HiBRiD Things for Your Game #6: Firearm Crunch (Reflecting Real World Details On HiBRiD Firearms)

In my previous entry, I described an alternative system that may be substituted for most current d20/OSR based game systems. But what about mixing genres? Even back in the days of classic D&D, Gygax and friends were mixing Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World into their fantasy settings. Nowadays, cross-genre gaming is a forgone conclusion.

I always felt that the firearms rules for most OSR/d20 systems were a bit anemic and decreased the scariness of firearms (unlike, say Cyberpunk 2020 or Morrow Project). Sure books like Ultramodern Firearms, The Armory, and Guns, Guns, Guns (G3) tried to fill the gap, but they just didn't seem to match the aesthetic I was looking for.

As a result, when using the various systems I have shared here, you can add this one. It is the system used in HiBRiD, slightly tweaked to fit with OSR/2D20 games. By using the d10s, I wanted to accent the difference between firearms and other weapons, and reflect the real "punch", both physiological and psychological that firearms make when characters wielding them enter the battle.  Adding the Armor rules accentuates this as well. It puts the threat of firearms back into the campaign without completely overpowering them.   

The Basics

In the HiBRiD game, all firearms inflict ballistic damage determined by a number of d10s in the damage code. To keep things simple, the damage codes are as follows:

• small handgun 1d10 (5)
• medium handgun 2d10 (10)
• large handgun 3d10 (15)

• sport rifle 3d10 (15)
• carbine rifle 3d10 (15)
• assault rifle 3d10 (15)

• submachine gun/machinenpistol 2d10 (10)
• shotgun,shot 3d10 (5) (-1d10/10m is standard but the player can adjust the choke with director's guidance)
• shotgun,slug 3d10 (15)
• sniper rifle 6d10 (30)

• light machine gun (SAW) 3d10 (15)
• medium (mounted or crew served machine gun) 4d10 (20)
• heavy (crew served) machine gun 5d10 (25)

Assumptions

This serves most people for most games, especially for players of HiBRiD games who are more about action and less about crunchy details. In the true HiBRiD spirit, however, everything is modular. Having many friends and gamers who love their guns, I created a kit a number of years ago for reflecting in the rules some of the favorite gun and ammunition characteristics they like to reflect in their characters, both realistic and cinematic.

In general, the damage codes assume the following:

·    The average mass of a round that used in all of the commercially available rounds for weapons of each category

·         The average damage inflicted by a variety of commercially produced weapons in each category.

·         Rounds are standard lead core ball ammunition types.

Some assumptions made by the rules assume the following:

·         The average human will bleed out in 100 seconds when struck by a critically successful hit.

·         There is no such thing as “stopping power” when struck by a round of ammunition.

·         Multiple bullets increase the likelihood of a hit.

·         Changes in shape of a bullet affect the damage code or effective range of a round

Modules

When reflecting specific desired traits of a handgun or bullet type, regardless of type, apply the following rules:

·         To determine the damage code for a favorite firearm, use the following equation, rounding all decimals up:

o    Average Damage = caliber (in mm) X muzzle velocity (in m/s)/1250 to determine average damage

o    Damage Code (#d10s)= caliber (in mm) X muzzle velocity (in m/s)/6250

·         Teflon coating adds +1d10 (5) against hard targets and prevents ricochet

·         Brass and steel core bullets negate 1d10 (5) points of armor

·         Tracer rounds are treated like a 2 or 3 round burst, adding a +2 to hit

·     Laser Sighting negates the multiple action penalty against one opponent of the player's choice and makes an aimed or called shot a standard action instead of an involved action.

·         Ballistic Bullets extend the Effective Range of a bullet by 20%.

·         Changes in the shape or mass of a bullet increase the damage code by 1d10 (5).

·    No bullet has an increased “stopping power”. The only thing that will stop an attacker is either complete loss of blood to the brain or the psychological effect of being struck by a bullet via a Presence attack. If you wish to reflect “stopping power, you need to drop the target to 0 STUN using standard game mechanics or spend a point of Ite'.

·         If you wish to reflect “knockback”, you can purchase the "Knockback" Cinematic Aspect and apply it to a specific type of weapon as described in the Aspect description.

HiBRiD Things for Your Game #5: Damage Codes

Prior to my detour into the world of bug-based rpgs and teen angst from my most recent posts, I mentioned how much I enjoy the hit-then-damage mechanic, but that I also like to emphasize mobile, active actions subtly while at the same time keeping the tension and threat of death more overt. In order to do this,  and in order to counteract the war of attrition that I came to hate in more traditional games, and could potentially be created by the rules in my previous post,  I wrote the following damage system to fine tune the balances.

To make intensify OSR/d20 games, shorten combat scenes, and simplify damage, substitute the following rules for your damage system for weapons (This system does not apply to damage inflicted by spells, as it hasn't been playtested in that arena as of yet.):

The Crunch

All weapons are assigned a damage code in the following notation, NdS (M), where

•            N=the number of dice
•             S=the number of sides
•            M=the average amount of damage inflicted by the roll 

To determine the damage code, instead of the using the weapon damage of the given system, look up the weapon damage in your preferred reference document and find the damage inflicted. Next, convert this damage to a number of d6s as follows (Any +s listed for the damage inflicted in the reference document must be dropped before using the table): 

• 1d6 (3): 1d3/1d4/1d5
• 2d6 (6): 1d6/1d8/1d10/2d3/2d4/2d5
• 3d6 (9): 1d12/1d20/2d6/2d8/3d4 
• 4d6 (12): 2d10/3d6 
• 5d6 (15): 2d12/3d8/4d6
• 6d6 (18): 3d10/4d8 
• 7d6 (21): 3d12 
• 8d6 (24): 4d10 
• 9d6 (27): 4d12

For hand-held weapons, as an alternative method for determining a weapon's damage code independent of any source book, for every 30 cm of weapon length,  a handheld weapon does 1d6 (3) points of damage.

• If the weapon is designed to be used 2-handed, add an additional 1d6 (3) to this.
• If the weapon is designed to be used 2-handed, double the damage bonus for the striker’s Strength
• If the weapon is bladed, add an additional 1d6 (3) to this.
• If a metal-shod bludgeon, add +2 to the damage code. 

Implement in Play

To use the system, once you have the weapon codes (determined from either of these methods), players have a choice to roll or do average damage. Players receive an attack roll modifier of +2 if they use a description in the following format (or a similarly colorful format) to describe their actions: 

I [slice/cut/bludgeon/et] his [body part] for [average] points of damage instead of “I roll to hit” or I attack”. If the attack sets up the player for the next round's attack, the director may also apply and additional +2 modifier if the action is smooth, heroic, and feasible.

One final note on using with the previously posted armor system: The original armor design I posted was designed for the damage of the OSR/d20 reference documents, and based on those damage systems. To use the same armor system for these damage codes when calculated using the alternative method, you will need to use the Armor Values.

That’s it. Now stop  reading, go out, and slay some villains!