07.03.02 Rd6 Gear: Ranged Weapons Types (Modern+)

Chemical Slugthrowers
Most modern weapons incorporate this basic design. A small amount of combustible material is introduced into an enclosed chamber. The material is ignited and it forces a bullet down the barrel at a high speed, with a considerable amount of kinetic energy.
One thing that has changed is the kind of chemical used to create combustion. There are three major types.
- Cased Rounds – Cased rounds using propellants like cordite and gunpowder.
- Caseless Rounds – Caseless propellants and are fixed on to the round itself.
- Gas propellants – Two gases stored separate containers, kept inert; when combined within the chamber, the gases explode to force a bullet.
Gauss Slugthrowers
Gauss weapons, also called linear accelerators, accelerated a metallic projectile along electromagnetic rail at a very high speed. The stronger the field, the greater the velocity that can be achieved. However, these weapons require both a power cell and a supply of ammo. Often a clip contains both the ammunition and the super insulation cell.
Gyrojet
Pistols and rifles that fire micro-missiles are collectively referred to as gyrojet weapons. They have good range, can be heavy hitting, and support a wide variety of warheads. The only differences between the pistol and the rifle versions are the number of rounds which each can hold and the size of each round. A pistol will hold a clip of 4 micro-missiles, while a rifle generally holds 12. The pistols fire smaller, more compact missiles, while the rifles fire the long-range heavy impact ones. Range, damage and other effects are determined by the type of warhead. The individual pistol or rifle unit can fire any type of warhead listed below (and some others not listed), but a pistol cannot fire a rifle warhead or vice versa.
The pistols are squat, large-barreled weapons with revolving independent magazines. Most characters will carry their ammo organized in these revolving clips which can be easily ejected and replaced with full clips. It takes a round to reload magazine with single missiles, however.
The rifles are also rather blunt affairs, but they have long straight clips instead of the revolving unit. Special banana
and drum clips have been made for custom gyrojets (for larger ammo capacities), but they do not seem to diffuse the heat well and have been known- on rare occasions – to ignite warheads still in the clip. So the straight magazine is standard.
Standard Explosive Slug
These missiles are the standard load of a Gyrojet weapon. They have a long range but are easily affected by wind and other factors that other rounds are not, hence their relatively poor accuracy.
Armor-Piercing
These missiles do slightly less damage than the others, but have a Penetration value of 2D .
Burst Effect Missiles
These are basically useless against armored opponent, but can be very effective against a crowd of unarmored soft targets. The rounds have a BR1.
Heat-Seeking Add-on: This is an optional fitting that can be added to any of the above warheads. It doubles all effective ranges and automatically streaks toward the largest heat source (determine randomly if more than one applicable target). This effect adds +1D to the Ranged Weapons Skill total of the user.
Sonic
Sonic technology has been used for medical procedures for centuries as an alternative to X-rays or surgery. Screamers Weapons was born from that once technology advanced enough. The basic design of a sonic weapon fires a concentrated beam of sound waves at a target. The beam penetrates clothing and does large-scale tissue and bone damage. However, screamers have their drawbacks. Primarily, they are useless in a vacuum, cause sound needs
a medium to travel through. Also in a thin atmosphere, they are less effective at longer ranges. However, they are very effective underwater.
[Halve sonic weapon ranges when in thin atmospheres. Double medium and long ranges when underwater.]
Screamer beam only moves at the speed of sound. At long range, there’s a lag between when you fire and when you hit, severely effecting accuracy.
Lasers
Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. They’re quick, they’re accurate, and they don’t leave a mess. There are several subtypes of Lasers – Standard Lasers, Microwave Lasers, Electron Lasers and Proton Lasers, but the principles are the same in many ways.
Microwave Lasers are a laser with a lower frequency. The energy drain is offset by the extra damage you’ll do to your opponent. A microwave laser excites the molecules and cook your target. Additionally, you can use your laser to wipe out data on computer disks and trash unshielded electronic gear. The downside to these weapons is it is useless against buildings, furniture, walls, and the like. In addition, metal makes a great shield against the waves, and how many guys do you know walking around in wooden armor these days?
[Subtract -1D from the damage if the weapon is fired at a non-organic target other than unshielded electronic equipment. Add +1D to the Armor Value of metal armor when attacked with microwaves. On a Complication when shooting in the vicinity of a metallic item, there is a chance it will reflect back at the character. GM’s discretion.]
Electron and Proton Laser weapons are something relatively new [TL9]. They fire a laser beam is fired from the weapon to ionize a corridor through the air. A beam of concentrated and highly charged electron or proton particles rides along this corridor just behind the Beam, which then hits the target. The shot is usually accompanied by a big flash of light. Electron Lasers are less effective in more moist environments and Protons are simply less effective then Electrons.
[For Electron Lasers, when in humid environments, halve all electron weapon ranges and add a -1D penalty to hitting the target.]
Plasma Weapons (Blasters)
Plasma weapons are a cross between flamethrowers and energy weapons. They fire streams, bolts or balls of super-heated gases. The fuel for this fire is stored in a container inside or attached to the outside of the gun – high-pressure tank of some kind. When the trigger is pulled, the gas is ignited, reacts to something mixed in with it or otherwise manipulate to produce extreme heat, and then ejected out of the gun in bolt of some kind. Less accurate plasma weapons end there, while more advanced plasma may use a charge low-power laser to guide the bolt to their target or some other stream of particles reactive to the plasma. Others use charged barrels to agitate the plasma to even deadlier levels.