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A RuneQuest 6th Edition Rules Supplement

Firearms



Introduction As many o you already know, RuneQuest 6th Edition is primarily designed or historial and

antasy settings. Yet some people have expressed an interest in using rearms in their games,

anything rom piratial blak powder weapons to the radium guns o Barsoom. Rather than

merely limiting the system to its deault genres this supplement shows how to tweak the game

to handle any oneivable ranged weapons, even hi-teh Siene Fition rearms.

Te ollowing rules will orm the basis or rearms in many dierent settings, whether released

as published supplements or as uture ree-to-download guides. We ully enourage Game Mas-

ters to take the ollowing ideas and adapt them to suit their own imaginative ampaigns. Enjoy!

CreditsResearh, Rules, Mehanis and Lead Writing: Pete Nash

Additional Material: Lawrene Whitaker

Editing and Layout: Lawrene Whitaker

RuneQuest is a trademark o Issaries Inc. Used under License by Te Design Mechanism. All rights reserved. Tis edi-tion o RuneQuest is copyright © 2012. Tis PDF is a ree supplement provided by personal, but not corporate or orproft use. Material ound in this book can be reerred to reely under Fair Usage, but any use o the rules or mechanics

ound herein requires the express permission and consent o Te Design Mechanism.

For details o the RuneQuest Gateway license, please contact Te Design Mechanism([email protected]).



RQ Firearm

3

Initial Considerations

New Combat Actions

On the ae o it modiying the ombat rules to

inlude gun ombat is rather problematial, sine

it is near impossible to avoid laser beams or bullets

whih travel aster than human reexes.

Using the rules as written, this means that unless

you try to dive lear o the area using Evade, any

hit will immediately expose the vitim to one or

more Speial Eets. It also hanges the Ation

Point eonomy. I you an’t use points to reative-

ly deend yoursel then most haraters will end

up using all their ations to blast away, gambling

on the inompetene o their oes.

o handle this paradigm shit both Game Mastersand Players may need to hange the way they

view – and approah – gun ombat. Some things

to note are:

• Gun ombat is dangerous!

• On the whole people prioritise not being shot

over shooting others

• Te most ommon method o protetion is to

take over

• Suppressing re is the best way o preventing

oes shooting bak

• Firearms are surprisingly inaurate unless

time is taken to brae and/or aim

• When you are shot, bad stu happens

Deending onesel against gunre will largely

beome a question o body armour, using over

and trying to prevent the opponent rom being

able to re bak. As suh, most gun battles tend

to beome very tatial – lots o suppressing re,

anking movement and ushing oes rom deep

over – during whih haraters may pass entire

ombat rounds being pinned down and unable to

respond until the opposition stops ring... whih

some players may nd extremely tedious.

It is peretly possible that an entire gunght

will result in no injuries, just one side giving up

due to running out o ammunition or eeing the

battle entirely. Ater all, ew people want to risk

being riddled with a burst rom a weapon on ull-

automati.

Te ollowing are addendums to the existing om-

bat rules and should mesh seamlessly with them.

o reet the gritty reality o rearms, several new

types o proative Combat Ation have been re-

ated. Some o the ollowing depend on weaponry

o a sufient tehnologial level.

Reload As per Ready Weapon in the RQ6 ore rules.

Reloading times an vary wildly aording to the

type o weapon. Single shot blak powder muskets

will be ar slower to reload than hanging an

ammunition magazine or power soure. Under

ombat onditions the ormer might take rom 15

to 20 seonds (9-12 urns) whilst the latter ould

be as ast as 5 seonds (3 urns).

Sneak PeekSneak Peek allows somebody urrently shelter-

ing behind over to take a quik look-see to

judge what the tatial situation is. Te ation is

ostensibly sae, permitting the observer a single

Pereption roll beore duking bak into over. I

the Pereption test is a umble however, they ool-

ishly overextend their head or remain in sight long

enough or an enemy to take a pot shot.

Steady Weapon Allows the harater to establish a rm ring

posture and support an automati weapon so that

it remains stable. It requires that the harater be

at least partially exposed and not ompletely pro-



Why is Take Cover not reactive? Whilst it might appear somewhat unair that ake Cover is not reative, there are several reasons or this. Firstly

most projetile weapons re ammunition whih travels at supersoni or light speeds. In layman’s terms this means

that a musket ball or bullet atually hits you beore you hear the sound o the shot and try to duk. Seondly it adds

a very tatial element to a re-ght, making it risky to expose onesel to take your own shot, unless you wait until

the enemy needs to reload or you have riends providing suppressing re.

On the other hand, some genres possess ranged weapons like blasters whih are both sub-soni and highly visible.

In suh ases it may be more ‘heroi’, or indeed just more un, to allow haraters the ability to use ake Cover

reatively.

teted by over. Te primary benet is that it redues the

reoil penalty o Burst or Full-Automati re by one step.

Tis eet is similar to Brae in that its benets ontinue

until the harater moves.

