Hardware

EXP, The game of technologic chaos, is a sciency fiction role-playing game. This section focuses on the technological part of the game. The chaos of technology arises from the core canon that anything from anywhere can appear at any time. Long lost civilizations, alien detritus, corporate misadventure, and electroevolution combine to create a potpourri of technological chaos.

The chaos arises from the randomness of the system that generates technological objects in EXP. The hardware section has sixteen equipment categories, and they are ready for random equipment generation. The hardware section also makes a decent reference catalogue for technomagical devices.

The Technological Object Yield System (TOYS) is where the technological chaos begins. The TOY System generates random artifacts. These artifacts can vary from worthless junque to sun hopping starships. The randomness is the root premise of The Game of Technological Chaos.

Let the chaos begin.

The referee can make the plethora of 1d100 (decidie) rolls needed to generate an artifact. The referee will often involve the players to make the decidie rolls. Hence the constant reference to the 'player' is rolling. The referee usually secretly records the toy information to preserve the element of the unknown.

The player rolls on the Toy Category Table to determine the artifact category. From this table, the referee jumps to the appropriate category and generates the specific toy type. The player rolls 64 on the 1d100 indicating the Pharmaceutical category. The referee jumps to pharmaceuticals and generates the specific pharma type.

Support Equipment is stuff that is needed to run the equipment. Support Equipment ranges from manuals to ammunition and from batteries to software. Support Equipment is ineffective on its own but essential to another device. Jump to Support Equipment for more details.

Tech Level is a numerical measure of how well crafted an artifact is. The higher the Tech Level (TL), the better the artifact. An advanced artifact does not automatically arise from an advanced civilization. A culture may focus a disproportionate amount of energy on a particular device.

Higher tech level artifacts are more durable, lighter, more efficient, etc. Tech level can also change the shape and appearance of an artifact. A flotto laser rifle may look like a stick. A psionic headband may look like a necklace. Very high-tech items can appear to function like magical items.

Low tech level items can be equally confusing to personas. A large building may represent a society’s best calculator. Compare a water pump of today from the waterwheel of yesteryear.

Jump to Tech Levels for more details.

Artifacts in EXP are like snowflakes. Each one appears different and functions differently. If the device was worth generating, it is worth writing down. Keeping artifact records results in quicker gameplay and fewer 'oops' moments.

If the spirit of the unknown artifact is part of the milieu, the players will only know the description and wate of the equipment.

There is a legacy rule in EXP of newly minted personas starting the game with a few artifacts. Starting artifacts are called startifacts. Startifacts must match the referee’s story and milieu.

Startifacts are usually secret. Players get to roll their persona’s startifacts, but the referee records the info with an alloy-clad poker face.