Nanopsionics were developed in the last years of the Global Wars and were considered the highest of top-secret technologies. This being the case, the working of psionics is not generally understood, and much of this technology is “alien” to the general population of survi-vors. Psionic shields constitute one of these poorly under-stood technologies. Even experienced wizards seldom encounter shields, much less understand their workings.
Developed in secret as a defense against the emerging field of nanopsionics, psi shields are electronic devices that inhibit the effectiveness of psionic powers. There are two forms ofpsi shields: sheeting and spherical.
Sheeting shields are found in a cloth-like material that has hundreds of small disruption generators embedded within it. These generators require 10 Watts of electricity per square meter of material. When a shield is energized, psionic signals attempting to pass through it will completely blocked. Unfortunately, powers can go around these shields; so, to be protected, the target must be completely enclosed in energized shields. For ex-ample, a three-meter-square room that is, say, two and a half meters tall would require 48 square meters of shield-ing usshield-ing 480 Watts of electricity (or roughly 5 battery charges per hour) to provide protection. No psionic sig-nals would be able to enter or leave the room: no clair-voyant could look into the room, and no telepath could communicate with anyone on the inside. On the other hand, a psionic healer would be unaffected by the shield ifboth the healer and patient were inside the room. Sheet-ing shields were secretly built into the crew compart-ments of major military fighting vehicles and important government offices.
Spherical generators create a disruptive effect center-ed on the generator and decreasing with range. Each gen-erator has a field strength which determines how great an effect it has on psionic powers. Field strengths range from 1 to usually no more than 30, though the exact upper limit is unknown. Field strength reduces by one for each meter distant from the generator; hence, a character standing 12 meters away from a strength 20 generator would be in a strength 8 field. The effective field strength is subtracted from a psionicist’s PSI Strength. For example, a character with a PSI Strength (Kinetics) of 10 in a strength 8 field has an effective strength of2. This applies to either end of a ranged power. Imagine a clairvoyant moving his or her point of view towards a generator —each meter closer to the generator will require two strength points instead of the usual one. Further, any area inside the shield where the clairvoyant’s effect strength reduces to zero will ap-pear as a black cloud. The effect is similar for other ranged powers.
• The wizard Minx is in a ruined military complex when she hears a noise up ahead. She has ESP strength 15 and Clairvoyance. She finds a safe corner near a wall to
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hunker down, and she starts projecting her point of view through the wall. The next room is very large and has plenty of blown out windows to provide light. Upon pro-jecting her vision into the room, she can see out the win-dows and across the rubble for several kilometers. But, her actual body is 12 meters away from a field strength 10 spherical generator. If the generator were off, she would be able to project right over it, but it is on. Since her ef-fective strength once she projects the two meters to the edge of the field is 13, she can see into the field.
However, each meter into the field requires two strength;
so, at 6.5 meters into the 10-meter field, her effective strength is 0. Thus, even from the edge of the field, she will not be able to see the last three and a half meters around the generator or the generator itself.
A typical generator is attached to a B100 battery and has an encumbrance equal to half its field strength. A genera-tor requires 10 Watts per point offield strength.
Using Psionic Shields in Adventures
• A major NPC fears that a wizard is secretly spying on him, but he can’t figure out who it is. He has heard about psionic screens and hires the PCs to find one for him. The only one he knows about for sure is owned by a rival gang leader. The PCs are free to attempt to find another or to steal the one from the rival gang leader.
• If the PCs rely heavily on psionic scouting, they may discover a field ofdarkness beyond which they cannot ex-plore. This darkness is in a secure bunker or other loca-tion that is difficult to access. With enough effort, they can gain entry and discover an active psionic shield (with a self-sufficient power supply) and a secret hoard of fraudulent tax documents and similar financial records, as well as several envelopes with incriminating digital pho-tographs (Knowledge: History to recognize the pre-Fall politicians in the images).
E ND M ATTER
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Blanket (5 ENC, 3 TP, Common): Nice and warm.
Gear
Books (1 ENC, 3 x Skill or Market TP, Common).
Climbing Shoes (0 ENC, 25 TP, Uncommon): +5% to climbing rolls.
Compass (0 ENC, 5 TP, Uncommon).
Digital Camera (1.0 ENC, 100 TP, Uncommon): Needs 1 Duct Tape (1 ENC, 20 TP, Uncommon): 1 roll.B-1.
