To-Do list?

I'll take that as a "go ahead". Here's the first part, comments are welcome, as always.

GEAR AND PLANES 101: A CRASH COURSE

Heads up, leatherheads!

My name is Sergeant Kern, and I'm here to tell you about the proper way to select and handle your equipment when you go out there and get yourself killed. During this course, you will learn about what the planes will do to your gear, what magic and psi will do to your gear, and what you can do about it.

I'm not gonna tell you to pay attention because what you hear today may save your life once. No, my job is to prep you so that you can jump that portal, throw your lives away (preferably in style), and minimize potential harm to all that expensive equipment that's gonna be issued to you. So pay attention, or else!

...

What is "Technology"?

During the following few days, I'll be using the term "technology" often, and I should make it clear right now what I mean by that. Technology, for the purpose of this course, is this (reads aloud):

"Any mundane object or process of sufficient degree of complexity."

Now, I know this doesn't tell you much, but think of it this way - if the common basher on the street couldn't explain to you how exactly it works (even though he may be using it all his life), let alone build you one, it's probably complex enough to be classified as "technology". An automatic rifle, fossil-fuel vehicle, or a PDA is technology; a steel sword, oxen cart, or an abacus - isn't.

Out On the Planes

While you may think that by now, you can handle your gun, tricorder, or AT-ST with your eyes closed, once you step through onto the Big Scene, things tend to change, sometimes drastically. The planes have a way of changing the way things work, and if you're not ready for it, you're gonna find yourself failing to jumpstart that engine as some huge frog eats the wheels off your vehicle.

The Great Ring:

As you've probably been told in Planar Philosophy 101: A Crash Course, the planes are mostly powered by belief. (Some are powered by primal energy, but we'll get to later.) Belief, it gets channeled from Earth and into the planes, forming four great currents that spin the Great Wheel. Of these four principles, the ones that interest us here are Order and Disorder.

As far as your equipment is concerned, Order is the force that makes things behave according to established rules, and ensures that things don't change too rapidly or unpredictably. Disorder, on the other hand, is the very chaotic force that breaks these rules and throws things out of sync.

It's enough for you to remember this: Your gear loves Order. The higher the tech, the more it depends on neatly arranged processes, and follows certain complex and fragile rules. Technology works very well on those planes where Order is dominant. Consequently, on the planes where Disorder prevails, high-tech gear tends to break down, randomly surge, misfire, and generally act unpredictably.

Avoid the chaotic side of the Great Ring, and when on the Lawful side, try to make use of the improved performance of your equipment.

[Game Mechanics]
* On Chaos-dominant planes, all skill checks made using technological equipment suffer a -2 or -4 penalty (for mildly or strongly Chaos-dominant planes, respectively).
* On Law-dominant planes, all skill checks made using technological equipment have a +2 or +4 bonus (for mildly or strongly Law-dominant planes, respectively)
[/Game Mechanics]

The Spire:

More obvious and more disrupting than the alignment-based alterations is the effect that the Spire may have on your equipment. The Spire, for those of you that haven't been paying attention in Planar Geography 101: A Crash Course, is the huge phalusoid monument in the middle of the plane of Outlands. It signifies Balance, as in balance between the belief-spawned principles of Bad, Good, Order, and Disorder that I mentioned earlier. As you approach the Spire, this force of Balance somehow peels off any and all reality-altering abilities that you might have on you. While this usually means FX - spells and psi - and thus doesn't bother most of you grunts, it also shows a tendency of screening out complex technology from you. After all, the best tech devices can alter reality just as well as FX can't, right?

So, if you move toward the Spire, expect your gear (starting with the spiffiest, most advanced stuff that you're packing) to first begin to behave erratically, and then completely shut down. If you insist on going all the way to the base of the thing, you'll be reduced to swords and clubs, much like the natives are. No, I'm not kidding; why'd you think we had you go through that archaic weapons training before?

To classify the negating effects that the Spire has on equipment, we use the so-called "progress levels", theoretical categories that the white coats've come up with as a model of technological complexity. The following distinctions are not clear-cut, or extensively tested, and should be taken as general guidelines at best.