Switch Fire ModeSwith Fire allows the user o an automati or dual pur-pose rearm to hange the seletor on their weapon to

take advantage o other re modes. Tus an assault rie

ould be swithed rom semi-automati to burst, hoose

dierent types o ammunition (Judge Dredd Lawgivers)

or a supplementary system suh as an integral grenade

launher brought on line. Whilst modern weapons require

an Ation Point on the harater’s urn to swith modes,

sufiently advaned high-teh rearms may permit it as

a Free Ation, triggered by eletroni implants or psyhi-

ally reading the user’s mind.

Take Coverake Cover is a proative ation whih allows a shooter to

duk behind whatever over is available in their immediate

viinity, thereby gaining some degree o protetion against

inoming re. Unlike Evade it does not leave the user

prone, but does rely on some orm o over being available,or example duking bak around a orner in a orridor or

rouhing down behind a table in a bar.

Depending on irumstanes, the available over may or

may not be sufient to ompletely protet the harater.

Te type o over will also determine its protetive quali-

ties; a thik steel door or instane may prove impenetrable

to bullets, whereas a thin wooden wall might only provide

4 Armour Points. For general guidelines onerning the

protetive qualities o ertain materials, see the ‘Inanimate

Objets Armour and Hit Points’ table on page 123 o theore rules.



RQ Firearm

5

New Special EffectsSome players o RQ6 oten imagine that there are

ew useul Speial Eets or ranged weapons,

despite the at that many o the oensive options

are easily transposed between weapon types (seeModied Speial Eets). o redress this inequal-

ity, some new eets are presented below, spei-

ally or the use o rearms.

Circumvent CoverOensive, High-ech Firearms Only

Assuming that the shooter is using some high-teh

weaponry, they an re around the target’s over.

In most ases this will require something along

the lines o sel guided ammunition. I used as a

trik shot, or example bouning a laser blast o a mirror or rioheting a bullet o a wall, then

the speial eet should be treated as a Critial

Suess only with a ommensurate redution in

damage.

Drop FoeOensive, Firearms Only

Assuming the target suers at least a minor

wound rom the shot, they are ored to make

an Opposed est o their Endurane against the

attaker’s hit roll. Failure indiates that the targetsuumbs to shok and pain, beoming inapai-

tated and unable to ontinue ghting. Reovery

rom inapaitation an be perormed with a

suessul First Aid hek or using some orm o

tehnologial or naroti booster i suh exists in

the ampaign. Otherwise the temporary inapai-

tation lasts or a period equal to one hour divided

by the Healing Rate o the target.

Duck BackOensive, Firearms Only

Tis speial eet allows the shooter to immedi-

ately duk bak into over, without needing to

wait or their next urn to use the ake Cover

ation. Te harater must be already standing or

rouhing adjaent to some orm o over to use

Duk Bak.

MarksmanOensive, Firearms Only

Permits the shooter to move the Hit Loation

struk by his shot by one step, to an immediately adjoining body area. Physiology has an eet on

what an be re-targeted and ommon sense should

be applied. Tus using this speial eet on a

humanoid would permit an attaker who rolled

a leg shot, to move it up to the abdomen instead.

Conversely shooting a grifn in the hest would

permit seletion o the orelegs, wings or head.

OverpenetrationOensive, Critical, Firearms Only

I shooting at lineally positioned opponents orinto a densely paked group, this speial eet

allows the shot to travel ompletely through the

rst vitim to strike a seond behind them, as-

suming that it overomes the rst target’s body

armour. Te seond vitim however, only suers

hal damage due to attenuation or slowing down

o the shot. Overpenetration is generally o more

use with high powered weapons that init large

amounts o damage or those whih have some

sort o armour piering ability. Any speial eets

inited on the rst target are not applied to theseond.

Pin DownOensive, Stackable, Firearms Only

Similar to Press Advantage, this speial eet

ores the target to make an Opposed est o their

Willpower against the attaker’s hit roll. Failure

means that the target hunkers down behind what-

ever over is available and annot return re on

their next urn. Note that Pin Down works even

i no atual damage is inited on the target (per-

haps due to a suessul evasion or shots striking

their over instead), as it relies on the intimidation

eet o gunre passing very lose by.

Although a pinned vitim is unable to re bak

or the requisite time, they an perorm other

ations provided they don’t expose themselves to

re in the proess, suh as rawling away to new



over, ommuniating with others, reloading a weapon

and so on.

WeaponMalfunction Attacker Fumbles, Firearms Only

Te attaker’s rearm maluntions in suh a way that it is

rendered useless until time an be spent eld stripping and

leaning it.

ModifiedSpecial EffectsDepending on the type o ammunition or energy they projet, some Speial Eets should be slightly modied,

even restrited. It is impossible to over all types o ranged

weaponry as there will always be exeptions, but some

general guidelines are provided or the most ommon

eets.

• Bash: Sine Bash relies more on athing an op-

ponent o balane, rather than throwing them

bakwards by pure ore, it is peretly reasonable or

projetile ammunition to ause a target to stagger i

it strikes an extremity. Energy weapons are less likely to init suh an eet unless the physis o the beam

result in some sort o surae explosion.

