensive versions. Expensive skill pills cost up to ten times the usual amount and offer little or no side effects. They may even last longer. Any high-Status or otherwise well-connected individual who uses them will buy only the best. Pills bought from the street will have worse side effects, but they cost about half the usual amount. In the Campaign. Side effects and availability are the GM's tools to control skill pills. Let the player characters get them and boost their abilities. When they start to abuse the drugs, the side effects kick in. They are generally bought from a controlled source; ninety percent of the legal skill pill trade comes from doctors and the military. At high TLs, some skill pills will be available in drug stores. Characters should be able to become familiar with certain common types. Maybe all Gun pills are lozenge-shaped, clear, and red. Pills might also be identified by their taste. Attribute Scanner [TL12] This is a combination med-scanner and bioscanner. When it is directed toward a living creature, a successful Elec Op (sensors) roll will tell the user the level of one of the target's attributes. The user chooses which of the four attributes to scan. A separate skill roll is required for each. If the attribute is currently below the maximum, the GM asks the player which level he is trying to detect. If the roll is made by 5 or more, the user knows the exact number. A lesser success gives him a range of levels — "You detect a DX score somewhere between 12 and 15." A failure results in no information. A critical failure gives the user false information. Attribute scanners cost $2,500 at TL12, or $1,000 at TL13+. They have a range of 100 yards. There are two versions: the Pistol (which must be steadily aimed at the target for ten seconds to get a reading), and the Box (which reads the target without aiming and takes one minute to get a reading). Both versions weigh half a pound and get 50 uses from an A cell. It is possible that there are scanners out there that detect other specific character traits. There may be a Disadvantage Scanner or an Advantage Scanner. If those exist, then there must be a Skill scanner, as well — the operator tunes into a type of skill (Combat/Weapon, Social, etc.) and detects the levels of any skills in that group. Teleporter Rifle [TL15] The user of this weapon can instantly transport his target to another location. The target (which must be a living creature) will be mentally stunned until he makes an IQ or Body Sense roll. If You Don't Like a Lot of Rules . . . The Game Master decides where the target ends up. If You Don't Mind Detailed Rules . . . After a successful hit, roll three dice. The first die gives you the direction to the new location: A 1 or 2 transports him away from the character who fired the rifle. A 3 or 4 transports him to the right or left. A 5 or 6 transports him toward the firing character. 
Add up the other two dice to determine the distance the target is transported, in yards.For example, if the the dice come up 2, 3, and 6, the target is transported nine yards away from the character firing the rifle. If you roll a 4, 1, and 2, the target moves three yards to the left. A target cannot teleport into a solid object. If his destination is occupied by an unliving thing, he appears as close to it as possible (or on it, if that is more fun). If the destination is occupied by a living thing, they castle — they trade places. Skilled characters can influence the 3d roll. By holding down the trigger and twisting the gun at the moment he fires, the character can "push" the target into a desired place. But this makes it difficult to hit the target in the first place. To play this, let the player of the firing character choose the direction and distance. The GM comes up with a skill penalty. If he hits the target, the target appears where he intended. If he misses by 1, he hits but the target ends up somewhere else. A miss by more than 1 is still a miss. A character with the Armoury skill (at TL15) can "hotshot" the rifle. This modification allows him to expend two shots every time he pulls the trigger. The roll for distance is doubled. With another Armoury roll, he can add a dial. Now he can choose any number of shots. (He has to set the dial before firing.) He could turn it all the way up and, by expending an entire C cell all at once, multiply the distance roll by 30. Holy cow!
At TL10, energy transfer technology reaches the point where a conductive glove can send power from wrist-mounted cells to the gun the gloved hand is holding. The ammo glove looks like a long, skintight gauntlet with a ring of power cells attached to the forearm. If the glove's cells are the same as the weapon's, the weapon draws energy from the cells, resuming power from the weapon's own cell after the glove is drained. 
