Firearms

So this post ended being a lot longer than expected, probably did some over-explaining, probably should split it up and/or edit it down, but oh well . . .

My ultimate source for all things firearm related

I'm always interested in the development of new rules for rpgs to cover different genres and areas of focus to add variety to a game world. Hence my interest when OSE was originally formatted with a "Genre Rules" book as one of the books in the box set. The idea, as I understood it, was to have each genre rule book cover a new set of rules to expand play; the first genre book, was "Classic Fantasy" dealing with just the BX rules, and the 2nd was the "Advanced Fantasy" dealing with elements of AD&D, and theoretically there would be a genre book for modern settings, sci-fi settings, planar settings, etc. This publication plan never bore fruit because Necrotic Gnome decided to go a different publication route catering to fan demands, which was a bit of a disappointment to me. 

We did get a lot of third party OSE supplements that covered non-classic fantasy rules and genres though. For example for games set in the modern era, I have Modern Necessities and Operation B/X, and I am sure there are others out there I just haven't seen or bothered to buy. I do have some other games designed for the modern Modern era with D&D in mind, though not built especially for OSE, the newest Stargate RPG is built off the 5e SRD, Cities Without Number is built off the Stars Without Number engine and some consider it OSR though mechanically it is a bit further removed from classic D&D than a lot of OSR games. And then looking all the way back to 1986 the TSR module IM1 The Immortal Storm has some rules for firearms and dealing with a modern setting. 

So given all these resources, surely one of them presents rules that satisfy my need(really a want, as Fire-arms don't presently exist in my game world, or if they do they are are extremely rare and nigh unattainable for my players) for rules for Firearms? Not really, no. They all present some basic commonalities: a simplified categorization system to provide damage and ranges for a small number of firearm types(only the Immortal Storm module provides anything relating to weapon mastery), rules for burst fire, and automatic fire, and explosions. Some of those interpretations I like more than others, but for none of them am I satisfied with their whole system, either I don't like their damage ranges(too low or too high compared to conventional weapons), their distance ranges(not based on actual real-world numbers), or their automatic fire rules(burst and suppression) could use some improvement.

 And the biggest stickler for me has always been the lack of accounting for armor. Either there are no special rules for armor at all, or the rules say to ignore armor of a certain tech-level(pre-modern essentially) and treat modern armors(kevlar etc) as just having a regular AC value(meaning they are just as effective against conventional weapons as bullets). Really, the difference between pre-modern and modern armors, and between how armors can resist different ammo from early firearms to more modern firearms, isn't given much consideration at all, and when it is mentioned it is kinda glossed over. And I don't need something overly complicated that you need advanced mathematics to solve, I just want some rules that feel like they take into account how actual firearms (and armor) work, and gives the players a meaningful choice with clear advantages and disadvantages.

And so this brings me to the point of this post, my rules for Firearms. As you can guess from the above, I've been thinking about this for a long time, and it's only recently I have come up with rules that are satisfactory to me, if not perfect, an of course need some serious playtesting(though I don't know when Firearms will actually enter into my regular D&D game).

First, Firearms and Armor. I have actually been playtesting these rules for several months. Here I previously explained my rules for Target Specialization and why the AD&D Weapon vs Armor Adjustment table doesn't work. I have also found that in play my Target Specialization rules didn't actually enter play on a consistent basis, even though it was based on what is obvious and common sense. This happened for a couple of reasons: first, I relied on the players to take advantage of it, applying Disadvantage or Advantage when appropriate, that was probably my biggest mistake, most players don't care about or remember that sort of thing. Second, I didn't always remember to apply it myself, and when I did I didn't have it memorized or have chart with the appropriate Advantage or Disadvantage handy to look up quickly. So what I have been using for the last few months I developed specifically to account for how Firearms interact with armor, but it also applies to conventional weaponry, and has essentially replaced my Target Specialization rules. and while I don't think its perfect, and feel there might be a better implementation that does the same thing, I will say that these rules work and are easy to apply on a regular basis and also do the job that the weapons vs armor chart from AD&D was intended to do, account for how different weapons interact with different armors.

