Post by Sutton on Jun 11, 2008 18:05:40 GMT -5
Okay, I would like to note that most of the firearms rules are ripped wholesale from inspired by the work of Riddle of Steel forums poster Vagabond Elf.
Halo, the RPG
Basic Principles
The core system for ranged attacks remains in place. Attacks are made using a Missile Pool, which is based on both the Aim attribute and the Proficiency with the weapon. The MP begins to refresh once the weapon is ready, and fills at the rate of (Wits) dice per Round. Successes are added to weapon damage, the target’s Toughness and Armour are subtracted, and the resulting wound is applied.
(It has been observed that, given the detail of damage location in this system, additional accuracy of shot shouldn’t really boost damage. And this is, in my opinion, true. The weakness that this approach creates, one that I have not managed to solve, is that this eliminates the possibility of glancing blows.)
Missile weapons do a fixed damage, but being a better shot allows one to hit what one wants more accurately. If the target is beyond 20m, then every third success (round down) allows the attacker to modify the d10 zone for where he’s shooting by 1. If the target is at less than 20m, then the attacker may have declared a d10 zone; in this case every 3 successes allow him to modify the d6 roll by one. Note that this is in addition to any effects the Major Gift of Accuracy may have.
A note on timing: although melee rounds can be left somewhat vague as to how much time has passed, many of the missile weapon rules are written in terms of seconds. Therefore, for the purposes of these rules, a Round is determined to be 2 seconds long and to consist of two 1 second Exchanges. This timing should be used whenever a ranged weapon is involved, even if melee is also occurring.
The biggest single change is in preparation time, repeated fire and MP refresh rates. Unlike a bow, crossbow or even a Napoleonic-era musket, a modern firearm does not generally need to be made ready between each shot. Therefore, preparation time only applies when drawing or reloading the weapon. (There are a few exceptions, such as bolt-action rifles. These will be noted in their descriptions.) Once the weapon is made ready, no significant time need be spent to do so again, even when switching targets.
The MP begins to refresh when the weapon is in firing position – when a pistol is pointed, when a rifle is brought to the shoulder, and so on. As long as the shooter continues to aim at the same target, his MP dice continue to refresh at WT/round. Even if he has been using some to shoot, the dice continue to build. (Of course, those used to shoot are used.) Some weapons have bonuses or penalties to the first round of refresh; these modifiers only apply when a given target is first selected, and are reapplied only when a new target is selected.
Example:
Messy Harold is trying to take down Unlucky Punk. Harold is a very good shot, having an Aim of 5 and a Pistols proficiency of 8, for a total MP of 13. His Wits are a solid 4. Harold had his .44 Magnum Revolver drawn all ready, so when he spots Unlucky Punk it only takes a moment to point the pistol at him. Pistols have a bonus to MP – they refresh at WT+1 – so in the first round Harold has 5 MP dice. Harold pops off two quick shots (one in each Exchange) using 2 dice each. At the end of the round he has (5-2, -2=) 1 dice left. As the next round begins, Harold gets his Wits, plus 1, in dice (5) bringing him to 6. Punk is farther away now, and so Harold takes more careful aim. He waits out the round, and at the beginning of the third round has five more dice, for 11. With 11 dice, and Punk nearly out of range, Harold takes one massive shot and drops his target.
A character who moves while firing will loose any dice he doesn’t use during the round..
Any character who is aware of an attacker may attempt to dodge a shot fired at him. In essence, this represents “broken-field” running, evasive manoeuvres, and so forth, trying to spoil the aim of the attacker. The dodge, technically, must take place before the shot occurs – once the bullet is in the air it’s going wherever it was aimed, and a person just isn’t fast enough to be somewhere else before it connects. However, the standard mechanic of: “attacker declares attack & dice, defender declares defence & dice, roll ‘em” is still the simplest way to do this. Only allow dodges against attacks the target can be aware of. As a clarification: if any given attacker has not yet fired on any given target, and has not brought his weapon up prior to the attack, there is no time to dodge. The attacker is limited to his first round’s worth of MP dice, and if not using a pistol must fire from the hip. (Bringing the weapon up to one’s shoulder makes it too obvious who you’re about to attack.)
Dodges are generally made using the Pugilism Combat Pool, though cases can be made for most of the melee pools. The normal TN is 7; if a character chooses to hit the deck, dive behind cover, etc., then the DTN drops to a 5. Successes on the dodge subtract from successes on the attack as normal, and if the all attacking successes are negated the shot has missed. By dodging the target is obviously not aiming – he’s moving about too much – and so cannot be accumulating MP dice. (Any dice available in his MP are lost as soon as the dodge is declared.)
The MP penalties for shooting at a moving target should not be combined with Dodges. If the target is unaware of the shot but is moving, use the –2 MP penalty. If he is moving evasively, use the –3 MP penalty.
It will occur that a dodging character will sometimes roll less than 3 successes, in which case he’d have been better off if he’d just been moving evasively. This happens. Sometimes one is just unlucky; sometimes one is telegraphing one’s intentions and the shooter can guess where you’re going.
Being under cover can make the dodge roll easier; As mentioned above, if there’s something to duck behind, use a DTN of 5 instead of 7. Also, there are less targets to choose from. If the shooter is close enough to make a called shot, he must shoot at the exposed portions of the body and take the associated MP penalty. If the shooter cannot make a called shot, (or chooses not to) he rolls as normal on the hit-location table. If the shot hits a covered location, it hits the cover.
GMs make wish to assign ARs to cover; if the damage is high enough the shot may penetrate anyway.
Hit location: Most weapons are not accurate enough to hit a specific zone at any great distance. Why? Because you can’t see well enough. To target a specific part of the body, the target must be at no more than 20m range. If a scope has reduced the effective range to 20m or less, a called shot may also be made. Called shots have the following penalties:
Torso, Abdomen, upper legs: No penalty
Head, Upper Arms: -2 MP
Lower Arms, Lower Legs, Groin: -3 MP
Otherwise, roll on the table below to see where the shots land. GM’s should use some common sense; a kneeling target is going to have a leg up, blocking much of the torso; if a torso hit is rolled the GM might give it even odds of hitting the leg instead. The other leg, however, is under the character, and the lower leg certainly can’t be hit.
Missile Fire Hit Location
D10 Roll Hit Zone
1 XIV (Arms)
2 XIII (Head)
3-4 XII (Chest)
5-6 XI (Belly)
7 X (Pelvis)
8-9 IX (Upper Legs)
10 VIII (Lower Legs)
Of course, the Major Gift of Accuracy can be used to modify this roll by 1, and every 3 net successes can also be used to modify the roll by 1.
Overshock:
Most gunshots kill the same way swords do – by blood loss or by destroying a vital organ. It is, however, possible to kill someone just by shock when using a firearm. If the GM wishes, any hit to the head or torso zones that results in a level 6 (or higher) wound may be considered to be instantly fatal.
