Mad Science and Drunken Theories!

Realistic Innovation at the Inventors Tech level or One TL in advance of that, at most.

Player must describe to the GM what he wants to invent and how he thinks it will work. This will help the Gm Determine the skills and Equipment required, the cost and time involved and the difficulty of the task. If the players description is especially clear or clever, the gm should give +1 or +2 to all invention related skill rolls.

---Required Skills---

First, the Gm decides on the 'Invention Skill' needed for the task, based on the player's description of the invention. Inventor must know this skill to have any chance of succes. Armor, vehicles, weapons, etc require the relevant Engineer Specialty. Other inventions might call for different skills: Alchemy of new potion recipes or magical elixirs, Bio engineering for biotechnology, Computer Programming for software, and Thaumatology for invention of new spells and so on.

At the GM's discretion, a particular invention might also require skill in one or more related subjects for example a new telescope might require the Astronomy skill. If so, the inventor rolls against the lower skill of his invention in the rules below.

----Complexity----
Next determine how complex the invention is. Entirely up to the GM in question who can assign it arbitrarily or have the MC assign the vaule of it as well. Base it on the minimum skill level required to come up with the invention or relate it to the retail price of the item in question.

Compleixty	Skill Needed	Retail Price
Simple		14 or less	up to 100$
Average		15-17		up to 10,000$
Complex		18-20		Up to 1,000,000$
Amazing		21 or more	Over 1,000,000$

A simple ignite spell in the fire college would require a skill of 0-14 to properly attempt inventing it for example.

---Concept---

After determining the complexity and required skills, the Gm or MC makes a secret concept roll against the inventors invention skill to see whether or not they come up with a testable theory. This requires no special equipment unless the player wishes it to. Each inventor may roll once per day. Complexity doesn't affect the time required, the basic concept of an Amazing device is often a simple insight, its the implementation that gets tricky.
On a success, proceed to the next step. On a failure the inventor makes no break through but may try again the next day at no additional penalty. On a critical failure the inventor comes up with a flawed theory that looks good but that will never work out in practice - go on to the next step, but note it is doomed to failure.

Modifiers: -6 if the invention is
Simple, -10 if Average, -14 if Complex, or -22 if amazing [For a computer programmer apply a penalty equal to twice the complexity rating instead.] +5 if you have a working model your're trying to copy, or a +2 if the device already exists but you don't have a model; +1 to +5 if the item is a variant on a existing one; -5 if the basic technology is totally new to the campaign [Regardless of TL]; - 5 if the deive is one TL above the inventor's TL



Example Time! Nova the Engineer is working to figure out a proper way to move the goods from the train station to the warehouses with out having to use physical labor so she comes up with a mine cart idea and describes it to the MC who assign it a complex level of simple. Nova's engineer skill is at 8 limiting her to rather simple inventions and giving her a +8 bonus when rolling, so to properly come up with something the MC would calculate the modifiers [Simple -6, +2 for already existing idea, +3 since the idea is a variant leaving us with a modifier of -1 to the roll leaving Nova with a +7 bonus to her roll], since the MC declared it is a simple invention then SN would be 13 as its a highly advanced invention of the simple variety. The MC would roll getting a 7 added with Nova's skill that gives the mare a 14 just enough to get the concept if thought up and Nova is inspired IC by the way her mine craft carts used to work and begins to draw up plans on how to construct a small mini rail road from the train station to the warehouses across the river using the bridge as a crossing point.

---Prototype---

A success or critical failure on the Concept roll gives the inventor a theory he can test in the laboratory. The next step is to construct a prototype. This requires a second roll against the invention skill. The MC/GM would make the Prototype roll in secret.

Modifiers: All modifiers listed for Concept rolls; +1 per assistant with skill 20+ in one on of the skills required for the invention, to a max of +4; -1 to -10 if the invention must make do with anything less then the most advanced tools and facilitates for his TL.

On a success the inventor proves his theory and creates a prototype, on a failure, he may try again, provided he has the time and money. On a critical failure, an explosion or accident occurs. This inflicts at least 2d6 damage to the inventor and each assistant and destroys the facilities, which must be rebuilt at full cost before making another attempt. If the inventor was working with a flawed theory, he will never create a working prototype, but a critical success on said prototype roll lets him realize that his theory was bad.

---Time Required---

Each prototype roll requires 1d6-2 days if the invention is simple, 2d6 days if average, 1d6 months if complex, or 3d6 months if Amazing. Physically huge items, [Examples spaceships and military vehicles, windmills, solar panels] may take longer at the GM/MC's discretion. Divide time required by the number of skilled people working on the project. Minimum time is always one day.

---Cost---

The facilities required to build a prototype cost $50,000 if the invention is simple, $100,000 if Average, $250,000 if Complex, or $500,000 if Amazing. Triple the costs if the invention is one TL above the inventors TL. Divide costs by 10 if the inventor has appropriate facilities left over from a related project of equal or higher complexity. Each inventor who wishes to attempt a Prototype roll must pay the facilities cost up front before making his first attempt.

In addition, each attempt to produce a prototype has a cost equal to its retail price of the item being built, as given in the appropriate game supplement or real world source or as set by the GM/MC. Triple this cost if the invention is one TL in advance of the inventor's TL.

---Testing---

The majority of prototypes have short comings, or bugs. Critical success on the Prototype roll means there are no bugs; success by three or more gives 1d6/2 minor bugs; and any other success gives 1d6/2 major bugs and 1d6 minor bugs. Minor bugs are annoying but not critical, excessive fumes when a machine it running, sparks that whir and shower the area when in use are good examples, see 'Quirks" in the spell alpha paste bin for spell bugs. Major bugs are catastrophic to the function of the device and sometimes to the user as well! Example would be the device has a tenancy to explode after so many tries, it breaks down when pushed too hard, etc for spells that would be the equivalent of the spell back firing horribly.

To find bugs requires testing. Once per week of testing, roll vs operation skill that pertains to the invention; Driving for vehicles, Thautmology for spells etc, at -3. Each success finds one bug: a critical success finds all bugs. A failure triggers a major bug, if present or finds nothing. A failure triggers a major bug, if present or finds nothing. A critical failure causes a problem similar to a major bug without encountering any real bugs alternatively the tester is convinced that no bugs remain.

Bugs that remain after testing show up on any operation skill roll that fails by 5 or more. A major bug always surfaces on a critical failure.

Example of this would be using a Automated Crossbow that requires you to shoot someone on Rapid Fire. The Dc to hit the person is 12 you roll and only succeed on getting a 5. That would trigger a minor bug such as the crossbow sending out sparks that mess up your aim to things like the sights are bent and makes your next few rolls to hit come at a -2 aim. Now if you had rolled a 1 resulting in a crit fail the Crossbow would have, if it had a major bug, the line that shoots the bolts snap under the pressure and hit you in the face for a stinging 1 damage of the welting variety rendering the crossbow useless!

---Production---

Building a copy of the invention costs 20% of the retail price if you only need to buy parts, or full retail price if you must pay for parts and labor. Time required to produce each copy is half that required for a prototype roll. For instance, each copy of a complex item takes 1d6/2 months.

A production line is more efficient. To set up a production line costs 20 times the retail price of the item. The production line makes one copy of the item in 1/7 the time it took to build a prototype or in [retail price/100] hours, whichever is less. Each copy costs 20% retail price for parts, or 50% for parts and labor.