They’re out there, and now everyone knows it. That wasn’t always the case. When the aliens known as greys first came to Earth, they did so secretly. They surreptitiously studied humans, sometimes abducting them to do advanced research. Eventually, the greys learned everything they needed, and they emerged from the shadows in a historic event (known as the Revelation) in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The greys promised to partner with humanity, help them through their many troubles, and usher in a new golden age where grey and human worked side by side for a better tomorrow.
A few humans—and maybe even a few greys—still believe in the promises of the Revelation. However, the reality is that greys, on the whole, view average humans as useful servants or pets, not equals. The Revelation has rendered humans into second-class citizens, no matter their merit or pedigree. Greys have risen to positions of power and prominence, while most humans have tumbled. Those who retain their status feel they do so only by the sufferance of the greys, who often control major industries either directly or behind the scenes.
Many jokes revolve around the idea that greys are somehow sexually stimulated by humans, though most humans don’t really believe that. Jokes that most people find far less funny describe how greys have developed a secret taste for food made from people.
Most greys operate in public and live in posh high-rise apartments around New York. But a few, known as the Directorate, remain in the Mothership, which is sometimes visible hovering over the city. The Directorate apparently sets grey policy for the species as a whole.
New York Grey was created by fictional leakage.
The foci that player characters can choose in New York Grey—as well as any foci that are dragged into the recursion—are modified by the recursion’s context, as appropriate. For example, if someone chooses Processes Information, replace all connections to Ruk and Ruk features (such as the All Song) to connections to New York Grey and its features (such as the Internet).
Instead of appearing as a human, a recursor could choose to translate into the recursion as a grey. A grey is the size of a human child, doesn’t wear clothing, has enormous eyes, and has no obvious secondary sexual organs.
Grey: level 4, knowledge tasks as level 6, Speed defense as level 5; can activate a shield that grants +5 to Armor but renders the grey incapable of making attacks
Though the news and popular entertainments show greys as happily integrated into life in New York City, that’s not really true. The average person feels a vague disquiet when thinking about the greys, and some are actively paranoid. In truth, a hidden struggle is being waged in the back alleys and high-rise boardrooms of the city. Many greys openly feel that humans are an inferior race, and they wouldn’t raise much of a fuss if legislation were enacted to make the greys the legal guardians of people everywhere. Many humans seem resigned to this eventuality, but some fight on—legally, when possible, but sometimes in secret.
Many greys who believe that humans should be owned belong to a group known as the Radiant Sun. Greys who actively oppose this idea belong to a much smaller group called the Oath. Many greys do not belong to either organization but have sympathies to one or the other.
The human-led group of people who believe (as it turns out, rightly) that greys mean bad things for humans is called the Green Hills Society.
When greys interact with humans, they use uninflected human languages, including popular idioms and obscenities. They appear as celebrities on talk show programs. They take up human hobbies with relish. They also take on human names, usually choosing simple and innocuous names such as Billy, Cathy, Charlie, Joey, Sally, Freddy, or Kelly.
Despite the fact that some names the greys take are more masculine or more feminine, greys don’t really have (or haven’t revealed to humans) a specific gender. So calling a grey “it” is not an insult, though humans often lapse into “he” or “she,” depending on a particular grey’s chosen name.
Greys refuse to wear clothing, and though they are usually loquacious and friendly, they never share their own culture, language, or origins with humans.
Most places a recursor could visit in New York on Earth are also locations in New York Grey, including Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and most other sites. The following locations stand out because of their relationship to the grey colonization of Earth.
The Grey Embassy keeps its offices in one of the many buildings near the UN Plaza, only a few blocks from the East River. Many of the same things a visitor could accomplish in a terrestrial embassy are also possible here. For instance, a visitor can request entertaining educational materials regarding the grey arrival on Earth (sanitized), opportunities for terrestrial/grey partnerships (limited), information about grey culture (not particularly helpful), and so on. Visitors can also request a meeting with the grey ambassador, who goes by the name Charlie.
