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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8511235" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 86: August 1993part 4/5Gadgets Galore: Another of our contests draws a wide range of submissions for various systems, showing cool gear isn't just a D&D thing. There's lots of sci-fi systems out there of various hardness, and the RPGA runs tournaments for a fair few of them. Which ones will get the most, and which will be the most inspired?Mutant Detectors are the kind of thing that seems handy, but kinda falls apart in Paranoia because all the PC's are commie mutant traitors, including the wearer, which causes them to self-destruct. The real trick is coming up with excuses not to use it to your higher-ups. Joy Buttons mark you as extra loyal to Friend Computer, boosting your bootlicking & spurious logic scores when explaining things to machines. Your fellow troubleshooters may not be so easy to fool, so make sure you rat them out first in times of trouble. Climbing Gloves have hi-grip fingerpads and a rocket powered grappling hook mounted on them. If anything goes wrong with the mechanism, your fingers will be the first to feel it, quite possibly with crippling results. Oh well, better luck next clone. The Improved Hygienbot is an intelligent barbers/dentists chair that will restrain anyone who doesn't meet it's standards of cleanliness and give them a complete makeover whether they want it or not. Like the previous item, it's complexity means it malfunctions frequently and you may find yourself with either harmless but humiliating cosmetic transformations, or more painful tooth & toenail extractions at the GM's whim. Definitely one that can be played for horror as well as comedy.Vidgam Decks show that while you can substitute a joystick & a few buttons for a keyboard when hacking, it's not ideal. If you thought console vs PC snobbery was bad in the real world, you don't even want to think about how it went in Shadowrun. Distance Decks remind us that the Shadowrun universe was way behind ours in the adoption of WiFi and mobile phones. You need to transport one of these onsite and plug it into a system so your decker can hack remotely? How laughably primitive. Almost as bad as Traveller hard drive sizes in hindsight.Breath of God Cyberlungs remind us that while Torg also has cyberware, the aesthetics and naming conventions are very different from Shadowrun. They filter out anything harmful and let you stay functional at higher altitudes than a normal human could manage. Just the thing to let you get a little closer to heaven. Jonah's Gills let you breathe underwater, obviously. As handy here as any game. Poirot's Optiscan extends your vision in both directions along the electromagnetic spectrum, while also providing analytical information in the corner of your eye. Of course, being manufactured by the cyberpapacy, some of the commentary may be ideologically biased, but it's still got plenty of uses in an investigation-heavy game.Eyes of Siloam function as both long range zoom and microscope, which is handy for spying, ranged combat and scientific analysis. Careful you don't get sensory overload if you have both installed at once. Thev-4.8 Aleph-Ket Vehicle Interfaces help people who're used to the conveniences of advanced technology to operate more primitive ones. In the long run, you may wish you'd taken the time to learn the hard way, as they're prone to malfunction at odd times. I mean, how hard is it to pedal a bicycle? Have your muscles atrophied from doing everything via touchscreen?Karaoke Machines of Death sound like the macguffin from one of the films James likes to review. Listening to them can range from simple causing of terror to outright exploding brains, depending how awful the singing is. Can the PC's take the threat seriously long enough to realise what's going on and foil it?Enviro Weaves are subdermal implants that help you deal with temperature extremes. If the cyberpunk world is suffering global warming as much as the real one, this could be a big quality of life improver for the rich when they leave their air-conditioned towers.Cobra Spitters are pretty self explanatory, giving you poison glands in your cheeks. A perfect dirty trick for if someone tries to grapple you. Biotox Analyzers report on any poisons that enter your system and what might be a good antidote, which may or may not be handy depending on if you have access to said antidote. Hindsight can only help so much if you're hours away from the nearest hospital. Radio Plugs are another of those things that let you communicate with electronic devices at range that look very dated in a world of WiFi, mobile phones and smart fridges. We have exploits the fictional hackers of the 90's didn't even dream of. Galvdetectors track changes in your skin conductivity due to stress. This is not actually that effective as a lie detector, but certainly doesn't hurt in combination with other interrogation techniques. Once again, nothing that can't be done in reality. Tachyon Hyperblasters take us back to the completely fantastical, emitting deadly radiation that passes through nearly anything at faster than light speeds. You can't run, you can't hide, good luck being tough enough not to die.APDAFF are the acronymically named, very expensive super-shields that can block tachyon radiation, as well as nearly anything else. Your typical arms race. Keeps the dealers rich whoever wins. Anti-Glitter Grenades emit charged ions to suck up and clear any glitter in the atmosphere. Exactly who would do that in the first place and why is another question, but I guess there's a countermeasure for every trick. Laser Re-Director Shields are basically just large toughened mirrors. They can deflect or bounce back laser weapons, but their reflective sheen will be ruined by most other types of attack, so they won't save your life against a determined and flexible opponent.Lightshields of the Jedi make the knightly analogy Jedi have even more explicit. They glow when activated and stop lightsabers where anything material would be sliced through. If you don't have Jedi-like reflexes then they probably won't save your life against one. Glitter Balls should probably have been put before their countermeasure. Besides getting everywhere so you'll be picking them out of your clothes for months, they also scatter laser fire in the area, attenuating the damage a fair bit. Don't use unless the stealth aspect of a mission is already well and truly compromised, because good luck not leaving a trail and laying low afterwards.</blockquote>

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