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Tools for the Well Heeled Traveller (Long Post)

Toolkits
There are four forms of toolkits: plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, and Ships locker.

· The plainclothes toolkit is small enough to be carried concealed on the belt and in the pockets of your average government agent dressed in professional business attire.
· The tactical toolkit can be carried on an assault vest, large purse, and/or in the many pockets of an agent dressed in SWAT/military BDU-style attire.
· The spacer bag toolkit includes larger items that can fit in a duffel-sized bag or backpack.
· The ships locker toolkit has all the heavy and bulky tools that can fit in a waterproof box, itself sized to fit in the rear of the trunk of an Air/Raft (behind enough items to conceal it during a cursory search).

The equipment listed for a particular toolkit may not all fit in that toolkit, but each individual piece of equipment should be able to. It is ultimately up to the Referee to look over the equipment and where it is distributed and decide if it is all kosher.

Acid
(spacer bag, ships locker)
Ever seen La Femme Nikita? A few liter bottles can make many problematic items (files, hard drives, bodies) go away. Acid can also be useful for cutting through locks.

Cable Ties/Zip Ties/550 Cord/Electrical Wire
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Besides being used to tie cable, these can also attach various stuff to other various things, and make excellent restraints when there are too many cultists and not enough handcuffs.

Personal Communicator
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Even though neither these nor digital communicators should be used for secure communications; easily hacked analog commo units should still be avoided like the plague. If possible, the commo should be enabled for using a microbrowser to browse (at least some) of the local DataNet and download email. The ability to get off an emergency message using a book cipher should be okay. The commo must have the vibration option, as it's never good to be sneaking up on pirates/terrs/Vargr/Aslan etc. when your captain calls to bug you about not finding the keys to the launch.

Chainsaw
(ships locker)
Good for both for combat and evidence disposal, it also makes a decent tool for an instant autopsy that isn't particular about forensics.

Chemical Lightsticks
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Though they don't last as long or give off as much illumination as flashlights, lightsticks can be used at just about any depth underwater and in the vacuum of space and are still useful as field-expedient lighting. They can also be used as flares.

Digital Audio Recorder
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
a palm-sized recorder is useful for recording observations, conversations (covertly or otherwise), and as an ad-hoc "bug".

Digital Camera
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
These cameras now come in a wide variety of sizes and features, but the best choice would probably be a medium-sized camera with a powerful zoom lens. A directional mike would also prove useful, as would some night-vision capability. An adapter is a must to hook the camera up to your notebook computer.

Duct Tape and Super-Glue
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
So many uses, so little space. The military version (i.e. -100 mph tape is green and tends to have more cloth fibers in it making it harder to rip/tear.

Emergency Oxygen Tank and Mask
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
It's a small oxygen tank with a built-in mask that can be strapped to the ankle and used in an emergency. There are several situations where Travellers might find themselves suddenly in need of their own personal air supply, and this can provide one in a pinch.

Entrenching Tool
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Otherwise known as a shovel, this is the kind that folds up into a handy package. Always useful when there are bodies to be buried. Often, the edges are serrated to be used as a saw. Special Forces sometimes also teaches its soldiers the fine art of killing people using a sharpened entrenching tool as an axe.

Evidence Kit
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
A good kit will include latex gloves, a laser pointer, large and small ziploc plastic and paper bags (plastic can degrade certain evidence), large and small envelopes, metal cans, marker (to label bags and envelopes), specimen containers (styrofoam cups and seals), cotton swabs, glass slides, write-on tape, a folded cardboard box (to place weapons), plastic ruler, handyman knife, and fingerprint brush and dust.

First Aid Kit
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
This is a small basic first aid kit, including band-aids, adhesive tape, gauze bandages and pads, a triangular bandage, tweezers, scissors, burn cream, anti-venom, a CPR mask, latex gloves, medicinal alcohol, eye drops, iodine, spray bandgaes, some medical drug, and some aspirin.

Fire Extinguisher
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Of great utility when dealing with auto accidents, picking up after getting rid of evidence the Zippo way. Can also be used as a club. There are some extinguishers small enough to fit on a tactical vest, but the usual kind would require a spacer bag or more.

GPS Handheld Receiver
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
The Global Positioning System can provide latitude and longitude at any place on a planet with a system in place. The handheld receivers are not the most precise, but are good enough for most purposes, accurate to about 25 meters. Military GPS systems are much more accurate. There are some receivers that can be used through a PDA or notebook computer, which combines two useful tools in one for the Traveller.

