Primers Primers are the nitty-gritty details about certain aspects of the game. They are too long to include in the body of the rules so they are presented here instead.
| Laboratory Primer |
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Laboratories in ATF are special in-game props that will enhance your role-playing and will also cut down on the role-playing time that you must use to create some items. Labs may also allow you to create more objects in a specified time. It may also increase the success rate/lower the failure rate of some in-game actions. Different Labs have different advantages.
All workshops cost 500 credits to bring into game.
The player must provide the phys-rep of the Lab.
All labs must have a phys-rep that when spread out, covers an area at least 3 feet long by 3 feet wide. Additional props for atmosphere are encouraged but not required.
The basic phys-rep should be recognizable at a distance but should be made of easily transportable but not easily breakable materials. Most will easily fit in a tote.
Once set up a lab is rarely moved. The chance of damage is just too high. If you are moving a Lab, it will take at least one hour of game time to pack the lab carefully so no damage occurs.
IT will take five minutes of role-playing time to set-up the lab in its new location.
Labs are considered in-game and may be stolen. However, if the thief wants to get any money for the lab, he or she must spend and hour role-playing the careful packing of the lab. (You are on your honor to stay the full hour and pack up the lab.)
Labs may be destroyed in game. Labs can be destroyed by a conscious effort over five minutes of role-playing that you are smashing items etc. (Of course you really don't do this but making appropriate noises for five minutes is required.) After the five minutes is up, a sign saying "This lab destroyed" should be left on the lab. (You are on your honor not to use a destroyed lab. And you are on your honor to make enough noise while role-playing the destruction a lab that people can come and stop you.) If you are interrupted within the five minute destruction period
At the beginning of each event players with certain types of Labs must obtain a card or tags that are used or mark off usage of the lab. The usage is tracked by checking off one or more boxes on the usage card or by using up one of the supply of special lab tags provided at check-in.
The tags and/or usage card must remain with the lab. These are considered out-of-game items.
To gain the benefits of a lab, the time spent role-playing the creation of the item must be done at the lab.
Only one character can use a lab at a time.
Suggested Props: Leather working tools, Forms and blocks, metal working forge, anvil and metal working tools, Ceramic/synthetic pieces, tools, sewing equipment.
An armor repair lab cuts the repair time for all armors down from five minutes per point of armor to one minute per point of armor repaired. There is no usage limit other than the role-playing time.
Chemist. Suggested Props: Vials, beakers, tubes, scales
Chemical Laboratories double the amount of distillates/chemicals you can make from a single component. (It does nothing extra if used to make compounds.) Only a limited amount of distillates/extractions may be doubled using a lab. At the beginning of an event, the lab will be stocked with a number of tags. (Usually 5 or 10). These tags must stay with the lab and when they are used up the lab will no longer double the amount of distillates/chemicals until the next event. (You will fill out one lab tag with identical information when you make the distillation/chemical.) Chemical labs can also be used to "test" unknown chemicals. This testing uses up one chemistry lab tag for each test done.
An electronics lab cuts the failure rate for creating technology by 10% for each level of Create Technology that the character has. There is no usage limit other than the role-playing time.
Herbalism
Suggested Props: Vials, Jars, tubes, mortar & pestle and hanging herbs.
Herbal Labs allow you to "partially" make a muliti-componet concoction. It allows you to place the sticker for one component of a multi-component recipe on the Laboratory herbal tag (which is a special tag) and thus "preserve" that one component until the other component(s) is found. You may NOT do this if you do not have a recipe that uses the component as part of a multi-component recipe. An incomplete herbal component on a Laboratory herbal tag can be kept for one extra event. If it is not completed at the next event, the component is useless. You get ten laboratory tags at the start of the event. Each lab may only preserve 10 partial concoctions.
Pharmacology
Suggested Props: Vials, beakers, retorts, tubing, test tubes, scales,
Pharmacology Laboratories doubles the amount of medicines you can make from a single "mix" of chemicals. Only a limited amount of medicines may be doubled using a lab. At the beginning of an event, the lab will be stocked with a number of Pharmacology Lab tags. (Usually 5 or 10). These tags must stay with the lab and when they are used up the lab will no longer double the amount of medicines made until the next event. (You will fill out one lab tag with identical information when you make the medicine.) Pharmacology labs can also be used to "test" unknown medicines. This testing uses up one pharmacology lab tag for each test done.
Weapons Repair Labs cut the repair time for any weapon down to two minutes from five minutes
There is no usage limit other than the role-playing time.
| Armor Repair Primer |
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The Armor Repairskill allows a character to repair the various types of in-game armor.
There are four types of armor based on the major content of the armor. These are leather, metal synthetic and powered.
When the character purchases the skill Armor Repair they will declare which one type of armor they are learning to repair.
Armor repair can be learned from a "live" instructor or through the knowledge center with the exception of Powered Armor. Repair of powered armor is only taught in-game by a live instructor.
You may purchase the repair armor skill(s) in any order that you wish. The character point cost for the second, third and fourth purchase go up in cost as do all skills. (The first purchase for a human would be 10 character points, the second would be 20, the third 30 points and the fourth 40 points.)
Armor repair takes five minutes of role-playing time per point to accomplish.
It takes one chit of repair materials of the proper type per point of armor repaired. You cannot repair leather armor using metal repair chits. The repair material is based on the major type of material used in the armor. Studded leather would use leather repair chits to repair all armor points even though the studs are metal. Bulletproof vests that use metal plates sewn into canvas or cloth pockets on a vest would use metal chits to repair not leather.
Repair chits are either found or purchased in-game
You may repair the armor partially if you do not have enough repair chits or time to bring the armor back to full points.
You may repair armor that is not fully destroyed (at zero points) thus adding points to the existing/remaining points.
You may not restore more armor points than the armor had originally.
EXAMPLES
Lucifer has a metal plate bulletproof vest that is at zero points of protection. He has seven metal repair chits and six leather repair chits. The main component of this vest is metal plates so Lucifer can repair only seven points of the ten points available in this armor. Lucifer spends thirty-five minutes role-playing this repair. His leather repair chits cannot be used to repair this bulletproof vest as metal is the main component. After the repair is finished Lucifer puts the "used" repair chits in the Ops Box outside the Ops center.
Big Bruce approaches Lucifer and asks him to repair his leather armor which has one point of protection left. Lucifer and Bruce agree on a price and Lucifer uses two leather repair chits and spends ten minutes of role-playing time repairing Bruce's armor. Lucifer returns the armor to Bruce and drops the repair chits in the Ops Box in the bathroom near the Tech Center.
Ten minutes later Big Bruce is back having met a mutant in the woods. (Ya should see de other guy!) Lucifer is able to borrow/use the leather armor repair lab of a friend this time. Lucifer uses three more of his leather repair chits but this time it only takes three minutes of role-playing time to do the repairs because he is using a leather repair lab to speed up his work. (One minute of role-playing per point repaired.
| Character History Primer |
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Your Character History is a very important aspect of playing After The Fall. You are required to submit at least a rudimentary history detailing what you choose as a previous "job," pathway or main historical point. This is needed to detail the choice of your initial skills as well as setting any benefits and restrictions. If you choose one of the four main pathways, (Medical, Law Enforcement/Military, Computer or True Psionicist) you get specific benefits and restrictions. If you choose a pathway that is not one of these four, you can select two free skills from the list presented in the Create a Character section of the rules and restrictions will mainly be because of your choice to be a Cyborg, Human or Zoner.
Character histories do much more than just detail skills and restrictions. The plot team can use your history to develop personal plots or even long term World-altering plot lines. If all you do is submit a list of skills and a few lines on your past job you are shortchanging yourself and your character. The plot team reads all histories with great relish as it allows us to see where your character may be heading in its' development by seeing how you think your character got to this point in their life. A well thought out and detailed history can add to your enjoyment at ATF.
A character history can be as long or as short as you wish. As a suggestion, one to two typewritten pages of information is usually about right. Anything longer than three pages and you are a frustrated novelist and probably should be taking a creative writing class somewhere. Anything less than a half page and you most likely haven't thought out your character fully.
Writing a history for most of us is not an easy task. The following suggestions may help you develop a great one.
Start at the beginning. Where were you born? Inside the Zone? Then as a Zoner you need to talk about the area in which you grew up. Was it near some landmark that would be recognizable today? Maybe you found an old "Now entering" city or town sign and know what the town used to be called back in the good old days? Did you grow up isolated from other Zoners? Maybe your parents were loners. Perhaps you were part of a small village somewhere off the beaten track. Perhaps you were thrown out of a well-established enclave? Zoners for the most part are somewhat barbaric but they don't all have to be.
If you were born outside the Zone you can use any City or Town in the U.S. or even just make up a town name. You want to be from Pig Squeal Arkansas, then you can write it into your history. (Why you would want to be from Pig Squeal is beyond us but whatever floats your boat!)
