Gigacrawler: Spells

Here's a page where you can list spells for Gigacrawler, the game we're writing.

Using Spell Formulae:
Any character may attempt to use a spell if they find (or are generated with) a spell formula--usually by reading the incantation phonetically. Acquring a phonetic translation and accurate description of what a spell is supposed to do is usually no easy task--however, assume any player who is generated with spells can read the ones they possess.

Spells have difficulty levels. If the spell's difficulty level is higher than a caster's magic level, s/he must make a magic level check against the spell's difficulty level. (d10 + PC's magic level + any relevant skills vs d10 + spell difficulty level.) Results of failure are indicated in each spell's description.

A given formula may be used only once, (unless the character is an Unstable, in which case, see below). The successful use of any formula creates a unique pseudoimpossible probability field which tears a hole in spacetime that nature abhors and which it immediately develops antibodies against forever after. The spell can only be cast again if the character acquires a new formula.

If a spell formula is used and the casting fails, it cannot be attempted a second time by the samecaster (unless otherwise indicated) but it may be attempted by other casters until it succeeds. (Since PCs will probably lead with their best caster casting first, this should create interesting desperate situations.)

Spell difficulty levels are usually ranked from 14-22 (this seems confusing, but remember it's just the target number for an ability score roll and abilities are usually ranked from 3-18.) Difficulty levels lower than that generally indicate very slow-acting ritual magic requiring a great deal of preparation.

Spell Difficulty levels
14 Initiate wizard-level magic. Reliable instant minor effects. (Cantrips, stage magic.)
15 (maximum starting level for PCs) Wizard magic. Reliable instant effects capable of killing a weak creature or temporarily altering reality over a small area in noticeable ways. (Equal to 1st-2nd level fantasy RPG wizard spells)
16 The lowest kind of truly serious magic from times and places where wizards dominate ordinary humans. Fireballs, lightning, etc. (3rd level wizard spells)
22 Highest forms of magic known to mortals. (9th level wizard spells)

Spell levels over 22 indicate powers capable of challenging gods--no skill bonuses may be brought into play when attempting to perform level 23 or higher effects.

Psionics:

Characters called Unstables are psychics who may attempt to initiate d10 randomly determined spell effects per day using only the power of their minds. They re-roll the number and kind of available effects every day. They may use these powers as many times as they want during the day that they have them. They do not have to make a Magic Level roll or perform any ritual actions that may be part of the spell description in order to initiate the effect but they do have to make a willpower check against the difficulty level of the spell. No skills may be used to aid in initiating the spell effect. Failure results in the failure effect listed as well as the Unstable gaining 1 "insane action" per point by which the roll was failed.

An "insane action" is essentially 1 round of PC action entirely controlled by the GM. Insane actions do not have to be spent all at once by the GM--the GM may spend them whenever s/he likes. Alternately, the PC may elect to role-play the rounds of insane action his or herself if the group is ok with that. Specific insanities may be chosen or rolled randomly from a list. Maybe we'll stick a more detailed insanity system in later. If we do there'll be a link right here.

Like anyone else, Unstables may attempt to cast spells from formulae in the ordinary manner if they possess them.
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Eventually these results will be collated into a numbered list. For now, if you are creating a character who uses spells, you can count the results here and use this to randomize which of them your PC knows.

Keep in mind since any spell over level 18 will always require a magic level roll (even if the PC has skill bonuses) you can include effects which play off the number of points of success or failure for level 19-22 spells. Like: "for each point of success, another lightning bolt is summoned" etc.

Spells:

1-Withered Claw:
Difficulty: 14
Duration: However long the caster wants
The caster's hand withers into a gnarled claw, then detaches itself and does the caster's bidding. It may perform any tasks a disembodied walking claw could reasonably be expected to perform, including choke enemies with a strength equal to 1/2 the caster's physique.
Failure: Spell functions normally but the claw will not reattach and the caster is now missing a hand.

2-Abominate
Difficulty: 22
Duration: Permanent
Range: 30 feet
A number of creatures equal to the number of points of success the caster had on his/her Magic level check must make a willpower check against the caster's intelligence plus 6 or else be transformed into hideously distorted hybrid creatures. Each acquires 6 mutations, becomes incapable of movement, begins to weep, and lashes out at the nearest living thing to their best of their ability. After ten minutes they may make another willpower check to regain their own minds, if this fails, they can make this check once every ten minutes thereafter. With enough biotech and/or cyberware, they may one day be able to move around again.
Failure: Spell affects caster. No roll to resist the effect.

Megadungeon Design, Unicorns, Dead Elves, etc.

This sketch represents the basic layout of several different areas of a megadungeon. Which way is north depends on which area you're in and which level you're on. What each color means likewise is area-dependent. On certain levels I only read squares and on others I only read circles. The idea is to print this page out lots of times and annotate each sheet separately.

This is the beginning of the key. Each line represents a level. It's sketchy, but it was very easy to get the basic "gist" of each level by doing it this way. Basically, the more I liked a color, the more I used it in the map, and then I coded it so the more common creatures were keyed to those colors.

Here are some of the girls' character sheets:
Kimberly...
Connie...
Kimberly's stuff, with awesome drawings. (click to enlarge if you plan to enjoy life)
Satine's first TV character, Mirror. That 19 dex didn't save her...

And here's this...

Gigacrawler Devices

Here's a page where anyone can list devices and equipment for Gigacrawler, the sci-fi dungeoncrawl game we're making...