Fast Draw Skill
Defaults to 15 or Rifle Drill +3. Fast Draw skill reflects practice in drawing and preparing a pistol. In general, it is used with Reflex to try and reduce the preparation time or re-load time with a pistol, at the rate of 1 second per 2 successes (round up). It should not be used directly for gunfights – other than checking to see how quickly the weapon clears the holster.
Rifle Drill Skill
Defaults to 15 or Fast Draw +3 or MG Drill +1. Basically the same skill, but used with a longarm. Since these weapons need to be pulled off the shoulder rather than from a holster, and tend to load differently, it is a separate skill.
Machine-gun Drill Skill
Defaults to 20 or Rifle Drill +1. Similar to Rifle Drill, but involves the arts of loading a belt-fed weapon and changing barrels. Note that most machine guns can be easily reloaded by a person other than the attacker, allowing the attacker to remain in firing position and start shooting again much faster. This aspect of the weapon requires MG Drill and cannot be defaulted.
Naked Dwarf Syndrome
If a character is wearing armour, and his TO + Armour exceeds the damage of the bullet, he take a Level 1 Bashing wound; multiple hits in this way will not raise this wound level. (Shoot him elsewhere, folks.) However, if he is unarmoured, he will take at least a Level 1 Piercing Wound from a gunshot, even if his TO exceeds the weapon damage. These effects do stack, and the minimum damage is per bullet – so a burst will take down even a very tough character quite quickly.
Proficiencies:
The basic proficiencies are:
Pistol; Sub-Machine Gun; Rifle; Light Automatic; Heavy Automatic
Pistol
This proficiency covers the use of any single-handed autoloading or manual-loading firearm. It does not cover machine pistols (fully automatic pistols) which are handled under Sub-Machine Gun, though a machine pistol set to semi-automatic fire could be used under Pistol without penalty.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (1); Suppression Fire (2); Two-Gun (1); Two-Target (1)
Defaults:
Sub-Machine Gun –2; Rifle –3; Light Automatic –3; Heavy Automatic –4
Sub-Machine Gun
This covers the use of light fully automatic weapons that fire a pistol bullet. GMs will have to make some calls which proficiency best suits some weapons – for example, the Colt 9mm SMG conversion of the AR-15 rifle could be argued for either proficiency, and should be assigned to one or the other.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (1); Suppression Fire (0/2); Short Burst (1); Walk-Fire (2);
Defaults:
Pistol –2; Rifle –3; Light Automatic –2; Heavy Automatic –3
Rifle
This covers any two-handed longarm that is not fully automatic or burst-capable, including bolt/lever/pump-actions, autoloaders, and shotgun. Like the SMG/Pistol relationship, Rifle can be used to fire a Light Automatic weapon that is set to Semi-Automatic fire.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (0); Suppression Fire (1); Five-Rounds Rapid (½ WT);
Defaults:
Pistol –3; Sub-Machine Gun –3; Light Automatic –2; Heavy Automatic –3
Light Automatic
This covers any rifle-sized fully automatic weapon, including assault rifles, light machine guns and most intermediate weapons such as the BAR. It includes the use of the weapon when carried or used with a monopod or bipod; tripod or vehicle pintle mounts switch the weapon to the Heavy Automatic proficiency.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (0); Suppression Fire (0/1); Short Burst (0); Walk-Fire (2);
Defaults:
Pistol –3; Sub-Machine Gun –2; Rifle –2; Heavy Automatic –2
Heavy Automatic
This covers two broad classes of weapon: any portable automatic weapon with a larger than rifle-sized calibre, and any automatic weapon on a tripod, fixed mount or pintle mount.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (0); Indirect Fire (2); Suppression Fire (0/1); Short Burst (0); Walk-Fire (1);
Defaults:
Pistol –3; Sub-Machine Gun –2; Rifle –2; Light Automatic –2
Manoeuvres
Double Tap
This manoeuvre allows an attacker to quickly fire several shots at a single target. A number of shots may be fired equal to the Cycle of the weapon. The activation cost is paid once; the shooter’s MP are then split as he pleases among the shots. (The low number of dice in use here helps reflect recoil.) The double-tap may be combined with Short Burst fire; the double-tap activation cost is only paid once, but the Short Burst cost must be paid for each attack. No more than two Short Bursts can be made in any given Double-Tap.
Five-Rounds-Rapid
This is a manoeuvre designed for bolt-, pump-, or lever-action longarms. With practice, it becomes possible to chamber a new bullet without bringing the weapon out of firing position. Technically no MP dice are needed to do this, but for any Round in which the weapon is being chambered, the MP refreshes only ½ WT. However, no time is spent bringing the weapon down from or raising it up to the shoulder. Remember that a round is 2 seconds long; if the reloading is finished part-way through the round the shooter may fire on the second exchange, but the ½ WT refresh limit still applies. This Manoeuvre is available at proficiency level 7.
Indirect Fire
Some weapons are designed to lob their projectiles up and over intervening cover to land on or beside the target; the classic example of this is a mortar but grenades, some rockets and even heavy machine guns are also designed to do it. The attacker pays the activation cost and adds 2 to his ATN. If he is successful, the attack has landed on the same side of the cover as the target. If he fails, the target is unharmed. The target may still use a DTN of 5 as he is very hard to see behind cover. Attacks made with Heavy Automatic weapons must use the Walk Fire rules, except that: a) the first 10 bullets fired have no effect on the ATN, b) an additional bullet hits every five successes, not every three, and c) sustaining this attack for multiple rounds does not increase the maximum number of bullets landing.
Short Burst
This manoeuvre can only be used with an automatic or burst-fire weapon. It allows the user to fire several bullets in a short group at a single target. The activation cost must be paid when using an Automatic weapon; when using a burst fire weapon there is no activation cost. Burst-fire weapons will be pre-set to fire 2,3,4,5, or even 6 bullets as a single attack, with 3 being far and away the most common and 5 the next. (A weapons description will usually specify what settings are available.) Automatic weapons can fire anywhere from 3 to 6 bullets. (It is worth noting that a given user will have trained to fire a certain size of burst, usually 3 or 5 bullets. Firing any other amount will be difficult for them. Players are encouraged to specify how long a burst they have practised and to spend 1 or 2 extra dice as an activation cost to fire more or less.)
A single attack roll is made, which can be defended against normally. Either the whole burst hits, or none of it does. Each bullet will strike in the same Zone, but may hit a different d6 location; roll for each bullet separately. Successes may be used to affect all the d6 rolls if the target is at less then 20m, but the attacker must adjust each bullet towards the same location. Subtract TO from each bullet, and combine the net damage at each location into a single wound.
Example:
Hans is hit in the chest (Zone XII) with three bullets from a Tommy Gun. Sam has four net successes on the shot. The d6 rolls are 2, 4, and 5. 2 is “Under the Ribs;” 4 and 5 are both “Chest.” With 3 successes, Sam can modify any of those rolls by one, and changes the 2 to a 3, so all the bullets hit the chest. The Tommy Gun’s damage is 6, and Hans’ TO is 4, so each bullet is doing 2 levels of damage. So Hans takes a level (2+2+2=) 6 wound to the chest. That could be considered overshock, but the Level 5 result is “pierced heart – dead” so it really doesn’t matter, does it?