• Bleed : Sine most rearms produe very narrow

wound paths, it is atua lly more difult to nik or

sever a major blood vessel than it is with a sliing

or stabbing weapon. Due to this Bleed should be a

Critial Suess only – unless the gun is some sort o

weird weaponry whih res shuriken, razor éhettes,

attened ore elds or some suh exoti ammunition.

• BypassArmour: Although Bypass Armour an os-

tensibly be used with any sort o attak, some types o

ammunition might either be prevented rom aess-

ing this eet (shot gun pellets due to their spread)

or built into their base perormane, granting it as

a bonus speial eet in addition to any others won

(eleportation rounds). Muh depends on how the

Game Master wishes to model the weapon.

• ChooseLocation: As per the deault rules, Choose

Loation should be restrited to being a Critial

Suess only, unless the target is within lose range

and is either stationary or unaware o the impending

attak. elesopi sopes may extend this range (see

Spot Rules).

• CircumventParry: Tis is obviously o little use un-

less targets are using rearm resistant shields, or you

are shooting at a lightsabre armed Jedi...• CompelSurrender: Firearms are usually very intimi-

dating weapons. Tus Compel Surrender need not

be restrited to only those targets plaed at a tatial

disadvantage; and an be utilised at a distane also.

• DamageWeapon: Sine striking a hand held weapon

at range is even more difult than targeting a spe-

i body loation, this should generally be reserved

or Critial Suesses only. Tere are several exep-

tions however, the rst being that a shield should,

by its very nature, be muh easier to hit. Te seond

onerns exoti weapons whih re a one shapedbeam able to target hand held objets within its area

o aet; or instane an indution gun that heats

metal objets.

• DisarmOpponent: As per Damage Weapon above.

Tere’s nothing quite as satisying than shooting an

enemy’s gun right out o their hands.

• Entangle: Although usually reserved or thrown

weapons suh as nets or the bolas, entangling rearms

are a staple or some golden and silver-age siene -

tion settings. anglers should be permitted aess to

this speial eet.• Impale: Te ammunition o most projetile-based

rearms will be able to impale. Game Masters may

wish to restrit or ban this eet or plasma or laser

based energy weapons. Bullets, éhettes and similar

projetiles are learly too small to impose any seond-

ary impaling eets.

• KillSilently : Obviously this annot be seleted i

the weapon is inherently loud unless it possesses

some sort o silener. In general, any gun whih res

ammunition travelling aster than the speed o sound

will make signiant noise, no matter what method

it uses to aelerate the projetile. Sniping with some-

thing like a Mirowave Laser on the other hand will

be utterly inaudible.

• MaximiseDamage: Tis speial eet should be

available or any rearm. Remember however, that

it only aets a single die. Something whih should

be taken into onsideration by a Game Master when

designing modern or uturisti weapons or their



RQ Firearm

7

ampaign.

• PinWeapon: Useul only with speialised

rearms, it ould be used or harpoon guns or

trator beam ries or example.

• RapidReload : Whilst useul or blak

powder or single round rearms, this speial

eet has less o an obvious appliation whenapplied to automati weapons, where the

next shot is hambered (or harged) instantly.

However, Rapid Reload ould be utilised in-

stead to quikly hange weapon magazines. It

might also be appliable or energy weapons

that possess lengthy yle times to reharge

apaitors or allow the barrel to ool.

• StunLocation: Peret or ertain types

o projetiles, it ould also be an inherent

bonus eet o non-lethal stun-ray weapons,

where the damage roll is only used to see i itoveromes any worn protetion rather than

initing a wound.

• Sunder: A somewhat unusual hoie, Sunder

would be suitable or energy-based rearms

designed to destroy ablative armours or more

exoti onepts like gravity wave guns.

• TripOpponent : Assuming the rearm atu-

ally shoots ammunition with mass, there is no

reason that this eet ouldn’t be used when

shooting at the legs o an opponent, even i

no damage penetrates any worn protetion.

Spot Rules Whilst running gun based ombat should be

relatively straightorward, the ollowing spot rules

are provided to help resolve ertain eatures and

situations aused by rearms.

Accuracy of Fire-arms over Range Whilst rearms generally have ar greater ranges

than their less tehnologially sophistiated oun-

terparts, they are still subjet to the same auray

issues when shooting at a distane. Te design o

a rearm an also have a signiant eet upon

their auray. For example, due to their short

barrel length and less stable ring position, hand-guns are typially more inaurate than ries.

In general use the ollowing modiers when using

the ‘Size and Distane Difulty Adjustment’

table:

• Pistols – Inrease penalty by 1 step

• Carbines/SMGs – No modier

• Ries – Redue penalty by 1 step

• Sniper Ries – Redue penalty by 2 steps

Remember that as an exeption to the normalrule, distane penalties stak on top o other

ranged ombat situational modiers.

Automatic FireSome rearms automatially hamber the next

shot, by using the waste gases, reoil or energy

rom the previous shot. With no need to reok,

this grants the weapon a range o dierent ring

rates, all dependent on how muh ammo the user

wishes to release.