Each device has a tech level, if the device's level is higher than a user's tech level, s/he must make a tech level check against the device's level. (d10 + PC tech level vs d10 + device tech level.) Failure indicates the device (1-3) cannot be made to work by that PC until such time as s/he gains new relevant skills that might help him/her use it and can try again or (4-6) malfunctions in some way dangerous to the PC or the item (though the PC may attempt to use it again if s/he survives).

Once a creature gets it to work properly once, assume the device is understood and can be reused properly at will.

If a PC with a low tech level receives a device they are not sure they want to try to use during character creation, they can trade it to another PC or look for someone else to barter with during the game.

Tech Levels
Example of someone at that tech level (example of device they would not have to roll to use/operate/exploit)

1 Weasel (pile of food)
2 Smart Monkey (stick)
3 Primitive human (knife)
4 Medieval human (crossbow)
5 Renaissance to Age of Reason-era human (clock)
6 Steam-era human (film camera)
7 Contemporary Earth Child (Nintendo)
8 Contemporary Earth Adult (Car)
9 Contemporary Earth Adult Techie (Sound-mixing board)
10 Cyberpunk Era Child (cyber-implant)
11 Cyberpunk Era Adult (cyber-reactive vehicle)
12 Cyberpunk Era Techie (combat robot)
13 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Child (android pet)
14 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Adult (hovercar)
15 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Techie (starship)
16 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Child (low-grav shoes)
17 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Adult (custom mutation injector)
18 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Techie (gene resequencing vat)
19-21 Star Wars (Faster-than-light drive)
22-24 Star Trek Federation (Replicator, transporter)
25-27 Alchemical cultures. Technology so advanced human nature/existence becomes fundamentally different in most ways ("Since we acquired the ____ we no longer feel the need to _____")
28-30 Technology and lifeforms merge imperceptibly
31-33 Godlike
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If you are creating a character who has pieces of equipment, these will be determined randomly. Until the list is collated and numbered, you can count the results below and use this to randomize which devices your PC owns.

All PCs are assumed to start the game with a backpack or sack and the kind of clothes you might wear if you lived in the future and only saw a mirror once every 3 weeks.

Prices are not listed, as the Gigastructure mostly operates by barter. The universe has no common currency. Cultures which do use currency may or may not value the same sorts of items as PCs, depending on species' survival requirements, so prices vary wildly.

Things to remember when creating devices:

-New PCs will roll randomly on this list for equipment

-Armor class points are roughly scaled to match The Role Playing Game That Is Mentioned In The Title of This Blog, so if something offers the protection of leather, that's 2 points of armor, if something offers the protection of plate that's 7

-Blunt weapons and the like do current physique + (whatever) damage. Most other weapons just have their own weapon strength. I've tried to provide some guidelines in the examples below.

-Please do not forget to include a tech level. It saves work for me, and the less work for me, the happier I am to continue this project.

Devices and equipment:

1. Distortion grenade: creates a 15' diameter sphere of energy that wildly distorts all magic effects within it. Range: It can be thrown current physique x 3 feet. Tech level: 25

2. 20th century automatic pistol. Range: (d4+1)x10 yards (roll when weapon is acquired, then that's what the range is from then on). Weapon strength: 10. Holds 10 +d10 shells. Comes with 3d10 shells. Tech level: 8

3. Hunting knife. Weapon strength: 7. Tech level: 3

4. Low grav shoes. Allow the wearer to hover up to 2 feet off the floor even in ordinary-gravity locations. Adds +2 to dodging and any other activities that might logically be aided by such devices. Tech level: 16

5. Anti-Logic grenade. Creates a 15' diameter null-logic zone. Any action attempted in the zone has only a d100% chance of occurring. Other irrational effects are possible at GMs discretion. It can be thrown current physique X 3 feet. Tech level: 26

6. d6 gallons of water. Sounds lame, I know, but in a day or two you'll find you're the most popular member of the party. Sleep with one eye open. Tech level: 1

7. Bulletproof jacket. 4 points of armor. Tech level: 4 (I know, flak jackets weren't made in the middle ages but a medieval person would know what to do with one)

8. Entropic field generator. Device the size of a hockey puck. Provides variable d12 points of armor (roll every round). Tech level: 16

9. Food! "Che Oyardee Aghetti O's" or whatever it says. Anyway, point is it's good. Well it's ok. Well it's d4+1 days worth of food, which makes you king around here. Tech level: 1

10. Baseball bat. Weapon strength: Current physique + 2. Tech level: 2

11. Witch Box. This alchemical device can absorb one spell (spell does not take effect or ceases to take effect--this can be done even if it's not the user's turn during combat), which the user can then release any time later at will. Re-released spells are cast as if at a magic level of 17 (roll success or failure as normal). The box is destroyed after the spell is released. Box is the size of a Rubik's cube. Tech level: 20. (Despite being the product of a level 25 culture, it is designed to be relatively easy to use)

"It's Ok, Gary sent us"

This picture from the original D&D Little Brown Books is here so that Will Mistretta will not have to see real boobs on his front page. And because it is funny.

By Cookie Corey.

LBBs+28Gs

I am uploading this picture merely because it may be the world's only photograph of someone holding the Little Brown Books between their breasts.

And yes, they're real.

Gigacrawler: Known Features of the Gigastructure

Gigacrawler: Known Features of the Gigastructure

So we're gonna make Gigacrawler. The RPG where the whole universe is a dungeon.

