A
sudden thought came into my head as I stooped towards the portal. For once, at least, I grasped the mental operations of the Morlocks. Suppressing a strong inclination to laugh, I stepped through the bronze frame and up to the Time Machine. I was surprised to find it had been carefully oiled and cleaned. I have suspected since that the Morlocks had even partially taken it to pieces while trying in their dim way to grasp its purpose....
sudden thought came into my head as I stooped towards the portal. For once, at least, I grasped the mental operations of the Morlocks. Suppressing a strong inclination to laugh, I stepped through the bronze frame and up to the Time Machine. I was surprised to find it had been carefully oiled and cleaned. I have suspected since that the Morlocks had even partially taken it to pieces while trying in their dim way to grasp its purpose....
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
A Morlock Tool-Belt usually comes in one of three varieties, though sometimes they are empty. The tools and things found on an Apprentice's belt will be significantly lower quality than those on a Journeyman's, and a Master's belt will typically yield the best-quality tools.
- Empty. It is a nice belt, though...
- Apprentice (Roll 1d4 times. Each item has a 30% chance of still being useful.)
- Journey-man (Roll 2d4 times, or roll 1d4 times and double the quantities of each item. These items have a 60% chance to be useful or intact.)
- Master (Roll 1d6 times. Each of these items all have a 80% chance to be in perfect working order.)
Things Found on a Morlock's Tool-Belt...
- Yellow-metal pry-bar. Makes a decent mace in a pinch.
- Ear-Plugs. Protect against loud noises, vocal effects (+2 on Saves).
- Rusty bone-saw, with three replacement blades.
- Three varieties of pliers. One in particular matted with hair and blood.
- Scalping-shears. Recently cleaned.
- Titanium-alloy ice-pick. Equal to a +1 to hit, normal damage stabby-knife.
- Self-adjusting spanner.
- Pack of adjustable grommets.
- Forty-seven human teeth.
- 2d4 tubes of binary epoxy. Half blue, half red. When mixed, they form a purple glob that quickly hardens into a hard, waterproof seal.
- Bronze-alloy hammer (non-sparking).
- (6d6) Black foil ties. Once twisted they won't come free, unless you know to tap the tip three times.
- One-foot wide roll of thin green metal film. Unrolls out to 100', goes rigid when tapped on edge. Re-rolls to whichever end gets triple-tapped first. Can hold up to 4,000 pounds without buckling.
- Pack of 3d6 ultra-absorbent rags.
- Air-tight can of hand-cleanser.
- Tongs. Handle locks if you know how to twist the grips. Especially if you don't.
- Inert dull red cylinder. Completely harmless unless broken open or exposed to open flames, then there is a 40% chance they'll explode, inflicting 3d6 damage on everyone in a 20' radius.
- Water-purification filter-tube. Use like a straw.
- Utility knife. 3d6 replacement blades in handle. Does 1d4+2 damage.
- Telescoping yellow-metal blow-gun, with a packet of 3d6 poisoned darts.
- Red Lamp. Emits warm red light that does not interfere with infra/dark vision. Has a 30' radius, unless you squeeze it twice, then it sines in one direction to a distance of 300'.
- Nose-plugs.
- Cardboard box of borax.
- Waxed-paper pouch of dried jerky.
- (3d4) delicately-carved small-animal vertebrae. Make nice dice.
- Squeegee.
- Emergency spray-bulb. Squirts water over a 10' radius in case of exposure to Black Smoke, etc.
- One-handed pick-axe.
- Small pack of very fine tools. Could be adapted to serve as Thieve's picks.
- 5d100 washers in a variety of sizes.
- Blunt mercury-filled hollow hammer and 1d4 cold chisels. (Hammer does +1 damage, but has a -1 penalty unless wielder is used to the shifting weight.)
- Pouch of 5d20 rivets.
- Filet knife. (+1 on damage.)
- Stylus that separates or seals most metals depending on direction it is drawn. Completely harmless to living tissues.
- (4d6) random crystals.
- Black disk with a luminous needle suspended in center. The needle glows faintly in a different color to indicate direction of nearest Ley-lines, magnetic fields, poison gas pockets, Weak-Points, and other phenomena. Used to hang on a lanyard, but that's gone now.
- Climbing axe. The haft unfolds into a tripod with a pulley system attached at the center.
- Palm-sized black mirror. Reflection is emitted in the infrared.
- Sack of random fish-bones.
- Sewing Kit.
- Malfunctioning Mucoid blood-transfusion mechanism.
- Pack of 3d4 blades for a hack-saw.
- Small tin of snuff.
- Horn-working kit. Comes with folded brochure that displays steps in shaping a lanthorn from animal horns. Last one-third of back page is missing, but at least you can still see the diagrams through the bloodstains.
- Empty metal cylinder.
- Duct tape. Of course.
- Three mis-matched wrenches, each one from an entirely different set.
- Galvanic torch. Has very limited range, but could inflict 3d4 damage if used in a fight.
