When Treasures of the Ancients was announced, I was very excited and ordered my copy as soon as I could. I had become an ardent 4th ed player by that time and was glad that new material had been released for my game of choice. When the semi-fabled tome arrived to my door, it became a little
disappointing. It looked like someone had simply mixed Gamma World Artifacts and Buck Rogers Equipment and published it, without much thought of 4th edition rules. To me, it was a very poor effort. In a
response to this, I painstakingly went through the manual and 'penciled in' corrections. The following article details my changes, but may not be all-encompassing. Most of the changes can be applied directly to the chart at the beginning of each chapter or the appendix, but for completeness, page numbers are provided.
| Weapons- |
| Page 9- Blunderbusses, both kinds, are tech V. |
| Page 12- Coagulator, Stokes, costs 12,500, is tech V and complexity 16. |
| Page 14- Cyclorator costs 12,000 and is tech V. |
| Page 14- EMP Generator costs 6,500. |
| Page 15- Gun, Flak costs 500 and is tech IV. |
| Page 15- Gun, Flare costs 800 and is tech IV. |
| Page 16- Gun, Lightning, is priceless and is tech V. |
| Page 17- Gun, Nerve Impulse, costs 10,000. |
| On the charts only- Musket - short range is 6. |
| Page 14- Pistol, Graser, costs 8,000 and is tech V. |
| Page 19- Rifle, Chameleon, costs 6,000 and is tech IV. |
| Page 14- Rifle, Graser, costs 16,000 and is tech V. |
| Page 20- Rifle, Infrared, costs 9,000 and is tech V. |
| Page 17- Rifle, Laser, FIR, costs 1,500 and is tech V. The pistol version costs 1,250, tech V. |
| Only on the charts- Rifle, Musket, costs 140 and short range is 25. |
| Page 18- Mortar/Grappling hook launcher costs 1,500. |
| Page 19- Popper Pellets cost 2,500. |
| Page 22- Rifle, Slicer costs 14,000, and the pistol costs 8,000. |
| Page 22- Slug Thrower, A, costs 3,000, is a semi-auto/burst weapon with THAC of 0/+1/+3 and is tech IV. Slug Thrower, B, costs 4,000, is a semi-auto/burst weapon with THAC of /+1/+2/+6 and is tech IV. Slug Thrower, C, costs 5,000, is a semi-auto/burst weapon with THAC of +2/+4/+8 and is tech IV. |
| Only on the charts- Tangler costs 2,000. |
| GW Rules p. 105- Taser Costs 1,200. |
| Page 23- Whip, stun costs 1,000 and is tech V. Stunning lasts for 10 rounds minus one round for every point of victim's constituion over
10 (minimum of 1 rd). |
| Page 23- Wrapper costs 1,300. |
| Page 15- Grenade, Energy is tech V. |
| Only on charts- Grenade, Fire Foam is tech IV. |
| Defenses- |
| The section on defenses in TotA (pages 24-27) and power armored rules in Gamma
Knights can be partially replaced with the armor vs. weapon charts from my web site. The charts on my website are expanded and playtested versions based on TotA and include provisions for duralloy's energy reflection/absorption properties. |
| Powered Armor (non-powered weights)- |
| Energized- 800kg. Inertia- 200kg. Plastic (tech IV)- 9kg. Alloy- 75kg. Assault- 500kg. Attack- 450kg. Battle- 300kg. Plate- 100kg. Protection- 120kg. Scout 250kg.
Sheath (tech IV)- 10kg. Powered sheath (tech V)- 12kg. Tandem VII- **several tons? |
| Common Armor- |
| Helmet, Heavy Plastic, is tech IV. |
| Helmet, Kevlar, is tech V. |
| Helmet, Leather is tech II. |
| Helmet, Plastic, is tech IV. |
| Convalescences- |
| Pages 28-32- |
| Accelera Dose is Tech V. |
| Antiradiation Serum costs 1,500 and is tech V. |
| Cur-in Dose is Tech V. |
| Fungicide is tech IV. |
| Genetic Booster is tech V. Substitute the rules from GW 3rd Edition here. |
| Herbicide is tech IV. |
| Insect Repellant is tech IV. |
| Interra Shot is tech IV. |
| Mind Booster costs 1,600 and is tech V. |
| Pain Reducer is tech IV. |
| Suggestion Change Drug is tech IV. |
| Sustenance Dose is tech V. |
| Vehicles/Live Metal- |
| Pages 33-62- |
| There are also rules for vehicular/robotic combat rounds on my web site, based upon
Traveller rules, where each combatant gets several turns in which to fire missiles or grenades, fire energy or projectile
weapons (to attack and shoot down incoming missiles), and reprogram their onboard systems or use mutations in the combat. |
| Aside from a few questionable tech level assignments (tech IV robots- increase all to tech V), I left these sections relatively unchanged. |
| Misc. Equipment- |
| Page 65- Alembic is tech V. |
| Page 66- Bang Balls are tech IV. |
| Page 66- Body Builder is tech IV. |
| Page 66- Broadcast Power Charger is tech VI. |
| Page 67- CampGaurd is tech IV. |
| Page 69- Ferrofoam, both kinds, is tech V. Normal cost is 1,750, Forced Oxygen costs 2,750. |
| Page 71- Garment Autopress is tech V. |
| Page 71- Generator, EMP costs 3000, and is tech IV. |
| Page 71- Generator, MCII, costs 20,000, is tech V and complexity 25. |
| Page 72- Generator, Solar, costs 15,000 and is tech V. |
| Page 72- Glasses, Gnome, are tech IV. |
| Page 73- Glue, Super, costs 100 and is tech IV. |
| Page 73- Gravitic Accelerator costs 1,420. |
| Page 75- Lipoderacinator, Personal, costs 1,650. |
| Page 76- Listening Device is tech IV. |
| Page 77- Napalm II costs 400 and is tech IV. |
| Page 77- Neutralizing Pigments are tech V. |
| Page 78- Radiation Suit Repair Kit is tech IV. |
| Page 78- Receiver and Bugs are tech IV. |
| Page 78- Saw, Power Tree, costs 900 and is tech IV. |
| Page 79- Sensors are tech V. Artificial Energy costs 2,000, Bio-energy costs 2,000 and Eye-movement costs 7,500. |
| Page 80- Sound Filters cost 250/500 or 2500 depending on functions. Most advanced version gives +10 to user's stealth. |
| Page 80- Smoke Generator is tech IV. |
| Page 81- Tentman costs 1,000 and is tech VI. |
| Page 81- Thought Cap costs 90,000. |
| Page 81- Thruster, Pocket is tech IV. |
| Pages 82-83- Torches are tech V. Atomic costs 5,500, Laser costs 2,500, and Sonic costs 1,500. |
| Page 83- Trashman costs 4,000. |
| Page 84- Triangulator is tech IV. |
| Page 85- Universal Card is tech V. |
| Page 85- Universal Cooker is tech V. |
| Page 86- Weather Predictor costs 1,000. |
| Page 86- Wedge, Electric, is tech V. |
