Shatterzone Weapons d6

In some sections of space, it’s not who you are or what you stand for so much as what you’re willing to back it up with. At times like that, the weapon you’re carrying is what counts. Knowing this, the Empire have poured a lot of time and credits into producing reliable weaponry that packs a punch.

But before you go loading up on blasters and grenades, remember the two rules every ‘slinger has to know: 1) Don’t draw your gun unless you intend to use it; and 2) Don’t use it unless you’re sure you can take down the other guy. You might not get a chance to regret a mistake.

Listed on the next page are some of the better weapons that can keep you alive by making someone else dead:

Weapon Types

You can find all sorts of weapons in all sorts of places in the universe. But for each type-blaster pistol, laser rifle, whatever – there are one or two models that set the standard. Most of the others are copies of varying quality.

A real world 20th-century example of this is the M-16 assault rifle. This weapon is a light, selective fire rifle that fires a 5.56mm cartridge. To simplify supply problems within Europe in the event of war, it was decided that 5.56mm round would be standard issues among all NATO troops. This led to many different types of weapons being produced: the FN-FNC, FN-CAL, Enfield L85AI, HK33KAI, Beretta S70, etc. All of these weapons look markedly different, but they have similar rates of fire, ranges, and all use the same ammo. In the ways that really matter, these weapons are essentially the same.

There are more of these “benchmark weapons” because there are more ways to kill people than ever before. In addition to slugthrowers, there are lasers, blasters, sonic weapons, and other implements of destruction.

Weapons can be broken down into these basic types:

Holdout

Intended primarily for self-defense, holdout weapons are meant to be used one-handed. They are designed for ease of concealment at the sacrifice of range, ammunition capacity, and damage potential. However, such weapons should not be taken lightly. Holdouts can be drawn quickly, and at close range, be just as deadly as their larger cousins. Real world modern examples of this type of weapon would be a Walther PPK, Smith and Wesson ASP and the COP.357.

Pistol/Sidearm

Again intended largely for self-defense, sidearms are used by megacorporate security forces as well as the average adventurer. These weapons try to balance stopping power, ammunition capacity, range, reliability and size, placing as many as possible into one package. The result of this balancing act is often a weapon which has as much stopping power as a long arm but limited range or ammunition. Others may have acceptance range and ammo capacity but require several shots to bring down a target. Sidearms are intended for one-handed use, but two hands can also be used. Twentieth century examples of these weapons would be the high power Browning, Desert Eagle, Colt .45, and Smith & Wesson Model 29.

Urban Environment/Carbine/SMG

A hybrid of weapons classes, urban environment weapons are those which cause large amounts of damage at close range, and are still quite small for ease of handling. Because of this, these weapons are very useful in urban combats where the ranges for most combats are around four meters. However, urban environment weapons often have very limited ranges. Twentieth century examples of these weapons would include the Mac-10, Uzi, MP-5 series, SPAS 12 and 15 and any sawed-off shotgun. Star Wars examples would be Heavy Blasters, and Blaster Carbines.

Assault Rifle/Military Issue

These weapons are meant to be jack-of-all-trades of the armament industry. Designed to be effective in any type of combat, assault rifles can vary widely in performance. Usually lethality, range, and ammo capacity are the priorities in design. However, ease of maintenance and use, hardiness, and weight are also factors. Modern real world examples are M-16, AK-47, AR-180, and the HK G-11. Star Wars examples would be Blaster Rifles, and Light Repeating Blasters

Civilian/Sniper Rifle

These weapons emphasize range and accuracy at the expense of weapon hardiness. Because they are meant for such precise shooting, sniper weapons often lack the capacity for fullay automatic fire. This lack of fire power sometimes means that these weapons are able to stay within the bounds of the law on some major worlds, when other more powerful weapons are not. The dual classification comes from the fact that a good sniper weapon often makes a good civilian hunting weapon. Modern examples include Enfield L42, M-21, and M-40 sniper rifle, and any number of civilian hunting weapons.

Rate of Fire

All weapons have a rate of fire. A Rate of Fire or Fire Rate is the amount of rounds or blasts it can throw out in a combat round. There are three basic rates of fire

Single Shot (1) – One shot per Round
Semi-Auto (#sa) – Up to the number (#) of shots per round, in sequence (treated as a Multi-Action). Can also do Single Shot
Full Auto (#fa) – Up to a number (#) shots per round, single action. Can also do Single Shot, and Semi-Auto Fire.

As a rule of thumb the following applies to Blaster-type weapons:

Holdout – Single Shot
Blaster Pistols, Heavy Blaster Pistols, Blaster Rifles, Blaster Carbines – Semi-Auto
Repeating Blasters – Full Auto

SINGLE SHOT:

Nothing different about single shot. Treat as a normal shot in Star Wars Combat.

SEMI-AUTO

Semi-Auto just means that the weapon can be fired up to 4 times in a single round, but each is treated as an action, taking in consideration Multi-Action rules.

FULL-AUTO

Full Auto is handled as a single action or burst (one pull of the trigger), and is usually applied over a area of fire. One must know the distance covered by the burst in meters, i.e. the length of the burst arch. The Burst can be up to 15 shots, but no less than 5.

One must calculate the AutoFire Modifier. For every three (3) shots fired in the burst, the modifier gets +1D. For every 1 Shot fired “extra”, it gets +1 pip (10 shots get 3D+1). Then, for every meter in burst arch, it gets a -1D. This modifier is applied to both the to-hit and the damage dice.

Ex. Light Rep. Blaster with 6D normal damage fires a 10-shot burst covering a 5m burst arch. This comes to a +3D+1 Autofire Modifier. The 5m area reduces this modifier with -5D. The Damage would be 6D (+3d+1) – 5D per target = 4D+1

Full Ex. Tirog fires his LRB at a door where STs are pouring through, the door is 3m wide so Tirog fires at maximum rate (15 shots) at a 3m wide area. Tirogs blaster skill is 5D so the total to hit roll is 5D+5D-3D = 7D for every target in the area, if a ST gets hit the damage roll is 8D (6D+5D-3D).