This is a page where anyone can write in any kind of feature of the Gigastructure that would go in a "worldbook"--monsters, races, societies, technological wonders, places, etc. Entries should be short and only include mechanics if they are in some way unexpected. Like if you say there are turtle-men then there's no need to provide stats unless they have special rules for shell-penetration.

(Click the link above if you need to know how mechanics work or need a more detailed description of what's in the setting so far.)

Remember: resources are scarce, there's no common currency, barter is the norm, and communication is difficult. It's like a 3D multidimensional postapocalypse.

Here are a few examples:

-Lacuna: These are small gaps--the size of a planet or less--of open space in the Gigastructure. It can take months to find a way around them but many are home to shuttlemen who will ferry travellers across the lacuna in battered starships for trade.

-Oorlagox: This is a species of sentient computer virus. They will be grateful to anyone who introduces them into a computer system utilizing a technology that they can successfully infect, and will trade data they find for physical transportation through the Gigastructure (many computers in the same area are made of noncompatible alien technologies). 3 hours after an Oorlagox infects an ordinary system it will be rendered useless. They speak in an Edwardian dialect, and are universally praised for their generous wit and good manners.

-Archaeox: This is a small demon (2-3 inches tall) that eats lies. Since you can walk for weeks through the Gigastructure without meeting any sentient lifeforms, they fear starvation. An Archaeox will generally hide in a creature's equipment or ingratiate itself by performing simple tasks for a creature. In its original form it resembles a rolling grey sphere with thumb-tip like extrusion all around. For each lie told in its presence, it grows more mostrous, and slightly larger.

Here's one migelito already gave us in fairly finished form so I'll just post it here now:

-Star Chambers - Massive cavities in the gigastructure built around stars. In most cases the surrounding structure is dedicated to cyclopean power conversion infrastructure. These serve as the main source of energy within the whole of the GS. Most star chambers are strictly controlled by a group or organisation, with various levels of understanding regarding their operation/maintenance, and are often the nexus of power struggles and military operations.

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Baudot sent this one in but it was too long to fit in the comments:

Faction: The All

"We are The All, my child. Do not be troubled. Your dream of a time before is a trick. Your memories of a place outside this, a cruel deception. Let them go and know the peace of the monastery. You have been touched by The Deceiver, and soon his touch will wash away. Come back to us. This is where you have always been, and this is where you will ever be. Return to your place with us. There is so much work to be done."

The All is a self-brainwashing cooperative that spreads throughout the gigaplex, seeding pockets of itself by hops and leaps wherever it can gain a foothold. Its goals are virulent and expansionist, desiring to spread until its boast is true: That there is no thing outside itself and no time outside its time.

The All commonly targets isolated pockets of the gigaplex near areas of civilzation for seeding with new enclaves. It uses these corners of the 'plex to gather strength without discovery before overwhelming and converting the neighbors.

The All converts by a cult-like induction process, tuned and franchised to operate at city scales. Over a matter of weeks, the 'front' of All Reality washes over an enclave in a dreamlike wave. First nanobots, nanohexes, or nanomemes prepare the area, adding secret passageways and triggers for miracles to one corner of the city. Then the Brethren of The All move in, welcoming their converts as lost souls, and reminding them of the simple truths they had for a time forgotten: That there is only The All, and labor for The All by The All is the highest of goods. These new converts are ushered back to the Temple at the heart of The All tumor. Loyal brethren of The All roll forward, advancing the front.

"Of course I know Thomas. This is his shop. I only mind it for him while he is at Pilgrimage."

A visitor from another part of town would find all the buildings different than he remembered, and his friends replaced by quiet cultists. All the old residents are said to be "At Pilgrimage" and visitors are assured they will return soon. Visitors are treated civilly, and allowed to come and go freely, for a time.

Conversion to The All happens first in The Maze: Before expanding into a city from their beachhead, the Allformers will build a maze of tunnels between the beachhead and the city. These tunnels are filled with scenes waiting to be acted out, leading the individual lost within through a series of lessons where they learn by repeated suffering that they are alone without The All, and that all comfort, warmth, and nourishment comes from working with their brothers. Time within The Maze is perceived to flow differently than time outside, with people inside The Maze believing weeks to have passed while in reality only hours have gone by. The potential convert experiences months of indoctrination in only a few days of real time, jumping from scene to scene with gaps in their memory as they slide in and out of consciousness from suffering hunger, thirst, and loneliness in their time outside The All.

The Maze grows as The All converts more and more of a city. As any time, hundreds, thousands, millions, or billions of people may be wandering its halls, stumbling ever closer to The Temple at the heart of The All infection, and their final conversion.

Opponents Presented by The All:

Adversary: Brother Peacekeeper (All Cultist)

Brother Peacekeepers are basic thugs for The All. They are armed with whatever weapons are abundant in the local region, and fight as such.

Brother Peacekeepers have four disconcerting tactical advantages:

a) They blend in with the peaceful members of All society near perfectly until activated. An entire battalion of Peacekeepers could move in among a crowd without giving outward sign that The All is preparing to defend itself. Indeed, Peacekeepers are peaceful members of The All who have been tapped for an extra duty, and go about their jobs as civilian cultists until they receive the signal to activate and defend The All.

b) They communicate silently, seemingly telepathically, striking from surprise in perfect unison.

c) As with all All cultists, they show a level of teamwork that armies envy to the highest degree. If two squad mates can achieve more by working in unison, they will. If a squad mate must be rescued, the other squad members will be absolutely selfless is doing so. If it is better to sacrifice a teammate, the entire team will do so without a moment's hesitation, including the one being sacrificed.

d) They are prepared for the miracles the Allformers have seeded for them to work with. If The All has time to prepare for a fight and steer the enemies to ground of its choosing, the Allformers will have seeded the area with one powerful miracle. This is in addition to the usual maze of secret passages present in All territory, and any All Cultist's ability to control illumination and weather in All Territory telepathically. The squad members fight with full knowledge of the miracle that is prepared and how to best take advantage of it.

