Clockworks vs. Weird Science
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:26 pm
I think it would be useful to have some more examples of what is possible through weird science that is not possible through clockworks, and some examples of plausible technologies for clockwork devices in the field.
Weird Science basically lets you place any of the spells in an object, right? So what would be some good effects for clockworks?
- electric motors
- photography
- sonar
- weaponry
- expanding foam
- glues, solvents, acids
- boosts to specific tests, such as climbing, lifting, listening, calculating
- vehicles
Okay, I think
1) Boosts to a specific test for a person or upgrading the capacity of an existing machine.
2) Machines that can replicate a human or animal activity (such as moving a cart, making coffee, opening doors, or playing chess)
are the main purview of clockwork.
The default TN can be the step of the resulting step number of the test. A hydraulic lift that has a Strength Step of 12 would have a TN of 12.
I always use a house rule that if you can continue to work on something until you succeed, then you just subtract the test result from the TN to get the number of tries it takes to succeed. So if you rolled an 8, it would take 4 tries to succeed at creating the lift. In this case, I would assign a cost to each attempt - perhaps £1 x the TN. Adding additional functions would require an additional success, as per the book.
- So making a lift that could also move in a pre-programmed way (say forward 8 feet and left 3 feet) would require an additional success (TN 17).
- Making it programmable or controllable would also require an additional success (TN 22).
- Making it roughly man-sized (though rarely man-shaped) is the default.
- Making it the size of a cat requires an additional success and increases the cost by 50%
- Making it the size of a mouse requires 2 additional successes and doubles the cost.
- Making it the size of a horse gives a +2 to the Clockwork test and increases the cost by 50%
I'm thinking as I'm writing, just trying to get some stuff down.
Weird Science basically lets you place any of the spells in an object, right? So what would be some good effects for clockworks?
- electric motors
- photography
- sonar
- weaponry
- expanding foam
- glues, solvents, acids
- boosts to specific tests, such as climbing, lifting, listening, calculating
- vehicles
Okay, I think
1) Boosts to a specific test for a person or upgrading the capacity of an existing machine.
2) Machines that can replicate a human or animal activity (such as moving a cart, making coffee, opening doors, or playing chess)
are the main purview of clockwork.
The default TN can be the step of the resulting step number of the test. A hydraulic lift that has a Strength Step of 12 would have a TN of 12.
I always use a house rule that if you can continue to work on something until you succeed, then you just subtract the test result from the TN to get the number of tries it takes to succeed. So if you rolled an 8, it would take 4 tries to succeed at creating the lift. In this case, I would assign a cost to each attempt - perhaps £1 x the TN. Adding additional functions would require an additional success, as per the book.
- So making a lift that could also move in a pre-programmed way (say forward 8 feet and left 3 feet) would require an additional success (TN 17).
- Making it programmable or controllable would also require an additional success (TN 22).
- Making it roughly man-sized (though rarely man-shaped) is the default.
- Making it the size of a cat requires an additional success and increases the cost by 50%
- Making it the size of a mouse requires 2 additional successes and doubles the cost.
- Making it the size of a horse gives a +2 to the Clockwork test and increases the cost by 50%
I'm thinking as I'm writing, just trying to get some stuff down.