The next part should be a brief, (note the word brief) paragraph or two about family. Parents, brothers and sisters all have a bearing on your upbringing but this history should mainly be about you. Detailing your twelve siblings' names and all their personalities is not as important as how your interaction with them or your parents caused some life-changing event. Why did you to leave home at ten years old and become a street samurai or a gangster?
Detailing how you learned your starting skills would be very helpful. Perhaps you learned martial arts strike and kick in response to you older brother beating the snot out of you while growing up. When and from whom did you learn your skills? Most skills in ATF can be learned through direct brain stimulation. (See the primer on learning new skills.) Perhaps you taught some of your skills that way and others from a live teacher. Some information on why those skills were learned by you would be appropriate.
If you are a psionicist you should talk about when and how you discovered your abilities. Psionic abilities are NOT taught through direct brain stimulation so only a live teacher can teach you any skill that is not a Manifestation Discipline. Manifestation Disciplines are usually one of the first occurrences of psionics in a person but not always.
If you are an adult Cyborg, information on why you opted to have implants. If you are an Embryonic Cyborg, some information about your crèche is important. What did this group home (crèche) specialize in? Bodyguards? Athletes? How were you discovered? Were you forced to do anything illegal?
Next or even intermingled with the other information you should include information on events that shaped your life. Maybe a chance meeting with a cyborg athlete inspired you to become a cyborg yourself. The old gent next door used to pay you to run all his errands as he told you that he was too afraid to go out of his home. It wasn't until later you discovered that he was a mutant and hiding from society. He was a kind and quiet man up until the day the police dragged him away. . (Was it a good fortune or bad fortune that this stinking mutant was discovered before he caused harm? Well he was always nice to you…maybe Mutants aren't all bad? This historical point could become a plot hook. Maybe mutants will befriend you in the Zone…(much to the horror of the rest of the town.) Maybe the mutants won't…but it can lead to you trying to befriend them with unpredictable results.
You should try to put a few unique occurrences into your history. These could be things that shaped your life or just simple things that you remember as a marvelous or scary moment. Not everything has to be an earth shattering occurrence.
One of the most important aspects of your history is WHY you are interred in the Exclusion Zone. There are literally hundreds of reasons you could be locked up in the Zone. Zoners have this a bit easier. They were born here and they can't get out but they need to detail more of their life in the Zone. The rest of the characters in ATF have a reason that they are in the Zone. This reason might be a deep dark secret. Let the plot writers in on this. It could be a plot hook or maybe it will just be one of the motivations behind your character. (Plot writers try to be unpredictable.) Were your parents missionaries that "volunteered" to go into the Zone and you had no say in the matter. Now you resent the fact you cannot get out and hate you parents and anything that they had a hand in establishing. (Hmmmm Freud would have a field day with your character!) Maybe you were a merchant on a 100 hour pass and you were delayed by someone in the Zone and missed your exit time. Who was the person that made you miss your exit time? (Ahhh, now there's a plot hook that the writers can sink their teeth into.) Are you a criminal? A person who was framed and thus "eliminated" for some reason?
Once in the Zone, how did you survive? Perhaps you met someone in your travels. A mildly powerful psionicist who tried to trick you into stealing items for him/her. (You remember he/she wore an amulet with a bloodshot eye that he/she treasured for some reason. You also remembered that he/she had an eyepatch but the other details escape you….see there is another plot hook…just keep some of the details on the person(s) vague. By leaving some wiggle room in the details for the plot team we can assign any of our cast members to play this psionicist. He/she doesn't have to be tall or blond etc.)
What else have you done in the Zone? Maybe you stole a valuable item and lost it later to a mutant, or your mother insists that you were the "love" child of some famous person like the President. Please note that we do NOT allow you to write a history that gives you some sort of special status, or that gives you non-standard skills or weapons or millions of credits. So be very careful around these areas…Certain things can be allowed depending on how far fetched they are. Your mother's "lover" might want to get rid of his little indiscretion ..namely you. Maybe you lost your millions of credits to a competitor that trumped up a crime that you were charged with. Now you are dirt poor and have absolutely no way of getting access to your millions. This is a plot hook BUT….it is a very touchy area to head toward as it may grant you some indirect status.
Another area that is a touchy is being "tasked" to find some wondrous item or piece of information by someone outside the Zone. Being tasked to do something before getting into the game is sometimes used by the plot team...but we don't have crystal flying daggers of assassination just lying around and the plans for the ultimate weapons just don't exist. Your plot hook may not fit into the overall vision of ATF. Tread carefully.
You may be asked to drop or modify areas of your history that does not fall within the guidelines of the plot structure and abilities in ATF. For instance you may write into your history that some little old lady psionicist taught you how to warp light around you and thus become invisible. This does not conform to the skills in ATF and thus you would be asked to change or drop this area in your history. However we WILL consider ideas proposed by you that are not covered in the rules. If you make a good case for something, you MIGHT be allowed to try something unique.
Many times plot hooks are not used for several events. Sometimes you may see something you recognize your first weekend. Often we like to see how your character develops in the Zone before using a history plot hook. Sometimes it just makes sense to wait a bit on some hooks. If Bounty Hunters are on your trail, it might take several months to follow the "cold" trail, OR, it is just possible they may be hot on your heels and show up the first weekend. The plot team tries to be unpredictable. Some plot hooks just need time for the game history to evolve to a certain point. You may write into your history that you were the mayor of some city outside the Zone. You think that you would be the logical choice to be the mayor of Rainbow but the current plotline may have to travel along a year or so before the time is ripe for a player to become the mayor. The rest of the characters in town, (cast and players,) just don't know you well enough yet to place their futures in your hands.
Hopefully this Primer helps. In closing let me just say that a detailed history is helpful…very helpful. Try to leave some vague areas as plot hooks but even without them…you would be amazed at what we find by reading between the lines.
| Chemist Primer |
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Chemistry enables the extraction of "pure" chemical ingredients from components found or purchased in-game. These primary products are called "distillates". Distillates are pure chemicals, single-molecule extracts, that are associated with one molecular structure symbol (hex symbol). These extracted distillates or chemicals may be immediately useful or they may be used as components in further chemical compounds that have their own uses or some may be used by a character with the Pharmacology skill to make medicines. Each purchase of this skill grants you the knowledge of the properties of one component and the knowledge of how to create something using this component. Please see the Primer on Chemistry for more details about this skill.
A "component" (Artificial flower, plastic or rubber animal or insect) found in-game is capable of being used to produce one type of distillate/chemical.
Some distillates/chemicals can be extracted from more than one type of component.
Chemist characters will spend character points to learn new extraction techniques and formulas to make compounds. Each time they purchase this skill they will learn one new extract and one formula that uses the extract.
For example: With one purchase of this skill, a chemist may learn how to extract the distillate doxanol from the amblystai flower and will learn one formula in which doxanol is used to make a compound and the use/effect of the compound.
For a second purchase of this skill, the chemist may learn how to distill doxanol from the heebijab weed, or they may learn that the Forbuken fungus can produce calisthic acid. The Chemist may determine which he or she would like to learn.
The Chemist would learn a second formula (if there is one) that uses doxanol if he or she chooses to learn to extract doxanol from the heebijab weed. If there is not a second formula that uses doxanol, then the chemist does not receive a formula but just the knowledge of how to do the extraction.
The chemist PC might then purchase the skill a third time to learn how to extract the distillate febrimil from a soldier ant. The chemist will also receive a formula that uses febrimil to make a compound and the use/effect of the compound.
Chemists can mix distillates into Compounds using formulas that are known to them. The knowledge of formulas can freely be shared. However, you can only extract distillates and mix compounds using the knowledge gained from each purchase the chemist skill. (A chemist may know that mixing febrimil and calisthic acid makes a powerful sleep poison. However if the chemist has not received the formula to make this poison when he has purchased the chemist skill, he or she cannot make this compound.)
When buying a chemist skill, the character may ask for knowledge on a certain extract/distillate and a specific formula that is made from that distillate if the distillate is used in more than one formula.
Chemist characters may extract any distillates that they know how to extract during the game. They do not need to do this action between game events.
The chemist character can also "mix" these distillates and turn them into compounds by following the proper compound formula while at the event. It does not have to be done between events..
The chemist can mix distillates/chemicals that they have purchased from merchants or "found" in game somehow.
The chemist may not follow medicinal formulas to make medicines unless they area Pharmacologist. The combination/mixing of chemicals to make meds can only be done by a Pharmacologist.
A chemist may be a Pharmacologist as well as a chemist.
Once made, a chemical that has an immediate use can be used by any person not just a chemist. However, some chemicals, such as poisons, may harm a person that does not have the Apply Poison Skill.
Chemists can make as many distillates/chemicals as they have components for but ONLY for those distillates for which they have the knowledge/technique. (They can however "use/mix" compounds using chemicals/distillates made by someone else even if they do not know how to extract the distillates. They just need to have "learned" the formula.)
Every component, (flower, rubber/plastic animal or insect etc.) will have a tag on it that will contain a sticky label like a mailing label.
Components found without this label are useless (they've already been distilled, boiled or crushed or popped or whatever).