Suppression FireSuppression fire involves “hosing down” an area to try and keep an opponent’s head down. It is not particularly accurate fire, but there is a lot of it. The attacker pays the activation cost and rolls a normal attack; if he gets even one success the fire is in roughly the right spot.
Any persons down range of the suppression fire must roll WP vs. (attacker’s Aim), plus 1 for each bullet fired in the exchange. If he gets any successes he may stand up and act normally. If he fails, he must take cover (though he may still attempt to fire from cover, move under cover, etc.) If he botches, he takes cover and freezes up for (10-WP) rounds.
Since no attempt to aim is being made, autoloading pistols may double their Cycle rate for Suppression Fire. Automatics do not – but probably won’t need to anyway.
If the defender succeeds in his WP roll, and chooses not to take cover, whether or not he is hit comes down to random chance. Roll percentile; if the result is equal to or less than the number of bullets fired +10, then he has been hit. Assume it to be one bullet with 1d6 successes, and roll randomly for location.
Multiple attackers may combine Suppression Fire attacks. Use the lower Aim attribute and the total number of bullets for the WP TN.
A single Suppression Fire action can affect several targets at once.
Sub-Machine Guns & Light Automatics have two different Activation costs for this Manoeuvre; the first, lower number is for Automatic fire; the second, higher number is for Autoloading or Burst Fire attacks.
It is worth noting that automatic weapons can create nearly impossible TNs. SMGs and Assault Rifles present little problem here, as they will run out of ammunition after a round or two. Belt-Fed machine guns can keep going for some time; however, they will have (in their descriptions) rules for barrel overheating and warping, which will force a pause to change barrels or a moderate rate of fire.
Two-Gun
This manoeuvre allows an attacker to hold a weapon in each hand and use them both. Not available until proficiency level 6, it means the character has trained in having a weapon in each hand. (Characters who work up to this level should make sure their rp reflects the need for this training.) After paying the activation cost, the shooter makes a single attack roll. Both shots must be aimed at the same zone but separate locations are rolled for. As with Short Burst above, TO applies to each bullet. The attack can be avoided with a single dodge; either both bullets hit or neither do. This attack can be combined with Double-Tap and Short Burst
Note the following: 1) If combined with Short Burst, double the activation costs of this maneuver and the Short Burst maneuver. 2) Both guns must be fired at the same zone on the same target. 3) Knowing this manoeuvre does not necessarily mean the character can shoot off-handed with one weapon; what he has learned is how to aim with the weapon in his good hand, and point the other gun so it hits the same spot (more or less).
Two-Target
The attacker has, with this Manoeuvre, learned to keep his attention on two separate targets. With a weapon in each hand, he may aim at two separate targets. His MP accumulates normally, and must be split to attack both targets, but is available to use against either of them as the attacker sees fit.
This Manoeuvre is available at proficiency level 7, and requires the character be able to shoot with both hands; until he learns to do that he cannot use this manoeuvre. The character cannot attack both targets in a single exchange, but may use part of his built-up dice against one target in the first exchange and the remainder in the second, assuming he hasn’t dodged or otherwise ceased to aim.
Walk Fire
Walking fire is when one simply holds down the trigger and steers the attack onto the target. The advantage of this is it is easier to hit a target. The disadvantage is that it is very wasteful of ammunition.
Walk fire may only be attempted with a fully automatic weapon. The attack must fire the full cycle rate of bullets in the exchange. For every 10 bullets fired (round mathematically) the ATN is lowered by 1. For every three successes (round up) 1 bullet has hit the target, to a maximum of 1/10th (round down) the number fired.
In Example: A Tommy Gun has a Cycle of 12 bullets per second. Walking fire with it will use 12 bullets, giving a –1 to the ATN of the attack. Every three successes means another bullet has hit, but the Tommy Gun’s cycle rate is low enough that only 1 bullet (12/10=1.2=1) can hit anyway. An MG 42, on the other hand, has a Cycle of 26 bullets per second. Walk Fire gives –3 to the ATN (26/10=2.6, rounds to 3), and up to 2 bullets can hit (2.6 round down is 2).
Sustaining the walk fire over multiple rounds is possible. No further effect is had on the ATN, but each round an additional bullet might hit the target (ie, the Tommy Gun could hit with 2 bullets on the second round, provided the attack had at least four successes).
Walking fire usually requires tracer rounds (at least 1-in-5). If the weapon is not loaded with tracers, the user must use some of his MP to roll against 7, +1 for every 10 metres. If this roll is failed, the attacker cannot tell where his rounds are going and the attack automatically fails. (At the GM’s discretion, it could be treated as a Suppression Fire attack as the targets may not realise the attacker has no clue where he’s shooting.)
Walking Fire is not all that accurate, and so the attacker cannot make called shots, nor may he use successes to affect the die roll for hit location. The Gift of Accuracy cannot be used with Walk Fire.
Peripherals & Accessories:
Bayonet: Essentially a dagger that can be fitted onto the end of a Rifle. Doing so changes the rifle from a two-handed club into a short spear, essentially. However, it does make the weapon less handy, imposing +1 to ATN (from shoulder) and to any Rifle Drill checks. Attaching the bayonet usually needs 2 seconds to draw it and about 3 to attach it; this can be improved using Rifle Drill as normal.
Scopes: Telescopic sights, or scopes, make it easier to see the details of a distant target but harder to find it. Using a scope means the MP refreshes at half WT; this does override most first-round modifiers. However, the effective range to the target is reduced by the scope’s rating. If using a scope with 5x magnification, a target at 100m would be treated as if it were at 20m for the weapon’s range penalty and for called shots.
Character Generation
Each player character recieves: Their choice of race. 50 attribute points (no more than 10 investment in any given stat, don't spam toughness please). 8 skills at rating 7, and MA skill points. 18 Proficiencies Points (max investment 10). Gear based on type as seen as appropriate by their GM.
NPCs will tend to be less impressive.
Races
Grunts:
-2 WP and Social
Jackals
-1 TO & EN
+2 perception and agility
Elites
+3 ST&TO&AG
+2 EN&WP&Perception
Humans
No mods
SPARTAN II
+2 to all stats
Shields
Shield rating blocks attacks, but is decreased each time it blocks an attack.
Shield rating is decreased by the average of Attack Strength and number of inbound attacks, plus attack strength. So, a standard BR burst would cut (9+3/2=6+9=14,) 14 points of shielding off, whereas a sniper shot would remove (16+1/2=8.5+16=24.5, round to 25) 25 points of shielding.
Minimum shield strength is 0. Any attack which would reduce shield to < 0 instead reduces shield to 0. If there is overflow, each shot deals damage equal to Weapon Strength - (Shielding at start of burst-Number of Shots) before the attack. If this is < 0, no damage is dealt.
When shield rating is 0, no attacks can be blocked.
When the user has not been hit by attacks (shielded or unshielded) for 5 rounds, shields begin to recharge at a rate of 5 per exchange.