Adversary: Sister Silencer (All Cultist)

The Sisters of Silence are assassins of The All. Their appointed labor for The All is "To Silence the darkest deceived before their deception can spread." Sisters of Silence may operate alone or in groups, as tasks demand and resources allow.

Sisters of Silence operate like Peacekeeper brethren, except that their preparation is specialized to the craft of killing first - they have the best equipment the local All can muster, and combat training built on tireless self sacrificing devotion and focus. They have few weaknesses and no mercy.

Adversary: Shaher (All Priest)

The Shaher are the priests of The All. Taken off their home turf, they are weak, and readily offer themselves as tactical sacrifices, when it serves the greater good. When fighting within an All Temple complex, Shaher are the masterminds directing the automated defenses of the Temple.

Adversary: Maze Phantom

The Maze that The All uses to convert outsiders to itself is filled with lessons and phantasmal menaces. These menaces are designed to hunt and threaten, and only rarely to actually harm, when a convert must be crippled before they can be reborn as a member of The All. The trick with Maze Phantoms is that there are legions of them, each designed to ignore a certain type of attack. A person confronted with the Maze Phantom that The All has chosen to educate them will be powerless, while an outsider bursting into the scene may find the phantom as easy to pop as a balloon.

Adversary: Allformer (Nanobot, Nanohex, or Nanomeme)

The Allformers seed the way for The All. These are built on whatever power the local All cult uses - tech, magic, or psychic might.

Allformers have two major defenses: First, their nanoscale makes them prone to being overlooked, invisible as they operate.

Second, they have a reflexive counter-attack if anyone attempts to disable or control them. The counter attack does two things simultaneously. The first is that it attempts to deceive/charm/mind-control the attacker into believing that their attack is on the verge of succeeding, if they just stick with it longer. Second, the Allformer swarm Cuts Loose.

Cutting Loose: The Allformers normally move in careful, slow, controlled patterns as they convert terrain and people into The All. In times of crisis, the Allformers may move into a higher gear, converting anything nearby into rich elemental goop that holds no threat to The All and can be harvested as a resource later. Even priests of The All fear this reaction like a primitive priest fears the wrath of the gods, for the Allformers are none too intelligent in their targeting. They are prone to lash out and digest anything that seems energy rich, fast moving, or highly contagious. Anything that might possibly be a threat is digested. All priests and cultists know to walk away calmly and divest themselves of power should the Allformers cut loose, and to wait for the defense reaction to be complete.

Once per round of combat, the Allformers target the most threatening seeming person in the area. The typical way to defend against digestion is to first perceive the attack coming, then, if not taken by surprise, to make an agility check to flee the area the Allformers are swarming. Whatever region the Allformers strike is digested in a single round, occupant within it, if they did not successfully escape.

Exceptionally high-tech/high-magic/high-psy armors may keep the Allformers at bay if they are designed for environmental containment: Armor that is within 2 tech/magic levels of the Allformer swarm takes 2d6 rounds to be digested, while the Allformers figure out a way around its defenses. The final digestion is sudden, taking only a single round once the weakness in the defense is found. The armor's occupant is digested the round after. A character cannot escape by shedding armor being digested - the Allformer swarm senses the breach and rushes in, liquifying the victim within their suit.

Higher tech/magic armors can hold out an Allformer swarm indefinitely.

Defeating an Allformer swarm requires special approaches: EMP pulses, counter-nanobots, or the equivalent in magic or psychic attacks. Once such attacks are deployed, the surviving Allformers will fall back outside of attack range. They will continue to test their enemies defenses continuously on a microscopic scale so long as the enemies remain inside the cloud, attacking with instant ferocity whenever a new weakness is found. (GM's discretion, but every 3d6 hours by default.)

Storytelling The All:

The All works by isolating its converts in The Maze, away from old friends who might keep them anchored to a reality other than its own. Gamemasters should jump back to the isolated character for quick "cut-to" scenes between scenes of the rest of the party, using these scenes to build the tension and need to rescue the lost party member as The All breaks down their identity.

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> Replay, Final Transmission, Dr. Johannes Berger
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Broadcast Begins
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I now believe my previous research was in error. The All is not a single entity, acting at the direction of a single mastermind or council. Rather, it is a primordial meme that powerful controller entities can latch onto, and harvest wherever it has spread. Thus it is in the interest of any of a billion beings to spread The All and re-seed it anywhere they desire.

I believe The All pocket I am currently studying - sector Ched Seven Omtet Four - is the subject of a turf war between no less than three Jocab-class controllers. My research base is located within a section that serves an entity known as "Mother Prime" within the local tongue, who identifies at least two faces of The Deceiver within All mythology - apparently rival controllers operating in this same All Enclave. Mother Prime's territory can be recognized by the drooping wax sense that all the buildings evoke. Spinwards the buildings become angular and metallic, and the code phrases spoken by the All cultists are different. I was nearly captured during my last expedition there when I used Mother Prime's cultists call-and-response codes. I plan to observe these cultists over the next week and attempt another foray into their territory using the data gleaned.