[Game Mechanics]
* Within 3,000 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 8 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Miniature induction engines, personalized force screens, complex energy weapons.

* Within 1,500 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 7 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Artificial intelligence, gravity inductor, simple energy weapons, powered armor, cyborgs.

* Within 800 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 6 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Fusion drive, spacecrafts, complex computers, nanotech, robotics.

* Within 400 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 5 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Complex aircrafts/automobiles, automatic weapons, basic computers.

* Within 200 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 4 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Electricity, hydraulics, steam engine, locomotives, telegraph/telephone, basic aircrafts/automobiles.

* Within 100 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 3 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Microscopes, telescopes.

* Within 50 miles of the Spire, technology belonging to Progress Level 2 and above does not function reliably.
Example: Gunpowder, printing presses.
[/Game Mechanics]

The Inner Planes:

On the planes of energy, matters are a little easier to define. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Elemental Fire will go easy on your gear, it's just that the conditions on these planes are somewhat similar to the extreme environmental conditions found here on the Prime Material.

On the planes of Earth, Fire, and Water (and to a lesser extent, Air), you'll be mostly confined to your vehicles, or at least your enviro-suits. If you requisition the proper gear, you should be just fine. Remember, though, that your supplies are limited, while the extreme conditions are continual and eternal; at all times you need to be reasonably close to a portal back to a safe place.

On the planes of Negativity and Positivity, your equipment will likely need to be a little more ... exotic. At this moment we do not have the tech that will screen out the debilitating effects of these planes, other than the few experimental models that incorporate FX ... but we'll get to these later.
(As a side note - remember that on the Plane of Negativity both your equipment and your supplies will last shorter than you expect. Things fall apart quickly there. Plan ahead.)

The Transitive Planes

Astral:
You've all had some zero-g training, so I won't go into details about the physical qualities of the Silver Void. The one thing that you need to know about the Silver Void and your gear is that that plane is thought to be closely connected to each and every datasphere in existence. From our old Internet, to the databases of Primus One, to the Abyssal L-Webs, all informational network lean heavily onto the plane of Astral.

How does this affect you? Well, those of you cyber-savvy enough to want datasphere access while out on a mission will be happy to hear that you can - theoretically - access any datasphere from any location in the Astral, and with relative ease. I say "theoretically" and "relative" because planar datasphere admins are no fools - they know of this property of the Astral and are usually prepared for such intrusions. Also, if they detect you, the Astral is the first place they'll send seeker drones to.

[Game Mechanics]
* On the Astral Plane, every Computer Use check related to network access or interacting with interplanar transmissions is made with a +4 bonus. Also, the entire Astral Plane is treated as a huge, universal access point, so you don't need to find the right port for the right network.
[/Game Mechanics]

Ethereal:
At this point, there's not much to be said about the plane of Ether and its effects on technological devices. Just keep in mind that while you're on the Ether, you're still on Earth, although effectively immaterial. You need to distinguish between barriers
(As a side note, and off the record, I've been told by some of our mechs that it's noticeably easier to fix equipment on the Ether. They say it's the so-called "proto-matter" that makes it possible to jury-rig just about anything with some measure of reliability. Again, this has not been officially tested.)

[Game Mechanics]
* On the Ethereal Plane, every Repair check attempted to perform temporary, jury-rig repairs is made with a +4 bonus.
[/Game Mechanics]

Shadow:
Presently we advise you to steer clear of the plane of Shadow. The initial expeditions have had some ... difficulties ... and consequently, the information has been scarce. most of it second-hand. As far as your gear is concerned, back up light sources are essential; expect all light sources to function at less than optimum efficiency. Also, it is advisable to avoid bringing any holo equipment; all explorers equipped with holos have reported extremely erratic behavior of said equipment, which at this point we choose to write-off as "environmental hallucination".

[Game Mechanics]
* On the Shadow Plane, all holographic or VR projectors behave in an unpredictable manner. The exact details are left to the GM, but in general, projections tend to act as if they have a mind of their own, spreading misinformation and otherwise displaying malevolent characteristics.
[/Game Mechanics]

...

And that's all for today, grunts. Tomorrow, we talk FX, about how psi and magic can screw with the way your gear works.