Legal equipment can usually be purchased from shops or from catalogs. Very expensive items (in general, anything costing more than a campaign's average starting wealth), or those that require licenses, may require dealing directly with a manufacturer, authorized dealer, or other specialist. Expensive but commonplace civilian gear such as cars will be easy to purchase, but specialized items may take longer to arrange. Administration skill rolls (or bribes!) may help.

If an item is illegal to own, expensive to acquire, or rare, it may be available from one or more outlets in the underground economy – the black market.

Acquiring goods usually requires a Contact who knows how to reach the local black market merchants. Alternately, Streetwise can be used to locate new connections. The PCs should specify what they are looking for, and the GM decides on the local availability of the item. A failure may result in the unwanted attention of the local cops or criminal syndicates, while a critical failure may mean that the PCs walk into a police “sting” operation, are ambushed by other criminals, or acquire dangerously defective goods.

Modifiers: Subtract the local Control Rating and Cultural Familiarity modifiers; +1 if the area includes a major shipping port, is bordering a low-CR country, or has ineffectual (i.e., corrupt or undermanned) law enforcement; -3 in an unfamiliar area.

The term “black market” describes any businesses that operate illegally. Some sell proscribed services, while others circumvent tax or safety laws to undercut legitimate competitors. The GM may set up various niches within the “black market” that cater to specific customers, and that require specialized Contacts or skill penalties (see above) to deal with. Some examples of specialized black markets include:

Electronics: This can include prototype or custom-made computers, pirated copies of brand-name goods, and banned software (“Guaranteed to break the intrusion countermeasures on that military mainframe… but owning it will get you a death sentence. You still want it?”). Failure means the product you bought doesn’t work as advertised or was fake. A critical failure means a knock on the door (or the head) by the legal owner or patent holder – who might have found you thanks to a tracking device in the gadget itself!

Medical: This can include cut-rate surgical, unlicensed implant clinics, stolen bionics (perhaps with the previous owner still attached), and cheap drugs or nanosymbionts. Failure means you don’t find what you’re looking for, or the seller can’t provide the amount requested. A critical failure may leave you with scars, placebos, or an angry amputee on your trail.

Entities: Androids, robots, slaves, organs, and illegal clones (your own, or someone else’s). Failure means you receive a defective product, or that having it around will be a risk to life and limb. A critical failure means you’re the target of a raid or your new acquisition has a hidden homicidal streak.

Weapons: Stolen or smuggled firearms, banned ammunition, and purloined military vehicles and combat robots (“a light battletank fresh from the National Guard Inc. Armory”). Failure means you can only get an inferior version of what you were looking for. Critical failure means it will malfunction on first use, or that someone is tracking it. Caveat emptor.

The black market operates in competition with the normal market for many goods. To sell goods readily available from legal channels, it can only compete by making things easier to acquire (which is rare), or by selling for a lower price (by not charging for taxes, selling cheap copies, or fencing stolen goods). Easily copied media and textiles can sell for as little as 5% of normal price, but most other items sell for 60% of normal price.

The black market is opportunistic: if an item is hard to acquire legally, it has an edge over the legitimate market and will exploit it ruthlessly. Successful haggling with the Merchant skill can bring the price down, but black market dealers rarely have any incentive to offer big discounts!

Local availability and demand is a major factor in the final price. The inhabitants of a war-torn country may sell military weapons at a huge discount to anyone with hard currency, while electronics and food are sold at outrageous markups. A rich, peaceful country with thriving black markets in cheap alcohol and pirated movies may not have LC3 or lower weapons available for any price.

The GM may allow obsolete weapons and other devices to be available at an increased Legality Class. For every two full TLs by which a device is obsolete, its LC can increase by 1, to a maximum of 2 beyond its starting LC (up to LC4).

When calculating TL for these purposes, use the TL of the particular gadget, not the TL at which it was introduced or the last TL at which it improves.

Simple objects don’t require much maintenance. If an object costs less than 0.1% of average starting wealth ($30 at TL9, $50 at TL10, $75 at TL11 or $100 at TL12) the GM may assume it’s so simple that it will work indefinitely.