Unlike many greys, Charlie believes in the mission the embassy proclaims and would like humans and greys to succeed together, which makes it the perfect ambassador. In fact, Charlie is the secret leader of the Oath, and not even most other greys know that. Charlie comes across as guileless, full of energy and ideas, and unaffected by bad news, other than to say that any particular setback is an opportunity to do better next time. Charlie can provide characters with tickets to Club Gr3y, hints of information about the Mothership, and other connections in the grey community. In dire need, Charlie can also connect visitors with other Oath members and possibly even with the Green Hills Society.
However, Charlie is not alone in the embassy; the Radiant Sun has installed a “deputy” ambassador named Molly.
Molly doesn’t like humans and is happy in its role as a mole for the Radiant Sun. It rarely handles meetings with visitors to the embassy, but it goes through the notes afterward and sends all information to the group that installed it. Molly keeps its affiliation secret from Charlie, who would likely be put out that Molly was working against its goals.
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CLUB GR3Y ULTIMATE VARIETY SHOW
Alpha, the universally renowned grey juggler! The Crazy Murphies, the husband-and-wife
Westwind, the man who can take a fall from
Amy, the grey comedian whose jokes are so
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An exclusive nightclub called Club Gr3y is popular in the city. Humans and greys looking for a good time might enjoy one of the many shows or dances hosted by the club. On the other hand, many less-than-legal deals, games, and exhibitions also occur in the club’s private rooms. Club Gr3y is owned by a grey called Johnny.
Johnny isn’t part of either the Radiant Sun or the Oath. “He” (as he prefers to be referred to) is his own grey. He views his establishment as a place for fun and profit. To the latter end, he also runs a few illicit businesses on the side, with the cooperation of other local “business” people. He can be gracious to friends and those he considers innocent victims, but he will order vicious vigilante justice against those who do him or his friends wrong. These hits are performed by various toughs, including both humans and greys, that work for Johnny.
One of Johnny’s biggest hits is the stand-up grey comedian called Amy. Amy performs every other week to a packed hall, and the audience loves “her” (the pronoun she prefers). Amy is secretly quickened. She travels recursions, gathering jokes and experiences. At first, becoming quickened was wondrous. But over time, her mood shifted. She realized an underlying truth (or at least, what she believes to be a truth): New York Grey is a lie; greys are not a “real” alien race; and the struggle of the Radiant Sun, the Oath, and all the humans who fight the growing oppression is in vain because it’s merely a narrative being played out. In the last few months, her jokes have grown darker, centering on more apocalyptic themes. That’s because Amy has begun to explore the possibility of collapsing New York Grey and ending the charade.
The Defense Grey Investigation Service (DGIS) is a human organization with ties to the feds. It is tasked with investigating crimes perpetrated against greys by humans, and vice versa. Because its funding relies on prosecuting more of the former than the latter, DGIS agents have learned to investigate reports of grey misconduct in secret. So while they publicly bring to justice humans who perpetuate hate crimes, violence, and attempted murder against greys, the DGIS has assembled a small hidden library of detailed reports on grey individuals and groups who apparently do not have the best interest of humanity at heart. DGIS’s secret agenda includes finding the actual location of the Mothership, discovering which greys actively participate in Radiant Sun activities, and learning whether there is any truth to rumors of a factory where homeless people are rendered into food for greys who have developed a taste for human beings.
Maria is a true believer in the idea that the greys are working against humans. She was a child when the greys first announced their presence, but Maria’s father was an abductee before that. Though mainstream media (owned by the greys these days) scoffs at the idea that alien abduction stories of the past had anything to do with them, Maria witnessed firsthand events that can be explained no other way. Her father never recovered from the experience and eventually took his own life. As a result, Maria can be a bit quick with a pistol when investigating secret grey activities and often has to be talked down by her partner, Agent Coleman.
Marshawn, a once-renowned American football player, was inducted into the DGIS after a knee injury permanently sidelined him. Being brought into DGIS was something of a media stunt, instigated by Marshawn’s biggest fan, a grey named Cally. From Marshawn’s point of view, the greys have their good side, as he can personally attest. Though that doesn’t make him a blind sycophant, he doesn’t always assume the worst in a situation where greys are involved the way his partner, Agent Simons, does.