To use this component you will peel off this sticker and place it on the back of the chemical tag. The chemist will mark the tag with the correct chemical name. The tag is then placed inside a film canister will become the phys-rep for the chemical/distillate.
If this chemical has an immediate use, the chemist will check mark the front of the chemical tag showing the use/effect of this chemical.
The chemist may "mix" two or more chemicals together to form a compound. Compounds have some sort of in-game use. Any chemist that has "learned" a formula needs to have a copy of the PROPER formula in a handbook. The Chemist needs an in-game handbook that has their formulas written down within it. This book may be lost, stolen or destroyed. Unless the book is in the chemist's possession when they are ready to mix the compound, he/she may NOT mix the compound…(even if they have mixed it a thousand times before.)
Some compounds need only two components, others will three or even four.
Once you have the vials for all the chemicals/distillates that the formula calls for, the chemist role-plays mixing the chemicals for one minute for each chemical used. (Two chemicals = 2 minutes, four chemicals = 4 minutes of role-play time) The chemist then fills out a compound tag. He/she will check off the proper box on the front of the tag showing the effect of the compound. Next fill in the name of the compound and then roll the compound tag along with the tags from the chemicals on the inside and place the tag inside a film canister so that the compound label with the hand written name shows. The compound is now ready to use.
When a compound is used, the tag is removed from the canister and torn in half. (Dispose of the paper properly and turn the canister into Ops. Or the chemist can keep it for later use.
Chemicals and compounds never lose their power.
To be able to extract a distillate/chemical, the components must be "fresh." You may pick a plant or animal/insect and it will stay "fresh" in a bag or even in a pocket for the weekend. However, all "unused" components become useless at the end of the event. There is no way to preserve components for use at another event.
You cannot "mix" the distillates/chemicals for a compound if you do not have all necessary distillates/components.
Chemical Laboratories double the amount of distillates/chemicals you can make from a single component. (It does nothing extra if used to make compounds.
Only a limited amount of distillates/extractions may be doubled using a lab. At the beginning of an event, the lab will be stocked with a number of tags. (Usually 5 or 10). These tags must stay with the lab and when they are used up the lab will no longer double the amount of distillates/chemicals until the next event. (You will fill out one lab tag with identical information when you make the distillation/chemical.)
If a lab is stolen or destroyed, any leftover tags may not be used.
You may not "save" unused lab tags for use at the next event.
NOTE: Please only role-play the grinding, crushing, boiling etc. of components. We would like to reuse components. Please turn in the components as soon as possible after their use.
Examples:
Carl the chemist spots a red Jubel flower in the woods and harvests the component. Carl knows that the root of this flower is used by herbalists but chemist can also extract pulomomine from the flower as well. Pulomomine is used in a compound that creates flame thrower fuel. Carl decides to extract the pulomomine immediately.
Carl role-plays making this flower into a chemical distillate with a small pot and some test tubes that he brought to the game as a prop. After one minute Carl peels the sticker off the tag on the flower and puts it on the back of one of the blank chemist tags he carries with him. Taking out his pencil stub, he then writes "pulomomine" on the line under the word "Chemical" on the tag. It has no immediate use so he does not check off one of the use boxes on the front of the tag. Finally Carl rolls the chemical tab so that the ATF logo shows along with the word chemical and his "pulomomine " notation. This chemical/distillate is now complete. Carl takes the Jubel flower with him and either drops it off in one of the "Ops. boxes scattered around the town or he turns it in to a cast member for re-use.
Carl's friend Big Bruce brings Carl a handful of components. There are two Poppy Pods, a Soldier Ant and a Green Snake. Carl knows that a green snake has poison glands that he can use to make a contact poison. Carl takes the snake and role-plays removing the glands with a small plastic scalpel. (Note do NOT use sharp objects as props.) He places the snake in a plastic beaker and swirls it for one minute. When he is done with the role-playing, he peels off the sticker from the rubber snake and places it on the back of the Chemical tag and marks the front of the tag "Contact Poison." He then checks off the effect box that says, "Death" and rolls the tag and places it in a film canister. Once the tag is complete and in the canister the preparation of the distillate/chemical is usually done. However, in this case Carl is not yet finished. The phys-rep for contact poison is Vaseline or petroleum jelly that is used to coat an object. Because Carl knows this "extraction" he comes prepared to each game. He takes a dollop of Vaseline from a jar that he brings to the event "just in case" he makes this "contact poison extraction" and places it in the film canister. He then places the cover on the canister and NOW he is finished.
NOTE: The jar of Vaseline is out of game and it cannot be stolen or taken as booty.
Carl has "bought" the chemist skill a few times and knows how to extract naphthalene from poppy pods. He role-plays for one minute with each poppy pod to extract this chemical from the two that he has. Carl knows Naphthaleneis one of the two chemicals needed to make flame thrower fuel as he received this formula when he "purchased" the skill allowing him to extract naphthalene from poppy pods. The other chemical needed is Percosin 221. Carl does not know how to extract Percosin 221 so he goes to a merchant and buys two vials of Percosin 221 for twenty-five credits each. Carl then takes one vial of percosin 221andone vial of Naphthalene and spends two minutes role-playing mixing the compound that will yield one "shot" of flame thrower ammunition. (One minute of role-playing time per chemical.) Carl marks a "new" compoundtag with the title "flame thrower ammunition" and roles the two chemical tags inside the compound tag and places all three tags in a film canister so the newest tag (the compound tag with "flame thrower ammunition" written on it) is on the outside and the notation "flame thrower ammunition" can be seen. Carl then role-plays for two more minutes and mixes the second set of percosin 221and naphthalene to make a second vial of flame thrower ammunition.
Carl gives both vials to Big Bruce (who uses a flame-thrower). When big Bruce loads them into his flamer, he opens the vials and tears the papers in half. He then puts the empty film canisters in an ops box and disposes of the papers in a trash can. Bruce now has two shots available for his flame-thrower.
Carl knows from conversations with other chemists and Pharmacologists that a soldier ant will yield the distillate/chemical toltec. He also knows that toltec mixes with another chemical to make a medicine. Carl does not know the procedure to extract toltec. He knows that it can be done but until he pays the CPs to "learn" how to do this, he may not even try to do this. Carl is not a Pharmacologist either. Even if he could extract toltec he could not mix it with the other chemical to make the medicine. Preparation of medicine is the province of Pharmacologists. If Carl does not learn how to extract toltec by using the direct brain stimulation system of learning a skill and thus use the newly learned skill to extract the toltec. The soldier ant component will go bad at the end of the event and be useless.
Unfortunately Carl does not have enough CPs to learn this skill. Carl sells the soldier ant to a merchant for ten credits.
Carl finds another poppy pod in game. This time he goes to a lab and pays his "friend?" (another chemist) to use that character's lab. He role-plays the preparation of the poppy pod for one minute. He then takes one of the blank Chemical tabs that he carries witth him and puts the poppy pod sticker on the back of it. He then takes one of the original ten Chemical Laboratory tags that are with the Lab and Carl initials the back and dates this Lab tag and he writes "naphthalene"on the front of both tags. He rolls the tags and puts each one in their own canister so that the ATF logo and name shows. Carl tosses the used poppy pod in the ops box. By using the Lab, Carl has produced two vials of a distillate/chemical from one poppy pod.
Carl could have used the lab earlier to double the amount of naphthalene produced by the other two poppy pods but now it is too late. Carl seriously considers filling out two extra naphthalene Lab tags as he "should" have used the lab earlier but…He is a good little LARPer and knows that to do that would be cheating. He takes the high road and rejects the temptation to cheat even though no one would know.
If Carl uses the lab to mix compounds, he does NOT double the production of the compound. Labs only double the amount of distillate/chemical extracted from the component.
| Chemical Experimentation Primer |
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This skill allows you to do one Chemical experiment between events. You could attempt to combine different chemicals create a new compound and develop a new formula. -OR- You could attempt to combine two compounds to make a whole new, multi effect compound. -OR- You could attempt to experiment on a component and thus learn the proper extraction method and chemical that is extracted. (Note; this experiment will NOT give a formula like buying the chemist skill. It only tells you what the chemical is and you learn how to do the extraction.)
During checkout, the character will turn in the chemicals, compounds or the component that they will be experimenting with between events. The character must include a note stating what they are attempting to do. (mix chemicals to make a new compound…mix compounds to make a new multi-effect compound…or learn the extraction techniques of a certain component.)
To perform chemical experimentation:
You must turn in the chemicals, compounds or component during checkout at the end of the game along with a slip stating your intentions.
You must have the Experimental Chemistryskill to do an experiment.
At the next event the character will receive a film canister that will have a blue tag rolled with the blank side outermost. The character can "test" this new product by expending a Chemistry Laboratory tag to "safely" test the new product. (The character can open the canister and USUALLY can read the tag without any ill effects. The new product is NOT expended in this case and the chemist may re-roll the blue Chem tag so that the name of the product now shows through the clear side of the canister.
(Sometimes there will be ill effects even if the character has taken all the proper precautions.)
