On a far distant world on another plane of reality lived a dying race of humanoids. They had destroyed their world with high technology wars and the few survivors lived far below the ground. One group of survivors were a technological community doing research into psionics and inter-dimensional travel when the final war started. They continued their research to have something to do and made a breakthrough into another reality. All their instruments showed strange readings for this place which seemed to be an immense library, leading off forever in all directions. After wandering in it the researchers found a section in their own language, Unglas, which seemed to be about dimensional travel and a limited technology which need not disrupt society. Shortly after they had finished copying this they lost contact with the Library of Forever and never found it again. Since then they have been travelling to other planes and teaching technology to obtain supplies for their own world. As soon as they are established the off-world teachers are rarely seen outside colleges, they are usually massively defensively armed with devices which cannot be taken from them.
Disallowed Technology
Some DMs may wish to disallow parts of the Technologist class so as to fit in better with their worlds. The easiest parts to not use are Psionic Devices, God Devices, and Demigod (Information/Programming) Devices as these have been designed to not be used if desired. Alternatively, or in addition to this, it would be possible to ban all devices in excess of 8th level, and possibly some 8th or even 7th level ones considered too excessive.
A simple course of action is to only allow 1st-6th level Tech devices, and only introduce higher level devices in a controlled way. This could be rationlised in a number of ways, such as the teachers of technology being careful, or the higher level arts being lost in some way.
A possible course of action would be to change the basic way the class works. Techs could be restricted from constructing some of the parts needed for devices, and have a specialised skill of Summoning vital (sub)electronic and crystal components from another universe, which perhaps has suffered a devastating war destroying all life. The only other ways to produce components would be to use some form of Synthesiser, or scavenge them from other devices.
The most drastic way of still using Techs in some way is to ban the character class and just have certain devices, or systems of devices, which have survived from a distant time when devices were built. These would probably be at least Embedded in Crystal with Power Receivers or some other access to external power, possibly some might be Projected or even Areal. It is possible an automatic teaching system could be found which, after testing them, would allow existing characters to become Technicians, and possibly new characters to train as Technologists. A guardian fixed-location Non Material Computer, for example with a human form, might also be used.
In summary, if detailed changes are required, then individual devices could be marked 'Known', for those taught as standard, 'Knowable', for those that could be researched or (re)discovered, and 'Unknowable', for those that do not fit the particular campaign. For example the main world that Techs was developed in did not allow explosives or explosive-propelled missile weapons, due to leakage of transient high pressures onto other planes. Also many devices are banned as they would be far too easy for non-Techs to duplicate, or might 'give them the wrong idea'. It should be noted that many devices on the tables were developed during play, or due to holes discovered in play. The notes that follow on particular areas of technology should help in making decisions about devices.
Restricting Available Power
The most critical thing restricting the power of technological devices is the availability of power supplies. If the Heavy Water Extracter did not work then the only source of the Fusion Cores (and Crystals) used in the cold fusion devices would be very advanced devices such as the Matter Transmuter; alternatively the DM could simply declare that cold fusion did not work. These restrictions mean there are no good quality power generation devices of below 7th level, much the same effect might be achieved by restricting the availability of the mithral required for shielding cold fusion ('Can I melt down your +4 sword?'). For DMs who are being really thorough the matter annihilation devices could be banned as well leaving only the various Taps as major power sources.
Another alternative would be the banning of all power generation devices (fuel cells, cold fusion, matter annihilation), with the exception of Taps and possibly Solar Panels. This would very much reduce Techs to stored power; an ancient grid of Potential Field Generators and/or Energy Beam Transmitters might cover some or all areas, technological 'mana', possibly with secret codes to be discovered to access some of them.
Restricting Weapons
The existing Tech weapons are designed not to imbalance the game, but further restrictions might be desired. It would be possible to ban all Laser Devices leaving the only use of lasers to be the low-power applications in various devices, for example Computers. A second possibility is to ban some or all varieties of Blaster Device, but it might then be necessary to ban the Transport Devices Pulse/Reaction Jet and (Macro) Thruster, as these use a similar effect. Selected Weapon Devices might be banned, but care is needed if this is to be justified as systematic.
