I'm just starting to work on planning a SS game set in a world loosely similar to stargate (although it has no connection to the franchise) and I'm wondering what to do about the Tech Score.
In Stargate, Earth is very much a T5 planet but the SGC demonstrates a working knowledge of technology all the way up to and including T11 (Asgard Beaming Technology)
What should I do about the Tech Score of the PCs. Keep at 5 (being Earth's) or start them of higher (perhaps 6 or 7).
[StarSIEGE] Stargate SG1 and Tech Levels
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blaster219
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cheeplives
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I'd say this is a perfect place for the Random Tech Score roll. Default it to 6 (giving the SGC a little bump) and let 'em roll. At worst (5% chance), they'll be a Tech 4 at best a Tech 8 (5% chance). If those maxes and mins are too much, just modify the table so 1-4 gets a -1 and 16-20 gets a +1.
Set Earth to Tech 5, but maybe give the SGC a slight Tech bump as a separate culture within Earth.
You might also want to relax the rules on "using" items of a Higher Tech Level. Instead of the RAW requirement of a natural 20 on a d20 or a instructor with the requisite Tech Score, you could allow for a Savvy/Disable check with a CL equal to the twice difference in the character's Tech Score and the Tech of the item (so a Tech 5 character working out how to use a Tech 8 item would have a CL of 6). If they succeed, they manage to tinker with the piece enough that they understand the basics of the item and gain the ability to use it but with a penalty to all Functional bonuses equal to one-half (just like if they had an instructor or rolled a nat20).
You could also allow the use of "familiar" high tech items to incur a -1 Penalty to any Functional Bonuses and a +1 bump to Reliability. This would be like a Tech 4 person picking up a Tech 6 Rifle... they know how the rifle works, but it's just a bit "beyond" them.
In fact, I wish I would have thought of the Reliability bump when designing the game... it's a nice way of handling it. As a third option, just allow them to use "high tech" stuff but Bump the Reliability of any "high tech" stuff by the difference between the user's Tech Score and the item's. So that Tech 12 item used by the Tech 6 guy has a +6 Reliability...
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Set Earth to Tech 5, but maybe give the SGC a slight Tech bump as a separate culture within Earth.
You might also want to relax the rules on "using" items of a Higher Tech Level. Instead of the RAW requirement of a natural 20 on a d20 or a instructor with the requisite Tech Score, you could allow for a Savvy/Disable check with a CL equal to the twice difference in the character's Tech Score and the Tech of the item (so a Tech 5 character working out how to use a Tech 8 item would have a CL of 6). If they succeed, they manage to tinker with the piece enough that they understand the basics of the item and gain the ability to use it but with a penalty to all Functional bonuses equal to one-half (just like if they had an instructor or rolled a nat20).
You could also allow the use of "familiar" high tech items to incur a -1 Penalty to any Functional Bonuses and a +1 bump to Reliability. This would be like a Tech 4 person picking up a Tech 6 Rifle... they know how the rifle works, but it's just a bit "beyond" them.
In fact, I wish I would have thought of the Reliability bump when designing the game... it's a nice way of handling it. As a third option, just allow them to use "high tech" stuff but Bump the Reliability of any "high tech" stuff by the difference between the user's Tech Score and the item's. So that Tech 12 item used by the Tech 6 guy has a +6 Reliability...
_________________
discreteinfinity.com -- my little corner of the internet.
Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon -- Available now from Troll Lord Games!
discreteinfinity.com -- my respite from the bustle of the internet
Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon
Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon
Re: [StarSIEGE] Stargate SG1 and Tech Levels
blaster219 wrote:
I'm just starting to work on planning a SS game set in a world loosely similar to stargate (although it has no connection to the franchise) and I'm wondering what to do about the Tech Score.
Totally interested in hearing how you develop this idea. I'm keenly interesting in running a similar setting idea. I wound up picking up the new visual guide to the series over the holidays.
Quote:
In Stargate, Earth is very much a T5 planet but the SGC demonstrates a working knowledge of technology all the way up to and including T11 (Asgard Beaming Technology)
What should I do about the Tech Score of the PCs. Keep at 5 (being Earth's) or start them of higher (perhaps 6 or 7).
I'd generally recommend keeping them at a T5, with some occasional T6 or higher equipment ("magic items", really, when you get down to it). This assume you start towards the beginning of the series - if later, when SGC has access to starships, you might want to bump up to T6 or so.