At the GM’s option, some items – especially those that are complex or regularly placed under stress – may require periodic “maintenance checks.” See Maintenance (p. B485) for details. GMs are also welcome to ignore maintenance, or only impose it in dramatic situations where the characters are cut off from spare parts.

GMs who do not want to bother with maintenance details at all can assume ultra-tech items incorporate embedded diagnostics, self-repairing components, etc. that make maintenance unnecessary, at least for a period covered by a warranty! “Self-repairing” devices such as living metal gadgets already have such systems.

If a gadget breaks down, it requires either a minor or a major repair. Performing repairs requires the appropriate repair skill. Use:

• Armoury (p. B178) for weapons and defenses.
• Computer Operation (p. B184) for software problems.
• Electronics Repair (p. B190) for electronic devices.
• Electrician (p. B189) for power transmission systems, power cells, and their interfaces.
• Machinist (p. B206) for manufacturing plants and tools.
• Mechanic (p. B207) for robots, power plants, and vehicles.
• Sewing (p. B219) for fabric (other than body armor).

Some complex systems may require more than one skill, depending on what broke down. Except for software repairs, appropriate tools are needed – see Tool Kits (p. 82). Major repairs also require a substantial investment in parts; if these are lacking, Machinist skill (p. B206) may be used to fabricate them. For detailed rules for repairs, see pp. B484-485.

Part of maintaining equipment is storing it properly when it isn’t in use. Expensive gear isn’t just left lying around – especially not if the owner relies on it in life-or-death situations! Sheaths, quivers, and holsters don’t only make weapons easy to reach; they shield them from bumping against hard surfaces. Military bases have armories to keep weapons in good condition when they’re not being used. Gear that isn’t stored properly will need maintenance before it’s used again, even if it’s normally exempt. Equipment that’s exposed to harsh conditions (see Sand, Slime, and Equipment Failure, p. B485) can have worse problems.

Many gadgets require power. For simplicity, they are assumed to use standardized detachable Power Cells.

The size of cell is a rough measure of how much energy the gadget requires. The larger the cell, the more power the gadget consumes. The cost and weight of power cells and alternatives such as solar power are covered in Chapter 2.

Equipment quality is discussed on p. B345. In addition to those cost multipliers and skill modifiers, several other features can be added to almost any gadget for which both cost and weight are given (not drugs, etc.). Multiple modifications are possible; e.g., “expensive” and “styling” commonly occur together. Each modifier has a “cost factor” (CF). To find final cost, multiply the modified item’s list cost by (1 + total CF). If total CF is below -0.8, treat it as -0.8; thus, final cost cannot be below 20% of list cost.

Disguised: A gadget or weapon may be disguised as something else of similar shape, such as a laser rifle built into an umbrella or a knife built into a belt buckle. Finding the hidden item requires the Search skill. CF is +1 for a mass-produced disguised item; +4 for a custom-built one.

Styling: Styling alters the device’s appearance in as “fashionable” a manner as possible. All sorts of options are possible, including airbrushing, sculpted curves and designs, embedded gemstones, or even built-in lighting. Styling grants a bonus to reaction rolls from collectors and potential buyers, and to Merchant skill rolls made as Influence rolls (p. B359) on such people: +1 to rolls for +1 CF, +2 for +4 CF, or +3 for +9 CF.

Rugged: Rugged gadgets are built to withstand abuse, harsh weather, and physical damage. Rugged systems incorporate modifications such as shock-mounted brackets, heavy-duty heat sinks, and redundant power supplies. A rugged gadget gets a +2 HT bonus and has twice its normal DR. Weight is x1.2, CF is +1. This option isn’t available for clothing, weapons, or armor, except as specifically noted.

Quality: The quality grades for tools and gear on p. B345 have associated CFs: 0 for basic, +4 for good, and +19 for fine.

Value: Cheap gadgets use inexpensive materials. They’re either clunky (weight is x1.5) or fragile and finicky (weight is unchanged, but apply -2 to HT and halve DR). Either way, CF is -0.5. Expensive gadgets are made of lighter, stronger materials. Weight is x2/3. CF is +1. Neither option is available for weapons or armor.