Restricting Defences
If the Techs are considered to be too well defended then the personal setting on force fields could be banned, i.e. the minimum radius would be 1". This could be done by banning the Personal Force Field, or possibly moving it up a level to 3rd with a minimum 5'rad; it might be considered neccessary to ban the Air Shield as well for consistancy. This leaves only the Matter Shield and its relatives. The Energy Shield could be banned, or only allowed as part of a more general device such as the Defence Field, if its energy defence is considered to be too good.
If the physical defences are considered too good then some or all (Specialist) Cloth Armour could be banned; Cloth, Metalcloth, and Shockcloth are obvious candidates. It might be decided that Crystal Sheet cannot be formed into Crystal Armour (or Shield), or the Multi Environment Suit might be disallowed.
Mind Meddling
If this is a problem then the common features used by the Biological Devices Sleeper, Dreamer, and Mind Programmer could be disallowed. These devices could be made species-specific, or disallowed completely. The Educator, Personality Recorder, Mind Probe, and even Hypnosis Generator can be treated in a similar manner; this would leave just the Trancer. It is advised to leave the Educator alone if possible as removing it greatly interferes with the Tech training rules.
As an alternative the deeper levels of Mind Probing and/or Mind Programmer could be made far more difficult, for example requiring successively deeper levels to be penetrated, or they could be banned completely, or some form of drug assistance required, possibly tailored to the individual to a greater or lesser extent. Personality recording could be banned, or be made a process taking weeks or even months of work (but note the Matter Scanner II+); this would make androids or robots with 'cloned' personalities far more difficult.
Life Creation & Robots
Can be stopped completely by banning the various versions of Android Mould, the Pattern Associator, and the Pattern Synthesiser (but note certain very high level Reality Devices). Auto Docs would still be possible (in conjuction with Medical Synthesisers) in their healing mode. If a restricted version is suitable then just allowing the Lesser Android Mould and/or Pattern Associators would be possible. If even this is not suitable then the Android Mould might be allowed, but only in conjuction with a Survival Scanner/Life Mover to allow Techs serial immortality. Note that the Tech spec has no real way of making use of parts of bodies for transplants (except possibly via paired Bio Interfaces), short of the Frankenstein's monster approach of the Life Generator.
A different thread might be to restrict Android Moulds so they were not capable of growing, say, brains and/or eyes. If eyes could not be grown then all Androids would need to use Bionic (Robot) Eyes (or be blind), if no brains then a Bionic Brain (Pattern Synthesiser). Similar restrictions might be put on what an Auto Doc can do. Robots of human size would be restricted to no true mobile intelligence if Pattern Synthesisers (but not Associators) were banned, Android Robots might still be practical given sufficiently good communications, e.g. Linked Crystals and Visicoders. Given a 'brain in a bottle' a remote human intelligence could operate an Android Robot similarly if Bionic Organs are not compact enough.
Reality Alteration
Some DMs might dislike even the idea of these devices, which at their upper limits operate at Wish level of power. Quite a few of the more drastic Reality and Creation Devices are in Demigod Devices anyway, but devices such as the Integrator and its relatives, Projected Circuitary, Demi Material Objects, and Non Material Objects, might be banned altogether. If Non Material Objects are too excessive then only Demi Material Objects could be allowed; Nano Miniturisation and careful use of Cache allows many of the effects anyway while still maintaining a material element. The only versions of the Integrator (etc) allowed might be the Reioplasm Integrator which only works on reioplasm (see "Reioplasm Devices" in Examples), or restrictions put on so that living things and/or the minds of living things cannot be effected.
Sensor Restrictions
It might be desired to restrict the Tech Sensor Devices so that they only detect Tech things and so do not impact too much on the campaign. Banning the various Lenses and the Detector Cube goes a long way towards this, and suitable restrictions on Sensors/Transducers might be neccessary. It might also be desired to ban the Reality Clock, and possibly the Universal Constant Analyser. Note that a properly analysed Matter Scan will tell you everything.
Transport Restrictions
The most obvious device to ban is the Momentum Generator. Dropping this removes low-level Faster-Than-Light travel, which is then only possible using a (varient of a) Jump Generator. The Tech devices which provide instant travel start with the (very dangerous) Transfer Link and progress through the Matter Transmitter to the Transporter, Teleporter, and Portal Generator. The last can also provide access between universes and might be bumped-up one or two levels if desired, or some of its functions restricted to a higher level of the device; note there is no (standard) Tech time travel.