The character can also "test" the new product by just opening the canister and reading the tag. If the character does this, the new product is considered "used" by the character and any effect is taken by the character that opened the canister. The character the tears the slip in half after he/she reads it as the product is expended.
Clem the chemist decides to do an experiment trying to create a new chemical compound. He fills out a slip stating that he is mixing three chemicals together …just to see what happens. He decides to allow the plot team to pick the new name of the product if he is successful in creating a new compound. At the start of the next event he receives a canister with the tag rolled backwards. This tag is blue so he knows that it is a chemical or a chemical compound and not a medicine or a herbal concoction. Clem waits for game start and just opens the canister. He will be effected by the chemical if it indeed causes any sort of effect. He knows this and reads the tag. He finds out if his experiment yielded a new product or if the chemicals mixed to become just a canister of toxic sludge.
Clem could have used a chemistry lab to safely test the new product by using up one Chemistry lab tag. (That is probably a good idea for any experimenter.) But he decided on the direct test method. His experiment was a flop but he was not harmed. Clem rips the paper in half and disposes of it in the trash. Carl makes a notation in his chemist notebook to avoid mixing these three chemicals again.
Clem finds two new components this event and no one seems to know what extract/chemical is made from the blue mushroom. Clem knows that Ribbervil is extracted from the red insect but Clem doesn't "know" the formula that uses Ribbervil. Clem decides to experiment with the blue mushroom and sells the red insect to his friend Carl the chemist. Carl also knows that the red insect produces Ribbervil and Carl does not "know" the extraction process or the formula that uses Ribbervil either.
Both have the skill Experimental Chemistry and both decide to use these components in their experiments. Clem fills out a slip saying that he wishes to experiment on the blue mushroom. At the beginning of the next event, Clem will learn the name of the extract/chemical produced from the mushroom and the process to extract this chemical, but he still will not know any formula that would use the chemical. (Sometimes, components do not yield a chemical distillate. Their only use is with herbologists.)
Carl knows that the red insect produces Ribbervil. At checkout he hands in the component along with a slip of paper that says he is experimenting with the red insect to learn how to extract Ribbervil. Carl "knows" his experimentation will be successful because he already knows that the chemical comes from the red insect but now he will be able to do the extraction himself. At the beginning of the next event Carl receives the information that the red insect produces Ribbervil and that he learned to do this extraction. Carl still does not "know" the formula that this chemical is used in so if he does find some more of the red insect components, he can only make vials of Ribbervil he cannot use them. However he may sell them or hold on to them until he buys another level of Chemist and ask for the formula that uses Ribbervil.
| Create Technology Device Primer |
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There are few pieces of advanced technology that remain whole within the EZ these days. However, many parts were standardized and used in many different machines and technological devices. Finding working parts or buying and trading for them has allowed the residents of the Zone to piece together some useful items.
Parts that are useable to create technology will have a tag with a part number attached to it in some fashion. Parts that do not have a tag are broken beyond use and are worthless junk.
The value of the part will depend on how rare it is and what type of machinery it goes into. You may think that a standard power supply unit may only be worth a few credits. However because they are a part of so many different items, they might be in high demand. A photovoltaic circuit board that is the heart of a medical bed circuit is so rare that you would assume that it would command a king's ransom. But it is just worthless junk if you do not have the other parts that make it work. The in-game economy will determine what items are valuable.
To create a piece of technology you must have all of the required parts and you must have the schematic or blueprint for the item.
Once you have the parts and the schematic/blueprint, you will role play the assembly of the item and if you are successful with your assembly percentage, you will receive a useable item.
The schematic will be a piece of paper that will identify all of the parts used in the item. It will list the parts numbers that are used in the construction of the item and "usually" will have a picture of the completed object. (Sometimes it will not.) There will also be a notation somewhere on the schematic that lists the technology level and assembly time. You must have the blueprint/schematic as well as the parts to assemble the item. Appropriate role playing time will be listed as "assembly time" on the blueprint/schematic.
Sometimes an additional skill or two will be required to assemble the device such as explosives ability or apply poisons ability. If the character does not have the additional skill(s) he or she may work as a team with another character or two who does, but there is an addition 10% failure rate that is added for each additional person that must assist. (Too many cooks spoil the broth.)
Technology levels are rated from one through four with one being the lowest level.
Characters may purchase the skill Create Technology from one to four times as well. A character may not attempt to assemble an item unless he or she has bought this skill at least once.
There is a ten percent chance of failure per technology level listed for the item plus an additional ten percent per difference in level between the level of the character and the level of the item.
The failure rate is reduced for eack level over the item level the character has.
Assembly must be done at the tech shop with one of the cast present. The character(s) role-play the assembly for the appropriate amount of time and then turn in the parts to the cast member. The cast member will use a deck of special ATF cards and will place the appropriate number of failure and success cards in the deck and shuffle them. The player will then select one card and determine the success or failure of their attempt. If the assembly was successful, ATF will provide the character the completed device to use in game unless the device is level 4 technology. If the device is level 4 technology, the device will be available at the next event.
The use of an electronics lab will lower the failure rate 10% for each tech level the character has.
He starts with a base failure percentage of 40%, (10% for each level of the item). Lucifer subtracts his tech level from the item tech level and gets a 2, (level 4 minus level 2 = 2). This adds another 20% to the failure rate making it a total failure percentage of 60%. If assembly had required a skill that Lucifer did not have, he would have to be assisted by someone with that skill and that would add another 10% to the failure rate. If two additional skills were required and Lucifer had to get two different people to assist, then the failure rate would be increase by 20 %. (10% per player). If the character has a technology level higher than the item's technology level, the failure rate is reduced by 10% for each level that the character is higher.
In the above example Lucifer was a level 2 tech. The device was a level 4 tech. Lucifer has an electronic Laboratory and makes an attempt to assemble the device. There is a base failure percentage of 40%, (10% for each level of the item). Lucifer has a tech level difference of 2, which adds another 20% to the failure rate. However Lucifer is using a lab so it lowers the failure rate by 20%. This is10% for each of his levels. The final failure percentage is now 40%. Lucifer role plays his assembly and turns in the parts to the cast member. The cast member checks the blueprint and matches up all the tags. He sees the tech level on the item and asks Lucifer his level and does the computation. Yep! 40%. He takes 4 failure cards and 6 success cards and shuffles them. Lucifer picks a card and determines his success or failure. If he succeeds, a personal shield generator will be waiting for him at check-in next event. If he fails…Well he still has his blueprint but the parts are now useless.
Lucifer also has a schematic for a shock charge. This is a level two device and he spends the appropriate amount of time role playing assembly of the device. He turns in the parts and a failure rate is calculated.
Base percent is 20 (level 2 device). Difference between Lucifer's tech level and the devices tech level is zero so there is no further modification. The deck will have 2 failure cards and 8 success cards. If Lucifer used the electronics lab, he would reduce the failure rate 10% for each of his tech levels, (2 levels) so the success is automatic.
| Fletching Kit Primer |
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Fletching Kits are used to repair crossbow bolts that have already been fired. Each time you fire a missile from a missile weapon the ammunition, (bullet, bolt, dart etc.) is expended. This normally means that you must buy or find new ammunition to continue to use your missile weapon. Crossbow bolts are the exception to this. Bolts are "repairable."
Your original supply of crossbow bolts must be purchased from your start-up money, found in game or purchased from a merchant.
Crossbow bolts are not immediately reusable after they are fired.
Used Crossbow bolts are repaired by spending one metal repair chit and 3 minutes role-playing time per bolt straightening the shaft, repairing the feathers/fletchings and re-sharpening the point for each bolt repaired.
The Phys-rep of the fletching kit is provided by the player and suggested phys-repa are feathers, string, glue pot, sharpening stone(s)
| Herbalism Primer |
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This skill was developed by Zoners as a response to the lack of medical facilities and medicines available in most locations within the Zone. This skill allows the character to use plants, animals, and minerals that occur naturally to make poultices, creams, oils, etc. that have certain medicinal or other special properties.
Each purchase of this skill grants you the knowledge of the properties of one component and the knowledge of how to create something using this component. (This knowledge is commonly called a recipe. The item you create with a recipe is a concoction.)
Only a herbalist with knowledge of the specific recipe for a herbal concoction can make the concoction. (Even though Big Bruce the fighter has seen his little buddy Georgie mix a vitality poultice a dozen times, Big Bruce just cannot do it until he buys the herbalism skill and learns the specific recipe for this poultice.)
A herbalist MUST be the one that applies the concoction. Someone without the skill to do so spreads the concoction too thin or puts it on the wrong place etc. (You do not need to know the recipe for a specific concoction to apply it. Herbalists will know how, non-herbalists will goof it up.)
A Herbalist may NEVER use a pure chemical in their recipes unlike chemists who "extract" pure chemicals from a naturally occurring flower, animal or herb.
Herbalists can make as many herbal concoctions as they have components for but ONLY for those concoctions that for which they have recipes. (They can however "use/apply" herbal concoctions made by someone else.)