Relations between Mother Prime's followers and the spinwards cult are outwardly civil, with both sides along the border believing themselves secret inquisitors and double agents working to contain a conspiracy by The Deceiver. How long this has been going on I do not yet know, though written records among the local cult indicate it predates this generation.

Hubwards of my current base is the base of a third controller nested within the Cult. Geometry in this sector is a Beusch-varient space, with 387 degrees to the circle and that permits hyper-crystalline formation. Ice is the primary building material here, although the 'unworthy' cultists are permitted to encase it in chitin, wood, and furs for insulation against th###
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Broadcast Interrupted - Record Ends.
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This page is only for things that are NOT available to PCs during character generation--if you include:
items,
spells,
devices, or
character alterations (mutations, alien adaptations, or cyborg parts)
here, make sure they are things you wouldn't want PCs to have when they start out. If something looks good for that, we may port it over to the appropriate page when that page goes up later in the week.

Open Call: Gigacrawler

I'm thinking we could make a whole RPG via Gygaxian Democracy...

Here's how it'll work: I provide the basic setting idea and the basic mechanics--all explained below on this page. That leaves you to worry about the fun stuff:

Setting details (monsters, villains, races, cities)
Spells
Devices
"Alterations" (mutations, adaptations, etc.)
and
Martial arts

Any time you like, you may post a comment adding another spell, mutation, kung fu move, etc. to the game on the appropriate page. These become part of the options available during character creation.

The mechanics are pretty much done but if anybody thinks of any good ideas for changes in the mechanics, I'll definitely consider them. I made no attempt to be original with them, just efficient and solid enough that something totally insane could be built on top of them. Short story: Str, Con, and hit points are one stat, willpower instead of wisdom, agility instead of dexterity.

After a few weeks or months or a year, all this will be collated and put out, probably as a free pdf or just a series of organized webpages. However, it may simply just continue as an ever-evolving, growing RPG where each character created will have been made with a slightly different set of options.

(If, for some reason, the game ever gets turned into a commercial venture--doubtful, but it's a strange world--or makes any money, half of any money I get will be divided among whoever's ideas I decide to keep for the published version, judged according to the proportion of the total non-me-contributor lines of text that they've written that are accepted. Like: if you wrote 30% of the material that I didn't, you'll get 30% of half any revenue.)

Here are the basics, I will post"targeted" pages over the next week where you can post your spells, devices, etc in the comments...

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Gigacrawler, a free, crowdsourced sci-fi dungeon-crawl RPG
The big idea of Gigacrawler is that the entire universe is a dungeon. The universe was once like our own, but hyper urbanization and eons of alchemical warfare utilizing chaotech, crystal math and logic mines has, over centuries, filled up almost all known space. The space between planets is now filled with tunnels of stone, glass, metal, and stranger materials.

Every sci-fi and fantasy idea is in the Gigastructure somewhere--parallel universes, time travel, plasma grenades, magic, alchemy, etc. It's all just jammed cheek-by jowl horror-vacuously in with everything else. Resources are always limited. You might find a ruined starship, you might find a dinosaur, you might find a copy of National Geographic.

Or, to put it the way they would in a bloated $25.00 hardcover...
Earth's cities grow.

Imagine they do not stop growing. Imagine an urbanized Earth, building by building building upon building built on mountaintops, K2, Everest, urbanized, with traffic, the frozen antarctic dense with paneled bunkers, canyons filled and then so filled and all around filled so full that the canyon is only a vaguely-understood concept about what is underneath what we know--like the planet's mantle, crust and core, underneath the buildings is rock--what is rock? No-one remembers.

The rusting spires with a geology of their own--forgotten conduits leading to forgotten fuse boxes feeding old bulbs. The fields of architecture and archaelology mesh. Skyscrapers marching over cliffs like tin soldiers, down into the sea under perspex domes and stainless walls and then growing there, and then up and out of it again. 80% of the vast city-planet has quaint, polluted venetian canals connecting the lowest levels, sixty storeys beneath where most people live. It grew.

The Gigastructure became the only place. An extending great place that took up all of space, almost all of space, all of space except where there were planets, or suns, or class-12 Massive Supraplantary Organisms.

Like this: There is a planet, then cities on it, then the cities grow larger and they do not stop. The whole planet is urbanized. Then the planet's nearest moon is urbanized, then the buildings on the planet and the moon grow taller and mesh upward and more labyrinthine until they connect in a woven spire of exotic steels and nation-sized gravity-mollifying mechanisms, the moon no longer in orbit, merely fixed to its mother by an inhabited corridor.

Then again with each nearby planet, moon, space station, to the Dyson shell of energy-absorbing machines smothering the sun, then all these spaces connected, and then all of the space in between, too, in every direction into a solid block the size and shape of the universe with all astronomical bodies entombed within it and all animals, monsters, cultures, phenomena linked into a monolithic skyless maze-city of panelled chambers, tubes, hallways, transoms, shafts, glass-walled terraces looking out into dark, long vertical gaps between barely-inhabited sideways, opposing cities, each forming the roof of the other, the spires interlocking like sharp teeth, wells, fusion engine-trams, endless escalators lined with concession stands, crawlspaces, staircases, niches, branching zero-gravity capillary tunnels, and with all known architectures represented somewhere and integrated into the dizzying entirety.

