Speccing (no ontology)

From Mazeworld

Speccing is the term referring to the generation of item and encounter specifications, hence the term "speccing". It is an important aspect of the GM's work (the real-life GM, and not the MazeWorld Game Masters). Speccing creatures is better covered by the Physio code article, as they describe the use of the !genhuman and !genyoukai commands required. This article will primarily cover weapon speccing, as these are the items in MazeWorld with the most variables attached to them.

The principles

Since the game's inception, until the latest iteration of changes to the weapon speccing mechanics with version 3, the way weapons are generated and managed has deeply changed, being more and more detailed as the game matured. When rolling and speccing fully a weapon from scratch (i.e., manually), the GM must perform the steps of the following procedure:

Weapon determination

• Either the weapon is known in advance, or it must be rolled at random, using one of MazeBot's commands, such as @wpn, @wpnc1, etc.
  • Example: I decide to roll for a random Class 1 weapon. I type @wpnc1. The bot returns the following:

Accessories

(This step is skipped if the weapon rolled is known for sure that it cannot receive any accessories, such as Class 4 and Class 5 weapons, as well as Handgear, with the notable exception of the Pen gun which is a Class 5 Short weapon, and a single-shot .380 ACP firearm. With that said, the pen gun is a crafting-only weapon, and as such does not need to be specced as it cannot be randomly generated.)

Once the weapon is known, unless there are specific directives to not roll random accessories, they must also be generated at random. There are five different accessory categories that exist: Muzzle, Optics, Front mount, Light mounts, and Feeding system - more details about these can be found here, and what is compatible with what can be looked up on the ACL.

• A generated weapon without rolling accessories is considered to be a stock weapon.
• Before generating, the weapon's standard accessories must be looked up; here we notice the RPK-74 comes with a bipod, a Front mount accessory. This must be kept in mind, in case another Front accessory is rolled later. Standard accessories are noted (S).
  • Certain accessories are integrated, noted (I). An integrated accessory can never be removed or replaced; and only one exception to this rule exists.

Full list of possible equipment types that can be rolled, by category (incompatibilities not withstanding):

• Muzzle: Muzzle brake (M.Brake), Silencer/Shotgun choke (Choke)
  • Silencers and shotgun chokes are treated as a single entity, because only shotguns can be equipped with chokes, and they can never be equipped with silencers. What will be looked up depends on whether the weapon is a shotgun or not.
• Optics: Low power scope (1x-3x), Medium power scope (4-5x), High power scope (6-8x), Extreme power scope (9x and above), Reflex sight (R.Sight).
  • Amount of optics per type; Low power: 3. Medium power: 4. High power: 3. Extreme power: 3. Reflex sights: 4. (Total: 17)
  • Low power: L.Scope. Medium power: M.Scope. High power: H.Scope. Extreme power: X.Scope.
• Front mount: Foregrip (Grip), Bipod, Underbarrel Grenade Launcher (UGL), Underbarrel Shotgun (USG)
• Light mount: Laser sight (Laser), Flashlight (Light)
• Feeding: The various types of magazine that can be attached to the weapon (up to 4 different types for a single weapon).

Laid out in a table, the various possibilities are these:

Category	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3	Option 4	Option 5	Option 6
Muzzle	None	Standard	M.Brake	Silencer/Choke	.	.
Optics	None	Standard	Scope	R.Sight	.	.
Front	None	Standard	Foregrip	Bipod	UGL	USG
Light	None	Laser	Light	.	.	.
Feeding	Standard	Type1	Type2	Type3	Type4	.

Here, "None" means there is no accessory in that slot. If it was standard on a "stock" weapon and it is removable, it will not be found.
"Standard" simply means whatever is the standard accessory for that slot. In many cases, it may mean "no accessory".

In order to generate random accessories for a weapon, a @roll 5#1d10 must be rolled, each die corresponding to each category in order (Muzzle, Optics, Front, Light, Feeding). Certain weapons can receive different models of a given type of accessory (optics, lights, lasers...); in such cases, one such accessory is chosen at random, when applicable.

Category/Roll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Muzzle	None	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard	Silcr/Choke	Silcr/Choke	M.Brake	M.Brake
Optics	None	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard	R.Sight	R.Sight	Scope	Scope
Front	None	Standard	Standard	Standard	Foregrip	Foregrip	Bipod	Bipod	UGL	USG
Light	None	Standard	Standard	Standard	Light	Light	Light	Laser	Laser	Laser
Feeding	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard	Type 1	Type 2	Type 2	Type 3	Type 3	Type 4

Compatibility

Once the dice roll has given a combination, the ACL must be looked up in order to ensure that the concerned weapon indeed can, or not, equip the requested items.

• In case there are no compatible items of the chosen type: Treat the roll as if it was "Standard".
  • Example: "M.Scope", when the weapon concerned is a Makarov PM will never return anything compatible.
• In case there are multiple compatible items of the chosen type: Roll randomly the one that will end up on the weapon.
  • Example: "Light" on a FN SCAR-L returns five different possibilities. A further 1d5 must be rolled (or, eventually, handpicking) to solve it.