Weapon Stats
The Preparation time listed is broken down into a great amount of detail as many steps will not be needed every time. In example, if a bullet is all ready chambered there is no need to do so again.
Some terminology is used here. For clarity, definitions:
Firing mechanisms:
Autoloading: refers to a weapon where the act of firing one bullet brings the next bullet into place. The gun can fire about as fast as the user can pull the trigger. On a revolver this is more properly known as double-action but the game effects being the same, I’m not bothering with two terms.
Automatic: The weapon will continue to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Machine Guns, Sub-Machine Guns and Assault Rifles are all automatics.
Burst-Fire: A form of automatic fire where the weapon will stop shooting after a number of bullets. 3 is common, but 4, 5, 6 or even 7-round bursts are known.
Single-Action: mostly found on revolvers, the weapon must be cocked between each shot by pulling back the hammer.
Bolt-Action: Found on rifles, the bolt – a small lever on the side of the weapon – must be lifted & pulled back to eject the spent cartridge, then pushed forward and down again to load the next. Relatively slow, but simple to make, easy to use, and interferes less with accuracy.
Pump-Action: Seen mostly (but not always) on shotguns, each shot is chambered by pulling on the forestock.
Lever-Action: the “cowboy rifle” where each shot is chambered by working a lever under the stock.
Game Terms:
Cycle: refers to how quick the physical mechanisms of the gun are. Cycle is rated in a number of shots per second (i.e., per exchange.) Cycle only appears on weapons that do not need to be manually cocked or chambered in some way.
Plasma damage counts as energy damage for the purpose of shields, and deals damage on the generic damage table (the damage is referred to as “plasma burns”.)
Energy Sword
Cut ATN: 6
Thrust ATN: 8
DTN: 6
Cut Damage: STR+3
Thrust: STR+5
M6D Pistol
Total preparation time: 0-5 seconds.
Draw Pistol: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second; Remove Safety: 1 second
Reload Time: 6-10 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 3 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Release Slide 0 Seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Fast Draw to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon pointed. Refresh is equal to WT+1, or 1/2WT with scope
ATN: 7
Damage Rating: 10
Range: +1 per 20m, scope reduces effective range by ½ if used.
Ammo: 12.7mm rounds, 12 per clip
Cycle: 2 rounds per second, auto-loading
The 12.7mm round is quite powerful. Any hits to the torso or legs which would not normally cause a knockdown roll do so at +2 dice.
The M6D contains a 2x optical scope, for usage in long ranged combat operations.
MA5B Assault Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-7 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
Reload Time: 8-11 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder
ATN: 6 (From Shoulder) 8 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 7
Range: +1 per 20m
Ammo: 7.62mm rounds 60-round clip.
Cycle: 12 shots per second. Automatic (Walk Fire –1 ATN, 1 hit)
The 7.62mm round is rather powerful. Any knockdown rolls are made at -1 die.
BR55 Battle Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-7 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
Reload Time: 8-11 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder, refresh decreases to 1/2Wit if scope is used
ATN: 5 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 9
Range: +1 per 35m, scope reduces range by x2
Ammo: 9.5mm rounds, 36-round clip.
Cycle: 6 (Semi-Auto and 3 Round Burst fire available)
Large-calibre rifles produce a lot of impact. Any hit to the chest or legs that would not normally cause a knockdown roll does at +2 dice.
Sniper Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-13 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 3 Seconds; Drop Prone 1 second, Bring to Position 4 seconds
Reload Time: 8-11 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder. Refresh is WT-2 (minimum 1).
ATN: 6 (Prone with Bipod) 8 (From Shoulder) 10 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 16
Range: +1 per 40m, scope reduces effective range by x10
Ammo: 14.5mm rounds, 4 round magazine
Cycle: 2 shots per second. Autoloading.
Large-caliber rifles produce a lot of impact. Any hit to the chest or legs that would not normally cause a knockdown roll does at +2 dice.
Features an x10 scope
Covenant Plasma Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-6 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder.
ATN: 7 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 10, PLASMA
Range: +1 per 15m.
Cycle: 5 shots per second. Autoloading.
HEAT: During each exchange in which the weapon is fired, roll 1d10. If it is higher than current heat, add one to heat. If it is less than current heat by 3 or more, the weapon overheats, dealing 2 plasma damage to the firers hand and becoming non-functional until heat reduces to zero. Heat drops one points per round in which the weapon has not been fired.
Covenant Plasma Pistol
Total preparation time: 0-4 seconds.
Draw Pistol: 3 seconds, Remove Safety: 1 second;
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Fast Draw to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed
ATN: 8
Damage Rating: 7, PLASMA
Range: +1 per 10m.
Cycle: 3 shots per second. Autoloading.
HEAT: During each exchange in which the weapon is fired, roll 1d10. If it is higher than current heat, add one to heat. If it is less than current heat by 3 or more, the weapon overheats, dealing 2 plasma damage to the firers hand and becoming non-functional until heat reduces to zero. Heat drops one points per round in which the weapon has not been fired.
Overload: Add five to damage by setting cycle to one and adding 5 heat per firing in addition to any other heat incurred, before the heat roll.
Covenant Carbine
Total preparation time: 0-6 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
Reload Time: 8-10 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds;
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder, refresh decreases to 1/2Wit if scope is used
ATN: 6 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 8
Range: +1 per 35m, scope reduces range by x2
Ammo: 8mm radioactive rounds, 18-round clip.
Cycle: 9 (Semi-Auto and 3 Round Burst fire available)
Large-calibre rifles produce a lot of impact. Any hit to the chest or legs that would not normally cause a knockdown roll does at +2 dice.
Shotgun
Total preparation time: 0-8 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 seconds. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 3 Seconds.
Cycle action 2-4 seconds:
Lower shotgun and pump action: 1 seconds. Bring to Hip 1 second, Bring to shoulder 3 seconds.
Reload Time (Loose rounds) 4-18 seconds:
Open Chamber: 1 second. Retrieve Shell: 1 seconds. Insert Shell: 1 seconds. (Repeat for each shell). Close Chamber: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder. Refresh is equal to WT(Minimum 1)
ATN: 4 (From Shoulder) 5 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 1d10 – (total ATN mod from range) shells impact, each with a 8 damage hit.
Range: +1 per 5m.
Ammo: 8 Gage Shotgun Shells, holds 8
Cycle: 1. Pump-Action.
Beam Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-7 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 3 Seconds.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder. Refresh is equal to WT-2 (Minimum 1), or half that with scope
ATN: 7 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 14 , Energy
Range: +1 per 45m, reduced by x10 with scope
Cycle: 1
Jackal Shield
When used, it blocks all ballistic small arms attacks from the front. Against Energy attacks, such as plasma weapons or lasers, it counts as having SR 20. Users may make a TN+4 attack on the shield to target the center generator. If the attack rolls a hit, and 3 is rolled on the hit location D6, and at least 5 damage is dealt, the shield is destroyed.
Halo, the RPG
Basic Principles
The core system for ranged attacks remains in place. Attacks are made using a Missile Pool, which is based on both the Aim attribute and the Proficiency with the weapon. The MP begins to refresh once the weapon is ready, and fills at the rate of (Wits) dice per Round. Successes are added to weapon damage, the target’s Toughness and Armour are subtracted, and the resulting wound is applied.
