Gadgets & Gear

=Gear= This chapter details a number of items that might help a character even the odds in her favor. Some of these items modify existing weapons, whereas other items are accessories that may give her the upper hand before, during and after battle.

Most of the equipment listed in this chapter can help a character complete a task more easily. Usually, this means the item provides a bonus to the character’s pertinent dice pool, such as a scope attached to a rifle that grants bonus dice to a character’s attack at long range, diminishing any associated penalties. These bonuses range from +1 to +5 and are listed with the item’s description. Also listed are an item’s Durability, Size, Structure and Cost. All of these things affect just how effective an item is at its job, as well as just how much damage the item can sustain if it comes under a concerted attack.

It’s important to recognize that this is all relative. The statistics listed for each item aren’t firm. They may change, depending on circumstances specific to the story. The aforementioned scope might have a scratched lens or be poorly mounted upon the firearm. As a consequence, the scope may not provide its full bonus to the shooter. The scope might have a lesser Structure as a result, as well. If the scope is an older piece of equipment, perhaps it’s already suffered the dings and dents of frequent use, and has a resultant –1 modifier to its Structure; unless the seller is a rip-off artist, he’ll accommodate the price of the lesser item, meaning it might undergo a –1 modifier to Cost, as well.

Alternately, consider a pair of high-grade binoculars: not the kind a character would buy at Wal-Mart or Sears, but ones he’d have to special order. Perhaps the binoculars offer extremely high magnification and image stabilization, and allow for a viewing distance and width three or four times that of most binoculars. The item might be ruggedized and encased in a rubber molding to keep the binoculars safe in case of a drop or tumble. Such a device would surely grant greater bonuses than the normal binoculars (listed below), and it might have a higher Durability and Structure (+1 to both) as a result. Of course, these bonuses will also tack on one or two extra zeroes to the price tag. Such a pair of binoculars might cost as much as a pre-owned car.

What’s listed below are the “normal” statistics associated with the particular items. Those elements may change at a Storyteller’s discretion or during the chronicle. At the time of purchase, as the item’s effectiveness goes up, so does Cost. As the Cost goes down, so do its valued bonuses. Some items may become so effective that their price tag goes beyond that which Resources may afford. Such Costs are left to the whim of the seller, and may require a character to pay in favors or in blood.

Firearms Accessories
A gun doesn’t need much to operate beyond a bullet and a finger willing to pull the trigger. That essential combination can be deadly at over 1,100-feet-per-second. However, characters may want to give themselves an extra edge with some of the equipment listed below.

Miscellaneous Gear
In this section are a number of items that don’t quite fit into the other categories. Such items may help a character in a fight or may instead work outside of combat situations.

Surveillance Gear
Surveillance equipment, also called “spy gear” because it almost always involves spying or gathering information on a target, was once exclusively the domain of the intelligence community. FBI agents used spy gear; Mary Jane the housewife did not. Gear that could be purchased in the domestic sector were novelty items on par with the x-ray glasses found for sale in the back of old comic books.

The new millennium, however, has brought a sudden surge of surveillance gear into the public market. Modern living involves modern fears — terrorist attacks, skyrocketing crime rates, domestic abuse — and has blown the doors open for the sale of spy gear. Now, Mary Jane the housewife can spy on her husband’s extra-curricular activities with a hidden camera and electronically tag her children to make sure they’re not snatched away by urban predators. Surveillance gear can now be part of any house or office, school or street corner. Below are a few of the spy-related items available to characters.

Survival Gear
Survival gear helps characters to stay alive in strange places and bad conditions. Characters might need such equipment when wandering in the wilderness or when trapped or lost amid the dangers of urban decay. Survival gear might help a character live through tsunamis, earthquakes or floods, or keep a character safe and sane during blackouts, storms or terrorist attacks. When a building crumbles, when a dirty bomb explodes in the city center or when the water supply is poisoned with chemicals or infectious toxins, the threat can be mitigated by the proper tools.

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