The LISTS of Stuff

in Player's Guide

STUFF Happens

As with each Systembook, your options as Director should not be limited to what you read herein. The direction that you bring to the Story should be uniquely your own, but the flavor your groups contributes to our sessions will enhance your efforts.  

Conveyance

Vehicles and transportation beyond the norms of this text (matter transporters, hyperloop tubes, etc.) may full well exist within one or more of the Arcologies but should be considered extremely rare and risky to use. The concept of DownShift holds that we have achieved our pinnacle and are in the slow slide into oblivion unless the Cadre can accomplish the impossible and re-tame the world. Good luck with that! Nonetheless, there may be innovations in transport that are not included here, or more ancient means you wish, as Director and Cadre, to pursue. See this work as a template, a tool, and build the story the way you see it.

Armor

As with vehicles and movement, so too the limits of Armor and clothing are at your disposal. Perhaps the old ways, the old style of Physical Arms and Armament have re-spawned. Perhaps a factory or two has been converted to build, at least for the Skirts, Burbs, Tradeposts and Arcologies, full suits of Plasteel armor. Just keep a balance in the process, to keep the status quo within the Arcologies. Unless you are seeking a complete collapse of the culture... but that is another matter, isn’t it?

Weapons and Ammo

Predominant among the DownShift are weapons that are familiar to us – rifles, shotguns, pistols on the low end, artillery, bombs, and missiles at the high end. Tech weaponry like lasers, beam arrays, and the like are of course available in limited fashion, and in limited or restricted numbers. But more to the point, is what you as a Cadre expect. Is this a time of healing and rebirth? Of an increasing grind toward oblivion? A mix of them all? Balance your decision on the armament with the armor, the agenda with the artifacts as you build your story together.

Toolskits and Recipes

Feel free to play around with alternate material in terms of gear and gizmos, of tools and toys. This is a decadent and collapsing world of wonders, both magnificent and mundane. Again, the limits are your own, but with all wonders, there should be danger and excitement along the way. Did one of the Arcologies overcome the limits of gravity? Are the various Great Governances at war or in a constant state of truce because of weapons of mass destruction? Maybe the paranoia of the unknown itself is the limit, and the Powers are racing for superiority? The kinds of marvels you unleash will give the Cadre not only direction and focus, but a greater sense of the direction the Story is going.

Perishables and Resources

Are the basics of life plentiful? Has the Wilderness recovered from the interference of humanity, or is it a depleted wasteland? Depending on where you want the story to develop and go, these kinds of questions need at least cursory answers. How will the Cadre survive and flourish? Trade and community, or perhaps a more “take and keep” environment has evolved. Consider these issues on an ongoing basis; the conditions and environment are at the whim of the peoples of the Byways and ruins, but also of the Cities and the Burbs...