Geiger Meter
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Some of those derelicts were abandonded for a very good reason! This will let you know if a reactor leak was one of them.

Go-Bar
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
an oversize pry-bar used by SWAT teams and special ops to open doors. About 4-feet long and sometimes made of titanium, they are capable of prying open steel fire doors.

Lockpicking Tools
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
the classic set of picks still works for most locks, but the gun-style picks are quicker. A card-version that hooks up to a PDA and break locks that use swipe-cards can also prove useful. More sophisticated locks may require higher tech tools to crack.

Magnifying Maplight
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
For reading those maps or ships tech regs when the lights go out, and also for checking out the details of circuitry and such.

Mini-Flares
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Useful for both illumination and rescue efforts. Flashlights can be dropped during combat and be useless, but flares can be dropped and still illuminate a large field. Those with the pull-string ignition can also be rigged with a can of gasoline to create an ad-hoc incendiary mine.

Multi-Band Scanning Receiver
(spacer bag, ships locker)
Besides radio and television bands, a radio that can also scan police and military bands would prove most useful. There are some higher tech backpack models that are capable of VHF military bands, UHF public safety bands, and SATCOM satellite burst transmissions, with all communications digitally-encrypted.

Multi-Purpose Tool
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Useful for a variety of different functions, these kind of tools often incorporate blades, drivers, pliers, wire cutters, and other tools all in one handy package. Such a tool can often be enough to fulfill any equipment requirements to make a Mechanical or Electrical Repair roll. A good choice would be equivalent to a Leatherman Wave Multi-Pliers in a belt case with a pouch for a pocket flashlight.

Night-Vision Optics
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
a face-view design with a hands-free setup mounted over the head through straps or attachment to a combat helmet is essential. A night-vision scope is also a good idea to have in some situations, especially with weapons like the carbine and assault rifle that have guide rails for quick and easy fixing of optics. Some night-vision equipment use infrared (IR) beams as a target designator, and acts like a laser sight. A portable IR lamp is also useful, as even the best image intensifiers won't work well under certain conditions. IR lamps shouldn't be used when expecting resistance from those similarly equipped, as the lamp will shine like a beacon to those equipped with night-vision gear. High Tech thermal imaging technology is advanced enough to be as portable as image intensifiers, and does not require an IR lamp. However, thermal imagers could prove dangerous for Travellers due to a lack of heat signatures for certain types of armor and animal encounters. Other features for night-vision gear include flash protection and dual-depth technology that allows undersea use.

Notebook Computer
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
a notebook computer can be essential to communications. It can also be useful for running detailed digital maps, photographic analysis (especially with a digital camera), the usual practice of writing reports, and just about anything capable of being done with a desktop computer. Full DataNet access is available through connections available in many starport hotels and motels. While wireless modems can be used for remote access, this only works in areas that provide such service. Not all worlds will have full access everywhere on their surface.

Oven Spray
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
The spray breaks up grease, so it is useful for removing fingerprints.

Personal Digital Assistant
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Besides the usual jobs of taking notes for reports, a PDA can also serve the well-equipped Traveller with accessories like a compact port for a GPS receiver (not as precise as a handheld GPS machine), a wireless modem for email and DataNet browsing (service often in major metropolitan areas), and even a low-quality digital camera for instant photos of suspects and evidence. You can also play games to stay awake during long stakeouts, midnight watches on the bridge and shuttle flights from orbit.

Plastic 1-Gallon Cans
(spacer bag, ships locker)
A few cans filled with water are good for survival purposes, and some filled with gasoline are good for getting a few klicks out of vehicles in remote areas as well as unusual purposes like destroying evidence or nests of burrowing space pests, or as an innovative method of interrogation.

Pocket Flashlight
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
A small flashlight is always useful, even if just as backup for a large Mag-Lite. A good choice would be a high-powered Surefire light that can be mounted on the Traveller’s pistol for tactical use and is sealed for underwater conditions at shallow depth. As with all flashlights, these should come with red filters to preserve night vision.

Pocketknife
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
A good choice would be equivalent to the Spyderco Police Model with a 10 cm serrated blade and one-handed opening for cutting out of crashwebbing when the Air/Raft is on fire again.