Character generation:
Agility: 3-18
Charisma: 3-18
Intelligence: 3-18
Willpower: 3-18
Physique (Functions as strength, constitution, and hit points): 3-18
(Physique is split into "current physique" and "base physique".)

Now, you have a number of points equal to your Intelligence to divide between the following stats:
Tech Level: (minimum is 3)
Magic level:
These two terms are explained in more detail below. The basic idea is the higher your tech level or magic level, the easier it is to use technology or magic without annihilating yourself.

After tech level and magic level, you get to choose extras--skills, martial arts, spells, alterations, and equipment.

How many of each of these extras you have access to depends on your class:

Philosophers get 8 magic spell formulas (each spell can be used only once), 5 other extras and you can opt to receive 1 new spell or magic skill in lieu of an ordinary experience reward.
Scrapper - 6 martial arts moves, 5 other extras and you can opt to gain a new (randomly determined) Martial Arts move or acquire a new weapon skill in lieu of an ordinary experience reward. (Any number of martial arts moves may be known but only 5 may be used per day.)
Crawler - 8 skills, 5 other extras, and you can opt to receive 1 new skill in lieu of an ordinary experience reward.
Tinkerer-8 pieces of equipment, 5 other extras, and you can opt to receive a new device in lieu of an ordinary experience reward.
Hybrid-(these are characters from cultures where magic and technology are mixed) Hybrids have both their tech level and magic level equal to their intelligence (the max starting magic level for PCs is still 15). They receive 8 extras, can opt to receive devices in lieu of experience rewards and can understand alchemical devices at +2.
Unstable-(psychic) These characters can attempt to use d10 randomly determined magic spells at will (these powers can be re-used but the player must roll d10 and determine spells again every 24 hours) and get 5 other extras. Use of magic slowly drives them insane.
Robot-5 pieces of equipment (generally built in) or skills, 5 others, Magic Level must be 1. Automatically receives the logical benefits of being a robot (immune to suffocation, mind control, etc.), however, when damaged, they are not always easily repaired. Add d6 to physique or tech level.

Here are the extras:

Skills add +1 to a stat for attempting to do a thing. Like Dance skill would add +1 to your agility roll vs. the audience GM-determined jadedness level of the audience to dance well. Skill bonuses stack if and only if the second skill "stacked" is a narrower version of the first skill. i.e. if you were trying to figure out information about a shark, you couldn't use biology and oceanography, to get a combined +2, but you could use biology and marine biology to get a +2. You could even use biology, marine biology, and marine biology-sharks to get a +3.

This system is self-balancing: narrow skills are less widely applicable, but they give you stackable bonuses.

Some sample skills are listed at the bottom of this document, though feel free to make up narrower ones.

Note also that melee combat skills are handled under "martial arts".

Martial arts are "special moves" that you can pull out during combat. Each has a unique effect. Martial arts practitioners can use each move they know once per day, up to a maximum of 5. New characters are assigned martial arts techniques randomly.

Spells are magic effects that can be used once. Spells have levels, usually 12 and up. Anyone can use any spell they find (once), but whenever you use a spell you have to make a magic level check against the spell's difficulty level. Failure means things go grotesquely wrong and there are dire results. Unstables are crazy psychics who can use magic-type effects at will, but each time they have a chance of going more insane. New characters are assigned spells randomly.

Alterations are anything that make your character more than human if that's your bag--tough skin, claws, superhuman strength etc. They're called adaptations if these differences are due to simply being another species, they're called mutations if they are due to exposure to mutagens, and they're called modifications if they are properties of your character being a robot or cyborg. New character can pick alterations or choose them randomly. Either way, the cosmetic meaning of these alterations is entirely up to the player.

Equipment: Unlike most other games, you can't just buy equipment to start out--the Gigastructure is chaotic and communication is difficult. Finding a piece of useful equipment (a cigarette, a crossbow, a pistol, a plasma capacitor) is as rare as finding a magic spell. Each device has a tech level. If a device is above your tech level, you must roll a tech level check vs. the device's tech level. Failure means something terrible has happened. New characters are assigned devices randomly.
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Tech Levels

Example of someone at that tech level (example of something they would not have to roll to use/operate/exploit)

1 Weasel (pile of food)
2 Smart Monkey (stick)
3 Primitive human (knife)
4 Medieval human (crossbow)
5 Renaissance to Age of Reason-era human (clock)
6 Steam-era human (film camera)
7 Contemporary Earth Child (Nintendo)
8 Contemporary Earth Adult (car)
9 Contemporary Earth Adult Techie (sound-mixing board)
10 Cyberpunk Era Child (cyber-implant)
11 Cyberpunk Era Adult (cyber-reactive vehicle)
12 Cyberpunk Era Techie (combat robot)
13 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Child (android pet)
14 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Adult (hovercar)
15 Blade Runner/Alien/Cyborg Era Techie (starship)
16 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Child (low-grav shoes)
17 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Adult (custom mutation injector)
18 Nanotech/Genetic alteration is common/No space-warships or FTL drives Era Techie (gene resequencing vat)
19-21 Star Wars (tractor beam)
22-24 Star Trek Federation (replicator, transporter)
25-27 Technology so advanced human nature/existence becomes fundamentally different in most ways
28-30 Technology and lifeforms merge imperceptibly
31-33 Godlike

Magic levels
Magic levels below 12 indicates a creature comes from a culture with only a grasp of relatively mundane phenomena, luck charms, minor fairy tale/superstition magics "put a locket in your shoe and in three days you'll catch a fish" etc. Slow, minor effects.
12 is shaman, priest, Aleister Crowley-level magic. Slow effects requiring ceremonies, a pain in the ass to prepare, but major effects are possible, if unlikely.
13 is authentically understood ritual magic. Pain-in-the-ass rituals still required, but they're more-or-less effective and somewhat understood. Think John Constantine.