How do you make buying gear more immersive?

First, trivial stuff like food or toiletries should never warrant more detail. Brand loyalty should only matter when you buy important adventuring equipment like climbing spikes, weapons, get-away cars and the like since these are the kind of things that can put a PC's health, friends, wealth or reputation at risk, the same things GURPS suggest that are important enough to warrant rolling dice!

That being said, there are three basic steps to doing this.

The first step is to go over the often over-looked “Modifying Equipment” sections (page 13 of Ultra-Tech, page 7 of High-Tech and page 13 or Low-Tech). This is pretty much just an expansion on the concepts that are covered there.

The second step is to make gear more interesting. This is achieved through two things, using equipment modifiers and quirks and perks (more on this later) to make the gear standout from each other and adding “fluff”-background detail like why it was made (or at lest the what the ads have to say about it) and especially who made it. These two factors are probably the most important but also the most complicated and time consuming to come up with and I will break down some ways of doing this in more detail below.

The third option is pretty simple. Don't show the players the gear's in game effects!

At least, not right away.

Just think about how most real people shop for things. They hardly ever know the what kind of real life “bonuses” a given tool is going to give them. Instead they have to either just make a blind purchase, slog through what ever slanted data the company that makes the item puts out, look up others opinions on it, try to find some (often hard to find) unbiased review of it, go by how it looks or just trust plain old brand loyalty.

There's a good bit of roleplay opportunity here as you've now given your player two avenues for getting their gear. They can just go in blind and trust either the brand or their gut. Or they can do some research and plan out what they get.

If they go in blind give them a list of options to choose from and and maybe a short blurb about what their supposed advantages are. Whatever they pick, that's just what they get.

At first you should handle any rolls for the player involving that gear. Keep them in the dark about its effects, don't let them know if the gear is helping them or hindering their rolls. After about three or so normal successes or just one critical success or a normal success by 10 or more feel free to give the player the low down and reveal its in game effects. Alternatively if the player decides to play it smart and spends some time testing out the gear before using it, he can figure out its in game stats by spending eight hours testing it, after which they can make a relevant skill roll (Guns for a gun, Driving for a car or a relevant Connoisseur roll). As always the time spent rules apply. If they succeed they have figured out how good it is. If they fail the roll they're not quite sure and can spend another eight hours trying to figure it out. If they critically fail however, lie! Tell them they figured it out but give them false stats!

Now when it comes to picking the gear they can choose from, be sure to be fair. Don't punish a player if they don't want to go through the extra hassle, but at the same time don't pamper them either. One way to do this is to pick four to six options to choose from - this lets you give a good range: one really good option, one really bad option, one slightly better than average, one worse than average, and two average options that pretty much have the same stat line. This gives a good range to choose from, and they might get lucky.

If they choose to put a little work in and research their gear options first, make a Research roll with a base time of 8 hours (and usual modifiers for time spent). Relevant modifiers for this is +/-0 for average gear, -1 for gear that's a little better than average, -2 for good level gear, -3 for fine level gear and -5 or more for the best gear available for the setting's TL! Another -1 to -2 might be warranted for really niche items that don't have a lot of public data available or are purposely restricted. If the player has a relevant Expert or Connoisseur skill they can make a complementary skill roll to boost their chances. On a success the player finds what they're looking for and knows what the gear does, on critical success or success by 10 or more they find gear that's one step better (if they were already looking for the best gear for the TL then either let them find it cheaper or give some other perk). If they fail then they don't find what they are looking for and can try again but if they critically fail then they find a cheaper item thinking they found what they are looking for!

Of course, once characters find what they're looking for, actually getting to where it can bought or found can be an adventure hook in itself (“you located a functional IR seeking 4th generation man portable surface to air missile, but the local terrorist group that's currently holding it isn't interested in selling…”).