Wheeled vehicles might be considered inappropriate for the Tech style of technology. The easiest way to stop them is to ban the heavy-duty form of rotary motor; the linear form might be kept for handling large doors etc. One problem with this might be rationalising the heavier-duty Hidden Wheel Robot Frames, lots of little legs instead?
Origins and History of the Technologist Class
Shortly after the original D&D rules arrived in Britain (about 1975) people started playing them at science fiction conventions. During 1976 various people commented that D&D was a nice fantasy game but they would like to play something that included Flash Gordon and other '20s and '30s style pulp high technology. Early notes on Techs were made by Rory O. McLean (ROM), including such devices as the Crystal Radio, Solar Still, Torch, and Civil Engineering. These were completely re-written and published in 1978/79 in editions 11 and 15 of the 'Trollcrusher' APA magazine, and constituted version 1 of the Tech spec.
A revised version of Techs was published in issue 20 of Trollcrusher in 1979/80, this was version 2 and probably the first version that was widely circulated. During the 1980s the Tech rules were developed, initially to include up to 6th level devices, and later to be usable with AD&D; this was version 3. Copies of this were circulated among (ex-)Loughborough University of Technology (LUT) DMs. In the early 1990s a new campaign and requests from ex-LUT DM John Dallman led to further work, fully integrating the rules for use with AD&D (1st Edition), and the complete re-organisation of the device tables, with full rules for up to 9th level devices. This was released in 1991/92 as version 4. A rather nicely typeset version, with a few strange modifications, was produced by Roger Dearnaley. Since then tidying-up has been done which will lead to version 4.1, which should be usable with AD&D 1st and 2nd Edition, and will hopefully be complete enough for any reasonable use!
The robot rules in Techs are based (with permission) on 'Robots in Pangea' by Graham Cole, published in Trollcrusher 11. These evolved through the 'Robot Building- for fun, pleasure and bankruptcy' supplement to version 3, which was quite widely used, to become part of version 4 of Technologists. The vehicles rules evolved from an undistributed supplement to version 3 to become part of version 4 of Technologists. Technological treasure tables were also developed for version 3, and used by a number of DMs. The Technician class was developed for version 3 as a sub-class of Technologists.
The following people have been significantly connected with the Tech spec, either writing device specifications or playtesting, and are listed in vague order of when involved, earliest first: Rory O. McLean (ROM), Brian Renouf, Dave Sellers, Geoff Dembo, Dave Waring, John Drake, Foz, Phil Rochford, Dave Swift, Tim Deacon, Alan Rose, Steve Walker, John Dallman (JGD), Jon Tarry, Roger Dearnaley (RD), Max Rible, and Jan Van Der Pol; also thanks to the various editors of 'Trollcrusher' magazine for publishing the spec, anyone missed (or misspelled) is due to my faulty memory and is humbly apologised to. Most of the development and playtesting has been done with the Loughborough University roleplaying group (LSUCWG, now LSURAWS) without whom all this would not exist.
Extended Characteristics
These are mainly intended for Strength (STR) beyond 17, i.e. Heroic or superhuman. They are given in term of D&D extrapolated strength, which was used by some DMs in the '70s and early '80s before AD&D, and with comparably strong creatures as examples. The strength of most creatures is assumed to extend over about ten values of extrapolated strength, so for example Hill Giants range between 23 and 32 STR with an average of 28, the strongest Greater Titan might be 97 STR, etc; the value given is the average, except for Stone Giants where it is the upper extreme with the average being 33 (because they are considered not that much stronger than Hill Giants). Note that D&D extrapolated strength maps quite well on to Hero System strength, except for weight lifted.
AD&D D&D Examples 18 18-27 18(01-00)=18-22, Heroic=18, Ogre (Magi)=22, Troll=27 19 28-37 Hill Giant=28 20 38-47 Stone Giant=38 21 48-57 Frost Giant=48 22 58-67 Fire Giant=58 23 68-77 Cloud Giant=68 24 78-87 Storm Giant=78 25 88-97 Titan=88, Greater Titan=93
Bonuses for Extended Characteristics
Occasionally characters gain characteristics beyond 18 by some means, and these give bonuses to Understand Machine (UM, from INT), Repair/Modify Machine (R/MM, from DEX), and Unwise Action (Meddle, from WIS). A slightly different system applies for 'Level Push' (exceeding level based construction limits), where each +1 beyond 18 is considered to be equivalent to +5. Bonuses to earned experience from INT are also given for compatibility with previous versions of the Tech spec, they are not part of standard AD&D, and DMs should only use them if at all with AD&D after careful thought.
