Mano a Mano:Manufacturing and Modification

Making Equipment

Creating Armor and Weapons

When a character creates a new weapon or armor, add up the character's modifiers and roll against a difficulty level of zero. They may spend 100 CP times the success level of the roll on the new weapon or armor's attributes. (See Game Design/Equipment/Equipment CP.) A character's modifiers to the item creation roll include craftsmanship abilities, time invested, industrial influence (technology available to the character) and tool quality:

Modifier		Time Invested		Industrial Influence		Tool Quality
+1		15 minutes		Stone age		Makeshift / lacking materials
+2		30 minutes		Bronze age		Low quality / cheap
+3		1 hour		Iron age		Typical / mediocre
+4		2 hours		Steel age		High quality / expensive
+5		4 hours		Industrial age		State of the art / very rare
+6		8 hours		Machine age
+7		16 hours		Cybernetic age
+8		32 hours		Future age

(You can keep adding 1 to the time invested modifier by doubling the time)

Cover

Cover reflects the chance that an attack will be blocked by this weapon, shield or armor. The chance that an attack will target the particular area protected by this item is as important as the amount of that area actually covered. For example, a helmet covering the head (a very important target) might have the same cover as armor completely protecting the feet and shins (more area, but not as important as the head.)

Heft

Heft is related to a weapon's mass and power. (See Game Design/Equipment.)

Power

Power is related to a weapon's heft and mass. (See Game Design/Equipment.)

Sharpness

Blunt weapons, including most punches and kicks, have a sharpness of 4. A weapon with a sharpness of 1 or 0 is extremely sharp. The sharpest natural claws, quills and teeth have 2 sharpness.

Make an Item - Equipment Generation Example

We will use our Steven character from the character creation example to make a new weapon. (See Character Creation/Make a Character.) Steven has craftsmanship ability with a modifier of 2.

1. Design the weapon

We decide Steven is making a "machete". The mass of the machete is 0.5 kilograms, worth 1 CP. The machete's 5 power is worth 50 CP. The machete's 3 heft is worth -30 CP. The total CP is 21 so far. (-30 + 60 + 1 = 31.) Having no shots feature (not requiring ammunition or reloading) is worth 20 CP. We add 20 CP for the sharp feature for a final total of 61 CP. In other words, Steven wants to make this machete:

machete (81 CP, 0.5 kg, 3 heft, 5 power, sharp)

2. Find the Maximum CP We start with Steven's craftsmanship modifier (2). We subtract 1 from this because Steven is only taking a few days make the machete. We add a circumstance modifier of 1 because his culture specializes in making machetes. We multiply the result by 50 CP because Steven is in a culture that has "ancient" technology. The maximum CP is 100 CP: (2 craftsmanship ability - 1 time modifier + 1 circumstance modifier) × 50 technology CP.

3. Compare Maximum CP to the CP of the Designed Weapon

Since the maximum CP (100) is equal to or greater than the Machete's CP (61), Steven is able to make it.