There is one important exception to holding back the in-game stats of gear: don't do this with starting gear! Since gear can help define a character and it can be assumed that most of this gear is something they've had time to figure out, letting your players see the stats of their starting options is pretty important.

In real life, many corporations tend to have particular qualities, certain characteristics that tend to be something that their products are known for - reliability, durability, and so on. This can be taken to mean that there are certain modifiers these companies tend to give their products.

As such, companies can be statted up to provide a Corporate Lens (similar to Character Lenses) to assign equipment modifiers that they give most of their gear. You can mix methods, of course, to provide case-by-case examples that deviate from the norm.

This is the name of the company or corporation involved. Some corporations are world - and campaign - spanning, while others are local flavor or merely make generic knock-offs of better brands, often only having a vague marketing buzz word to differentiate them.

This is what kind of role the company plays, on a narrative level. Think of what this company makes and how its going to effect the kind of gear it will provide the campaign.

• The Baseline. This is the type of company that should produce most of the balanced, baseline gear you pick or stat up for your campaign. They should have the safe but boring gear with very few perks or quirks.
• The Niche. They should be the type of company that make gear that has more flavor and character. They should also tend to have more drawbacks such as being more expensive or having some small annoying quirk that can cause issues every now and again. You should also note what niche they serve. For example, if they're known for making rugged and reliable gear that tends to be at the pricier end you should note it as Company Type: Niche: Rugged and reliable but expensive.
• The Variants. These will cover the countless other brands out there. To make things easier make them “palette swaps” of your other companies, with small differences, so you can fill out the world a little more and not slap the same few names on everything. These companies don't need to have a lot of detail about them unless your players start liking them for some reason.

These are the equipment modifiers that most of the gear made by this company are going to have. When coming up with what modifiers to use, just think about what kind what kind of company you want them to be and what standard features their gear should be known by.

Once again, it helps to think of tweaking the gear in the same terms you would use coming up when designing a character. Treat equipment modifiers in the same way you would come up with advantages and disadvantages. Pick a concept and run with it though don't go too over board. Try to keep the number of equipment modifiers no more then three per company or item in most cases, although of course there can always be exceptions.

Also don't be afraid to come up with little perk or quirk versions of of the equipment modifiers to give the gear! These should follow the same guidelines as normal quirks and perks and only given minor advantage, no more then a +/-1 or a +/-2 in limited or minor situations, or perhaps a 10% increase or decreases in something.

To get you started, here are a few gear-appropriate perks and quirks for you to use. Each perk and quirk either adds 5% to the item's cost or reduces it by 5%. At most, a piece of gear should have no more then two or three perks and/or quirks tops. For items with multiple modes of operations, each mode can have its own separate set of perks and/or quirks but if multiple modes have the same option, only modify the price once for it.

• Lighter: The device is 10% lighter then standard versions.
• Well Made: It has +1 HT.
• Good Ergonomics: When doing long tasks with this piece of gear, its intuitive design lets you ignore up to -1 in penalties from taking less time to do a task (in effect you can use the skill 10% faster).
• Information Efficient: The way the device sends data to the users HUD is arranged in such a way that you always seem to get the data you need when you need it. This gives you +1 to situational awareness rolls in situations such as making sure you don't target the wrong guy, need to keep track of ammo/energy levels, to notice error reports and so on.
• Easily Maintained: This device's design is either simple or was made with repairs and upgrades in mind. This perk can be bought twice. If bought once it gives +1 to rolls to repair and upgrade the device and if bout twice it gives +2 instead.
• Energy Efficient: This device has slightly better wiring and efficient circuitry then most models. Increase its duration or number of shots for energy weapons by 10%.