(It has been observed that, given the detail of damage location in this system, additional accuracy of shot shouldn’t really boost damage. And this is, in my opinion, true. The weakness that this approach creates, one that I have not managed to solve, is that this eliminates the possibility of glancing blows.)
Missile weapons do a fixed damage, but being a better shot allows one to hit what one wants more accurately. If the target is beyond 20m, then every third success (round down) allows the attacker to modify the d10 zone for where he’s shooting by 1. If the target is at less than 20m, then the attacker may have declared a d10 zone; in this case every 3 successes allow him to modify the d6 roll by one. Note that this is in addition to any effects the Major Gift of Accuracy may have.
A note on timing: although melee rounds can be left somewhat vague as to how much time has passed, many of the missile weapon rules are written in terms of seconds. Therefore, for the purposes of these rules, a Round is determined to be 2 seconds long and to consist of two 1 second Exchanges. This timing should be used whenever a ranged weapon is involved, even if melee is also occurring.
The biggest single change is in preparation time, repeated fire and MP refresh rates. Unlike a bow, crossbow or even a Napoleonic-era musket, a modern firearm does not generally need to be made ready between each shot. Therefore, preparation time only applies when drawing or reloading the weapon. (There are a few exceptions, such as bolt-action rifles. These will be noted in their descriptions.) Once the weapon is made ready, no significant time need be spent to do so again, even when switching targets.
The MP begins to refresh when the weapon is in firing position – when a pistol is pointed, when a rifle is brought to the shoulder, and so on. As long as the shooter continues to aim at the same target, his MP dice continue to refresh at WT/round. Even if he has been using some to shoot, the dice continue to build. (Of course, those used to shoot are used.) Some weapons have bonuses or penalties to the first round of refresh; these modifiers only apply when a given target is first selected, and are reapplied only when a new target is selected.
Example:
Messy Harold is trying to take down Unlucky Punk. Harold is a very good shot, having an Aim of 5 and a Pistols proficiency of 8, for a total MP of 13. His Wits are a solid 4. Harold had his .44 Magnum Revolver drawn all ready, so when he spots Unlucky Punk it only takes a moment to point the pistol at him. Pistols have a bonus to MP – they refresh at WT+1 – so in the first round Harold has 5 MP dice. Harold pops off two quick shots (one in each Exchange) using 2 dice each. At the end of the round he has (5-2, -2=) 1 dice left. As the next round begins, Harold gets his Wits, plus 1, in dice (5) bringing him to 6. Punk is farther away now, and so Harold takes more careful aim. He waits out the round, and at the beginning of the third round has five more dice, for 11. With 11 dice, and Punk nearly out of range, Harold takes one massive shot and drops his target.
A character who moves while firing will loose any dice he doesn’t use during the round..
Any character who is aware of an attacker may attempt to dodge a shot fired at him. In essence, this represents “broken-field” running, evasive manoeuvres, and so forth, trying to spoil the aim of the attacker. The dodge, technically, must take place before the shot occurs – once the bullet is in the air it’s going wherever it was aimed, and a person just isn’t fast enough to be somewhere else before it connects. However, the standard mechanic of: “attacker declares attack & dice, defender declares defence & dice, roll ‘em” is still the simplest way to do this. Only allow dodges against attacks the target can be aware of. As a clarification: if any given attacker has not yet fired on any given target, and has not brought his weapon up prior to the attack, there is no time to dodge. The attacker is limited to his first round’s worth of MP dice, and if not using a pistol must fire from the hip. (Bringing the weapon up to one’s shoulder makes it too obvious who you’re about to attack.)
Dodges are generally made using the Pugilism Combat Pool, though cases can be made for most of the melee pools. The normal TN is 7; if a character chooses to hit the deck, dive behind cover, etc., then the DTN drops to a 5. Successes on the dodge subtract from successes on the attack as normal, and if the all attacking successes are negated the shot has missed. By dodging the target is obviously not aiming – he’s moving about too much – and so cannot be accumulating MP dice. (Any dice available in his MP are lost as soon as the dodge is declared.)
The MP penalties for shooting at a moving target should not be combined with Dodges. If the target is unaware of the shot but is moving, use the –2 MP penalty. If he is moving evasively, use the –3 MP penalty.
It will occur that a dodging character will sometimes roll less than 3 successes, in which case he’d have been better off if he’d just been moving evasively. This happens. Sometimes one is just unlucky; sometimes one is telegraphing one’s intentions and the shooter can guess where you’re going.
Being under cover can make the dodge roll easier; As mentioned above, if there’s something to duck behind, use a DTN of 5 instead of 7. Also, there are less targets to choose from. If the shooter is close enough to make a called shot, he must shoot at the exposed portions of the body and take the associated MP penalty. If the shooter cannot make a called shot, (or chooses not to) he rolls as normal on the hit-location table. If the shot hits a covered location, it hits the cover.
GMs make wish to assign ARs to cover; if the damage is high enough the shot may penetrate anyway.
Hit location: Most weapons are not accurate enough to hit a specific zone at any great distance. Why? Because you can’t see well enough. To target a specific part of the body, the target must be at no more than 20m range. If a scope has reduced the effective range to 20m or less, a called shot may also be made. Called shots have the following penalties:
Torso, Abdomen, upper legs: No penalty
Head, Upper Arms: -2 MP
Lower Arms, Lower Legs, Groin: -3 MP
Otherwise, roll on the table below to see where the shots land. GM’s should use some common sense; a kneeling target is going to have a leg up, blocking much of the torso; if a torso hit is rolled the GM might give it even odds of hitting the leg instead. The other leg, however, is under the character, and the lower leg certainly can’t be hit.
Missile Fire Hit Location
D10 Roll Hit Zone
1 XIV (Arms)
2 XIII (Head)
3-4 XII (Chest)
5-6 XI (Belly)
7 X (Pelvis)
8-9 IX (Upper Legs)
10 VIII (Lower Legs)
Of course, the Major Gift of Accuracy can be used to modify this roll by 1, and every 3 net successes can also be used to modify the roll by 1.
Overshock:
Most gunshots kill the same way swords do – by blood loss or by destroying a vital organ. It is, however, possible to kill someone just by shock when using a firearm. If the GM wishes, any hit to the head or torso zones that results in a level 6 (or higher) wound may be considered to be instantly fatal.
Fast Draw Skill
Defaults to 15 or Rifle Drill +3. Fast Draw skill reflects practice in drawing and preparing a pistol. In general, it is used with Reflex to try and reduce the preparation time or re-load time with a pistol, at the rate of 1 second per 2 successes (round up). It should not be used directly for gunfights – other than checking to see how quickly the weapon clears the holster.
Rifle Drill Skill
Defaults to 15 or Fast Draw +3 or MG Drill +1. Basically the same skill, but used with a longarm. Since these weapons need to be pulled off the shoulder rather than from a holster, and tend to load differently, it is a separate skill.