DGIS agent: level 4, grey lore as level 6; Armor 1; long-range pistol attack inflicts 5 points of damage
A radical group of humans calling themselves the Green Hills Society believes they must rise up and eject the greys from Earth, the sooner the better, and no matter the cost. This ideology makes them terrorists, though many human sympathizers secretly agree. Green Hills once had more open support, before a few operations targeting greys left several human casualties behind. The radicals claim those incidents were “false flag” operations planned by the greys to discredit the Green Hills movement, but whether or not that’s true, the damage was done, and the radicals had to go underground—literally. The secret headquarters of the Green Hills Society is an abandoned and decommissioned subway station under the city. The hidden base enjoys state-of-the-art facilities, thanks to the secret involvement of a figure that no one on either side of the conflict could predict: a grey named Manny. Only a few humans (and, so far, no greys) know about Manny.
Manny is a grey scientist, one of several among the grey population that has sympathy for the human plight. But Manny is the only grey who has done more than raise objections to the Directorate in the Mothership; Manny has instituted several initiatives to weaken grey influence, including being a vital part of the Green Hills Society. When it visits the group’s base or conducts other delicate operations where it wishes to hide its grey affiliation, Manny wears its “Dr. Carlos Manard” human suit.
Manny (grey): level 4, knowledge tasks as level 6, Speed defense as level 5; can activate a shield that grants +5 to Armor but renders Manny incapable of making attacks; wears a human suit artifact
Lobo is a robot, fashioned by Manny, and shaped like a massive hound made of metal. Lobo possesses artificial intelligence and patrols subway tunnels surrounding the secret base to keep away intruders. It also responds to security issues in the base. Lobo’s artificial intelligence was induced by downloading the mind of a human being, and sometimes that personality emerges. Lobo knows it’s just a copy, and it’s fine with that. Sometimes, however, Lobo secretly watches over the human whose mind spawned it. Other times, it explores further afield. Lobo has recently become quickened, though it doesn’t quite know what it all means.
Lobo: level 4, tracking as level 9 (even across recursions); health 21; short-range howl (usable once per minute) can send one target into a random alternate recursion
“Everyone loves Sunny Flakes! Sunny Flakes is magic in a bowl! Sweet, crunchy, and full of yummy protein, Sunny Flakes taste GREAT! And remember, kids: greys prefer Sunny Flakes!”—Sunny Flakes cereal box
The Sunny Flakes factory, located in one of New York’s industry zones, has had amazing success since it got grey sponsorship several years back. Now that it’s known that greys “prefer it,” many humans have learned to love the cereal, too. Nearly every household pantry has a box of Sunny Flakes or some other related product. The factory is huge, but much of its workforce is robotic. Only a few humans work there, usually in positions of maintenance, upkeep, and security. Of course, the office wing of the factory is well staffed with managers, lawyers, marketers, and executives, including the CEO, Sheila Calvin.
Sheila (a human) only recently took control of the company, when her father Max Calvin went missing and was presumed dead. She’s always been something of a partier, and few people think she’s up to running a company as large and successful as Sunny Flakes. Sheila is out to prove the naysayers wrong, but an even more pressing issue concerns her. She is still very curious about what happened to her father, and she suspects foul play.
Sunny Flakes security guard (human): level 3; Armor 1; long-range pistol attack inflicts 4 points of damage
Sheila Calvin: level 4
Ginny, the grey who really runs things at Sunny Flakes, seems like an affable and approachable chief operating officer. What few realize is that Ginny is also a hardcore proponent of the Radiant Sun, the grey organization that advocates for the complete subjugation of the human race. Ginny is responsible for Max Calvin’s disappearance, after Max learned about the factory’s secret meeting space for the Radiant Sun, as well as a separate cereal line where humans are dried, powdered, and processed into an innocuous-looking ingredient that is fed back up to the regular factory floor. Yes, Sunny Flakes is people.