Every component, (flower, rubber/plastic animal or insect etc.) will have a tag on it that will contain a sticky label like a mailing label.
Components found without this label are useless (they've already been boiled or crushed or popped or whatever).
To use this component you will peel off this sticker and place it on the back of the herbal tag. The tag eventually will become the phys-rep for the herbal concoction.
Some herbal concoctions need only one component, others will need two or even three.
Once you have the sticker for all the component(s) that the recipe calls for on the back of the herbal tag, you will check off the proper box on the front of the tag showing the effect of the concoction. Next fill in the name of the concoction and initial and date the tag as well. You will then roll the herbal tag with the stickers on the inside and place the tag inside a film canister so that the herbal label with the hand written name shows. The concoction is now ready to use.
When a concoction is used, the herbal tag is removed from the canister and torn in half. (Dispose of the paper properly and turn the canister into Ops. Or the herbalist can keep it for later use.
Herbal Concoctions lose their power after one calendar year. (That is why the herbalist dates the tag.)
It takes one minute/per component of role-playing time to make a herbal concoction. (One component, one minute two components two minutes etc.)
Normally herbs and other components must be "fresh" to work in a herbal recipe. You may pick a herb or animal/insect and it will stay "fresh" in a bag or even in a pocket for the weekend. However, all "unused" herbal components become useless at the end of the event unless a lab is used to partially prepare a herbal concoction.
You cannot "prepare/mix" the herbs for a multi-component herbal concoction if you do not have all components, UNLESS you have a herbal Lab. (You cannot peel off the sticker and place it on the herbal tag before you have all two or three components needed unless you have a Herbal Lab.)
Herbal Labs allow you to place the sticker for one component of a multi-component recipe on the Laboratory herbal tag (which is a special tag) and thus preserve that one component until the other component(s) is found. You may NOT do this if you do not have a recipe that uses the component as part of a multi-component recipe. An incomplete herbal component on a Laboratory herbal tag can be kept for one extra event. If it is not completed at the next event, the component is useless.
NOTE: Please only role-play the grinding, crushing, boiling etc. of components. We would like to reuse components. Please turn in the components as soon as possible after their use.
Examples:
Georgie the herbalist spots a red Jubel flower in the woods and harvests the component. He knows that the root of this flower when crushed and formed into a cream will harden the skin turning it into a leathery texture that acts like leather armor. He decides to prepare this immediately.
Georgie role-plays making this flower into a paste/cream with a small mortar and pestle that brought as a prop. (He could pretend to grind it between two rocks instead.) After one minute Georgie peels the sticker off the tag on the flower and puts it on the back of one of the blank herbal tag he carries with him. Taking out his pencil stub, he then initials and dates the tag on the back as well.
Georgie then checks the box on the front of the tag that says Armor 3 pts. and writes "Leather Skin" on the line under the word "Herbal" on the tag. Finally Georgie rolls the herbal tab so that the ATF logo shows along with the word Herbal and his "Leather Skin" notation. This herbal concoction is now ready for use. Georgie takes the Jubel flower with him and either drops it off in one of the "Ops. Boxes scattered around the town or turns it in to a cast member for re-use.
Georgie's friend Big Bruce brings Georgie a handful of components. There are two Poppy Pods, a Soldier Ant and a Green Snake. Georgie doesn't know a recipe that uses a green snake but he might be able to sell it to another alchemist who does. Georgie takes the Soldier ant and one of the poppy pods and role-plays preparing his concoction. Because there are two components, he role-plays for two minutes. When he is done with the role-playing, he peels off the stickers from both components and puts them on the back of the herbal tag. He initials and dates the tag. He then turns it over and checks off the effect and writes the concoction name on the line. Rolls the tag and puts it in the film canister so the ATF logo shows. He drops the two "used" components in the Ops. Box at the bar, Buda-Bings.
Georgie is worried about the other Poppy Pod. If he doesn't find another soldier ant the component will go bad and be useless. If Georgie had the hydroponics skill, he could harvest the seeds from this plant and TRY to grow his own poppy pod plant(s). Unfortunately Georgie does not have this skill. Georgie hides the poppy pod in his cabin, (in an in-game area not under his bed, which is out-of-game) and hopes that he will find another soldier ant. His search is fruitless and later that day he decides to use another herbalist's laboratory to partly make his two-component concoction. Georgie pays his "friend?" (the other herbalist) to use the lab. He role-plays the preparation of the poppy pod for one minute. He then takes one of the two Herbal Laboratory tags that are left and puts the poppy pod sticker on the back. Georgie initials the back and dates the tag but does NOT fill out the front. He rolls the tag and puts it in a canister so that the ATF logo shows. Georgie tosses the used poppy pod in the ops box. Georgie knows that he only has the rest of this event and the next event to find a soldier ant or the partly made concoction will be worthless.
If Georgie finds a soldier ant either this event or next event he completes the concoction by filling out a regular herbal tag with the sticker from the second component on the back of the regular tag. He fills out the front of the regular tag and rolls the herbal lab tag up together with the regular tab and puts it in the canister so that the REGULAR tag shows on the outside.
| Hydroponics Primer |
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The Hydroponics skill allows the character to set up a box no larger than one square foot per level that can be used to "grow" components that naturally grow in the ground. (Flowers or plants).
The hydroponics box must be either found or purchased in game or built using a schematic/blueprint and the Create Tech Device skill.
Grow lights may be used with the hydroponics box but these lights will also need to be found purchased or created in-game.
If you do not have grow lights, the box must be placed in an area that will allow the sun to shine on it at least part of the day.
If you have grow lights, then it may be kept indoors but lightstcks or very low wattage colored bulbs must be used to simulate the grow lights.
The number(s) of grow lights must equal the level of the box.
§ Level 1: Box/Rectangle with an area of one square foot, can grow one or two components.
§ Level 2: Box/Rectangle with an area of two square feet, can grow one to four components
§ Level 3: Box/Rectangle with an area of three square feet, can grow one to six components.
This box will need chemical fertilizer to promote the growth of these components.
The phys-rep for hydroponic garden must be provided by the player and approved by ATF.
( Exception: One found in-game at a junkyard will be provided as a yellow-stickered prop by ATF.)
Warning: These components may be harvested by anyone walking past. Hiding or disguising the garden is a good idea but if the cast doesn't know about where it is, it may not produce components.
Please make sure that the ATF staff knows where your hydroponic garden is located. This is especially necessary if it is hidden or inside a cabin.
| Medical Experimentation Primer |
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This allows you to do one Pharmacological experiment between events. You could attempt to combine different chemicals create new medicines and develop a new formula. You could attempt to combine two medicines to make a whole new, multi effect medicine. The character must include a note stating what they are mixing and whether the character is trying to make a new medicine or a new multi-effect medicine.
To perform medical experimentation:
You must turn in the chemicals or medicines during checkout at the end of the game along with a slip stating your intentions.
You must have the Advanced Pharmacologyskill to perform an experiment.
At the next event the character will receive a film canister that will be rolled with the blank side of the tag outermost.
The character can "test" this new medicine by expending a Pharmacology Laboratory tag to "safely" test the new product. (The character can open the canister and USUALLY can read the tag without any ill effects. Sometimes there will be ill effects even if the character has taken all the proper precautions.)
The new product is NOT used if it is tested thus expending a lab tag. (role-play taking a sterile sample and testing it.)
The character can also "test" the new product by just opening the canister and reading the tag. If the character does this, the new product is considered "used" by the character and any effect is taken by the character that opens the canister. The character also tears the slip in half after he/she reads it.
EXAMPLES
Burroughs the Pharmacologist knows that a medicine called Benatidine HCl has a slight healing effect. He also knows that the medicine Tagagut hardens the epidermis (skin) and prevents the next weapon strike from penetrating the epidermis. He hopes that by combining the two the new product may still heal a single wound and also strengthen the internal organs giving the person some vitality over and above their maximum. Being the narcissist that he is, he also states that if this experiment is successful the new medicine will be called Burroughs UVI after himself. Burroughs puts all this info on a paper and turns this in with a canister of each medicine at checkout. At the next event Burroughs will receive a canister with the tag rolled backwards. The tag is yellow so he knows that it is his Pharmacology experiment. He bites his lip and just opens the canister. He will be effected by the medicine as if he drank it. He knows this and reads the tag. He finds out if his experiment yielded a new medicine or just a canister of toxic sludge. Burroughs could have used a Pharmacology lab to safely test the new product by using up one Pharmacology lab tag. (That is probably a good idea for any experimenter.) But he decided on the direct test method.
At the following event Burroughs decides to do another experiment trying to create a new medicine. He fills out a slip stating that he is mixing four chemicals together …just to see what happens. Learning to be somewhat humble, he decides to allow the plot team to pick the new name of the product if he is successful. At the start of the next event he receives a canister again with the tag rolled backwards. Having learned his lesson, Burroughs uses a Phamacology lab and "safely" opens and tests his new product. Burrough tears the Pharm lab tab in half and reads the tag. Was he successful? You'll just have to ask him.
| Medical Skills Primer |
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Here are some "rules" that cover a few of the more important medical skills.