• Heavier: The item is made from slightly less advanced or cheaper material and weighs about 10% more then normal.
• Poorly Made: -1 to HT.
• Poor Ergonomics: When doing long tasks with this piece of gear, its badly designed layout gives you -1.
• Information Overload: The way the device sends data to the users HUD is poorly coordinated and gives you -1 to situational awareness rolls in situations such as making sure you don't target the wrong guy, need to keep track of ammo/energy levels, to notice error reports and so on.
• Hard to Maintain: This device's insides are a complete mess! This perk can be bought twice. If bought once it gives -1 to rolls to repair and upgrade the device and if bought twice it gives -2 instead.
• Energy Inefficient: This device has cheaper wiring and circuitry then most models. Decrease its duration or number of shots for energy weapons by 10%.
• Faulty Programming: This device occasionally glitches, causing -1 to minor tasks (1 in 6 chance).
• Repair Hog: This device occasionally demands repairs (10% of item cost; 1 in 6 chance) or else grants a -1 to all functions until fixed.
• Uncomfortable: Worn items become uncomfortable after prolonged use (make a Will roll every hour you wear it or suffer a -1 to IQ rolls until you take it off or take time to readjust it).

Electronic gadgets can link to other gadgets, either via communicators or using data cables. This allows them to link their functions, or to turn multiple functions on or off with a single Ready maneuver. Most often, this permits a computer to talk to (and control) multiple devices as peripherals, but other combinations can exist. Linking devices usually takes between 10 seconds and a minute, assuming the gadgets are compatible. If they aren’t, or if a particular combination is very complex, the GM may require a toolkit and Electronics Operation roll. Useful devices for linking gadgets include optical cable, cable jacks, and microcommunicators. A neural interface is a device for mentally linking a person to one or more gadgets.

Most electronics can be preprogrammed for a few simple remote functions. Almost all electronics have a simple “clock” function, so they can be set to turn features on or off or activate various functions at a specific time, or upon receiving particular input. For example, a recorder could be plugged into a communicator to play a message at a certain time, or upon receiving a specific signal, or to act as an answering machine. A detonator plugged into an inertial compass could go off when the subject reached a specific destination. Wireless connectivity is also possible: plug in a communicator set to a specific frequency, and you can talk to the device using a computer and communicator.

Devices that must be aimed are difficult to operate remotely. A gun with a communicator plugged into it could fire, but unless it also had a plugged-in sensor, the firer wouldn’t know whether there was a target. And unless a gun with a sensor was attached to something like a powered tripod, it could only be fired at someone who crossed its sights. As always, the GM should rule on whether a particular piece of gadget programming is possible.

Some gadgets have a notation “adjust for SM” after their weight, cost, and power requirement. This means the weight, cost, and number of power cells are multiplied by a factor depending on the user’s Size Modifier. For ordinary-sized humans (SM 0) there is no change. However, if used by larger or smaller individuals, or if added to vehicles or robots with a higher or lower SM, multiply as follows:

Want to invent a device featuring an inertial locator, multi-mode ladar, and neutrino communicator in one handy unit? Here’s how.

If the gadgets can be used all at once, the weight is that of the heaviest gadget plus 80% of the weight of the others, the weight savings being due to shared housing and components.

If only one of the combined gadgets can work at once, the weight is based on the highest weight among all gadgets plus 50% of the other gadget weights, due to shared electronics and mechanical parts. (Make this calculation using the empty weight of the gadget, after subtracting the weight of any power cells and ammunition.)

The same applies to cost, based on the costliest of the gadgets. LC is always based on the lowest LC among all component gadgets.

Combined gadgets may end up using several different power cells. To make them all run off the same size of power cell, adjust endurance based on relative cell size. Since a D cell is 10 times the power of a C cell, a gadget that switched to using C cells will operate for one-tenth as long. Don’t forget that changing the types of power cells will modify the gadget’s actual weight – subtract the weight of the old power cell(s), and add the weight of the new one(s).

This all assumes equipment is built for humans or humanoids. If equipment is designed for aliens, it may have different controls or displays to accommodate alien hands or senses. The latter could be quite odd, such as olfactory readouts, or colors or sounds in frequencies outside our range of perception. Alien gadgets that are awkward to use will impose a penalty to skill equivalent to the Bad Grip disadvantage (-2 to -6). Gadgets that require missing senses or limbs may be unusable without technologies or advantages to emulate them. Adapting incompatible alien hardware is +10% to 100% of the original cost (and possibly weight).