Ginny (grey): level 4, knowledge tasks as level 6, Speed defense as level 5; can activate a shield that grants +5 to Armor but renders Ginny incapable of making attacks; carries memory eraser artifact
The Mothership, for humans, is a bit like the bogeyman. Although they would never say so publicly, most humans are afraid of the Mothership, which comes and goes in the skies as a massive shadow across the clouds. The few times it is fully visible, the miles-wide shape, with its oddly organic components, does nothing to reassure. Everyone knows that the Directorate lives aboard the Mothership, but no one knows which greys make up the Directorate, what they think about the grey cohabitation of New York, and what the greys’ ultimate plan for humanity really is.
Although no grey will admit it, most of them don’t know, either. That’s because the greys now on Earth are all hybrids, genetically engineered by the Directorate to survive— thrive, even—on the planet. This is also why genetic analysis of greys has turned up modified human DNA, though all such lab tests are usually destroyed before they can be be made widely available. The truth is that the Mothership is a colony ship, but it creates colonists at need. Within its ring-shaped halls, abominations slither that bear not the least resemblance to earthly creatures. Their intelligence is vast, their technological tools are potent, and their reach is frightening.
Luckily for Earth, the Mothership and its Directorate are not quickened, nor likely have the spark. If that were to change and the Mothership passed into the Strange, it might decide to try to colonize the Earth in the universe of normal matter.
Mothership: level 10; health 100; Armor 10; missile with a reach of 1,000 miles (1,610 km) inflicts 20 points of damage to all within long range of the impact site
Strange stones that turned up in alleys and parks have been brought to DGIS for investigation. The stones are fist sized but weigh almost as much as a grown human. They give off a yellow glow when handled. More interestingly, humans who touch the stones are afflicted with strange dreams where they wake in the body of a grey. For their part, greys confiscate any stones shown to them and will not answer questions about the odd objects.
A new show on Broadway called “Mirrors: A Story of What If?” is about a man named Duncan who has the ability to travel into parallel dimensions, where he meets other versions of himself that live under radically different circumstances. Sometimes Duncan calls audience members up on stage to travel with him through the temporary portals he creates. Rumor has it that those audience members are never seen again.
The DGIS is looking into reports of greys being found dead without their skins. Alien autopsies reveal that the greys were likely alive when the skinning process started and died of shock and blood loss after the process was over. Who is skinning greys and why are questions of great concern not only to DGIS but also to all greys in general.
Level: 1d6
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Stylish shoes or boots
Effect: Wearer can fall from any height safely, even if not prepared for the descent. In addition, he can levitate in the air for up to ten minutes at a time, rising or descending an immediate distance each round.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+2
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Handheld metallic box with nozzle
Effect: The artifact has two settings. One fires a beam of energy that acts as propulsion and rockets the artifact away unless the user can hold onto it with a difficulty 4 Might-based task. A user could use this setting to fly a long distance each round, but doing so requires a difficulty 4 Speed-based task each round to move in the direction desired (and not plow into the ground or the side of a building). The other setting fires a reactionless beam that can be used as a long-range plasma attack that inflicts damage equal to the artifact level.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Tiny silver pistol with multiple pronglike barrels
Effect: This weapon fires a beam that transmutes the matter of targets within short range into powdery ash, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level that ignores Armor from force fields and natural scales, leather, and other organic sources. A target killed by a carbonizer is turned completely to dust.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+2
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Miniature pistol-like device
Effect: Despite its tiny form, the crying gnat fires a blast of plasma at a target within short range that inflicts damage equal to the artifact level that ignores most forms of Armor. However, the recoil is powerful, and the user must make a difficulty 4 Might defense roll after firing or be knocked back an immediate distance and lose her turn in the next round. Even on a success, the difficulty of actions taken on the user's next turn is increased by one step.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Tiny red pistol with multiple pronglike barrels
Effect: This short-range weapon targets a victim's synthetic clothing and equipment, not the living creature itself. It automatically destroys mundane clothing and objects whose level is less than or equal to the artifact level. Special equipment such as cyphers and artifacts must be attacked separately.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+2