Spells that are instantly usable are all products of level 14 magic or above:
14 Initiate wizard-level magic. Reliable instant minor effects. (Cantrips, stage magic.)
15 (maximum starting level) Wizard magic. Reliable instant effects capable of killing a weak creature or temporarily altering reality over a small area in noticeable ways. (1st-2nd level FRPG wizard spells)
16 The lowest kind of truly serious magic from times and places where wizards dominate ordinary humans. Fireballs, lightning, etc. (3rd level FRPG wizard spells)
22 Highest forms of magic known to mortals.
23 and above represents the powers of the gods and demiurges.
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THE SYSTEM:

Combat:

The party rolls vs. the GM for initiative on a d6. Situational modifiers may be applied. The side rolling highest goes first.

Each character can: move 15 feet and attack, move twice that and do nothing else, or attack and do some minor thing like check what time it is. Look to other games for crunchy details here.

To hit is dex (+ any bonuses for situation or martial arts or other weapon skill) + d10 vs. armor + dex (+any bonuses) +d10

-if the attacker hits-

roll weapon strength (+any bonuses) +d10 vs. defender's current physique (+any bonuses) +d10.

If the difference is positive on the attacker's side, that's how many points of damage to current physique the attack does.

In unarmed combat, the "weapon strength" is a little annoying: it's equal to the difference between the attacker and defender's current physique scores. If the attacker is weaker than the defender treat the "weapon strength" as 1. Because physique represents both physical strength and "life" points, if the attacker is injured (i.e. s/he's lost current physique points) the effectiveness of his or her attacks is reduced.

If the armor is not integral to the creature being attacked (that is, not their skin) the attacker has the option to just attack the armor rather than the character, in which case it's just dex (+any bonuses) v. armor and if the armor (or forcefield) is hit then it takes damage like a person.

Once a creature's current physique reaches zero she's unconscious. 2 things can happen:

-The foe can take an action and kill the character.
-If that doesn't happen, the character tries to roll under his/her base (not current) physique stat on a d20 once per hour. If s/he fails, s/he takes d6 physique points of damage. This continues once per hour until the character is healed or dies.

Medicine works like this: the doctoring character makes an intelligence check against an opposing rank of 30 minus the patient's base (not current) physique, and, if successful, after an hour the PC will be back on his/her feet with a number of current physique points equal to the number of points of success the doctor had. Obviously having medicine skills will help the doctor.

Defenders: You have the option to do extra dodges which means you get to roll twice and pick the best roll when you dodge. Declare when the other guy is about to roll. This costs you all your actions for that round.

Other combat effects (getting knocked down, etc.) are adjudicated by GM rulings.

Parrying and all that is gong to be the province of the martial arts moves page.
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Non-Combat Actions
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These are usually handled as stat (+any bonuses) +d10 vs. opposing stat (or difficulty level of the task , if nobody is opposing it) (+any bonuses) +d10.

If the player rolls high, s/he gets that thing done.

The bigger the numerical difference in the results, the bigger the success or failure, if that's relevant.

If one person rolls a 1 and the other rolls a 10, that's always a success for whoever rolled a 10, no matter what the comparative ranks are.

If there's a question of how, numerically, an effect works in a game--how long does your sleeping gas last? What's the range of your hypno-eyes?-- and the game doesn't provide an immediate guide, the PC says what they think it should be, the GM picks the lowest possible number that fits the idea of the power as it was originally described, the roll dice to decide where in the range the effect falls.

Experience rewards are granted in the form of re-rolls (fortune is smiling on the character) or skills learned (generally these will be narrow skills that have to do with what PCs did during the adventure). Generally 1-4 per session. Discovering devices and spells is its own reward.

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Sample Skills

I figured listing skills was pretty boring, so I did the work myself rather than turning it over to contributors, however, if you can think of a skill that might be good in the game, go ahead and leave a comment, here are skills so far. Players and GMs are free to think up narrower skills during character generation (like: Veterinary Medicine--Lizard/weasel hybrids) and use them. Remember: narrow skills aren't always useful but they stack with broader skills.

Any PC may attempt any task "unskilled". i.e. if a PC wants to roll on his/her intelligence vs. a GM-determined difficulty class to try to perform brain surgery, they should feel free. Gigacrawler PCs are presumed to be rugged survivalists capable of dealing with all kinds of things. If a GM feels a certain task could likely only be performed with special training, s/he should simply assign a high target number.

Skills have been chosen that don't substitute for player skill in social interaction or problem solving. Pilot skills are mostly useless since the universe is all dungeon.

Note that no skills broader than the broadest ones listed here are allowed (i.e. "science" or "weapons" or "magic").

Skills allowing the manufacture of items out of whole cloth are generally excluded from the system. However, at some point we may add rules describing conditions whereby Philosophers and Tinkerers can choose (rather than roll) the spell formulae and devices they receive as experience rewards. In this case, the PC can be said to have "invented" the item in question.