Hardware for nonhumans and robots is assumed to have identical statistics, although the GM may wish to adjust these to reflect differences in alien physiology (for instance, see Increased Life Support). The exceptions to this are suits, force fields, and other surface-based accessories, where statistics will vary depending on size and surface area. See Adjusting for SM (above).

Most gadgets detailed in subsequent sections use a standard format for statistics.

Many gadgets list these four statistics at the end of their description. For example, “$20,000, 20 lbs., D/12 hr. LC4.”

Cost: This is the price in generic GURPS dollars. The price does not include power cells, fuel, or ammunition.

Weight: This is the gadget’s mass, as well as its weight, under a normal Earth gravity (1 G). It is given in pounds (lbs.), or in some cases in tons (of 2,000 lbs.). Weight does include any power cells, fuel, or ammunition.

Power: If a non-weapon gadget requires power, the letter designation for the type of power cell it uses is listed, along with the number of cells, if it requires more than one. See Power Cells. This is followed by a parenthetical operating time, usually in hours (hr.), days, or weeks (wk.). Thus, “D/12 hr.” means the device requires one D cell that operates it for 12 hours of continuous use; “2A/3 days” means two A cells that collectively power it for 3 days. In some cases, a gadget’s endurance is listed in “uses” or “shots” rather than time.

Some items rarely use power cells – they’re usually plugged into a building’s electrical system or built into a vehicle. These have the notation “external power.” Some items such as computers have both notations: they’re used with an external power supply, but also have power cells as a backup.

Legality Class (LC): LC measures how likely an item is to be legally or socially controlled. If a LC is omitted, it means the item is not likely to be controlled even by the most repressive regime.

Certain types of equipment are described in a different format.

Robots: Sentient machines big enough to see are described using racial templates or as animals. See Machines as Characters.

Weapons: These use the format on p. B268-271, with the exception that beam weapons list a power cell type instead of ammunition weight. “7/2C” means the weapon is powered by a pair of C cells, which are included in its 7 lb. weight.

Armor, Suits, and Protective Gear: These use the format described on p. B282.

Software: Computer programs have a Complexity rating, which is the minimum Complexity of computer that can run it (see Software, p. B472).

Vehicles: These are described using the format on p. B464.

GURPS includes examples of basic, good, fine, or even best-quality equipment in terms of Equipment Modifiers (p. B345). Better quality equipment is usually heavier and more expensive. A gadget’s quality grade is always followed by “(quality)” in item descriptions, e.g., “provides a +2 (quality) bonus to Electronics Repair (Armoury) skill.” Quality is basic if there is no bonus, good if the bonus is +1, fine if at least +2 but less than +TL/2, and best if +TL/2.

Gadgets may also add an intrinsic bonus to skill because the underlying technology is easy to use or doesn’t fail very often – an example is the bonus that higher-TL surgical instruments provide. This is comparable to a ranged weapon’s Accuracy. Any bonus that isn’t marked “(quality)” is an intrinsic bonus. It has nothing to do with quality, and applies whenever you use that variety of gadget.

Quality bonuses, intrinsic bonuses, and the +1 for Equipment Bond are cumulative.

HP: A gadget’s hit points are calculated from its weight. Use the chart on p. B558. Almost all gadgets will use the Unliving/Machine column.

HT: Assume that a gadget has HT 10 unless otherwise noted. Ruggedized (p. 14) gear is HT 12; some cheap (p. 14) items are HT 8. The +1 or +2 skill bonus for good or fine quality also adds to HT. The HT bonuses for ruggedized and quality equipment are additive; a rugged, fine pocket watch would have HT 14.

DR: Use the guidelines on p. B483. Most gadgets are made of plastic with DR 2. Weapons are normally DR 4, or DR 6 for solid metal melee weapons. Armor, suits, vehicles, etc. have their specified DR. Rugged gadgets have twice their normal DR.

Bulk: A general measure of size and handiness. The larger the penalty, the more bulky the item. Bulk modifies weapon skill when you take a Move and Attack maneuver with a ranged weapon, and serves as a penalty to Holdout skill when you attempt to conceal the gadget.