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Shotgun-sized weapon with multiple barrels
Effect: This weapon fires a beam at a target within short range, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level to the target and all creatures and objects within immediate range of it. The weapon automatically cancels out force fields and similar energy fields it is fired through.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6
Form: Circlet with inset black sphere resembling a grey eye
Effect: Wearer can activate eye as an action. An activated eye is a level 3 object with no attacks that can fly a long distance each round under the mental command of the wearer. The eye transmits to the wearer what it sees while it remains within 3 miles (5 km) of the wearer. The eye can fly for up to an hour before it must return to the circlet.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6+1
Form: A tiny, silver gun-shaped object with no moving parts
Effect: This ranged weapon is a maser. It beams collimated microwaves at targets within long range, initially inflicting damage equal to the artifact level, and then inflicting half that amount in each of the two subsequent rounds. A living creature killed by a grey gun explodes as if it had been cooked in a microwave. The grey gun can also burn through solid objects of its level or lower.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 1d6
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: A ring with a generic human face design
Effect: The ring ejects a pellet that rapidly inflates to create what seems to be a normal human, though one with limited vocabulary and ability to reason. The human created (level 1) does as instructed for ten minutes and then slumps and melts into so much reddish goo.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Folds of cloth and fleshlike substance
(inactive) or a specific human individual
(active)
Effect: The wearer of a human suit is completely disguised as a specific human individual; the difficulty of any disguise task attempted is reduced by five steps. A human suit is usually no one in particular; each suit is designed to allow whoever’s wearing it to adopt a new human persona, not pretend to be someone famous. A suit’s technology is such that it adapts to fit a wearer ranging from half the size of a normal human to one that is almost he same size (including another human). Human suits usually come with attached clothing.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+3
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Two-handed machine gun with sleek styling
Effect: This weapon fires plasma rounds at targets within long range, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level.
This device is a rapid-fire weapon, and thus can be used with the Spray or Arc Spray abilities that some characters have, but each round of ammunition used or each additional target selected requires an additional depletion roll.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 1d6
Form: Ring with heavy metal stud
Effect: When pressed against an object, the object's molecular structure loosens. The object becomes weightless with respect to the ground for one hour. Other objects can pass through the target object during this period as if the target was mist. If the artifact is pressed against an object larger than a 10-foot (3 m) cube, an area within the larger object—up to a volume equal to a 10-foot cube—becomes similarly immaterial. At he end of the hour, an object whose level is less than the artifact's level explodes in immediate range, inflicting energy damage equal to the artifact's level.
Sometimes when an object’s molecular structure is loosened by a matter unraveler, instead of exploding after an hour, it disappears, possibly shunted into a different recursion or into the Strange.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Handheld cylinder with a dial and a flash
Effect: A flash of light erases the last minute (or more) of memory in all creatures within immediate range that look at the flash without protective eyewear. The memory eraser has a dial with increments; the higher the dial is set before the device is used, the larger the swath of memory erased by the flash, up to about a month.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: A tiny, silver gun-shaped object with no moving parts
Effect: This ranged weapon is a maser, beaming collimated microwaves at a target within long range, initially inflicting damage equal to the artifact level, and then inflicting half that amount in each of the two subsequent rounds. A living creature killed by a microwave gun explodes as if it had been cooked in a microwave. The microwave gun can also burn through solid objects of its level or lower at a rate of 1 foot (30 cm) per round.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Metallic helm with wires and LEDs
Effect: The wearer can integrate body parts of other creatures into her own, enhancing herself by gaining associated abilities of the melded parts. The integrator can meld any kind of alien biology with the wearer. The integration process requires the wearer to touch a subdued, unresisting creature for one minute. Afterward, the creature is reduced to dust, and the skin, extra arm or head, tail, tentacle, tendril, organ, or other desired portion of the creature is melded with the wearer. The wearer can then access the body part’s associated ability as her own. For instance, if the creature could see radiation with its eyes, the user of the morphic integrator can too.