Tese ring modes are known as Semi-Automati,

Burst and Full-Automati. Whilst this ability an

make some guns apable o dealing out ear-

some damage, trying to maintain auray with

reoiling weapons is problemati. Assume that the

ollowing rules primarily apply to projetile ring

automati weapons.Carlesn Weapon Systems 20mm Split Beam

Violator Light Repeating Blaster Rie



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sitatur alit exero beaque lam, quam

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8

Semi-Automatic: Tis is atually the deault rate o re

or most guns, where eah pull o the trigger res a single

shot and loads the next round.

Burst : For burst re eah pull on the trigger releases a

short number o rounds, usually no more than three to

ve depending on the weapon. Its original purpose was topermit limited suppression re, but restrit exessive am-

munition use. It is not intended to improve the shooter’s

hane to hit sine rapid, sequential reoil ontinually

jerks the weapon o-line. Firing in burst mode imposes

a penalty grade o Hard to the attak roll. I the attak

sueeds however, the shooter rolls a die to see how many

o the rounds in that burst struk home on the target. So

a three round burst would use 1d3. Roll separate loation

and damage or eah round whih hits.

Full-Automatic: Normally used or ull blown suppress-ing re to pin down multiple targets, ull-automati an

be devastating i red into a losely grouped body o en-

emies. Te shooter deides how many rounds o ammo to

re (up to the limit o the yli rate o the weapon) whih

are then evenly distributed aross all the targets inluded

in the ar o re. Any spare rounds are onsidered lost

whilst traversing aim (thus ring 15 rounds at 6 targets

would be two bullets eah). A separate attak roll is made

or eah target, but at a difulty grade o Formidable

due to the inreased reoil eets o sustained re. Tose

targets who are hit suer a random number o rounds asper Burst Fire.

Note that only the rst shot which strikes during a burst or

ull automatic spray can benet rom special eects. Tus roll-

ing a critical attack whilst ring in automatic mode would

permit the selection o Maximise Damage, but only with the

rst shot, even i all the remaining rounds hit home.

Dual FirearmsCharaters may use dual rearms, shooting both weaponssimultaneously during their urn to gain a more rapid rate

o re. However, this omes at a penalty to auray. Fir-

ing a pistol in eah hand suers a penalty o Hard to hit

the target. Tose trying to onurrently shoot with a ar-

bine or SMG in eah hand suer a penalty o Formidable.

Fumbling withFirearms

Sine gunre is not normally resisted by an opposing skill,a speial provision should be made when a shooter umbles

their attak roll. In this ase, whomever was the intended

target is allowed to selet a umble spei speial eet,

whih the shooter then suers. See a lso the umble only

speial eet Weapon Maluntion above.

Parrying Weapon Firewith Shields

As expressed earlier, it is almost impossible to deliberately parry a supersoni projetile or energy beam. Shields how-

ever still provide a degree o protetion sine in eet they

are portable ‘over’. o utilise a shield in a re-ght, just

use the Passive Bloking rules on page 154 o RQ6.

Why is automatic fire so penalised?

It may seem that the rules or automati re are unduly harsh ompared with the apparent auray o modern re-

arms. Tere are several reasons or this, the primary ones being streamlining and game balane. Players who ritiise

their harater’s inauray should be reminded that any tweaks to the rules will be applied against them too; whih

given the lethality o rapid re should be a sobering thought.

O ourse, some o these reoil penalties an be mitigated, or example by using Steady Weapon to brae automati

rearms. Te truth o the matter is though, that re-ghts are very dierent to target shooting on a gun range (see

Te Disonnet Between Range Marksmanship and Combat). Te instint to take over when bullets are ying,

the need to keep mobile and every shot taken pinpointing the shooter by its muzzle ash or sound, oten prevents

any hane o aiming or braing. Te phrase ‘Spray and Pray’ was oined or very good reason!



RQ Firearm

9

With regard to more modern rearms or those o

a siene tion nature, a Game Master may wish

to grant the shield an Armour Point value rather

than assigning it a Size, based upon the inherent

material it is made rom. For example a wooden

shield might be treated as 4 Armour Points, a Kev-

lar tatial shield 8 AP, and a Ulysses 31 braeletore eld shield 15 AP.

Telescopic Sights A telesopi sight improves the auray o a

rearm over greater distanes when the user takes

the time to aim properly (see Aiming on page

159). Te most basi telesopi sights are merely

optial magniers, but as tehnology advanesthey begin to inorporate integral rangenders,

projetile trajetory alulators, air movement sen-

sors, atmospheri lensing ompensators, IR or low

light ampliers and a host o other gadgets whih

improve its eetive ‘hit’ distane.

Tus telesopi sights redue the apparent distane

(on the Size and Distane Difulty Adjustment

table) by a number o distane steps equal to the

multiplier. For example an x12 sope will extend

Close Range to twelve times its base distane, whilst additionally reduing the apparent distane

by 12 steps, or 240m (12 x 20m) beore penalties

are alulated.