Rappelling Gear
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
50-100 feet of nylon rappelling rope with a climbing harness, carabiners, pitons, a pulley, and a grapple, and never again need you fear a Climb roll. It's also good for when you want to play SAS at the Embassy and come charging through the window guns-a-blazing.

Smoke Grenades
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Along with mini-flares, these can be used to mark out a landing zone, as well as provide concealment for an escape or disruption for an assault.

Snakelight
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Though not as durable as a Mag-Lite or as handy as a pocket light, a Snakelight can be folded over a seat to shine down on a passenger seat (equipment\scanners or maps), wrapped around your neck to illuminate what you are working on, or just coiled to stand on it's own to light up the job at hand.

Spray Paint
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Most useful for marking up evidence scenes or for leaving a trail to backtrack

Tactical Radios
(tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
Modern "walkie-talkie" radios usually work two-way, have a range of 2-5 miles, and are now small and light enough to fit comfortably in the average jacket pocket. Digital encryption, frequency hopping, and whisper operation are also possible with some high-end models. Many of these radios can be fitted with a hands-free setup, and some can be clipped to a belt and used with an earplug receiver and wristband mic for plainclothes communications.

Toolkit
(spacer bag, ships locker)
this is the usual kind, with tools useful for Mechanical or Electrical Repair, and Electronics rolls as well as paraphernalia for an innovative session of interrogation. Such kits can often vary greatly in size, and some are small enough to fit in plainclothes or tactical packages. The most common though fit into a plastic or metal two-tray kit, and include screwdrivers (an electrical driver with a set of heads is good), nails, nuts and bolts, cables and wires, a hammer, chisel, electrical tape, G-clamps, wire cutter and stripper, cable stripper, folding hex and torx key set for the screwdriver, pocket multimeter, needle-nose vise grips, telecomm scissors, and a set of jumper cables.

Trauma Bag
(ships locker)
this is a much larger cousin to the first aid kit, similar to the equipment used by ambulance personnel. It would fit inside a large spacer bag, and would include gloves, CPR mask, airway tubes, emergency blanket (for shock victims), stethoscope, EMT shears, blood-pressure cuff, penlight, cold packs, gauze pads and bandages, dressings, tape, burn sheet, burn dressings, syringe, glucose, ammonia, nitroglycerin tablets, Fast Drug, Slow Drug, Low Berth prep drugs, Medical Drug, Synthetic Blood analog, Plasti-Flesh, saline solution, thermometer, tourniquet tubing, splints, oxygen tank with masks, water, cervical collars, KED (flexible backboard-style device used to extract patients from automobiles), and a backboard. If you add in some sutures, scalpels, anesthesia equipment, a heart monitor, and maybe another bag full of surgical equipment, you might have enough to perform Surgery rolls at MASH-level performance.

Wet-Naps
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
you can never be too clean...

Zippo Lighter
(plainclothes, tactical, spacer bag, ships locker)
From torching villages in exotic far-off lands to lighting a Lucky Villani Cigarette to cut the edge off of having to put down your best friend after he went native to dropping one in a pool of gasoline dripping out of a wrecked Lo Tech Ground Car with a bunch of Bronsons trapped inside, this has been in the suit pocket of every Cowboy since way back. Get one, even if you don't smoke, because you will start. Soon.

Borrowed and edited from the WotC D20 Modern Web Boards Here
 
Is it just me, or does your toy box display a disturbing tendency towards... (insert dramatic pause)...
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Criminal Mischief?
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You've also forgotten the towel...
 
Don't forget something to take care of those troublesome iris valves. Canon is very clear that forcing an iris valve just sticks them tighter.

One of my players came up with one of those zero-torque power tools from NASA with an appropriate attachment interface (OK, the right sized socket). Once you cut, blast, burn, etc. your way through to the mechanism, you use it to crank open the door.

Of course, these are the same wack-jobs that took a fusion cutter to the bulkhead of a ship they were boarding, and cut themselves a convenient sophont-sized hole to bypass said valve. They then noticed the convenient size. And shape. And the fact that one of them had a pair of portable mag-grips and an optical bug!

BEHOLD - The Tech 14 Riot* Shield.
* Riot sold seperately.

Apologies for any typos, I normally vet these before posting, but I'm enjoying a glass of Bushmills 16YO right now - another essential item in the well-heeled travellers gear!
 
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