Laboratories

See Workshops Make It Better for the effect, in our campaign, of a Laboratory on the actual cost of the Gadget being made.

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Laboratories or Workshops, depending on the preference of the Gadgeteer, make Gadget production more efficient: it has a clean, suitably-sized work surface, plenty of clamps and tools, testing equipment, spare nuts and screws, and for no damn reason there's always a Van der Graaf generator or Jacob's Ladder around somewhere. A good lab will also have emergency fire/fume/explosion suppression equipment. A Laboratory's AP rating (or "Lab rating") is the maximum APs of a Gadget Ability that may be built there, excepting that Reliability Number is not dependent upon the Lab rating.

When a Character is planning to build a Laboratory, its AP value must be decided before it is built. It probably also helps to have at least a Confined Headquarters, first, or the Lab may wind up being somewhere a villain can legally access. Laboratories have a Factor Cost of 3, a Reliability Number of 0, and must be maintained -- once a year, the Character who owns the lab must make a Wealth Check versus an OV/RV equal to the APs of the lab. It takes a minimum of two weeks, or 19 APs of Time, to build a Lab; for larger Lab ratings, the GM might have it take longer. Even Bruce Wayne can't rush high-end workshop construction.

Included Tools and Equipment

Regardless of its rating, the Laboratory (or Workshop) comes with any supplies that could be purchased from a Big Box Home Improvement Store for under $500. It won't have a fantastic table saw unless the Character makes a Wealth Check to buy the better model, but it will have a tolerably functional one. It won't have a trinocular metallurgical microscope unless the Gadget is made separately, paid with the Laboratory owner's Hero Points, and covered with a successful Wealth Check. Computers, remote surveillance networks, and security systems are also Gadgets that must be purchased separately from the cost of the Laboratory.

With one exception!

If the Laboratory or Workshop is built inside a Headquarters owned by the same Character, then the security devices protecting this facility are part of the Headquarters. They would only need to be purchased as separate Gadgets if the Character wants a higher AP rating on the systems protecting their Headquarters than the AP rating of the Workshop itself.

If the Gadgeteer in question has a high enough AP rating at the Security Systems subskill of Thief to equal at least three quarters of the Workshop AP rating, the GMs will not come by to ask whether some other Character helped with the design and installation. Only when the Workshop AP rating is more than twice the AP rating of the Gadgeteer's Security Systems would assistance from another Character be mandatory -- it is possible for a Gadgeteer to Boost their Security Systems skill rating high enough for this roll, so long as they take their time and apply some Hero Points.

(Remember that most Gadgets built into this building are still theoretically eligible to be Taken Away in Combat. The GMs may not agree to the discounted price if the Gadget is bolted to the floor and not digitally controllable!)

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Where do I put this?

The Laboratory does need to be described on the Character Sheet of its owner, in whatever amount of detail the Player likes -- at minimum including

• whether it is meant to be a Laboratory or a Workshop;
• its AP rating;
• its physical location in the world;
• its installed Gadgets if any, including their costs in HP and Wealth;
• the date of its most recent Maintenance.

A Player who is editing their character's Article can put their Laboratory/Workshop description anywhere that makes sense to them: in the top Vignette, in the "Wealth" box as one of their Assets on the Social tab, as a child (Landmark) article giving the building its own fancy name, in the Specialized Equipment box on the Physical tab ... any combination of those, or something else entirely.

Currently, Players who are using the Edit feature on their active character profile are probably best served by putting their Laboratory or Workshop description in the Specialized Equipment box on the Physical tab of the Extended Profile.