- Blue rod wrapped in grayish foil. Emits Darkness in a 30' radius if uncovered.
- Climbing Winch, self-rewinding, excretes up to 500' of translucent hair-fine silk-line with a tensile strength able to hold 6,000 pounds dead weight.
- Rebreather mask. Allows wearer to breathe underwater for up to two continuous hours at a time. Requires ten minutes to recharge/clear after every 30 minutes of use.
- Screwdriver; the tip automatically adjusts to fit.
- Cold Cutter; narrow blade of white metal that maintains a very low temperature while cutting through dense materials.
- Very nice bone-carving and skrimshaw kit.
- (3d4) Slug-Repellent Salt-spikes. Inflict 3d4 to slugs, snails, etc.
- Heavily-creased cheat-sheet showing detailed sketches of various highly poisonous fungi.
- Gloves made from what appears to be cat-hides, with the fur turned inside.
- Slick black poncho-with-hood. Stinks like filthy penguin-hide.
- Leather-working kit. With three additional tools you don't immediately recognize.
- Twist the handle it's a hammer, twist again and it's a hatchet. Some versions have more options.
- (1d4) Eloi Memory-Rings. Wiped, ready to be reformatted and reloaded.
- Socket-set in it's own, water-proof case.
- White card covered with flowing script and small image, possibly of the former owner of the belt.
- Black cylinder, precisely 3" tall, 2" diameter. Extends out to a highly rigid ten-foot pole when properly triggered.
- Rat skull fetish adorned with cracked bearings and burnt wire.
- Goggles. Lens-housings twist, clockwise enlarges things, counter-clockwise shrinks them down. Not sure what the squiggly green hieroglyphs are all about.
- Scraping tools. No good as weapons; too flexible.
- Machete. Twist the dial on the handle and it becomes a shovel, rake or grappling hook.
- Plumb bob with 600' of thin cord that glows faintly in the dark.
- Spool of metal wire.
- Small can of reddish lubricating oil. Leaks a little.
- Empty leather sheath.
- Small black wallet, unfastens into a complete clockwork tool-kit.
- Flensing knife. Could make a good potato-peeler.
- Medium-sized hand-drill with 3d6 bits.
- Hacksaw. No blades.
- Fine-mesh gloves, resist extreme heat or cold, acid and alkali.
- Grooming kit. Never used.
- (2d4) Replacement lenses for something that uses 3" diameter convex lenses made from some clear blue material that isn't glass.
- Shop Steward Pouch. Contains 3d10 complaints, grievances and time-off requests, all written out in sloppy swirly black curlique-script. Might contain a hidden pocket for bribes.
- Folding spade.
- 23 assorted gaskets and a hand-drill with no bits.
- Random repair manual. Saturated in oil or some other, indeterminate nastiness, and thus unreadable.
- (2d4) Brass tokens from some carnival.
- Trowel. When activated, it molds concrete like thick butter for 1d4 turns before going inert.
- Assorted files and rasps.
- Metal polish and rags. (Poison: Save or suffer intense vomiting for 1d4 minutes.)
- Chitin-working tool-set, including an expensive-looking burnisher.
- Three disparate clamps, one without the bottom pad.
- Pruner and trimmers used for tending fungi-gardens.
- (2d6) Cracked ceramic magnets. Half of them burned or scorched. None of them very magnetic anymore.
- Some kind of gauge mounted on a stubby stick. Maybe it isn't working any more.
- (2d4) Random machine-parts. Most are still greasy, having been recently removed from some apparatus.
- White cylinder. When activated, it provides clean breathable air for up to 4 hours, slowly turning black as it releases the gasses bound within it. Will not work underwater.
- Wire-cutters.
- Folding steel yard-stick. Last two sections rusted shut.
- Level. Middle section cracked and oozing green fluid.
- An assortment of small springs of various lengths and strengths packed into a paper bag and stuffed into one of the pockets of the belt's main pouch. Underneath is a dull pencil.
- (6d4) Sheets of varying grades of sandpaper, (1d4) wads of steel wool, and a hand-carved block of dried fungus slotted and pinned to serve as a make-shift sanding-block.
- Three drill-chucks, a dozen drill-bits, two spare handles, but no drill.
Cool, I needed this. Morlocks are a menace the PCs in my campaign are currently dealing with.
ReplyDeleteExcellent--glad to have been of some help to you then. We have some Morlock items coming up next week, I think, need to check the queue. I know we had something on Morlock Effigies and another on their peculiarly unique Grimoires, so those will show up eventually. Go Morlocks!
DeleteAlways very flavorful. You have a way with a random chart.
ReplyDeleteThank you; we're having fun seeing what we can get away with using a table...so far it is a wonderfully flexible means of delivering a lot of information about a setting without getting bogged down in exposition. though, some things require a bit more wordage...we'll find a way to tack-on a table to most of those longer-winded posts, eventually...
Delete