Bandage: You must have some sort of Phys-rep to use as a bandage. Scrap of cloth etc. The phys-rep will stay on the character until the character is back at full health. It mat then be removed.
Load Auto-Injectors: Only one type of medicine can be loaded into an auto-injector at any one time. You cannot mix canisters of different medicines in the same injector. You may load as many canisters of the same medicine that will fit inside the auto injector. Some auto-injectors can take as many as five canisters of medicine. Only a character that has the load auto-injectorskill can load a auto-injector. It takes one minute of role-playing to load as many canisters as you have into an auto-injector.
Administer Medicines: Only a character that has the administer medicines skill can role-play loading a manually operated hypodermic needle and administering a medicine. This role-playing action takes a slow ten count to load the hypodermic needle from the medicine canister, tap it to remove air bubbles and then inject the medicine into the target. The medicine takes effect in seconds and the target character opens the canister and reads the medicine tag contained within. The target character follows the directions on the slip, tears the slip in half and disposes of it properly.
Medicines In General:
Pharmacological agents (medicines) can be delivered orally or by injection. The difference is in the time it takes to work upon the subject.
All drugs/medicines can be either injected or taken orally, as opposed to having some drugs that must be injected and others that must be taken orally. The time to take effect is mainly dependent on if the medicine is injected or taken orally.
Anybody can drink a medicine/drug or have them poured down their throats.
Only a character that has the administer medicines skill can role-play loading a manually operated hypodermic needle and administering a medicine. This role-playing action takes a slow ten count to load the hypodermic needle from the medicine canister, tap it to remove air bubbles and then inject the medicine into the target. The medicine takes effect in seconds and the target character opens the canister and reads the medicine tag contained within. The target character follows the directions on the slip, tears the slip in half and disposes of it properly.
Oral medicines require five full minutes to take effect.
Injected agents act within a few seconds.
Injection delivery systems require a phys-rep that must be found or purchased in-game.(e.g., an auto-injector, similar to a Star Trek injection device or a phys-rep of some sort of hand operated hypodermic needle)
Anyone may operate an auto-injector. The character places the end of the injector tube gently against the wrist of the target character and role-plays activating the device. (You may make a hissing noise if you wish). The character using the auto-injector then removes one of the medicine canister(s) that is inside the auto-injector and gives it to the target character. The target character opens the canister and reads the medicine slip contained within the canister. The target character follows the directions on the slip, tears the slip in half and disposes of it properly. It is possible that an auto-injector is loaded with a medicine other than the one that the user thinks is in the injector. (The injector might contain a medicine that causes the target to go into a deep sleep rather than containing the stabilizing or healing medicine that the character thought.)
Surgery Including Augmentation Removal And Insertion
The patient must be asleep or unconscious for the entire length of the surgery.
Sapping a patient will NOT keep them unconscious for the required time. However, if a character is unconscious due to wounds and currently in the critical stage, their unconsciousness is deep enough to allow surgery.
Various medicines and poisons will act as anesthesia and allow surgery.
Severs are repaired automatically whenever surgery is performed. If major surgery is being done on a patient. The patient has will have 5 vitality points restored and all their severed limbs are repaired in one five minute surgical session.
Unless otherwise stated, removing or implanting a SINGLE augmentation will take five minutes of surgery. Each assistant, (up to a max of two assistants per surgeon will lower the surgery time by one minute. (eg: Surgeon plus two assistants…surgery takes three minutes.)
Augmentations that have been removed may not be re-used. They are destroyed.
| New Skills Primer |
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Direct Brain Stimulation: This is an electromechanical device that imprints the knowledge directly into your brain.
You may learn only one skill from each of the methods per event attended and only if you have enough Character Points and credits to do so.
Skills Learned by the Self-Taught Method
Self taught skills are gained between events. This simulates your practicing and the trial and error that will take place as you learn. During your update you will inform ATF that your are "buying" a self-taught skill. As long as you have the character points, you will receive the skill at the next event.
Skills Learned by the Live Teacher Method
Skills taught to you by a live teacher are learned between events. This simulates your practice sessions after the teacher has shown you the basics.
During your update you will inform ATF that your are "buying" a skill that was learned via the live teacher method. You will need to enter the name of the skill and any information on the card that you were given by the teacher. As long as you have the character points, you will receive the skill at the next event.
The In-Game cost to learn a skill is negotiable with the live teacher and often it will be more expensive to learn a skill using this method than by direct brain stimulation.
Some skills can ONLY be learned from a live teacher. (Almost all psionic skills as they are illegal skills.)
Skills Learned by the Direct Brain Stimulation Method
Skills taught to you by the Direct Brain Stimulation Method are learned in-game and are immediately usable.
To learn a skill via this method you will need to spend 15 minutes of game time "hooked up" to the education unit.
If the education unit does not have the "program" that will teach the specific skill that you want, you may not learn the skill via this method until the unit is able to get the program.
Most skill but not all skills can be taught via this method.
You must have the Character Points available during the event in order to use an education unit to learn a skill. The points you receive for helping with set-up at the event or that you will earn for attending an event are not available until AFTER the event.
EXAMPLES
Jontu a true psionicist meets with a highly skilled psionicist during the event. The psionicist agrees to teach Jontu the discipline Regeneration. Psionic skills are not taught by an education unit so Jontu is quite happy to pay 200 credits to learn this powerful skill.
Jontu and the cast member spend some quality role-play time together and when they are finished the cast member gives Jontu a card with the skill name on it as well as a code number. Jontu cannot use this skill during the current event. When Jontu sends in his Post Event Letter (PEL) he also updates his character. Jontu writes on his update that he has learned the skill Regeneration and writes the code number from the card on the update form. As long as he has the 30 Character Points, he will have this skill at the beginning of the next event.
Jontu also wishes to buy Increase Psi Energy twice more (gain two points of PEP) and buy the skill Detect Sentience. Jontu does not need a teacher for either skill. The skill Increase Psi Energy does not need a teacher after the first time the skill is learned. The skill Detect Sentience is a Manifestation skill and thus does not need a teacher even for the first instance. Jontu has the Character points available to learn all of this BUT he cannot purchase both skills. Both of these skills are self-taught. He may only learn one self-taught skill per event. He decides to buy the two Increase Psi Energy skills. This is his 10th and 11th point. And he notes this on his PEL. As long as Jontu has the Character points to pay for this double purchase of the same skill, he will have these PEPs at the beginning of the next event.
| Phamacology Primer |
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Pharmacology is the science of dosing and packaging medicines for administration to life forms. It is necessary to carefully design these drugs for reasons of purity, timecourse of effect, crossing the blood-brain barrier, etc.. Pharmacology differs from Chemistry in that its products are aseptically packaged in sealed, sterile vials and these contents will be destroyed within seconds after opening – basically, to open a pharmacological vial means you are delivering its effect onto yourself or somebody else. Pharmacological vials contain tags, listing the effect that the drug has on a person.
The Pharmacology skill is much like Chemistry skill in that there are specific formula mixes that use distillates/chemicals to create a specific medicine. The same two chemicals/distillates when mixed may yield one product when Chemistry skill is used and a totally different product when the Pharmacology skill is used.
It is necessary for a character with both skills to specifically use the proper tag and process when they mix a given formula. (Use a Yellow medicine tag when making a medicine, use a blue compound tag when making a chemical compound.)
A pharmacologist spends character points to learn to make one pharmacological product from one set of distillates/chemicals (as opposed to a chemist who pays character points to learn how to make distillates/chemicals from components).
To make a medicine the character must have the Pharmacology skill and have been "taught" the specific formula to create the medicine that they wish to make.
Pharmacologists can mix distillates into Medicines using formulas that are known to them. The knowledge of formulas can freely be shared. However, you can only mix medicines using the knowledge gained from each purchase the Pharmacologist skill. (A Pharmacologist may know that mixing febrimil and calisthic acid makes a powerful surgical anesthesia. However if the Pharmacologist has not received the formula to make this medicine through the purchase of the Pharmacologist skill, he or she cannot make this medicine.)
When buying a Pharmacology skill, the character may ask for knowledge of the specific formula that makes a specific medicine or they may take potluck and accept whatever formula the plot writers decide to give him or her.
The Pharmacologist character can "mix" distillates/chemicals in-game and turn them into medicines by following the proper medicines formula while at the event. It does not have to be done between events..
The Pharmacologist can mix distillates/chemicals that they have purchased from merchants or "found" in game to make medicines.
The Pharmacologist may not follow chemical formulas to make compounds unless they are a chemist as well as a Pharmacologist. The mixing of chemicals to make compounds can only be done by a chemist.
A Pharmacologist may be a chemist as well as a Pharmacologist.
Once made, a medicine can be used by any person not just a Pharmacologist.
All medicines act upon a target slowly if they are swallowed. (It takes 5 minutes for the effect to act)
All medicines act upon a target quickly if injected. (It only takes seconds for a injected medicine to work.)