 NEW ARMOR CLASS RULES:

Weapons cause types of wounds: cuts, stabs, bruise, ballisitic(from firearms); armor can protect better against certain types of wounds based on construction type and material.

Firearms: cause ballistic damage. Rifled firearms give +1 to hit(up to unarmored ac), gunpowder firearms(as opposed to black powder) give +1 to hit(up to unarmored ac), armor piercing rounds give +1 to hit(up to unarmored ac) but cause half damage. Other firearm rules refer to Modern Necessities(ok I need to replace this line as I've just developed my own version of rules)

I use the terms cut/stab/bruise instead of the classic terms of slash/pierce/blunt from modern D&D for a couple reasons. I just dont like the modern d&d terms, thats the real reason. But also I want these to be able to used as action verbs and result in atype of wound as in the pc has a cut or a stab or a bruise. And that terminology can go along with my called shot/hit location rules. so a player can say something diegetically and it make sense in game terms. e.g. "my fighter, Arthur, cuts the goblin's arm with his long sword." using the long sword(assuming basic proficiency) tells us it is d8+1 damage, attacking the arm gives -2 to hit(based on my hit location rules) and a cut will tell us what armor class we need to hit(based on the armor on the goblin's arm). and how much damage dealt will tell us whether it is alight cut, serious cut, or critical cut. So all the player has to do is say something that d&d players already do when they "get into character" per se, and the DM adjudicates the game based on their action. this doesn't mean the player cant know the rules or won't be benefited by that knowledge, just that the gameplay can happen within a diegetic framework and it will matter at meta-game level. 

And the whole reason I developed this set of multi-AC rules is for the firearms; firearms cause a special type of damage, having their own AC value, and it only makes sense to extrapolate that to the conventional weapon damage for cut/slash, stab/pierce, bruise/blunt. And thus firearms, or ballistic damage/wounds can bypass pre-modern armor while being affected by modern armor, and modern armor won't necessarily be as good against conventional weapons. 

So for the 3 classic armor types padded textile(which I use instead of leather, historical reasons), chain/mail, and plate(I extrapolated these values from the Palladium book The Compendium of Weapons, Armour, and Castles and I also have values for other types of armor, this is just an example baseline) here are the AC values for each wound type: 

Armor Type	Bruise	Cut	Stab	Ballistic
Padded Textile	6	5	7	9
Chain	6	2	5	9
Plate	4	2	3	8

FIREARM RULES

Aim = +2 To Hit if spend 1 round aiming. 

 

Sights(for weapons with scopes, there could be scopes that give better bonuses) = +2 To Hit, must take 1 Turn and six To Hit rolls to adjust to new Range

 

Explosive(for grenades, etc) = Hit AC 5 is a direct hit; anyone in area of effect Save vs. Breath for half damage. Hit AC 9 is a near miss; gain +4 to Saves.

 

Rapid Fire(RF)(for semi-automatic weapons and revolvers) = missile weapon may make multiple attacks (at one or more targets) up to the number indicated. May not move during round.

 

Burst Fire(for sub-machine guns) = fire 3 rounds from a missile weapon at Target Range only giving DIS To Hit. Roll STR check, on success 2nd bullet hits, if roll 1 3rd bullet hits, on failure lose initiative for 1 round. Roll damage for extra bullets as normal.

 

Full Auto(for machine guns) = fire missiles equal to Rate of Fire(RoF) every round. Burst Fire on round 1 to acquire the target area. Each later round, all creatures in a 20' cone out to half Target Range must Save vs. Breath or  be hit by a number of  missiles equal to 1/10 RoF, half damage on success, and stay prone until fire ceases.

There you have it, rules for fire arms for Classic D&D. Of course, ast stated above, they need some playtesting, but I think they should do well. If you are familiar with Modern Necessities and Operation B/X you will see their DNA in these rules, but  with my own take for my preferences. The actual stats for specific weapons I have yet to work up, I will probably take the Weapon mastery stats from The Immortal Storm as a basis and maybe use it to expand the stats to a more complex array of firearms from the other books, and I will double reference stats for Ranges and Rate of Fire stats in The Armory Volume 1 pictured at the top for accuracy. The design part is done, just need to find an excuse to playtest now . . .