Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[edgey]

I have been slowly working on a setting idea. Something that is more my own... because I hate book keeping I thought up a new ammo system that would work for a few setting ideas. It's still very rough, let me know what you guys think.

All Firearms (excluding Heavy Weapons) have near unlimited ammo. They are either laser/plasma or Mass Effect 1 based (where there is one massive slug and small shavings are filled of and shot at high speeds. Weapon clips and shots are based on a heating mechanic

Firearms when fire single shot gain 1 heat point per shot. All firearms also loose 1 heat point per turn. This means that most firearms can be fired single shot continually.

NOTE: You could replace the heat mechanic with a battery mechanic. Where the Battery constantly recharges, but at a slow fixed rate. So instead of over heating the firearm needs to recharge.

Automatic Fire = +2 Heat Points (2 extra bullets)
3 Round Burst = +2 Heat Points (2 extra bullets)
Double Tap = +1 Heat Points (1 extra bullet)
Over Charge* = +2 Heat Points (Bigger Bullet)
Roll 1 on Shooting = +1 Heat Point (Ooops)

*Over Charge: If a firearm has OC listed the Shooter may add an additional d6 damage to the shot. But this means the firearm gets +2 Heat Points.

Once a gun hits their Heat Tolerance (usually 2-4) it must cool down and is unable to fire. Firearms can go above their heat tolerance, it just takes longer to cool down. Might give a chance of the heat sink breaking.

Basically Pistols and Shotguns would have around 2 points, Sniper Rifles around 1-2, SMGs would have about 3 and Assault Rifles 4. So with an AR you could go 3-4 rounds full auto.... I may increase the cool down for AR's to 2.... unsure.

Heat Sinks can be replaced (just like reloading a typical weapon) to cool down instantly. Heat Sinks are rather expensive (a typical Soldier might have 1-2 spare heat sinks) and are ruined when removed (they crack) so cannot be reused.

[kreider204]

You say you hate bookkeeping, but that sure looks like a lot to me - it seems like more than just having regular ammo.

In my Mass Effect conversion, I went really, really simple: guns have unlimited ammo (as long as they get regular maintenance between missions), and no overheating, 'cuz I didn't want to keep track of it. If a PC rolls a critical failure, I might rule that his / her weapon overheated, but that's about it.
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"It only takes an extra second to be courteous."
- Constable Benton Fraser

[edgey]

I can see thinking that at first, but the idea is that almost always you don't count ammo at all. And when you do, you count up, to a max of 4. Every "bullet" beyond 1 giving a +1 heat point.

[kreider204]

I see what you're saying. It still doesn't seem particularly more FFF than regular ammo to me, but de gustibus non est disputandum, I always say ...
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"It only takes an extra second to be courteous."
- Constable Benton Fraser

[ValhallaGH]

You do know that automatic fire uses a lot of bullets right? As in: Rate Of Fire times 5 (five) for suppressive fire, and Rate Of Fire times the number of shooting dice rolled for targeted bursts.

For a ROF 3 weapon, that's 15 rounds of suppressive fire and 3 to 9 rounds of targeted fire. How is that as taxing as a three round burst, or an over charge shot? What logic and balance went into that computation?


My usual technique for ignoring ammo is "all your magazines magically refill after a fight. Don't question it." They still need to worry about ammunition during the fight, but not between fights. Why? Because I like the choices and drama that come from managing a clip in a fire fight - it adds an element I enjoy to my games.
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[kronovan]

I really like it. It sort of reminds me of the Plasma pistol in Halo and the laser heat management in a mecha RGP I use to play - think it was Battleltech, but I'm not a 100% about that. I think this is a good fit for SW play mechanics, because in a way it's like a weapon taking fatique similar to how a PC does from overexcertion. I'm not sure I'd use it in a setting with conventional weapons and ammo, but For a futuristic setting where energy transformation/conversion has been mastered this makes sense.