Machine-gun Drill Skill
Defaults to 20 or Rifle Drill +1. Similar to Rifle Drill, but involves the arts of loading a belt-fed weapon and changing barrels. Note that most machine guns can be easily reloaded by a person other than the attacker, allowing the attacker to remain in firing position and start shooting again much faster. This aspect of the weapon requires MG Drill and cannot be defaulted.
Naked Dwarf Syndrome
If a character is wearing armour, and his TO + Armour exceeds the damage of the bullet, he take a Level 1 Bashing wound; multiple hits in this way will not raise this wound level. (Shoot him elsewhere, folks.) However, if he is unarmoured, he will take at least a Level 1 Piercing Wound from a gunshot, even if his TO exceeds the weapon damage. These effects do stack, and the minimum damage is per bullet – so a burst will take down even a very tough character quite quickly.
Proficiencies:
The basic proficiencies are:
Pistol; Sub-Machine Gun; Rifle; Light Automatic; Heavy Automatic
Pistol
This proficiency covers the use of any single-handed autoloading or manual-loading firearm. It does not cover machine pistols (fully automatic pistols) which are handled under Sub-Machine Gun, though a machine pistol set to semi-automatic fire could be used under Pistol without penalty.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (1); Suppression Fire (2); Two-Gun (1); Two-Target (1)
Defaults:
Sub-Machine Gun –2; Rifle –3; Light Automatic –3; Heavy Automatic –4
Sub-Machine Gun
This covers the use of light fully automatic weapons that fire a pistol bullet. GMs will have to make some calls which proficiency best suits some weapons – for example, the Colt 9mm SMG conversion of the AR-15 rifle could be argued for either proficiency, and should be assigned to one or the other.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (1); Suppression Fire (0/2); Short Burst (1); Walk-Fire (2);
Defaults:
Pistol –2; Rifle –3; Light Automatic –2; Heavy Automatic –3
Rifle
This covers any two-handed longarm that is not fully automatic or burst-capable, including bolt/lever/pump-actions, autoloaders, and shotgun. Like the SMG/Pistol relationship, Rifle can be used to fire a Light Automatic weapon that is set to Semi-Automatic fire.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (0); Suppression Fire (1); Five-Rounds Rapid (½ WT);
Defaults:
Pistol –3; Sub-Machine Gun –3; Light Automatic –2; Heavy Automatic –3
Light Automatic
This covers any rifle-sized fully automatic weapon, including assault rifles, light machine guns and most intermediate weapons such as the BAR. It includes the use of the weapon when carried or used with a monopod or bipod; tripod or vehicle pintle mounts switch the weapon to the Heavy Automatic proficiency.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (0); Suppression Fire (0/1); Short Burst (0); Walk-Fire (2);
Defaults:
Pistol –3; Sub-Machine Gun –2; Rifle –2; Heavy Automatic –2
Heavy Automatic
This covers two broad classes of weapon: any portable automatic weapon with a larger than rifle-sized calibre, and any automatic weapon on a tripod, fixed mount or pintle mount.
Manoeuvres:
Double-Tap (0); Indirect Fire (2); Suppression Fire (0/1); Short Burst (0); Walk-Fire (1);
Defaults:
Pistol –3; Sub-Machine Gun –2; Rifle –2; Light Automatic –2
Manoeuvres
Double Tap
This manoeuvre allows an attacker to quickly fire several shots at a single target. A number of shots may be fired equal to the Cycle of the weapon. The activation cost is paid once; the shooter’s MP are then split as he pleases among the shots. (The low number of dice in use here helps reflect recoil.) The double-tap may be combined with Short Burst fire; the double-tap activation cost is only paid once, but the Short Burst cost must be paid for each attack. No more than two Short Bursts can be made in any given Double-Tap.
Five-Rounds-Rapid
This is a manoeuvre designed for bolt-, pump-, or lever-action longarms. With practice, it becomes possible to chamber a new bullet without bringing the weapon out of firing position. Technically no MP dice are needed to do this, but for any Round in which the weapon is being chambered, the MP refreshes only ½ WT. However, no time is spent bringing the weapon down from or raising it up to the shoulder. Remember that a round is 2 seconds long; if the reloading is finished part-way through the round the shooter may fire on the second exchange, but the ½ WT refresh limit still applies. This Manoeuvre is available at proficiency level 7.
Indirect Fire
Some weapons are designed to lob their projectiles up and over intervening cover to land on or beside the target; the classic example of this is a mortar but grenades, some rockets and even heavy machine guns are also designed to do it. The attacker pays the activation cost and adds 2 to his ATN. If he is successful, the attack has landed on the same side of the cover as the target. If he fails, the target is unharmed. The target may still use a DTN of 5 as he is very hard to see behind cover. Attacks made with Heavy Automatic weapons must use the Walk Fire rules, except that: a) the first 10 bullets fired have no effect on the ATN, b) an additional bullet hits every five successes, not every three, and c) sustaining this attack for multiple rounds does not increase the maximum number of bullets landing.
Short Burst
This manoeuvre can only be used with an automatic or burst-fire weapon. It allows the user to fire several bullets in a short group at a single target. The activation cost must be paid when using an Automatic weapon; when using a burst fire weapon there is no activation cost. Burst-fire weapons will be pre-set to fire 2,3,4,5, or even 6 bullets as a single attack, with 3 being far and away the most common and 5 the next. (A weapons description will usually specify what settings are available.) Automatic weapons can fire anywhere from 3 to 6 bullets. (It is worth noting that a given user will have trained to fire a certain size of burst, usually 3 or 5 bullets. Firing any other amount will be difficult for them. Players are encouraged to specify how long a burst they have practised and to spend 1 or 2 extra dice as an activation cost to fire more or less.)
A single attack roll is made, which can be defended against normally. Either the whole burst hits, or none of it does. Each bullet will strike in the same Zone, but may hit a different d6 location; roll for each bullet separately. Successes may be used to affect all the d6 rolls if the target is at less then 20m, but the attacker must adjust each bullet towards the same location. Subtract TO from each bullet, and combine the net damage at each location into a single wound.
Example:
Hans is hit in the chest (Zone XII) with three bullets from a Tommy Gun. Sam has four net successes on the shot. The d6 rolls are 2, 4, and 5. 2 is “Under the Ribs;” 4 and 5 are both “Chest.” With 3 successes, Sam can modify any of those rolls by one, and changes the 2 to a 3, so all the bullets hit the chest. The Tommy Gun’s damage is 6, and Hans’ TO is 4, so each bullet is doing 2 levels of damage. So Hans takes a level (2+2+2=) 6 wound to the chest. That could be considered overshock, but the Level 5 result is “pierced heart – dead” so it really doesn’t matter, does it?
Suppression FireSuppression fire involves “hosing down” an area to try and keep an opponent’s head down. It is not particularly accurate fire, but there is a lot of it. The attacker pays the activation cost and rolls a normal attack; if he gets even one success the fire is in roughly the right spot.