Pharmacologists can make as many medicines as they have chemicals for but ONLY for those medicines for which they have "learned" the specific formula they received when they purchase the Pharmacology skill.
The Pharmacologist will follow a formula to "mix" two or more chemicals together to form a medicine. Medicines will have some sort of in-game use.
Any Pharmacologist that has "learned" a formula needs to have a copy of the PROPER formula in a handbook. This is an in-game handbook. This handbook may be lost, stolen or destroyed.
Unless the book is in the Pharmacologist's possession when they are ready to mix the medicine, he/she may NOT mix the medicine…(even if they have mixed it a thousand times before.)
Some medicines need only two chemical components, others will need three or even four.
Once you have the vials for all the chemicals/distillates that a formula calls for, the Pharmacologist role-plays mixing the chemicals for one minute for each chemical used. (Two chemicals = 2 minutes, four chemicals = 4 minutes of role-play time) The Pharmacologist then fills out a yellow medicine tag. He/she will check off the proper box on the front of the tag showing the effect of the medicine. Next the pharmacologist will fill in the name of the medicine and then roll the yellow medicine tag, along with the blue tags from the chemicals inside the medicine tag, and place the grouped tags inside a film canister so that the yellow medicine label shows through the canister. Usually the hand written name of the medicine will show but the pharmacologist can roll the tag backwards so that the medicine is a secret. The medicine is now ready to use.
When a medicine is used, the tags are removed from the canister and torn in half. (Dispose of the paper(s) properly and turn the canister into Ops.
Medicines never lose their power as long as the canister stays sealed.
When medicines are opened, the medicine effects either the person opening the canister or the target it is being used on. (You cannot open and close a medicine canister unless using a lab to test the med.)
You cannot "mix" the distillates/chemicals for a medicine if you do not have all necessary distillates/components.
Pharmacology Laboratories double the amount of medicine you can make from a single set of chemicals/distillates. (It cannot be used to make chemicals).
Pharmacology Laboratories allow you to "test" unknown medicines safely.
Only a limited amount of medicines may be doubled or unknown medicines tested using a lab. At the beginning of an event, the lab will "stocked" with a number of Pharmacology Lab tags. (Usually 5 or 10). These tags must stay with the lab and when they are used up the lab will not double the production of any more medicines until the next event. (You will fill out one lab tag with information identical to the medicine tag when you make the medicine. You will destroy one lab tag when you test an unknown medicine.)
If a lab is stolen or destroyed, any leftover tags may not be used.
You may not "save" unused lab tags for use at the next event.
Pharmacological products are easily discernable from other chemicals – the tag looks different and it will be a yellow color. It will also have the word "MED" as a label on the tag instead of "CHEM." This represents the special packaging required for pharmacological drugs that everybody recognizes.
All pharmacological products should be in film canisters with flush lids, so that they can easily be added to an auto-injector.
Normally, Pharmacological products have the drug name (but not effects) written on the outside of the vial tag where they can be read as a standard practice. Anybody can, over time, learn the effects of given drugs by name.
Characters with the Identify Drugskill will have a list of standard/common drug names and their effects.
A pharmacologist can also choose to produce unlabelled products, in which case the tag is simply rolled the other way, so that only the blank side is visible. If this is done, pharmacological agents are indistinguishable from one another and the only way a pharmacologist or a character with the Identify Drug skill can determine the name of a medicine is to use a pharmacology lab to test the medicine.
Each time you use a lab to identify an unknown medicine, it will require the expenditure of one Pharmacology Lab Tag. The character can then open the vial and read the tag , (role-playing that they are taking out a sample using sterile procedures and testing it).
Opening a pharmacological vial without expending a lab tag means that the drug has affected the opener as if they had taken it orally.
After testing, the character may re-roll the label so that the drug/medicine name can now be seen.
| Piezo Crystal Primer |
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Piezo Crystals are storage units for psionic disciplines. They allow a "true" psionicist to store a discipline for use at a later time.
Crystals that have a discipline stored within them will be attached to a card that details the discipline. This card is out of game and is only there to inform the player that the crystal is glowing and what discipline is stored within.
Non-psionicists can see that the crystal is glowing but the should not read the card. Psionicists, (either true or latent) can "sense" what discipline is held within the crystal. (They may read the card)
If a crystal is not attached to a card, the crystal is empty.
Peizo-Crystals, (empty or charged), must be found or purchased in-game and may be expensive. Charged crystals are colored. The color has no meaning other than to distinguish that the crystal has been charged. Crystals are in-game items and they can be sold, traded or stolen with one exception. If a crystal is grafted to a psionicist's face, it cannot be removed. If it is being carried in a pocket, then it is fair game.
Only True psionicists can store a discipline within a crystal.
Any psionicist can invoke a discipline that is stored within a crystal.
Before a crystal can be used the crystal must be "grafted" to the psionicist
The "grafting" of a crystal takes one minute of role-playing time (and some spirit gum).
Once grafted, the crystal cannot be removed/stolen until used by the psionicist.
Once grafted, only the psionicist that wears the crystal may use the discipline. It may not be transferred to another character.
To use a peizo-crystal the Psionicist must stop and stand still, remove everything from either hand except packets and/or a focus device. The crystal MUST be removed before invoking the discipline.
While holding this crystal, the psionicist states the invocation in a clear voice, loud enough for the intended target to hear and understand. Once completed, the psionicist has three seconds to throw a packet (if the discipline requires that a packet be used), or touch a target with a packet.
If the packet misses the target or the psionicist waits longer than 3 seconds to throw or touch the target, the discipline is used and the PEPs lost.
If the discipline is a voice only discipline, the effect automatically "hits" the target as if a packet had been thrown and had struck the target. The target will be struck/affected by the psionic discipline as soon as the invocation is completed. The target must be within reasonable "hearing" range but there need not be a line of sight to the target.
The peizo crystal may not be re-used until the next event.
The character may only store disciplines that they "know."
A statement that the player wants to store a discipline in a empty crystal should be declared when the player updates his or her character in writing via e-mail.
The cost to invoke this skill is 2 psi energy point plus the full cost to invoke and power the discipline to be stored.
The PEPs will be subtracted from the total amount of PEPs that the character would receive at the start of the event.
The character will receive the peizo-crystals, attached to cards at check-in.
The character may "graft" the crystal(s) before the game starts
EXAMPLES
Eg: Jontu is a true psionicist and he was lucky last game and found three clear peizo-crystals. At update time, he states that he wishes to charge one crystal with the Psionic Shield (level 3) discipline, and one with a Psionic Wall discipline. The Psionic Shield (level 3) costs him 5 PEPs, (1 to charge the crystal, 1 to invoke the Shield discipline and 3 to power the shield). The Psionic Wall costs him 6 PEPs, (1 to charge the crystal and 5 to power the Psionic Wall). His total starting Psi Energy Points is reduced by 11 points. Jontu may be able to "restore" those 11 points once the game starts through various means. Jontu's grafts the two "charged" crystals to his forehead so they cannot be stolen. The third clear crystal cannot be "grafted" until it is charged and thus may be stolen or taken by mutants after Jontu was ambushed, etc.
Lucifer is a latent psionicist and has purchased a "charged" peizo-crystal from a powerful "true" psionicist with the unlikely name of Fluff. The crystal contains the discipline Mind Blast at the 12th level. Lucifer grafts the crystal to his cheek and breathes a sigh of relief as he knows that the crystal cannot be stolen now. A few hours later Lucifer is in a battle and sees a Warbot approaching. He decides that this is a good place to use this discipline and he removes the crystal from his cheek. Lucifer then calls out in a squeaking but strong voice. "Robot with the black helmet, MIND BLAST! DAMAGE 12 TO VITALITY!" The warbot staggers and drops a few seconds later. (Even a latent psionicist can use a voice only disciplines if using a stored discipline.)
Lucifer hides the now empty crystal in an in-game area of his cabin a few minutes later. He hopes that no one finds and steals it as he can sell it to a true psionicist who can store a discipline in the crystal.
The next morning Lucifer sells the empty crystal to Jontu who now has a fourth peizo crystal that he can use to store disciplines. Jontu turns in this crystal at check-out and must wait until updating for the next event before he can store a new discipline in the crystal.
| Traps Primer |
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Coming Soon.
| Weapon Repair Primer |
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The Weapon Repairskill allows a character to repair the various types of weapons that were damaged/destroyed/shattered by an in-game skill.
When the character purchases the skill Weapon Repair they will declare which one of the two types/class of weapons they are learning to repair. (Melee weapons/shields or missile weapons.)
Weapon repair can be learned from a "live" instructor or through the knowledge center.
The character must receive training for each "type/class" of weapon that they wish to be able to repair. Thus you will need to buy this skill twice if you wish to be able to repair both melee weapons/shields and firearms/missile weapons.
You may purchase the repair armor skill(s) in any order that you wish. The character point cost for the second purchase goes up in cost as do all skills. (The first purchase for a human would be 10 character points, the second would be 20.)
