[ericthered]

I usually end up using gadgeteer in monster hunters games, where it appears on the techie. There I try to channel away from general "Tech upgrade!" and into the following categories:


Superscience and weird science: a LOT of gadgeteers don't advance the TL, they work orthogonality to it, and monster hunter techies can interact with psi and ghosts really well, and they add a "^" to the tech level rather than advancing it.


Traps: If you have the ability to build working equipment from scraps in a short amount of time, traps become a lot easier and become a lot more useful. A lot of hare-brained PC ideas should work only if someone has gadgeteer.


Making do without the Supply Chain: A lot of gadgeteers spend their time building equipment that is part of this tech level but not widely available. Its hard to get a flame thrower around here, but the techie can take an hour an build one that's almost as good using a garden hose, a gasoline can, a bucket of old paint, and spare bits from the hoarder's shack.



Custom Gear: You should have exactly what you want for any situation. If you don't, take a few hours and make it so you do. Often PC's want equipment that is technically possible but not actually manufactured. A lot of robotics ideas fall into this category. Gadgeteer is your license to fix this.