The Disconnect

Between Range

Marksmanship &

Combat

Since 1970, the Firear

and actics Section o the New York City Po

Department has gathe

statistical data about p

involved rearms exch

Te results have shown

an ofcer’s ability on a

range has little bearin

what actually occurs in

combat situation.

Te ollowing statisticsthe hit percentages o t

ofcers who red duri

a gunght. Tey are n

only surprising, but al

demonstrate that some

more penalising Spot R

modelled or RQ6 gun

bat are actually very l

in terms o what happ

real lie.

• 3 or less yards: 19

38%; 1992, 28%

• 3 – 7 yards: 199

11.5%; 1992, 11

• 7 – 15 yards: 19

9.4%; 1992, 4.2

• 15 – 25 yards (19

not included in a

age); 1992, 2

• Average Hit Perc

age at 15 yards o

1990, 19%; 199

17%

Creating FirearmsGame Masters wanting to reate their own

rearms or RQ6 must take into onsideration nu-

merous aspets o weapon design and the eets

they pose on haraters.

PurposeTe rst thing to think about is what the weapon

is designed to be used against. An elephant

gun or instane has ammunition alulated to

take down harging big game, and thus should

init more damage than a normal hunting rie

intended or deer.

Te type o damage is important too. A Roket

Propelled Grenade is manuatured to be used

against tanks. Whilst it an init terrible inju-

ries, its real purpose is to destroy vehile armour,

oten with the intent to ollow up with a seond

shot to the same loation whih then penetrates

the vehile easier (see the Ablating trait below).

Tus the base damage die or an RPG need not

be that large, allowing anyone aught in its blast

radius a better hane o survival.

Other types o damage exist. Stunning or pa-

ralysis allows the reation o non-lethal weapons.

Disintegration on the other hand might init

permanent damage on Hit Loations making itvery rightening i no method o regeneration

exists!

DamageIn real lie it is quite possible to be shot by small

or medium alibre handgun rounds and still

remain untional. At the upper end o the sale,

rie rounds an init terrible damage, inapai-

tating the vitim, but still not neessarily kill

them outright. Muh depends on the ammunition

o ourse, but the objetive is generally to wound,

not ompletely annihilate the target.

With that in mind, small rearms designed or

use against humans should probably be saled at

around 1d6 damage, able to init Light Wounds

with a reasonable hane o a Serious Wound.

Tis would be something like a .38 pistol.

op tier weapons designed or use against hu-

yrell Industries .408 Recoil-less Gauss Pistol.

Nicknamed ‘Hand Cannon’



mans really shouldn’t init any more than 20 damage

maximum, but averaging just over hal that, enough to

regularly init Major Wounds. A top o the line M24 or

Dragunov sniper rie might be rated at 2d8+4 damage or

instane.

Anything larger is just wasted ammunition mass or shotenergy, and works against player harater survivability

when aing equally well armed oes.

Projectile or EnergyTe type o projetile or energy shot rom a weapon will

have onsequenes on how it works. For example a vis-

ible Laser may be able to pass through bullet-proo glass,

boune o mirrors, and yet be utterly useless in og or

rain.

Whilst energy weapons are pretty muh xed as to their

eets, projetile weapons an be quite versatile aord-

ing to what ammunition they are loaded with. In at the

type and amount o damage aused depends more on the

bullet, rather than the gun whih projets it. Te latter

having more inuene over ring modes, range, auray

and suh like.

Ammunition Capacity Whether a rearm shoots physial projetiles or energy beams, it will have a limited number o shots beore

the magazine or power soure needs to be swapped out.

Tis is important, not beause o any real world or hard

siene onsiderations, but without hanging lips on a

regular basis, a reght will simply be won by whomever

establishes suppressing re rst and then walks down his

owering oes.

With no need to reload, every battle may well turn into

a bloodbath, whih is ne i you are merely expending

lones or droids, but will beome extremely rustrating to

players when rolling up new haraters or the umpteenth

time.

Modern projetile weapons urrently have magazines o

about 10-30 rounds, whih should be sufient apaity

to enable a deent amount o shooting until needing to

hange the lip. Heavier support weapons whih have a

muh higher rate o re, should possess larger magazines.

Overcoming ArmourSome previous d100 settings using rearms have ompen-

sated or the protetive value o armour by boosting the

base damage to very high levels. Although this enables

injury o those wearing signiant body armour, it has a detrimental eet o making suh weapons near instantly

lethal against unproteted oes, whih is not neessarily

realisti.

A better alternative is that rearms should redue or

bypass a ertain number o Armour Points aording to

their penetrative nature. Tis permits the base damage

o the weapon to remain within survivable limits. Some

weapons may be ompletely unaeted by armour entirely,

like eletromagneti weapons o higher or lower requen-

ies; or weapons whih init other eets, suh as brainsramblers that indue unonsiousness.

O ourse, with more exoti weaponry there should always

be some orm o ounter or protetion available to thwart

its eets. In a hard Si-Fi setting, deending against an

X-Ray Laser might require 1m thik lead-lined armour to

halve its eets (great or ross-genre Gloranthan trolls),

or onversely 150m o air, meaning that X-Ray ries are

going to be rather poor as long range sniper weapons.