Weapon repair will take five minutes of role-playing time and one METAL repair chit per weapon even if the weapon is made from plastic or wood. (The chit simulates the materials needed to do the repair on any of the interior metal parts. It also simulates the wear and tear on metal tools to shape a new "ironwood" staff or club that can withstand a strike by a edged weapon without being cut in half)
Repair chits are either found or purchased in-game.
The use of a "laboratory" will shorten the repair time to two minutes but the material cost stays the same at one repair chit per item repaired.
NOTE: All (real-life) damaged/non-functioning rental spring guns or paintball markers should be brought to Ops immediately. Personal spring guns, markers, boffer weapons and other types of missile weapons that are damaged should be removed from game so that they do not cause injuries or other problems.
Lucifer has the repair weapon skill, (melee weapons/shields) and Bruce and he agree on a repair price. This is somewhat cheap because Bruce had the smarts to buy a metal repair chit for Lucifer to use. Lucifer also has a Weapon Repair Lab and he goes to work at the lab role-playing the repair. Two minutes later, (it would be five minutes without the lab) the shield is finished and Bruce walks away with a freshly repaired shield.
| Webtrix Background Primer |
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The Webtrix was the next step up the technology ladder from the Internet. The Webtrix is a quasi-real world that exists inside the virtual reality of computers and their world-wide interfaces. (Think of the movie Tron and the Matrix and you will have a good idea of what the Webtrix looks like.)
In the 20-teens it became too easy for hackers to defeat internet firewalls and breech common protections set-up on computers. The webtrix was developed to increase security. Information can still flow through the Webtrix as electronic pulses but for the really important "bits" of information, a web runner is used as a courier to carry the information and guard it from being intercepted. Web runners are trained men and women who become a "virtual person" composed of cohesive electrons that are able to move between nodes in the Webtrix. The web runner's physical bodies do not enter the Webtrix, their minds do. The mind forms the cohesive electron "virtual" body that looks and acts just like the runners physical body except that it is composed of electrons existing in the quasi-real world of the Webtrix.
The Nodes within the Webtrix are the connection points between different computers. Runners would courier their information between these nodes. This system of couriers worked well for a short time but for every new security measure, someone will develop a counter-measure. Webtrix pirates from rival companies and hackers started to intercept the runners. Virtual weapons were supplied to the runners that could be used to dissipate another runner. Although the runners' bodies couldn't be injured when their virtual bodies were killed/dissipated their minds were effected. Strange behaviors, mental illnesses became common in a runner that was "killed" while in the Webtrix. Although not confirmed, these mental problems eventually caused the physical deaths of several runners.
The Webtrix masters responded with more protections. They developed a Webtrix interface that would only open to certain synced brainwave patterns. Thus Webtrix piloting was born. The Webtrix pilots were the only people that could open a portal for runners to use to enter the Webtrix. The numbers of pilots are limited and the brainwave patterns of all pilots are on record. Any Webtrix pirates could now be tracked back to the specific pilot that opened the portal and the Webtrix pilot could be arrested and charged with the piracy.
This system insured that the vast majority of pilots remained honest but there are always a few bad apples. Well more than a few. It became easier for the Webtrix Masters to administer justice immediately rather than track down the miscreant pilot. A electronic shock-pulse is used to destroy the implanted Webtrix connection in the pilot's brain. It just happens to "fry" the pilot's brain at the same time.
Of course new pirate/hacker programs sprung up. Hacker programs can be used by registered pilots to disguise their brainwave patterns for periods of time lasting up to an hour. To sync-up these hacker programs pilots must answer a question each time they jack-in to the Webtrix. Police programs developed by the Webtrix Masters constantly search the Webtrix for unauthorized entry into the system. Usually these searches are random but if a hacker program is used too often the "disguise pattern" becomes known to the Web-Police and appropriate punishment is administer at the speed of an electron.
Company nodes within the Webtrix also became fortified. Once again hacker programs were developed to drill through the protective programs commonly known as "Ice" and riddles seem to be the best way to sync the pilots brainwaves to the key-codes of the Ice programs. Hackers have developed a code to tell how difficult it will be for their brain waves to sync to the code-key. They use the colors of the spectrum. Red is the lowest in difficulty. Followed by Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and Black going up the ladder of increasing difficulty. Company nodes may also have their own police programs, physical cut-out and trap switches as well as hunter-killer and virus killer programs. Once inside the Company node, additional layers of ice protecting certain key areas of information might exist. Hackers know that the harder it is to get to the information, the more credits they can get for it from certain information brokers and interested parties.
| Webtrix Pilots & Runners Primer |
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In the world outside the exclusion zone, Webtrix pilots are used to open the interface/portal between the real-world and the virtual-world. In the "outside" world this "job" is about as exciting as a current jumbo jet pilot. That's the way most Webtrix pilots like it. When things get exciting, pilots get dead.
The Webtrix pilot "inside" the Zone is a renegade, a hacker, an illegal entity. All Webtrix Pilots have had their brainwave patterns synched with the electronics of the webtrix and their wave patterns are on file with the Web Masters. Inside the Zone, the pilots job is to open the interface or portal for illegal web runners. The web runners are the virtual reality pseudo-couriers who carry information from computer node to computer node within the Webtrix. They can also be pirates who attempt to intercept the information that legal runners are transporting. Often times runners and pilots are unable to read the intercepted code and are just completing a "blind run." That is delivering packets of information containing things that they have no knowledge about.
The main job of the Webtrix Pilot in the ATF game is to open the portal allowing runners access to the Webtrix. Opening gateways at nodes. Passing information in to the runners and copying down information from the runners in the Webtrix. Oh, and to not ask questions!
Runners cannot carry anything from the "Live-Side" or real world with them in the Webtrix. This means that they cannot have writing implements or papers that they can use to copy down information. Virtual "paperwork" cannot be removed from the Webtrix nor can it be brought into the Webtrix by illegal runners. Information packets that are downloaded "legally" to the runners can be used inside or taken out. This rarely happens for Webtrix runs that originate inside the Zone. All trips originating within the Exclusion Zone are illegal thus the runners must communicate with their pilot who will record on paper the codes, diagrams, words etc. that the runners radio out. Depending on the complexity of the pilot's hacker program, he or she may also be able to tap into portions of the Webtrix monitoring system and actually have some visual communication but there is no way to record this information electronically. It must be recorded by hand.
Webtrix Pilots must wear a costume phys-rep of their interface while in-game. This phys-rep is a wire/cord that is located behind the pilot's right ear.
Each Pilot must acquire a "hacker program" in game. They could find a program, buy a program or even commission a program to be written specifically for them. The most common way is to buy or rent the program from someone.
Once the pilot is in the web cockpit and ready start he/she will put the ear-bud of the radio in his ear and run a communication check with his runners. ( The runners will also have ONE radio with an ear-bud. The communications person will have to repeat for the other runners.)
Runners will be located in the entry room/node which is separate from the pilot's cockpit.
Runners must leave all their weapons and support items in this room and use only the weapons and items provided by the hacker program.
The pilot will enter his or her specific pilot's code into the computer screen. (The pilot MUST use their own code as this is the Webtrix reading the person's brainwaves which are unique to them.) Next the pilot will enter the hacker program name that they are using. This hacker program is used to bring up the first question which if answered correctly, will open the portal door allowing the runners to enter the Webtrix.
Once this has occurred the web pilot may switch between Webtrix cameras and warn/help the runners during their movements through the Webtrix.
When the runners arrive at a node, they will communicate the node code to the pilot who will enter the code into the computer which will then bring up a new riddle/question that must be answered by the pilot to open the node allowing entry for the runners.
Runners will usually need to communicate the information found in the nodes to the pilot who will record them. Normally information cannot be carried out of the Webtrix. It cannot be written down by the runners as they will not have access to paper or writing implements while in the virtual state. The pilot is the only source they have to "copy" the information
Runners that are "killed" in the Webtrix move out to the entry room and wait until all runners are killed or the runners successfully return to the entry room/node. They may not re-enter the Webtrix
Once the runners are all dead or safely back in the entry node/room the pilot will close the portal. The mission is ended.
Runners that are killed in the Webtrix will take an envelope detailing any mental psyche damage received by them due to the Webtrix death. The contents are out-of-game and should not be shared with the other runners.
Runners' bodies are not effected by a death in the Webtrix
Pilots who fail to answer the questions/riddles during the run may be killed by a massive electronic feedback burst to their Webtrix connector implanted in their brain. This usually results in physical death and the pilot will need to go to the Regen Center.
A secondary pilot may be standing by but he/she must synch into the Webtrix by answering an initial question correctly. If this secondary pilot I killed, the runners "virtually die" in the web. The secondary pilot must synch up in five minutes or less.
If a pilot is killed on any Webtrix mission, they may not perform another Webtrix mission until the next event.
If a pilot is successful in one mission they may attempt a second mission. However the Webtrix Police look for repeat patterns of unauthorized entry. A different hacker program for the second mission will break the pattern.