[Timon]

How about even simpler: plasma weapons need a lot of energy to focus the plasma into a bolt before firing. Rapid shots mean that "plasma swirl" can occur, making it nearly impossible to safely create a bolt. The weapon puts on a warning light when this occurs.

Plasma swirl occurs when you roll a 1 on the plasma die

Single shots no roll (the weapon has plenty of time to safely form a bolt)

3RB and double tap roll a D8
full auto roll a D6
overcharge - go up one die type

The warning light will go out after one round (the weapon has vented the plasma chamber). If you fire a weapon that has a lit warning light go down one die type (min d4). On a roll of one, with a lit warning light, the weapon explodes for 3d6 damage.

That should provide a little drama and risk taking. You could even use the old Star Trek phaser on overload trick.
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[edgey]

[thurak]

If you don't want to do book keeping on ammo, why even bother with a new system governing rules for ammo at all? It seems like a waste of effort.

Simply say, If you roll a 1 or snake eyes on a shooting roll (You cannot spend a bennie to avoid this consequence), your gun jams/misfires/runs out of ammo, and you have to spend one action to simulate reloading or ejecting a shell casing.
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David Jarvis

Gun Metal games

[steelbrok]

That's pretty much what I do

"In most modern or near modern scenarios soldiers will be starting out with three or four magazines with twenty to thirty rounds in each, between sixty and one hundred and twenty rounds.

That being so:

Note how many magazines each Wild Card has.

When Wild Cards fire single shots: forget about ammunition use. Treat some of the misses as actually being time spent reloading.

If a Wild Card fires a three round burst or full auto and rolls any ones they are down a magazine at the end of that round of combat."

[Mylon]

If you want to handwave it and use heat-based weapons rather than ammo-based weapons, just rely on the "if you roll a 1 on the shooting die..." effect. Pretty simple. Single shot? In the clear. 3rb? 1 on shooting die indicates overheating. Full auto? 1 or 2 indicates overheating, this can cause the gun to be unusable for multiple rounds if multiple dice show 1s or 2s!

This kinda obsoletes doubletap, I guess. But a small price to pay for not having to keep track of ammo.

[edgey]

Maybe hate book keeping was a bit harsh. I don't mind book keeping. I am just looking for a different way to track ammo. Without having ammo.

The main part I dislike is counting bullets. Some players are paranoid they will run out and carry 20+ clips, some forget they even have bullets or clips.

My idea for the heat system was that everyone is back at zero after a fight and during a fight you can still have slight ammo issues. While still keeping gun flavour.

By Gun Flavour I mean that currently there is a difference between two pistols if one has a clip or 8 and does 2d6+1 damage and the other has a clip of 15 and does 2d6 damage. Change the 2d6+1 to a heat tolerance of 1 and the other (15 clip) to heat tolerance 2, and there is still that difference.

making the overheating be determined by a dice roll is a great idea (and I plan to try it out) but I feel that it limits the flavour a bit.

[77IM]

I like the concept. In practice, it seems that most guns have two options:

1. Fire basic shots at RoF 1 for as long as you want
2. Let loose for 1 or 2 rounds (maybe 3 with an AR), then let it cool down for 2-4 rounds OR spend an action reloading

So you could streamline the system by making that the actual rule. Rate the gun based on how many rounds it can fire at higher than RoF 1. Cooling down takes that many rounds, +1. Rolling a 1 on the shooting die uses up an additional round. (haha, this makes a nice pun.) This would let you deal with smaller numbers; instead of tracking heat point-by-point, you just track how many rounds the gun was firing "hot."

You could do:

Sniper Rifles, Shotguns: 1 round of firing hot, 2 round cooldown
Pistols, SMGs: 2 rounds of firing hot, 3 round cooldown
Assault Rifles: 3 rounds of firing hot, 4 round cooldown

-- 77IM
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Stuff I made: Arcane Abilities · Talent Edge · Savage Fading Suns · Savage Wuxia!