This 230 page PDF contains a set of design sequences for creating weapons, vehicles, gadgets, creatures, and civilizations. It is based on BTRC?s EABA system, however items designed using the system provide design details in real world measures such as meters, kilograms, liters and watts. Thus it is fairly easy to convert items designed with it to another system, and it includes damage conversion for several game systems including BTRC?s own 3G3 and CORPS system, SJG?s GURPS, HERO Games? HERO System, GRG?s Action system, DP9?s Silhouette Core rules, Pinnacle?s Savage Worlds, PIG?s Impresa system, Marco Chacon?s JAGS, and Sanguine Production?s Albedo game systems. It also includes dynamic PDF spreadsheet forms which you can use to quickly and easily design weapons, vehicles, gadgets, creatures and civilizations using drop down boxes that calculate values for you automatically.
The Stuff design systems use ?design for effect? concepts with no need for nitty-gritty design details (such as the grain weight of gunpowder in your bullet, or the volume of your combustion cylinders) and equation-based derivation as did 3G3 (BTRC?s Guns Guns Guns weapon design product), the CORPS Vehicle Design System, or GURPS Vehicles and similar system. Instead it relies on applying on Effects based modifiers. For weapons, it is to a Size, usually expressed in Hexagons, or 1 meter across or about .75 cubic meters, or Millihexes, 1/1000th of the aforementioned hexes. These modifiers are based on key performance values for the item (Damage for a weapon, Power plant strength/speed for a Vehicle) based on the tech level of the technology used to create it. Theses key performance values per tech level are based on some heavy research and distillation done by the game?s author, Greg Porter, one of the finest gear-head game designers on the planet!
Further these details, being done as design for effect, are handled fairly abstractly with the ?special effects? being realized and applied by the players based on the game world and the tech used to create it. So the fine details of the difference between a soul-fueled burn chamber and a science fiction zero point energy module are layered over this by the player?s and the RPG rules. In terms of the design system, they both produce so much effect for such a size. This makes the system, like all design for effect systems, very flexible, if a bit abstract, all in all perfect for a universal system like EABA.
The second ?brilliant idea? on which the system is based is the use of EABA?s universal scale. The Universal scale is a exponential/log based system that provides a scale of exponentially increasing measures of speed, distance, weight, volume etc, which can be handled via the use of their corresponding linearly increasing scores with just addition and subtraction. The combination of this with the design for effect approach provides a system that can build anything from humming-bird pulled fairy sleds to colossal interstellar dreadnaughts without breaking down.
Thus the actual design process is just adding up plus or minus modifiers based on the parameters chosen for the item being designed. Thus Stuff! makes for a powerful, consistent system that is still easy to use.
WEAPONS
Weapons are designed by providing a base damage effect of so much for a 1 hex of size at each tech level. By default the basic weapon operates much like a basic firearm under the rules, this can of course be modified. The extensive list of modifiers affects the size of the weapon first, then various operational parameters. Thus you can only get a handheld weapon capable of so much damage at a certain tech level based on the best tech available, and yes this is most relative to the design of traditional chemical propellant slug-throwing firearms. However, the exact details aren?t specified, so the special effects are nailed down by the particulars of the game world and the players.
Once again, the values used are based on Porter?s research, of which he had done an extensive amount in designing Guns! Guns! Guns!. All of that gear head detail has been boiled down for you convenience in Stuff. So you can use his values without worrying about the results being too off the wall.
The list of modifiers includes Auto-fire, burst fire, side effects, loading times, etc. Applying these modifiers you can design weapons simulating most any real-world weapon for the game. With game ready values for it?s Damage, range, size, mass, cost, accuracy, etc.
VEHICLES
The vehicles system produces stats answering the most important design questions for use in a RPG.
? How Fast will it go?
? How big is it?
? How Tough is it?
? How big of a gun can I put in it?
? How many gizmos are on it?
? How much does it cost?
? How Do I blow it up?
Thus you start by determining the strength of the power-plant used in the vehicle based on its size and tech level, and modifiers based on its reliability. Again, the exact mechanism and details of the engine are specified, though lower tech levels are assumed to be animal or natural force powered, while higher tech assume some kind of engine, however esoteric and magical effects can be assumed and used as well. The exact details of the special effects are dependent on the particulars of the game world.
Having set a size and strength for the power plant, you then determine the vehicles top speed and related performance characteristics based on its loaded mass. This can cause you to have to refigure your design if you either can?t fit everything you want in the vehicle, or its performance isn?t up to snuff. (?I want all that in there.?)
From there you determine it?s armor, how much space the design takes up and how it is laid out, how many gadgets and related subsystems (communications, nagivation systems, etc.) it contains. You can then determine a cost in semi-generic credits based on the tech level and elements of the design so far. Finally, you determine how much damage it can take. The actual amount of hits any particular weapon can do to a vehicle is limited based on it?s size. This is done to account for the compressed damage scale used for vehicles. A human has 10 hits, while a battleship would have 44 in this system. Thus, the damage limit caps how much damage from any non-area effect explosion type the vehicle can suffer.
GADGETS
This section provides a simple system to create various types of gadgets and gear such as communications gear, tools, survival and related gear. All the cool stuff you browse through sporting goods and military/survival and electronics catalogs for. The system allows you to determine the size and cost of the gadget based on the tech level of the tech used to build it and its features, as well as its total possible effectiveness. You can create a full supplements worth of shopping experience for your game with the system.
CREATURES
This section provides a system for creating ?realistic? creatures/animals that can be found in a particular ecosystem/niche based on biological principles. Allowing you create reasonable size, mass, attributes and abilities for it. There are also guidelines on how to create unrealistic/fantasy creatures, and fantasy races.
CIVILIZATIONS
This section provides a system for creating civilizations, or more accurately settlements, based on considerations of climate/ecology, food production technology, and government type. It provides you with the means to develop reasonable populations based on the type of food production available. The system also lets you generate economic and population distribution data for a particular settlement in a number of general categories. This information provides the designer with a wealth of hard data with which to determine how many artisans, craftsmen, soldiers, nobles/rulers, a particular settlement could support. Its likely infrastructure and available amenities, all based on archeological and historical research and information.
LAYOUT
Stuff is laid out as two column document using a plain, readable serif font for it?s body, and simple graphical bars for headers and section headers. Extensive use of colored text is made to differentiate between general text, in black text, Important notes and explanations in red, examples in green, and advanced topics in blue text. Artwork is limited to chapter heads. Overall it is a serviceable document with extensive bookmarks and easy to follow text.
SUMMARY
Overall, Stuff! is one of the best, if not the best, generic capstone design system ever published. It provides an easy to use highly adaptable set of design sequences based on hard numbers and solid research allowing the GM or world designer to create all sorts of realistic gear and equipment appropriate to the technology and nature of the game world. Its usefulness is not just limited to EABA players either, thanks to its use of real world values and the inclusion of conversions for several systems. It could use a bit more explanatory text and a quick overview of the process for each sequence. As it stands, it requires a bit of re-reading and use to get the hang of how it works. However, despite this learning curve, I still highly recommend it to anyone looking for an easy to use but still rigorous and consistent design system with which to do some gear-head sub-creation and world design.
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<b>LIKED</b>: Design for effect and Universal Scale approach<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Could use more explanatory text and context to make it easier to use.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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