Genre & Tech Level
The world you walk through has a tech level — how advanced its weapons, armor, and machines are. The Master sets it before combat, and it quietly changes what your gear is worth. Understand it and you'll stop being surprised by which of your tools matters.
The genre sets the baseline
Every scene runs at one genre tech level, from Primitive (0) up to God (9). It adds a flat modifier to the damage your weapon deals, the absorption your armor gives, and the difficulty of skill checks:
| Level | Genre | Damage | Armor | Skill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Primitive | −4 | −6 | −2 |
| 1 | Iron | −2 | −3 | 0 |
| 2 | Medieval | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Renaissance | +1 | +1 | +1 |
| 4 | Steam | +2 | +2 | +2 |
| 5 | Diesel | +3 | +3 | +3 |
| 6 | Cyber | +4 | +4 | +4 |
| 7 | Star | +6 | +6 | +5 |
| 8 | Post | +8 | +8 | +6 |
| 9 | God | +10 | +10 | +8 |
Weapon damage is your weapon's class (1d4 light, 1d6 medium, 1d8 heavy, 2d6 extreme) plus the scene's damage modifier. A medium 1d6 blade in a Cyberpunk world (L6) hits for 1d6+4; the same blade in a Primitive world barely bites at 1d6−4.
Armor absorption is your armor's base plus the scene's armor modifier — a property of the gear, not your body.
Skill difficulty rises or falls with the scene's skill modifier, on top of the Master's usual difficulty adjustments.
The Critical Rule: you always know the genre
Before any fight, the Master states the genre aloud:
[Genre: Cyberpunk, Level 6. Weapon damage +4, armor +4.]
If you don't hear it, ask. The difficulty is never a surprise you discover after the dice fall.
When your gear is foreign
Gear from a different tech level than the scene bites back. If you use an item far above (or brutally below) the world around it, you take a penalty to skill rolls:
Tech Disparity = (Scene Level − Item's Tech Level) × 2
A Medieval fighter (L2) grabbing a laser pistol (techLevel 6) faces:
- Disparity: 2 − 6 = −4 → penalty −8 to their aim.
The Master will tell you when a tool hums wrong in your hands — "This ancient artifact hums strangely. You have no idea how to aim it." The penalty bottoms out at −10, and gear at or below the scene's own level costs you nothing.
What it means for you
Your native gear is free and familiar — it inherits the scene's level. Only foreign treasures make you pay, and paying is a choice: trade it, study it, or roll the −8 and pray. A world's tech level is a mood and a price, and it changes what you're worth in it.