Zero-Cost Gadgets?

[misterharry]

It's possible to build a Gadget but balance the entire points cost with Restrictions, e.g. including a Minor Restriction in a Minor Gadget's trait. Does that Gadget then actually cost zero points to buy?

[Catsmate]

Hmm. My take on the rules is no, this isn't allowed.

Minor Gadgets cost 1 Story Point and can hold a single Minor Trait.
They may hold a Major Trait (or two Minor), but must take a Bad Trait to ‘pay’ for the extra cost, such as Restriction or One Shot.
They hold 1 Story Point, and this can be used so the Gadget can do something novel or different, though the effect of this will be fairly small.

This suggests to me that the options for a Minor Gadget are:

• 1 Minor trait
• 2 Minor traits and one Bad trait
• 1 Major trait and one Bad trait

All of which are one point cost options.  Likewise for Major Gadgets it seems the minimum cost is 2SP.
Some of the examples provided support this.

The Minor trait and Bad trait combination doesn't appear to be an explicitly supported option, though it's easy to imagine Gadgets that match this specification (e.g. an incendiary strip that can Weld but is consumed or a electronic key that can Open/Close a lock but burns out in the process)

As a house rule you could allow such a one-shot device, without SP cost but with some specific restriction, i.e. the PC gets the device and it's replaced between games but only one example of such a Gadget. Similarly for single-use weapons such as gas sprays, drug injectors or tiny basters that need recharge between shots.


Anyone else got a take on this?

[Stormcrow]

Agreed. The NET cost of a Gadget should be 1 or 2 Story Points.

[misterharry]

Makes sense. So Minor Gadgets like the ones described in Catsmate's post, where the Good and Bad traits balance out, would still cost 1 point?

[Stormcrow]

The Story Point cost of a Gadget is not directly related to the Traits it has. A Minor Gadget costs 1 Story Point, period. A Major Gadget costs 2 Story Points, period. A Special Gadget costs 4 Story Points, period. When you add extra Good Traits to a Gadget, they're not paid for with Story Points; they're paid for with Bad Traits.

[Catsmate]

Feb 21, 2015 7:35:13 GMT misterharry said:

Makes sense. So Minor Gadgets like the ones described in Catsmate's post, where the Good and Bad traits balance out, would still cost 1 point?

That would seem to be the case.

[Stormcrow]

Note that the Gadgets in the rule books don't necessarily add up to exactly the specified number of Traits. A Gadget can have less than the net Traits it would otherwise be entitled to, although the Gadget's cost in Story Points still depends on the size of Traits in it.

Some examples:

51st Century "Squareness Gun." Major Gadget. Cost: 2 Story Points. Traits: Delete (Major Good), Restriction (Minor Bad). Although a Major Gadget is entitled to a Major Good Trait without taking any Bad Traits, this one has one anyway to match what's on the show. Since it DOES have a Major Good Trait it's still priced as a Major Gadget. You don't "subtract" the Minor Bad from the Major Good to find the cost.

Electronic Lockpick. Minor Gadget. Cost: 1 Story Point. Traits: Open/Close (Minor Good), Restriction (Minor Bad). A Minor Gadget is entitled to a Minor Good Trait without taking any Bad Traits to compensate, but this one has one anyway. It's a Minor Gadget because it doesn't have any Good Traits bigger than Minor.

Engram Eraser. Major Gadget. Cost: 2 Story Points. Traits: Delete (Major Good), Psychic (Special Good), Restriction (Minor Bad). This one is here to mimic something seen on Torchwood, but you couldn't reproduce it by the rules. The Gadget rules don't tell you what you do with Special Traits, although you can suppose that since Psychic costs 2 Character Points it's about equal to a Major Good Trait. That means the Restriction Trait isn't enough to compensate for it.

Vortex Manipulator. Special Gadget. Cost: 10 Story Points. Traits: Restriction (Minor Bad), Scan (Minor Good), Transmit (Minor Good), Teleport (Major Good), Vortex (Special Good). As a Special Gadget, four "levels" of Good Traits come with 4 Story Points. Scan, Transmit, and Teleport are those four (two Minor and one Major). Vortex is a Special Good trait, whose cost is normally 1 Character Point. If this counts as equivalent to a Minor Good Trait, then the Restriction balances it out. However, this does not explain the Story Point cost of 10 for the Gadget. This is a case of the author recognizing that the Gadget is way more powerful than normal because of that Vortex Special Good Trait, so the cost was arbitrarily set. Again, this is not a Gadget you could create with the standard rules.

[misterharry]

Thanks, both - that's helped me immensely.