Any persons down range of the suppression fire must roll WP vs. (attacker’s Aim), plus 1 for each bullet fired in the exchange. If he gets any successes he may stand up and act normally. If he fails, he must take cover (though he may still attempt to fire from cover, move under cover, etc.) If he botches, he takes cover and freezes up for (10-WP) rounds.
Since no attempt to aim is being made, autoloading pistols may double their Cycle rate for Suppression Fire. Automatics do not – but probably won’t need to anyway.
If the defender succeeds in his WP roll, and chooses not to take cover, whether or not he is hit comes down to random chance. Roll percentile; if the result is equal to or less than the number of bullets fired +10, then he has been hit. Assume it to be one bullet with 1d6 successes, and roll randomly for location.
Multiple attackers may combine Suppression Fire attacks. Use the lower Aim attribute and the total number of bullets for the WP TN.
A single Suppression Fire action can affect several targets at once.
Sub-Machine Guns & Light Automatics have two different Activation costs for this Manoeuvre; the first, lower number is for Automatic fire; the second, higher number is for Autoloading or Burst Fire attacks.
It is worth noting that automatic weapons can create nearly impossible TNs. SMGs and Assault Rifles present little problem here, as they will run out of ammunition after a round or two. Belt-Fed machine guns can keep going for some time; however, they will have (in their descriptions) rules for barrel overheating and warping, which will force a pause to change barrels or a moderate rate of fire.
Two-Gun
This manoeuvre allows an attacker to hold a weapon in each hand and use them both. Not available until proficiency level 6, it means the character has trained in having a weapon in each hand. (Characters who work up to this level should make sure their rp reflects the need for this training.) After paying the activation cost, the shooter makes a single attack roll. Both shots must be aimed at the same zone but separate locations are rolled for. As with Short Burst above, TO applies to each bullet. The attack can be avoided with a single dodge; either both bullets hit or neither do. This attack can be combined with Double-Tap and Short Burst
Note the following: 1) If combined with Short Burst, double the activation costs of this maneuver and the Short Burst maneuver. 2) Both guns must be fired at the same zone on the same target. 3) Knowing this manoeuvre does not necessarily mean the character can shoot off-handed with one weapon; what he has learned is how to aim with the weapon in his good hand, and point the other gun so it hits the same spot (more or less).
Two-Target
The attacker has, with this Manoeuvre, learned to keep his attention on two separate targets. With a weapon in each hand, he may aim at two separate targets. His MP accumulates normally, and must be split to attack both targets, but is available to use against either of them as the attacker sees fit.
This Manoeuvre is available at proficiency level 7, and requires the character be able to shoot with both hands; until he learns to do that he cannot use this manoeuvre. The character cannot attack both targets in a single exchange, but may use part of his built-up dice against one target in the first exchange and the remainder in the second, assuming he hasn’t dodged or otherwise ceased to aim.
Walk Fire
Walking fire is when one simply holds down the trigger and steers the attack onto the target. The advantage of this is it is easier to hit a target. The disadvantage is that it is very wasteful of ammunition.
Walk fire may only be attempted with a fully automatic weapon. The attack must fire the full cycle rate of bullets in the exchange. For every 10 bullets fired (round mathematically) the ATN is lowered by 1. For every three successes (round up) 1 bullet has hit the target, to a maximum of 1/10th (round down) the number fired.
In Example: A Tommy Gun has a Cycle of 12 bullets per second. Walking fire with it will use 12 bullets, giving a –1 to the ATN of the attack. Every three successes means another bullet has hit, but the Tommy Gun’s cycle rate is low enough that only 1 bullet (12/10=1.2=1) can hit anyway. An MG 42, on the other hand, has a Cycle of 26 bullets per second. Walk Fire gives –3 to the ATN (26/10=2.6, rounds to 3), and up to 2 bullets can hit (2.6 round down is 2).
Sustaining the walk fire over multiple rounds is possible. No further effect is had on the ATN, but each round an additional bullet might hit the target (ie, the Tommy Gun could hit with 2 bullets on the second round, provided the attack had at least four successes).
Walking fire usually requires tracer rounds (at least 1-in-5). If the weapon is not loaded with tracers, the user must use some of his MP to roll against 7, +1 for every 10 metres. If this roll is failed, the attacker cannot tell where his rounds are going and the attack automatically fails. (At the GM’s discretion, it could be treated as a Suppression Fire attack as the targets may not realise the attacker has no clue where he’s shooting.)
Walking Fire is not all that accurate, and so the attacker cannot make called shots, nor may he use successes to affect the die roll for hit location. The Gift of Accuracy cannot be used with Walk Fire.
Peripherals & Accessories:
Bayonet: Essentially a dagger that can be fitted onto the end of a Rifle. Doing so changes the rifle from a two-handed club into a short spear, essentially. However, it does make the weapon less handy, imposing +1 to ATN (from shoulder) and to any Rifle Drill checks. Attaching the bayonet usually needs 2 seconds to draw it and about 3 to attach it; this can be improved using Rifle Drill as normal.
Scopes: Telescopic sights, or scopes, make it easier to see the details of a distant target but harder to find it. Using a scope means the MP refreshes at half WT; this does override most first-round modifiers. However, the effective range to the target is reduced by the scope’s rating. If using a scope with 5x magnification, a target at 100m would be treated as if it were at 20m for the weapon’s range penalty and for called shots.
Character Generation
Each player character recieves: Their choice of race. 50 attribute points (no more than 10 investment in any given stat, don't spam toughness please). 8 skills at rating 7, and MA skill points. 18 Proficiencies Points (max investment 10). Gear based on type as seen as appropriate by their GM.
NPCs will tend to be less impressive.
Races
Grunts:
-2 WP and Social
Jackals
-1 TO & EN
+2 perception and agility
Elites
+3 ST&TO&AG
+2 EN&WP&Perception
Humans
No mods
SPARTAN II
+2 to all stats
Shields
Shield rating blocks attacks, but is decreased each time it blocks an attack.
Shield rating is decreased by the average of Attack Strength and number of inbound attacks, plus attack strength. So, a standard BR burst would cut (9+3/2=6+9=14,) 14 points of shielding off, whereas a sniper shot would remove (16+1/2=8.5+16=24.5, round to 25) 25 points of shielding.
Minimum shield strength is 0. Any attack which would reduce shield to < 0 instead reduces shield to 0. If there is overflow, each shot deals damage equal to Weapon Strength - (Shielding at start of burst-Number of Shots) before the attack. If this is < 0, no damage is dealt.
When shield rating is 0, no attacks can be blocked.
When the user has not been hit by attacks (shielded or unshielded) for 5 rounds, shields begin to recharge at a rate of 5 per exchange.
Weapon Stats
The Preparation time listed is broken down into a great amount of detail as many steps will not be needed every time. In example, if a bullet is all ready chambered there is no need to do so again.
Some terminology is used here. For clarity, definitions:
Firing mechanisms:
Autoloading: refers to a weapon where the act of firing one bullet brings the next bullet into place. The gun can fire about as fast as the user can pull the trigger. On a revolver this is more properly known as double-action but the game effects being the same, I’m not bothering with two terms.