There is a different ammo glove for each of the three principle hand weapon
power cells: B, C, and D. Each glove has one of the following configurations:
The weight listed above is for the cells and the glove. The skill modifier reflects the difficulty of firing a weapon with a heavily-laden hand and arm. A fully-loaded glove costs $500, $750, and $1,750, respectively. Ammo gloves are illegal except for military personnel. Rotary Flange Coupler [TL8] This flange coupler extends the normal axial arc of any liquid-surface autocell array. It gives the operator a 70% dynamic performance shift (Killian Scale) of any coupled signature nanometer, including toasters. Characters will sense the use of a rotary flange coupler (or any rotary flange stabilizer, including the Swiss swing-arc flange) by the telltale biopressure convergence and sweat-sock odor. Rotary flange couplers are introduced at TL8. They cost $35 and have a negligible weight (except in a vacuum, where the mass is 7.1 pounds). At TL9+, these values are halved (except under water, where the weight is multiplied by the square root of the depth in yards, plus seven). Teleporter Stone [TL14] The teleporter stone is a near-magical gadget that transports a character from one place to another instantly. The character must first hold the stone and concentrate for one turn. He then throws it and, when the stone stops moving, he disintegrates and instantly reappears where it has landed. Some part of his body will be touching the stone when he reappears. If the area around the stone is small, the character can be injured as his body crams itself into the tight space. His body will not be severed by obstructions, however, and he will not materialize inside a solid object. He can materialize in water, instantly displacing it as he appears. Once a teleporter stone has been used, it will be useless until recharged. Recharging takes one full day for every point of the character's HT. The Throwing skill is very useful with teleporter stones. Each teleporter stone has a negligible weight and limitless value. 
Illumination Fez [TL15]This normal-looking fez gives the wearer the Illuminated advantage (page 38 of Compendium I) — the wearer's intution is "tuned in" to the way the world really works. He knows everything about the Conspiracy: what it is, how it influences history, which recent events it engineered . . . and why. Unlike characters who are naturally Illuminated, the wearer of the fez cannot be identified by other Illuminatus on sight. He can detect them, but they cannot detect him. The one drawback is that all Illuminated characters know the fez exists and when they see someone wearing one, they will be suspicious. The fez has no significant weight. Its value is limitless. It looks fabulous. Casket Rocket [TL8] In the near future, you can buy a rocket that fires your dead relatives into space. There are three options: into the sun, into orbit, and The Endless Journey. A casket rocket costs $9,000. It weighs 300 lbs and can hold up to 600 lbs of payload. To launch it, you need someone with Electronics Operation at 10+. Typically, the launch takes place after a funeral ceremony. It's possible to "accidentally" launch a living person into orbit with a casket rocket. He'll need a space suit to survive. The Dream Chamber [TL8] This machine is a prototype of later dream-scanning devices. At TL8, the dream chamber is dangerous and imprecise (but that makes it more fun). The subject climbs in and goes to sleep. With a successful Electronics Operation (dream chamber) roll, the machine then reads the subject's dreams, storing them on special data tapes inside. 
The recorded dreams can be played back and viewed on the machine's monitor.
Characters with the Dream skill add +10 to any attempt to analyze their own
dreams. Lucid Dreaming is not modified by the chamber, but a character who uses
that skill successfully can dictate what goes on tape.Later dream-scanning technologies pick up dream signals and record them; this early dream-scanner establishes a link between the machine and the subject's subconscious. As a result, any major interruption in the operation can damage the subject. On a critical failure during operation, or in the event of a loss of power, the subject develops a psychotic trait. This starts as a quirk but quickly becomes a full-fledged mental disadvantage worth at least 15 points. In the hands of an expert operator, the dream chamber can also wipe out dreams or link two dreaming minds. Clearing a dream episode requires two Elec Op (dream chamber) rolls, both at -5 or more. (One roll isolates the episode; the other removes it.) This is a kind of psychological surgery. To link dreamers, two dream chambers are joined, requiring several rolls against Engineering (dream technology). Each dream chamber is then operated by a different character who use their skill to merge the dreams as they occur. The dream chamber costs over ten million dollars at TL8 and will be rare and illegal. It runs on power from the building that surrounds it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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