New Weapon

TraitsTe ollowing list gives some new Firearm spei weapon

traits. Further traits an be designed or more exoti

weaponry.

• Ablating : Designed to diretly attak the protetive

armour o an objet or person. Damage is done to Ar-

mour Points rst. One the armour has been redued

to zero, any remaining damage ontinues through to

the target. Most HE (High Explosive) ammunition

ts this trait.

• ArmourPiercing : Ignores a spei number o

Armour Points equal to hal the maximum damage

apability o the ring weapon. So Armour Piering

rounds red rom a .45 pistol would ignore the rst

our points o any protetion, whereas those red



RQ Firearm

11

rom .50 alibre sniper rie would ignore 12

points.

• Cauterising : Te bolt or beam immediately

seals o any ruptured blood vessels, prevent-

ing targets rom bleeding out in the event o a

Major Wound.

• Disintegrating : Inits permanent Hit Pointdamage to the target, literally vaporising the

area struk.

• Fragmentation: Te projetile violently ex-

plodes, aeting everything within its burst.

Te radius o this eet should be listed in

parenthesis. argets within the radius o the

blast reeive hal damage to 1d3-1 Hit Loa-

tions (roll or eah wound). Some explosive

rounds (HEAP) also possess the Armour

Piering trait, so that they detonate inside an

armoured objet. Tose that do not ully pen-etrate, have their explosive damage redued

by double the remaining thikness o Armour

Points.

• Frangible: A projetile designed to disin-

tegrate when striking a surae harder than

itsel. Tese are mainly used in ragile or dan-

gerous environments, suh as the inside o a

ying airplane or a usion power plant, where

a stray hit on equipment an have potentially

atastrophi eets. Tey are generally ine-

etive against body armour.• HollowPoint:Te projetile attens inside

the target, inreasing the amount o damage

inited. Roll damage twie and take the best

result.

• Incendiary : Designed to ignite whatever the

projetile or beam hits. I the target is natu-

rally ammable it bursts into ame aording

to the Fire rules on pages 120-121. reat as

an Intensity 3 heat soure or the purposes o

starting a re.

• Knockout : Similar to the Paralysis trait, this

energy weapon does not init damage, but

renders the vitim unonsious i the target

ails in an opposed roll o their Willpower

against the attak roll.

• Para lysing : Te Hit Loation struk by the

energy weapon does not take any physial

damage, but is instead rendered inapaitated

i the target ails in an opposed roll o their

Endurane against the attak roll.

• Scatter: Te weapon or round is made o

tiny shot, éhettes or pellets whih spread

beore they strike, reduing any range penal-

ties by one step and initing damage to 1d3

adjaent Hit Loations. Tis omes at a ost

however. Firstly the weapon damage roll oreah loation is halved; seondly any armour,

natural or worn, doubles its Armour Point

value against the damage.

• SelfGuided : Permits the seletion o the

Cirumvent Cover speial eet.

• Tranquilising : Permits the delivery o a

naroti or mediine, either by injetion rom

a tiny ampoule built into the projetile, or by

the projetile itsel dissolving diretly into the

bloodstream. Depending on its nature, dam-

age might only rolled to see i it overomesany protetion worn by the target.

• Weakness: Usually applied to energy bolts

or beams, the weapon suers signiant

degradation to some orm o environmental

ondition or material substane. Te spei

weakness is normally speied as a ootnote

or as part o the weapon’s detailed desrip-

tion.



Sample WeaponsTis setion provides a range o dierent example re-

arms, whih an be used as a template to model additional

weapons. Most are intended or use against humans or

modest sized animals, and little eort is made to dier-entiate between spei rearms other than its orm and

alibre.

Te ollowing weapon statistis are merely rough approxi-

mations, representing an average weapon o that alibre

and barrel length. Spei weapons may have dierent

perormane harateristis. Game Masters with a deeper

interest in rearms are ree to tinker with these values to

represent their avoured ioni weapons.

In onsideration o the nature o rearms, some o thenormal statistis or ranged weapons in RuneQuest have

been removed; suh as Fore, Armour Points, Hit Points.

Cost has also been let o sine suh things are setting

spei.

Other aspets have been modied somewhat. Firing Rate is now either a solitary number or single ation and

semi-automati weapons... or three numbers separated by

slashes; representing the rate o re or semi-automati,

burst and automati re in that order. Te latter being

the maximum yli rate o re whih an be released per

ombat ation.

Likewise reloading (depending on the weapon) assumes an

easily to hand, preloaded magazine whih an quikly be

snapped into plae by ejeting and dropping the previous

one. I a spare lip or speedloader is not available, then a single bullet or artridge an be loaded per urn.

