Technology Rolls

[bighara]

How do you handle these in your games? Do you make players roll for every bit of tech they find, or can they use more intuitive devices without spending hours fiddling with them? Can a PC that learn how to use a device teach a fellow PC?

[Wizardawn]

How do you handle these in your games?

They roll as per the rules...which are way simpler than Gamma World's line chart.

Do you make players roll for every bit of tech they find

Anything they haven't experienced as "characters" before.

or can they use more intuitive devices without spending hours fiddling with them?

Only allow the "fiddling" on new oddball tech that I would invent/imagine for the game. Anything like a laser rifle or toaster oven I would just stick to the tech roll because...

1. Face it, it is 2012! Try to separate player knowledge from character knowledge. Good luck with that. I can't!

2. These tech rolls allow me to be a game master that keeps the game moving along quicker. I don't have to have an entire paragraph to describe a toaster without using the word "toaster". I can simply say you find a rusty toaster that still seems to function. The player is going to know what the item is but the character may never figure it out.

Can a PC that learn how to use a device teach a fellow PC?

Yeah...I just do two intelligence attribute checks if they are trying to teach/learn on a time crunch ("they will be here in an hour...let me show you how this laser rifle works before they get here"). The teacher has to be smart enough to teach...and the student needs to be smart enough to learn). They may never learn how to use the laser rifle in time because they are simply too dumb and cannot make their roll (which also means you have to come up with a time frame for a lesson (10 minutes...30 minutes...and hour). If they want to teach on a relaxed schedule (back at town or between adventures), I just let them succeed at this. They are going to eventually make the intelligence roll anyway.

[bighara]

Seems reasonable. My only concern is the amount of time that Tech Rolls can require. It's not the end of the world, but if the PCs are dealing with a lot of tech, the pace can slow considerably.

[Wizardawn]

Seems reasonable. My only concern is the amount of time that Tech Rolls can require. It's not the end of the world, but if the PCs are dealing with a lot of tech, the pace can slow considerably.

How much tech are these characters finding at one time? I might have a tech roll 2 or 3 times during an adventure because I dish out tech like I do magic items in AD&D...not very often.

[bighara]

Seems reasonable. My only concern is the amount of time that Tech Rolls can require. It's not the end of the world, but if the PCs are dealing with a lot of tech, the pace can slow considerably.

How much tech are these characters finding at one time? I might have a tech roll 2 or 3 times during an adventure because I dish out tech like I do magic items in AD&D...not very often.

I was thinking more like working their way through a complex (dungeon) with things like display consoles, electronic locks, etc. rather than plasma rifles.