"Alien" and "xeno" in this case simply mean "originating from a species not native to the same planet as the PC". If the PC is from Planet Examant, then if s/he had "alien languages" s/he'd get a +1 to understanding English, French, Venusian and any other language not from Examant.

Sample Social skills: (add to charisma rolls, usually)
Alien etiquette
Etiquette of creatures of quadrant B-94 (for example)
Trade etiquette
Etiquette of creatures from Zorlithrax-9.

Sample Language skills:
(in general, any PC may make an intelligence roll vs. the difficulty level of an alien language to see if s/he knows it--most gigacrawlers are familiar with a few languages--the first time--and only the first time--they encounter it. Language skills add bonuses to this roll. If a PC learns a new language skill that might cover the language in question after failing a roll, s/he may roll again.)
Linguistics
Alien languages
Ancient languages
(you could use linguistics and alien languages to get a +2 to understand an ancient alien text or languages and ancient languages to get a +2, but not all 3 for a +3 bonus since "alien" is not a subset of "ancient" languages and vice versa, they overlap but neither belongs entirely inside the other)
Ancient alien languages (you could use that, though)
Alien Languages of Quadrant: Kroskulus

Sample Engineering skills: (usually add to intelligence rolls)
Surveillance systems
Alien surveillance systems
Surveillance systems of Quadrant Mega
Surveillance systems designed by energy beings (etc.)
Engineering
Elevator repair
Armor repair
Weapons repair
Cybernetics
Cybernetic implantation
Cybernetic repair
Computer operation
Computer programming
Computer repair
Communications systems
Propulsion systems
Pilot Spacecraft

Sample Surivival skills: (usually add to intelligence or agility rolls)
Cooking
Edibility of alien creatures
Sewing
Stealth
Underwater stealth
Disguise
Escape artist
Pick locks (mechanical)
Pick locks (computerized)

Sample Scientific skills: (add to intelligence rolls)
Chemistry
Biochemistry
Botany
Biology
Neurobiology
Psionic neurobiology
Xenobiology
Mathematics
Extradimensional mathematics

Sample Weapon skills: (the broader weapon skills help with most things having to do with the weapons in question: repair, appraisal, etc., in combat they apply to hit rolls but not to damage)
Firearms
Projectile (non-energy) firearms
20th century projectile firearms
2oth century projectile firearms from France
Melee weapons
Edged melee weapons
Medieval melee weapons
Japanese melee weapons
Energy weapons
Energy weapons repair
Energy weapons of the Vor-Gork Mercenaries
Anti-logic weapons
Anti-logic weapons repair (etc.)
Plasma weapons
Demolitions
Grenades

Sample Medical Skills: (add to intelligence rolls, see combat section for details on medicine)
Medicine
First Aid
Cybernetic first aid (for example)
Pathology
Xenopathology
Veterinary medicine

Sample Magic skills (Add bonuses to intelligence rolls to understand magical effects, to magic level rolls to use spells, and to Unstables' attempts to utilize spell effects. These skills cannot be gained after character creation until that kind of spell has been successfully cast by the character. i.e If someone who does not have the Xenodemonology skill wants it, s/he will have to successfully summon an alien demon first.)
Demonology
Xenodemonology
Elemental control magic
Particle magic
Nullification magic
Divination magic
Alchemical magic
Healing magic
Illusion magic
Necromancy
Transmutation and transformation magic
Chaotic effect magic
Megadimensional magic
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Addendum:
Hunger/thirst rules.

Food and water are scarce and valuable in the Gigastructure. PCs do not necessarily start with either when created.

These rules will serve until such time as someone gets it into their head to design more gruesome ones:

After a day without food, characters lose 1 physique per day.
Humanlike creatures require physique x 100 calories per day to survive.

After a day without water, creatures with a humanlike physiognomy lose 3 physique per day.
Humanlike creatures require a gallon of water a day.

If a creature receives part of their requirement, they only take part of the damage.

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Addendum: Simplicity Guidelines

There will be three sections in the final product:

-These basic rules
-Widgets (Setting features, spells, equipment, etc.)
-Rulings--A never-ending series of edicts on ways to adjudicate situations not foreseen in the basic rules, usually in response to queries. (Optional.)

When there is any confusion about the rules, there are only 2 possible resources that can give you an "official" answer: The basic rules and the specific rules described in the section about the widget in question. You are not obliged to look anywhere else. There is no higher authority. The "tournament rules" are just suggestions.

If a rule is not made clear in these basic rules or in the widget descripton(s) involved in the situation being ruled upon, the GM must make a ruling. Listening to the players' opinions first is recommended. Either the GM or player must write the ruling down if they expect it to be followed consistently thereafter, but if either does, it will be followed from then on.

If an argument concerning the rules is going on (2 players, a player arguing in the face of a GM ruling, etc.) and it begins to bore any person at the table or watching the game, that party may call Shenanigans.

When Shenanigans is called, a stopwatch or timer is started. Parties involved in the dispute have 3 minutes to state their case and come to a mutual agreement. After that, the decision is made randomly. The decision of the dice must be obeyed, even if someone believes it directly contradicts the official rules.

If a party is painfully aggrieved by a decision made during the game, s/he will receive a "playing in protest" coupon for a metagame reward after the game at the expense of the other players--usually in the form of beer, ice cream or shots of Jager in whatever quantities will get him/her to shut up and roll. However, thereafter the other players are entitled to mock the player during the next session (only), though the rate must be no higher than a single one-liner per player.