Ranged Weapon Damage RangeFiring

Rate Ammo Load

Weapon

raitsENC

Mu Pistol 1d6 5/10/25 1 Single Shot 4 Rounds -Flintlok Pistol 1d8 10/20/50 1 Single Shot 4 Rounds 1

Flintlok Pistol, win Barrel 1d8 10/20/50 1 2 6 Rounds 2

Flintlok Musket 1d10 15/100/200 1 Single Shot 4 Rounds 3

Flintlok Rie 2d6 20/200/500 1 Single Shot 4 Rounds 3

Blunderbuss 2d6 5/10/25 1 Single Shot 4 Rounds Satter 2

Black Powder Weapons

Blak powder is a mixture o sulphur, potassium nitrate, and powdered haroal - ‘gun powder’.

Te intlok is the most reognisable blak poweder rearm. Flintloks work by striking a sharpened

piee o int against a urved, hard steel rizzen, whih is attahed to a pivot; the impat o the hammer

pushes the rizzen orward, and its bottom ats as a over or a small priming pan. Te sparks gener-

ated all into the pan and ignite a small priming harge. Te resulting ash travels through a touh-holebored into the barrel to ignite the main harge.

Tese weapons require more maintenane than their modern ounterparts. Loading any blak powder

rearm requires ammunition, whih may ome in the orm o a ‘artridge’ (ontaining a ball and the

requisite amount o powder, wrapped in paper), or simply the ball and wadding without pre-measured

powder; a ask o powder or pouring and priming; and a rod to ram the harge seurely into the

weapon’s muzzle. As blak powder weapons are muzzle-loading, it takes time to prepare eah round.



RQ Firearm

13

Ranged Weapon Damage RangeFiring

Rate Ammo Load

Weapon

raitsENC

.38 Pistol 1d6 50/100/200 1 6-9 3 - 1

9mm Pistol 1d6+1 50/100/200 1 6-9 3 - 1

.45 Pistol 1d8 50/100/200 1 6-9 3 - 1

.357 Pistol 1d8+1 50/100/200 1 6-9 3 - 1

10mm Pistol 1d10 50/100/200 1 6-9 3 - 1

.50 Pistol 1d12 50/100/200 1 6 Box Mag 3 - 2

5.56mm Assault Carbine 2d6-1 500/900/2000 1/3/- 30 Box Mag 3 - 3

5.56mm Assault Rie 2d6+1 600/1000/3000 1/3/20 30 Box Mag 3 - 3

5.56mm Light Mahine Gun 2d6 600/1000/3000 -/-/20 200 Belt 6 - 4

7.62mm Medium Mahine Gun 2d8+2 800/1500/4000 -/-/2250 Drum or

200 Belt

3 Drum, 6

Belt- 5

7.62mm Sniper Rie 2d8+4 900/1500/5000 1/-/- 20 Box Mag 3 - 4

.50 Anti-Material Sniper Rie 2d10+4 1/-/- 10 Box Mag 3 - 6

12 Gauge Combat Shotgun 3d6 20/100/200 1/-/88 Box Mag or

32 Drum

3 - 3

Modern WeaponsMost modern rearms lak any inherent traits, but deer their eets to their ammunition. By deault,

standard bullets possess none, merely initing the weapon’s basi damage. Speial ammunition how-

ever, an be purhased or most modern weapons however, permitting rounds with either the Armour

Piering, Frangible, Hollow Point or Inendiary traits.

Combat Shotguns are the exeption to this rule, possessing a versatile range o dierent ammunition.

Other than a plain slug, shotguns may re the ollowing types o round: Anti-personnel grenades

(Fragmentation with 2m radius), Baton rounds (Stun Loation, temporary damage), Breahing rounds

(Frangible), and Bukshot (Satter).

Energy WeaponsTe typial weapons o Siene Fition settings, energy weapons emit a beam or bolt o energy rather

than a physial projetile. Te power soure is typially a battery or powerpak held within the weapon

or arried separately and attahed to the weapon via a able. External powerpaks provide a ar greater

apaity. Laser weapons are silent, projeting a lased beam o light in a ontinuous stream. Blasters re a

pulse o plasma aompanied by a distint rakle or sound as the bolt leaves the weapon’s muzzle.

Te load rating or energy weapons represents replaing a spent power soure. Te Ammo rating ditates

how many shots an be obtained rom the power soure beore it is depleted. For simpliity, Ammo

ratings assume the weapon arries a battery or powerpak. For a separate, external soure, inrease the

Ammo rating by ten.

raits or energy weapons vary rom the preditable to the more versatile. Blasters, or instane, an be

set to stun rather than kill. Changing the setting is a Free Ation.

Siene Fition has reated some truly inventive energy weapons that have very dierent traits. Te

seletion here aptures the traditional lasers and blasters, and oers some more exoti variants ound in

dierent books, lms and V shows.