Pure Alcohol (1.25 ENC, 5 TP, Uncommon): One liter of drink-it-or-drive-it.
Gas (1.25 ENC, 12 TP, Uncommon): One liter of some-thing basically like diesel.
Gas Mask (1.2 ENC, 50 TP, Uncommon): Standard mili-tary gas mask, also protects against dust storms.
Fire Extinguisher, Large (20 ENC, 250 TP, Uncommon):
50 attempts. See BRP p. 224 for extinguishing a fire.
Fire Extinguisher, Medium (10 ENC, 100 TP, Uncom-mon): 20 attempts.
Fire Extinguisher, Small (3 ENC, 25 TP, Uncommon): 5 attempts.
Flint and Steel (0 ENC, 1 TP, Common).
Handcuffs (0.1 ENC, 25 TP, Uncommon).
Hygiene Kit, Basic (0 ENC, 5 TP, Common): Toothbrush, comb, soap, wash rag.
Hygiene Kit, Proper (1.0 ENC, 10 TP, Uncommon): This is what is needed to clean up to pre-Fall standards, about 10 days’ worth ofsupplies.
Magnifying Glass (0 ENC, 2 TP, Uncommon).
Marine Flare (0.2 ENC, 20 TP, Uncommon): Fires 150 meters up, burns for 6 seconds.
Matches (0 ENC, 1 TP, Common): 10 waterproof.
Pitons and Hammer (1.5 ENC, 300 TP, Rare): 10 pitons.
Power Holster (0.75 ENC, 300 TP, Rare): Popular during the wars; when triggered, a power holster will auto-matically draw a pistol; it will take a pistol up to 0.75 ENC, and it will cost the user no DEX or SR to ready the pistol.
Road Flare (0.1 ENC, 10 TP, Uncommon): Burns hot for about 30 minutes.
Rope, Good (1.0 ENC, 1 TP): 10 meters, holds one per-Safety Harness (0.25 ENC, 10 TP, Common): Worn overson.
your clothes, this harness allows the character to clip on to nearby safety lines; using this devise, a “car surfer” will not need to make climb rolls to stay on the outside ofa car.
Scope (0.5 to 1.0 ENC, 50 TP, Uncommon): BRP p. 276.
Shackles (0.5 ENC, 50 TP, Rare).
Snare (0 ENC, 2 TP, Common).
Space Blanket (0.1 ENC, 10 TP, Uncommon).
Speedloaders (0 ENC, 15 TP, Uncommon): A number of products are available to simplify loading revolvers and tube magazines; using a speedloader should take 3 SR or 5 DEX instead of1 per round.
Tarp (0.5 ENC, 3 TP).
Watch (0 ENC, 15 TP, Common).
Bullets
Ammunition is very expensive and hard to find in any great quantity. One must pay a premium to trade more than one round of ammunition; in addition to the cost of all the rounds separately, if more than two rounds are bought, add the number of rounds to the cost in TP. Addi-tionally, anyone buying over 5 rounds is assumed to need the ammunition, and the value is doubled. The ENC is equal to the Risk for 200 rounds.
Standard Ball (Risk in TP per round): Standard damage.
Depleted Uranium Bullets (×2 ENC, ×3 normal cost, Un-common): Ballistic armor counts half (round down) versus these rounds.
Expanding Bullets (×2 normal cost, Common): These rounds have +2 normal Risk.
“Safety” Round (×1.5 normal cost, Uncommon): Damage +1 risk, but ballistic armor counts as double.
High Charge Round 1 (Police or P) (×2 normal cost, Common): Extra powder can be loaded into a round to give it +1 Risk, but also +1 to the fumble range.
High Charge Round 2 (P+) (×3 normal cost, Common):
As above, but +2.
High Charge Round 3 (P++) (×4 normal cost, Common):
As above, but +3.
Teflon Bullets (×5 normal cost, Uncommon): Ballistic ar-mor does not protect against these rounds.
Tungsten Core Bullets (×2 normal cost, Uncommon):
Ballistic armor counts half (round down), but dam-age is -3 Risk.
Common Tools
Auto Repair Kit #1 (5 ENC, 50 TP, Common): A small automobile repair kit with a minimum of tools; it is sufficient for many common tasks, but all repair rolls are made at -15%.
Auto Repair Kit #2 (20 ENC, 100 TP, Uncommon): A large toolkit that fits into two normal toolboxes; all rolls are made at -5%.