ALIEN - Equipment

Owned by Derek Batting
Last updated: Jun 20, 2021
3 min read

ITEM CREATION RULES

The equipment library is designed to accommodate all type of gear – from small arms to ship and vehicle weapons and modules. This is implemented via text-based field called CATEGORY. This reduced the number of libraries required and allows easy sorting using groups and filters during play. Fields that are not used are hidden when sheet is locked. Below is an overview of each field and how it connects to the automation.

NON-ID NAME – in case GM wishes to have weapon that required identification in some way.

NOTES – free form field. Like the description field at the bottom of the sheet.

CATEGORY – the first important field related to the automation of ACTIVE EQUIPMENT rolls on the character sheets and NPCs' weapon attacks. The content is parsed to determine which skills should be used when the dice pool is built. Valid entries are: Close Combat, Pistols, Rifles, Heavy Weapons, Vehicle Weapons, Ship Armaments. Other items that are not weapons use the Special field.

ARMOR RATING– when used with items with Protection category it updates the AR section in the COMBAT tab that links to the Combat Tracker (CT).

AIR/POWER/FOOD/WATER SUPPLY – this identifies the resource points granted when the item is carried. More on that in the CONSUMABLES section below.

HARDPOINTS – used for ship-related modules.

WEIGHT – in Alien RPG, item weight and encumbrance are handled differently. The ruleset implements mapping between the labels used in the book and numbers. Normal Item = 1, Heavy Item = 2, Light Item = 0.5 etc. This is used during Encumbrance calculation in the GEAR tab.

COST – item’s cost

SPECIAL – this is the second important field related to the automation of ACTIVE EQUIPMENT rolls. When item not categorized as weapon is equipped (and appears in the ACTIVE EQUIPMENT frame in the COMBAT tab) the automation will parse the Special field to check if there is skill other than Close or Ranged Combat to apply. If the field contains valid skill modifiers, a window will prompt you to select which one to roll.

SKILL SELECTION POP-UP BOX

CREATION OF CUSTOM ITEMS WITH AUTOMATION SUPPORT

Creating weapons and linking them to the automation in the ACTIVE EQUIPMENT’s frame requires populating the correct category in the weapon’s profile:

  • Close Combat

  • Pistols

  • Rifles

  • Heavy Weapons

  • Vehicle Weapons

  • Ship Armaments.

Creation of gear with other skill modifiers follows similar rules as the EFFECTS library:

  • Modifiers must be enclosed in square brackets [ ]

  • The skill names must match the names on the character sheet

  • Multiple skill modifiers must be separated by a comma

  • Additional text can exist in the fields, but it must be outside of the square brackets