Ranged Weapon Damage Range Firing Rate Ammo Load Weapon raits ENC

Blaster, Palm 1d8 5/15/90 1 20 2 Cauterising 0.25

Blaster Pistol 1d8 10/30/120 1 100 3 Cauterising 1

Blaster Pistol, Heavy 1d10 7/25/50 1 50 3 Cauterising 1

Blaster Carbine 2d6 15/50/220 1 50 3Cauterising,

Knokout2

Blaster Rie 2d6 30/100/300 1 100 3Cauterising,

Knokout3

Light Repeating Blaster 2d6 30/100/300

3 shot burst or

ull auto (up to

25 shots)

25 (250 i

onneced

to bakpak

generator)

15 Cauterising 7

Disintegrator, Pistol 1d10 8/24/100 1 15 3 Disintegrating 2

Disintergrator, Rie 2d10 25/75/300 1 10 3 Disintegrating 4

Disruptor, Pistol 1d6 10/30/120 1 40 3Knokout,

Paralysing

1

Disruptor, Rie 1d8 30/100/300 1 50 3Knokout,

Paralysing 3

Laser Pistol* 1d6+1 12/36/144 1 50 3

Cauterising,

Inendiary,

Weakness

1

Laser Carbine* 1d8+2 18/60/300 1 30 3

Cauterising,

Inendiary

Weakness

2

Laser Rie* 1d10+2 40/120/380 1

80 (800 i

onneced to

a bakpak

generator)

3

Cauterising,

Inendiary

Weakness

3

Laser Rie, Heavy* 1d12+2 80/240/1000 1

25 (250 i onneced

to bakpak

generator)

3

Cauterising,

Inendiary

Weakness

4

Phaser, Palm 1d6 4/12/50 1 12 3

Cauterising,

Knokout,

Paralysing

0.25

Phaser, Pistol 1d8 8/25/75 1 24 3

Cauterising,

Knokout,

Paralysing

1

Phaser, Rie 1d8 20/60/240 1 48 3

Cauterising,

Knokout,

Paralysing

2

Soni Rie** Speial Speial 1 20 3 Paralysing** 4

* Lasers an be aeced by deensive materials that diuse, derac or reec light, suh as anti-lasre aerosol partiles, mist, and mirrors. All and similar

will help redue or even blok a visible light laser. Games Masters should deide on the eeciveness o deterrent and redue the laser’s damage by an

appropriate perentage.

** Soni Ries produe an intense burst o sound that aecs all targets not equipped with soni dampeners or ear protecion within a 20 metre ar

direcly in ront o the rer. Do not roll or Hit Loation. Vicims must sueed in a Hard Endurane roll (unopposed) or be inapaitated until the

weapon is deacivated.

Energy Weapons



RQ Firearm

Exotic FirearmsExoti rearms are ballistis, rather than energy-based, but have a wide variety o dierent traits to

distinguish them rom Modern Firearms. Tey represent uture advanements on ballistis tehnology,

some o whih are being realised in urrent weapons researh.

Ranged Weapon Damage Range Firing Rate

Ammo Load Weapon raits ENC

Flehette/Needle Gun 1d6 5/15/90 1 80 2Satter,

ranquilising

1

Gauss Pistol* 1d12+1 40/80/150 1 12 3 Hollow Point 2

Gauss Rie* 2d12+2 80/160/300 1/3/- 30 3 Armour Piering,

Hollow Point

4

Gauss Rie, Heavy* 2d12+6 160/400/1200 -/-/2280 Drum or

300 Belt

3 Drum, 6

Belt

Armour Piering,

Hollow Point

6

Snub Pistol 1d6 5/15/90 1 20 2 Frangible 1

Snub Rie 1d8 10/30/180 1/3/- 50 Drum 3 Frangible 3

Flamer, Hand 1d8 3/10/40 1 8 4 Inendiary 2Flamer Rie 2d8 12/36/150 1 20 4 Inendiary 4

Frag Pistol 1d6 10/30/120 1 18 3 Fragmentation 2

Frag Rie 1d10 15/50/220 1 50 3 Fragmentation 4

Multi-Purpose Pistol** Speial 50/100/200 1 15 3 Variable 2

Multi-Purpose Rie** Speial 100/400/1200 1/3/- 50 Box 3 Variable 4

* Gauss weapons inlude an elecromagneti array along the length o the barrel that inreases bullet veloity substantially and means that a lower alibre

o round an be used to impart signiant damage. All Gauss weapons have a power supply in the orm o a internal battery that must be replaed ater

every 50 shots.

** Multi-Purpose Weapons use sophistiated omputer and ballistis manipulation tehnology to hange the type o the ammunition being red at the

ik o a manual swith (some advaned variants are voie-acivated). Tese weapons an selec one o the ollowing raits to augment their standardammunition: Armour Piering, Hollow-Point, Inendiary and Sel-Guided. Changing the selecion uses the Swith Fire Mode Combat Acion.

A Bit Elaborate for a Toothpick...

Te example weapons provided here are not exhaustive and there are learly hundreds - i not thou-

sands - o variants. Our intention is to provide a representative sample that an at as templates or more

spei rearms, real or speulative, that Games Masters an develop or their ampaigns.

We hope you enjoyed reading this expansion or RuneQuest. With these guidelines you should be able

to reate rearms peretly suited to whatever genre you require and experiene as muh un using the

rules as we did developing them.

Feel ree to post your reations on our website (www.thedesignmehanism.om) to inspire others!

rq firearms

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