Automatic: The weapon will continue to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Machine Guns, Sub-Machine Guns and Assault Rifles are all automatics.
Burst-Fire: A form of automatic fire where the weapon will stop shooting after a number of bullets. 3 is common, but 4, 5, 6 or even 7-round bursts are known.
Single-Action: mostly found on revolvers, the weapon must be cocked between each shot by pulling back the hammer.
Bolt-Action: Found on rifles, the bolt – a small lever on the side of the weapon – must be lifted & pulled back to eject the spent cartridge, then pushed forward and down again to load the next. Relatively slow, but simple to make, easy to use, and interferes less with accuracy.
Pump-Action: Seen mostly (but not always) on shotguns, each shot is chambered by pulling on the forestock.
Lever-Action: the “cowboy rifle” where each shot is chambered by working a lever under the stock.
Game Terms:
Cycle: refers to how quick the physical mechanisms of the gun are. Cycle is rated in a number of shots per second (i.e., per exchange.) Cycle only appears on weapons that do not need to be manually cocked or chambered in some way.
Plasma damage counts as energy damage for the purpose of shields, and deals damage on the generic damage table (the damage is referred to as “plasma burns”.)
Energy Sword
Cut ATN: 6
Thrust ATN: 8
DTN: 6
Cut Damage: STR+3
Thrust: STR+5
M6D Pistol
Total preparation time: 0-5 seconds.
Draw Pistol: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second; Remove Safety: 1 second
Reload Time: 6-10 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 3 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Release Slide 0 Seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Fast Draw to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon pointed. Refresh is equal to WT+1, or 1/2WT with scope
ATN: 7
Damage Rating: 10
Range: +1 per 20m, scope reduces effective range by ½ if used.
Ammo: 12.7mm rounds, 12 per clip
Cycle: 2 rounds per second, auto-loading
The 12.7mm round is quite powerful. Any hits to the torso or legs which would not normally cause a knockdown roll do so at +2 dice.
The M6D contains a 2x optical scope, for usage in long ranged combat operations.
MA5B Assault Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-7 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
Reload Time: 8-11 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder
ATN: 6 (From Shoulder) 8 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 7
Range: +1 per 20m
Ammo: 7.62mm rounds 60-round clip.
Cycle: 12 shots per second. Automatic (Walk Fire –1 ATN, 1 hit)
The 7.62mm round is rather powerful. Any knockdown rolls are made at -1 die.
BR55 Battle Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-7 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
Reload Time: 8-11 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder, refresh decreases to 1/2Wit if scope is used
ATN: 5 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 9
Range: +1 per 35m, scope reduces range by x2
Ammo: 9.5mm rounds, 36-round clip.
Cycle: 6 (Semi-Auto and 3 Round Burst fire available)
Large-calibre rifles produce a lot of impact. Any hit to the chest or legs that would not normally cause a knockdown roll does at +2 dice.
Sniper Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-13 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 3 Seconds; Drop Prone 1 second, Bring to Position 4 seconds
Reload Time: 8-11 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder. Refresh is WT-2 (minimum 1).
ATN: 6 (Prone with Bipod) 8 (From Shoulder) 10 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 16
Range: +1 per 40m, scope reduces effective range by x10
Ammo: 14.5mm rounds, 4 round magazine
Cycle: 2 shots per second. Autoloading.
Large-caliber rifles produce a lot of impact. Any hit to the chest or legs that would not normally cause a knockdown roll does at +2 dice.
Features an x10 scope
Covenant Plasma Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-6 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder.
ATN: 7 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 10, PLASMA
Range: +1 per 15m.
Cycle: 5 shots per second. Autoloading.
HEAT: During each exchange in which the weapon is fired, roll 1d10. If it is higher than current heat, add one to heat. If it is less than current heat by 3 or more, the weapon overheats, dealing 2 plasma damage to the firers hand and becoming non-functional until heat reduces to zero. Heat drops one points per round in which the weapon has not been fired.
Covenant Plasma Pistol
Total preparation time: 0-4 seconds.
Draw Pistol: 3 seconds, Remove Safety: 1 second;
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Fast Draw to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed
ATN: 8
Damage Rating: 7, PLASMA
Range: +1 per 10m.
Cycle: 3 shots per second. Autoloading.
HEAT: During each exchange in which the weapon is fired, roll 1d10. If it is higher than current heat, add one to heat. If it is less than current heat by 3 or more, the weapon overheats, dealing 2 plasma damage to the firers hand and becoming non-functional until heat reduces to zero. Heat drops one points per round in which the weapon has not been fired.
Overload: Add five to damage by setting cycle to one and adding 5 heat per firing in addition to any other heat incurred, before the heat roll.
Covenant Carbine
Total preparation time: 0-6 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 2 Seconds.
Reload Time: 8-10 seconds
Eject Spent Clip: 1 second; Recover Spent Clip 3 seconds; Retrieve New Clip 4 seconds; Insert New Clip: 2 seconds;
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder, refresh decreases to 1/2Wit if scope is used
ATN: 6 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 8
Range: +1 per 35m, scope reduces range by x2
Ammo: 8mm radioactive rounds, 18-round clip.
Cycle: 9 (Semi-Auto and 3 Round Burst fire available)
Large-calibre rifles produce a lot of impact. Any hit to the chest or legs that would not normally cause a knockdown roll does at +2 dice.
Shotgun
Total preparation time: 0-8 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Chamber Round: 1 seconds. Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 3 Seconds.
Cycle action 2-4 seconds:
Lower shotgun and pump action: 1 seconds. Bring to Hip 1 second, Bring to shoulder 3 seconds.
Reload Time (Loose rounds) 4-18 seconds:
Open Chamber: 1 second. Retrieve Shell: 1 seconds. Insert Shell: 1 seconds. (Repeat for each shell). Close Chamber: 1 second.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder. Refresh is equal to WT(Minimum 1)
ATN: 4 (From Shoulder) 5 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 1d10 – (total ATN mod from range) shells impact, each with a 8 damage hit.
Range: +1 per 5m.
Ammo: 8 Gage Shotgun Shells, holds 8
Cycle: 1. Pump-Action.
Beam Rifle
Total preparation time: 0-7 seconds.
Unsling Rifle: 3 seconds; Remove Safety: 1 second; Bring to Hip 1 Second; Bring to Shoulder 3 Seconds.
2 MP dice to roll Reflex vs. Rifle Drill to reduce time by 1 second per two successes.
Refresh starts when weapon is pointed from hip or brought to shoulder. Refresh is equal to WT-2 (Minimum 1), or half that with scope
ATN: 7 (From Shoulder) 9 (From Hip)
Damage Rating: 14 , Energy
Range: +1 per 45m, reduced by x10 with scope
Cycle: 1
Jackal Shield
When used, it blocks all ballistic small arms attacks from the front. Against Energy attacks, such as plasma weapons or lasers, it counts as having SR 20. Users may make a TN+4 attack on the shield to target the center generator. If the attack rolls a hit, and 3 is rolled on the hit location D6, and at least 5 damage is dealt, the shield is destroyed.