INT DEX WIS INT
Value UM R/MM Meddle Exp
19 +25% +25% -5% +15%
20 +30% +30% -6% +20%
21 +35% +35% -7% +25%
22 +40% +40% -8% +30%
23 +45% +45% -9% +35%
24 +50% +50% -10% +40%
22 +55% +55% -11% +45%
25 +60% +60% -12% +50%
Tech Level and Alien Technology
If a tech level system is in use (e.g., the GURPS tech level system), technologists present something of a problem. Assume that 1st level technologists can work at the tech level of their normal environment, and add one tech level per character level above third. Note that this gives an ability to work across a range of tech levels: a 10th level technologist, living in a TL4 environment, can work with technology up to 4th level devices with ease. This allows her to work with devices from TL4 (environment) to TL11 (TL4 + L10 -3). This system should not be applied to devices constructed using the technologist character class, note that most of these were designed at +2TL on their functional TL. ((Author: JGD.))
The Mark System, and Modifiers
If a device may be built at several different levels then it is given a mark. The lowest level of the device is mark one, the next mark two etc; very few devices have more than three marks. For example a Hand Blaster II is a mark two device, 4th level rather than the basic 3rd level; if no mark is given the device is assumed to be mark one.
Some device names have prefixes (before them) or suffixes (after them). These are mostly due to Modification Devices being used. For example a device made using Shape Crystal might be prefixed with 'Shaped', for example a Shaped Power Receiver, an (In)Efficient, Reliable, or Fixed device might be suitably prefixed, as might a single Minor Embedded (in Crystal) device. If Miniturise, Micro Miniturise, or Nano Miniturise (Holographic Circuitry) is used then the device is prefixed 'Mini', 'Micro Mini', or 'Holo Mini'.
The system tends to break-down when several devices are treated together, for example multiple devices Embebbed in Crystal, when the simplist thing is to list the devices after noting what has been done to them. Another example of prefixes is where there are possible variations within a device, such as a Rugged Power Receiver, or a device is commonly modified in some way, such as a Shielded Power Crystal, or Inactivated Energy Essence.
Modifications can also result in suffixes, where a '+', '-', '!', or even a 'p' is placed after the mark (if any), meaning an 'improved', a 'restricted' or 'Failed', a 'Mad Scientist', or a 'Protected' device. In this case there are usually more details in a full device description.
Terminology
L means 'level of device'
ep means 'energy point', usually worth
approx. 1gp each, 5ep are usually
required to do 1D6 damage
gp means 'gold piece', a tenth of a pound
tn means tonne, a metric ton, 22,000gpwt
in some cases with large weights
1tn is assumed to be 20,000gpwt
weight is used throughout these rules to
mean the same thing as mass
segment is assumed to be 6/10secs
(TSR standard 6secs)
round is assumed to be 6secs
(TSR standard 60secs)
(short) turn is assumed to be 60secs/1min
(TSR standard 10mins)
game turn is assumed to be 10mins
(same as TSR turn)
hour is assumed to be 6 game turns/
60mins
day is assumed to be 1440mins/24hrs
week is assumed to be 7 days
month is assumed to be 28 days/4wks
season is assumed to be 91 days/13wks
year is assumed to be 52wks/13mnths
inches mean real inches where " means
scale inches, e.g. 6 inches is six
real inches, 6" is six scale inches;
there are 528" per mile
space is assumed to start at 25mls high
on an Earth-like world
G means acceleration, 1G is one Earth
gravity, 32'/s/s or 9.8m/s/s
lights means light-years/year, or multiples
of the speed of light
MC means Machine Capacity, 1MC is
roughly equivalent to 1Mbyte &
1mips, every +1MC is x2 capacity,
see "Computer Devices"
DR means Damage Reduction, DR1 is
-1 damage/blow, see "Mechanical Devices"
metric prefixes are used in some places:
'k' means kilo, a thousand,
'M' means mega, a million,
'G' means giga, a thousand million,
'T' means tera, a million million
e.g. 32ktn is 32,000 tonnes
The abbreviations STR, INT, WIS, CON, DEX, and CHAR are used for characteristics