Items

Items in Romancing the Toaster will be tracked using quirks. Acquiring (and equipping/attaching where necessary) items will cause the character to acquire a quirk appropriate to the item. When an item does not grant a quirk, it is the responsibility of the player to track that they have it and to turnsheet using it if necessary. You can obtain items during encounters, during Major Actions, by trading with other characters via Phillips or by constructing items yourself.

Within the game, it is possible to send items to other characters. To send an item, you must first request a delivery from Packagebot Phillips and his friends. This can be done during Uptime by contacting a GM, or during Downtime by giving the details of the delivery in a Minor Action. If there is an exchange of items, you both must separately request that Packagebot send your items to each other (again, by contacting a GM or in a Minor Action). Assuming that there are no difficulties in the transaction, Packagebot will notify the recipient when they receive the item. Any mechanical benefit conferred by an item is lost as soon as the item is given to Packagebot, and the benefit of the item is only gained by the recipient upon delivery and attachment (if necessary).

If the character the item is being sent to is far away from you, they may not receive the item and its benefits for some time. Phillip's delivery is fast, but not instantaneous. If you choose to send it in downtime, assume that you receive the item at the beginning of the turnsheet unless told otherwise (in cases where it is being sent from very far away).

Once per turn, in either Uptime or Downtime, a character with at least Construction 1 or Software Development 1 may attempt to make an item, if they have the prerequisite resources. Typically, sourcing the parts or information required is more challenging than the construction itself. It is also worth noting that science in Romancing the Toaster is “Science!”: the exact components you might desire are certainly unavailable, so unless you're building an exploding robo-squirrel, you can expect your creation to not function exactly to specification. These 'items' also apply to software, websites or apps characters may wish to make.

To make an item, simply contact a GM during Uptime or Downtime and tell them:

• Which skill you are using
• Which properties you want your creation to have
• Which resources you are using

One might expect that digital items can be copied freely. This is not the case. Any item worth using will require the integration of libraries with DRM (digital rights management: anti-copy mechanisms). Or some other seemingly plausible explanation of your choice. Like being full of ghosts.

Typically, you will need at least a quirk's worth of resources to make an item. Some items will be sufficiently simple that it will be possible to make them out of generic Junk or Cyberjunk Code Snippets. Some items, however, will require specialised components; you can't expect to make a Lazer Sword from Junk! Typically you will either need to trade with a player or NPC for such specialised components, or do some digging.

For example, to make “The Green Triangle” you may need some sticky paper, common and found in the pile of junk you have. But you will also need some green paint, which you may need to explore to find.

The following are example items that may be found within the game, listed with their effects.

[Wielded; requires at least Basic Manipulation to wield]

An elegant weapon from a more civilized age.

Grants the Go Go Gadget quirk.

[Installable; no skill requirement]

A strange sticker of three green arrows forming a triangle. For reasons no one understands, it attracts strange robots that move bots to places unknown.

Once installed, grants the Mysterious Sticker quirk.

[Consumable; requires Hacking 2 or Advanced Interfacing 2 to use]

When you absolutely must burn a server to the ground, unleash the CyberWyrm. It's not a subtle cyberattack, but it is devastating.

Grants the Prepare for Trouble quirk.

To use, message a GM and select a server, system or bot that you have access to. This will be the target upon which you will attempt to unleash the CyberWyrm. Expect very bad things to happen to the target, and possibly anything connected to them. === WebIDE === [Installable; requires an upgrade to install] You know what rocks? Autocomplete. You know what else rocks? Syntax highlighting. You know what rocks the most? A debugger. Turbocharge your webpage development with WebIDE. When installed, you gain the specialisation “Software: Web Development”. This does not overwrite any existing specialisation in the Software tree.

[Consumable; requires Hacking 1 to use]

Online games are awesome. You know what's not awesome though? Getting ganked by level 80s. Get even with GameIfrit: your wish is my command. (Warning: Wish may have unintended side effects.)

To use, enter a gaming construct and message a GM, then speak your wish. To the extent it is possible, the GameIfrit will rewrite (virtual) reality to make it come true.