Advanced Firearms for Waste World

by Neil de Carteret

 

Continuing the series of improved and scarier weapons for Waste World, this report allows players to give their characters ranged weapons that really are as nasty as the ones in the artwork.

 

Gun–Bunnies Start here

Building firearms is a bit different from building close combat weapons. Follow these five steps:

All modifications which affect the ratings of the weapon are expressed as either a bonus ("+ something"), a penalty ("– something") or a multiplier ("´ something"). Bonuses and penalties are cumulative, so a +4 bonus and a –2 penalty would have a net result of +2. Multipliers are applied in sequence, so the net result of a ´ 2 multiplier and a ´ 4 multiplier would be ´ 8.

 

 

Now choose what sort of weapon you want:

Shell–firing

Built like a real–world gun, the rounds are fed into a firing chamber and detonated, propelling the bullet down the barrel. Available in four calibres, from 6mm to 16mm.

Shredder

Uses a Gauss rail to fire small, sharp duralloy discs. The Supershredder version uses heavier discs.

Blaster

The classic energy weapon. Nicely painful when it hits and has good range, but expensive. The Sunblaster variant, developed in the Shogunate, is more efficient.

Laser

Very old technology, but still useful for long–range assassination. The newer Tachyon laser has a much higher range.

The technology used defines properties of the weapon as follows:

DAM

CR

R

MS

Cost

Av.

    Legend:

    DAM: Damage

    CR: Close Range

    R: Range

    MS: Minimum Strength needed to use this barrel

    Cost: Price in credits

    Av: Availability

16mm

2M

100

2,000

+3

2M

5

12mm

1M+3

70

1,500

+2

1.5M

6

8mm

1M+2

50

1,000

+1

1M

7

6mm

1M

30

500

0

500

9

Shredder

1M+2

50

150

0

900

5

Supershredder

2M

50

200

+1

1.5M

3

Blaster

1M+2

30

1,000

–5

2M

5

Sunblaster

1M+4

100

1,000

0

2M

3

Laser

1M

50

5,000

–5

1.4M

6

Tachyon Laser

1M+2

50

10,000

–5

3M

4

 

2. The Laws of Physics

This isn't complicated. You might think it is, but trust me, it isn't. Find your character's Strength in the left–hand column of this table, and read off the number in the right–hand column.

Strength

Max. Slots

–5

3

–4

4

–3

5

–2

6

–1

7

0

8

+1

10

+2

12

+3

14

+4

16

+5

18

That was almost too easy. From now on, anything you add to your weapon will take up a certain amount of "slots". The greatest number of slots you can incorporate into a two–handed weapon is the number you just found on that table. If you're building a handgun (a firearm designed to be held with one hand), halve the number.

 

3. Look at the size of my Gun.

The stats in that table assume a portable rifle–sized weapon. Each barrel can be scaled up or down, with the following effects. This step defines the size of the weapon.

DAM

CR

R

MS

Cost

Slots

Av.

Handgun

–3

´ 0.25

´ 0.25

–3

´ 0.25

2

––

Handcannon

–2

´ 0.5

´ 0.5

–2

´ 0.5

4

––

Carbine

–1

´ 0.75

´ 0.75

–1

´ 0.75

6

––

Individual Weapon

––

––

––

––

––

8

––

Support Weapon

+2

´ 1.5

´ 1.5

+1

´ 2

11

–1

Heavy Support Weapon

+4

´ 2

´ 2

+2

´ 4

15

–2

Emplacement Weapon

+1M

´ 4

´ 4

+3

´ 8

18

–3

Legend: All values as for WW core book, except "slots" (see above). MS does not apply to lasers.

 

Cool. That wasn't too painful, was it?

 

The stats you have so far are for a semi–automatic weapon. That means you can fire up to three times per turn. Alternatives to this include single–shot (one shot per turn), automatic (up to five shots per turn) and full burst (five shots per turn).

Type

Cost

MS

Legend:

As per WW core book.

MS does not apply to lasers.

Single Shot

S

´ 0.75

––

Semi Auto

X

––

––

Automatic

F

´ 2

+1

Full Burst

O

´ 5

+2

 

 

The last three steps have generated a basic weapon of whatever type you chose. Now you inflict various modifications on it:

Multiweapons

You can have great fun by combining two or more weapons into one, like a shotgun and an assault rifle or a pair of full burst low–calibre systems mounted on top of a single shot high–calibre system. Work out each weapon individually in terms of slots (you can still only carry your normal maximum) and cost, and add them together. Cool, huh? If you want to fire multiple barrels at once, the MS requirement is the total of all the positive MS requirements of the systems being fired. That means that you add all the MSs together, but negative ones don’t count.

Anti–Recoil

MS requirements of weapons can be bought off, at a ´ 100 cumulative credit rating. So buying a +3 requirement down to +2 costs 100 credits, buying it down to +1 would cost 300 credits, buying it down to 0 would cost 600 credits etc. This represents increasingly more devious stages of technology being employed to reduce the force of recoil, from simple baffling to lev–packs

Sights

Several of the weapon types have very long possible ranges, which is fine until you realise that you can’t actually see your target. Sighting systems make it easier to hit your target (reducing the penalty for firing past close range to –3) and cost 100 credits.

Laser Sights

A simple low–power laser system projects a red dot onto your target, making it easier to aim quickly at close range. These cost 100 credits and boost your initiative by 2 when firing at 50m or less. Alternative versions use UV or IR beams, which won’t alert the target the way a bright red dot does. Of course, to use these you need some way of seeing into those spectra yourself.

Lev–pods

The same technology used to keep skimmer bikes in the air and the floating city of Ikarus aloft can be used to lighten weapons, allowing the wielder to tote around much more firepower than normal. Each lev–pod increases your maximum weapon size by one slot and costs 1 megacredit.

Gauss Barrels

This modification can only be applied to shell–firing weapons. The standard chemical propellant system is replaced by a magnetic spiral which both fires and spins the bullet. This doubles the close range and range, adds +1 to the damage rating, and multiplies the cost of the weapon by 10. It is also much quieter than normal chemical propellants.

 

Note to Narrators

This is the third paper in this series on weapons, and by now players should have the tools to decide exactly what sort of weapon they want their character to have. All the stats and values given are designed to be representative, and make players really pay for powerful equipment. This is just a sort of extended gun chapter (you know, the one the players turn to first when you get a new sourcebook). If you think the rules are being abused, do something about it. You might keep these papers to yourself, and when a player want to buy a new gun, just deal with the rules yourself and tell him how much it’ll cost. This way you can fudge it to your heart’s content, and the players will have a harder time stat–balancing to get good weapons for low prices.

Neil de Carteret

Neil.deC@btinternet.com

Advanced Weapons I: Blades

Advanced Weapons II: Bludgeons

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