• The above example returns M.Brake / R.Sight / UGL / Light / Type 3. According to the ACL, the RPK-74...
  • ...can be equipped with a muzzle brake (5.45x39mm brake)
  • ...can receive a reflex sight, and there is only one model compatible (Kobra sight)
  • ...cannot receive an UGL; thus it will keep its standard Front accessory: the bipod
  • ...cannot receive a flashlight, thus will have no light
  • ...and lastly can receive a Type 3 magazine; in which case, it is an AK-74 family 60-round casket magazine.

Ammunition type

After accessories have been rolled, the ammunition type contained in the weapon will be rolled. Depending on the caliber, the proper command must be entered. Rolling just once should suffice. It will determine the weapon's ammunition type. It can also be used to determine the ammo type of any spare ammunition if this is part of an encounter inventory generation (for example, rolling the inventory of a Maze Soldier).

In the RPK-74's case, it is clearly a rifle caliber, so @rbt will be rolled.

In this case, we get the very rare Match-grade ammo. It is wise to check this page; firstly because it describes the effects of every bullet type, but also to ensure that the rolled weapon's caliber is indeed compatible with the rolled bullet type, otherwise as it promises, it will be FMJ. However, for our case (5.45x39mm), Match-grade is definitely possible. Thus, our RPK-74 will be loaded with Match ammunition, but we do not know yet if it HAS ammunition; and if it does, how many rounds.

Ammunition quantity

Afterwards, the amount of ammunition inside the weapon is rolled. It is random, between 0 (empty) and the maximum capacity of the weapon's magazine.

In the RPK's case, the maximum capacity of the rolled magazine is 60; thus the dice rolled is 1d61-1.

As such our weapon will be found with 37 rounds of 5.45x39mm Match inside.

Maintenance

Lastly, the weapon's maintenance stats. As this page about maintenance will detail further, every firearm has maintenance stat modifiers (DV/RV values), which affect how long these weapons can go on without cleaning or repairs, before suffering adverse effects; the higher the DV/RV values, the better.

The RPK-74, being part of the legendary Kalashnikov family, benefits from a fantastic DV+4 RV+10, meaning that a pristine RPK-74 has a maximum condition life of 28000 shots, and an astounding maximum cleanliness of 7500 shots. These values are important for what follows next.

Rolling maintenance stats consists in a @roll 2#1d100 if the weapon was found on the floor at random, or @roll 2#1d100+25 if it belongs in the inventory of a random encounters (if the roll goes above 100, it is treated as 100). This will roll percentage values, respectively for condition and cleanliness. We will assume this RPK-74 was found at random; here are our rolls.

This means that this RPK-74 is at Condition 58%, Cleanliness 85%. In broad numbers, this translates to 16240 shots left (out of 28000) on durability, and 6375 shots left (out of 7500) on cleanliness. At such stats, the weapon is in fair condition, and is clean. Thus, this weapon will suffer from no adverse affects were it to be used immediately, though bringing it to a workshop for repairs may be a wise idea.

Final result

When the weapon has been finally rolled and described, this is what it will appear as:

Though the percentage values near the condition and cleanliness status words are usually not revealed to the players unless their Contestant has relevant equipment, this is what a full line looks like.

Extra details

Let's imagine our RPK-74 from earlier was not an RPK-74, but was in fact an AK-12(74), all covered in metallic grey and Picatinny rails, though with every other detail (accessories, ammo type, condition) as they were rolled, all intact.

UGL compatibility

We would find out that if "UGL" is incompatible with the RPK-74, it is with the AK-12; specifically, the GP-25 UGL, a grenade launcher that can fire 40mm caseless rounds. Let's assume that this GP-25 is loaded (which is also subject to a roll), and we need MazeBot once again to determine what type of grenade is loaded. For this, @40mmCt is required.

Our GP-25 is ready to fire a Gvozd, a tear gas grenade.

Flashlight compatibility

We would also find out that yes, indeed, this AK-12 has the necessary rails to be mounted with a weaponlight, a flashlight, a tactical light; however you will call it. As it turns out, the AK-12 is compatible with five flashlights: Surefire X300U, Inforce APL (the two 'Small' flashlights, intended for handguns but also compatible with rifles)), Surefire M620, Surefire P3X Fury, and Inforce WML (the three 'Long' lights, intended for rifles).

Each of them are different. But we must choose, so a @roll 1d5 is in order. MazeBot decides once again...

This means the Inforce APL appears on one of the AK-12's side lights.

Flashlights and lasers are powered with a WLB battery (Weapon Light Battery). Each accessory only needs one such battery, but each consumes the battery's power at varying rates. The APL is one of the more economical models - on a fresh battery, it will last 250 turns when on.

But this is not a fresh battery, this is a randomly-generated battery! Another roll is in order to determine the percentage of remaining energy in this battery: a @roll 1d100.

Uh oh. It looks like that this flashlight has seen a lot of use; at 7% of energy left, it will only last 18 turns when powered on, before giving out and needing a new battery. (0.07 * 250 = 17.5, rounded up to 18.)

Had we rolled a laser sight, we would have also needed to check the remaining battery power inside of it.

Aftermath

Hopefully this article has helped you understand what happens behind the scenes and why, sometimes, it takes a while to generate a room - keep in mind, the above occurs for ONE weapon; many encounters carry several!