Multiple additional abilities can be gained by using the integrator, but each additional use further disfigures the wearer, depending on the part melded. In addition, for each integration after the first, the wearer must succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect defense roll or begin to go crazy. Three failed rolls render the user criminally insane, whereupon she turns on her former friends and allies and tries to integrate them.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+2
Form: Wristband (inactive) or a 10-foot (3 m) diameter silver saucer (active)
Effect: These artifacts are usually keyed to function for specific greys, but they can be modified to work with other individuals. Activating a worn wristband causes a compartment on the band to rapidly inflate, engulfing the wearer in a silvery miniature “flying saucer” that can fly a long distance each round for up to ten hours per use. The saucer’s level is equal to that of the artifact. A passenger is kept safe from harsh external environments while the saucer remains intact.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 1d6+3
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Large crossbowlike weapon festooned with gadgets
Effect: This ranged weapon is a crossbow that fires bolts of plasma at targets within 1,000 feet (305 m), inflicting damage equal to the artifact level.
This device is a rapid-fire weapon, and thus can be used with the Spray or Arc Spray abilities that some characters have, but each round of ammunition used or each additional target selected requires an additional depletion roll.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (emergent)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Large metallic suitcase composed of programmable matter
Effect: The user can convert the suitcase matter into nearly any object or piece of equipment of an equal or lower level, including weapons or artifacts native to the recursion. To do so, he must succeed on an Intellect-based task with a difficulty equal to the level of the object that he is attempting to replicate. The replicated object can be converted back to its base state as part of another action.
It’s possible to convert he prang suitcase matter into a weapon that fires ammunition. After it is fired, the spent ammo reveals its programmable nature by creeping back to the user on a variety of tiny robotic legs.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Large pistol that fires spinning discs
Effect: This one-handed weapon inflicts damage equal to the artifact level. On a hit, a prion-unfolding chain reaction begins in the target's tissue. Each round thereafter, the victim must make another Might defense roll or suffer the same number of points of damage as the chain reaction dissolves her from the inside. A successful defense roll ends the chain reaction. A creature killed by the chain reaction slumps into so much cloudy pink fluid.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+2
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Pistol-like device
Effect: This one-handed weapon fires orbs of incandescent energy at a target within long range. The orbs track the target, which decreases the difficulty of hitting it by two steps. On impact, an energy orb inflicts damage equal to the artifact level. A target killed by an orb becomes a glassy, slagged sculpture of its former likeness.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6
Form: Harness
Effect: Whenever the wearer takes damage, 1 point of that damage isn’t actually taken; instead, it is converted to a point of Intellect and added to the wearer’s Intellect Pool, unless that Pool is already full.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Wide-barrel projector
Effect: A target within short range and all its equipment shrinks to half its previous size each round the artifact’s ray is directed at it. The target remains shrunk until the ray is reversed and used on the target a second time (although a recursor who translates can also throw off the effect). A target shrunk to half its normal size finds the difficulty of physical tasks increased by one step. A target shrunk to a quarter of its normal size (a result of the ray applied for two rounds) finds the difficulty of all physical tasks increased by four steps. A target shrunk further than that finds it impossible to perform most physical tasks related to its previous scale. On the other hand, physical tasks associated with the target’s new scale are not penalized.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (emergent)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Two or more matching rings 3 feet (1 m) in diameter
Effect: The user can step between deployed transfer discs, teleporting any distance. If a series of discs is deployed in a network, the user receives a mental map of the discs upon stepping on any one of them, and she can navigate by stepping on each intervening disc between her current location and her desired location.
To deploy a disc, the user must set it on a mostly level, secure surface and make a successful difficulty 3 Intellect-based roll.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check after each day of use)
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: New York Grey (fictional)
Law: Weird Science
Form: Smartwatch device with deployable laser
Effect: The z-com wrist unit has all the functions of a modern smartphone. An analyzer app using microsensors in the device lets the wearer scan her surroundings for specific materials, toxic traces, and life forms.
In addition, the unit can fire an offensive laser; in this mode, treat the z-com as a light long-range weapon that inflicts an additional 2 points of damage (4 points of damage total).
Depletion: 1 in 1d100 (check each time the analyzer app is used)