Tinkering: Clockwork Wonders for LARP & RPG Games, Part 2
Tip of the hat to Hero of Alexandria
Making an ongoing column and writing exercise! If I manage to “crank” out enough of them, I’ll see about giving them their own dedicated collection page.
Tinkering, by any other name, is a catch-all term for making devices, gadgets and clockwork wonders. Mainstay of Steampunk, it also has enjoyed a presence in the fantasy genre settings in the form of traps, locks and more exotic manufactured wonders. While typically not considered magic, such items can often mimic magical effects or exceed the realms of purely mundane mechanisms. Whatever the case may be in your game setting, I’m hoping to make this column a regular creative writing exercise and a fun resource.
Obviously, the exact game mechanics and physical-representations will vary depending on the system and settings, but I’ll try to keep them fairly generic (with the occasional nod to my favorite settings and references).
Ceramic plugs placed in the ears of the user, are connected with a set of oilskin tubes that merge and end in brass cone. When the later is placed on the chest of a subject, the user can ascertain if they posses a heartbeat. In game terms, this may be used to determine if they are faking death, currently in the process of expiring or are a creature that lacks a heartbeat. Less medically inclined users have learned to employ this device to gain an advantage when dealing with traps and locks.
An enhancement sometimes added to the devious or high quality locks found in chest and doors, a Pick Ward will typically snap off the first pick placed into it. This destroys the tool in question and makes further attempts to overcome the lock more difficult, as the broken pick must now be extracted at some difficulty before further attempts to pick the lock can be made. The Pick Ward can be reset by a Tinkerer or Locksmith familiar with its specific design by activating the “pick ejector”, unlocking the chest/door and re-tensioning it.
In a painful one-time process the Tinkerer hollows out a large tooth in the subject’s mouth and inserts a small mechanical capsule, sealing it in place with a specially concocted mortar. The capsule can be quickly opened with a pre-selected series of bites on the tooth, releasing its contents into the wearer’s system. Popular options include healing brews, stabilizing concoctions, strength enhancers, and in more dark applications, poisons. Once used, it can be refilled with the same or a different concoction.
This wedge like device is equipped with a series of very potent looking springs under enormous pressure. When placed into the trim or gap of a door, hatch or similar closure and triggered, it opens explosively and destructively forcing it open. The force is much greater than the average person can employ, and only structures of robust design or composition can resist its effects. The enormous forces at play also destroy the Hinge Splitter after a single such use.
This device can be fitted into a large bracer. It employs various mechanisms and features a small, fine tether which attaches to the pommel or haft of a one-handed weapon wielded in the same hand as the bracer. When the weapon is removed from the wielder’s hand forcibly, such as by a deft disarming attack or magical effect, the tether instantly retracts the weapon back to the user’s grasp allowing them to continue to wield it without interruption. After a single use, the mechanism that powers the tether must be reset by someone with at least the basic understanding of Tinkering and several minutes of effort.
