| From: | Adam Getchell acgetchell@*******.edu |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Cannon Companion for Gearheads (was Re: Rigger 2) |
| Date: | Thu, 3 Jun 1999 17:19:01 -0700 |
Seriously, you're going into the gearhead realm ... something where Rigger
2 falls short.
If you have, for example, a copy of Fire, Fusion, and Steel (1 or 2
depending upon the Traveller ruleset you're using) you can design vehicles,
weapons, and missiles to your hearts' content. For purposes of Shadowrun,
either version will suffice, and there are formulae problems in FFS1.
Don't have or want to buy these books? No problem, just bop over to the
Traveller webring (
http://nav.webring.com/cgi-bin/navcgi?ring=traveller;list ) or the
Traveller Gearhead webring (
http://nav.webring.com/cgi-bin/navcgi?ring=travgearhead;list ) and you can
find sites that have Excel spreadsheets that have the design rules
incorporated for FFS on vehicles, weapons, starships, etc.
Shadowrun is about Tech Level 10 or so. You can put together a missile
(warhead, airframe, propulsion, fuel, seeker) in not too much time.
Now, if in the upcoming Cannon Companion, FASA did something like actually
relate Power to kinetic energy level of the bullet, damage code to
momentum, energy, and terminal ballistics, something like the way the
vehicle crash damage code is figured, then you could use real firearms
stats in Shadowrun with judicious table lookup. Then someone could write a
program to mass convert various weapons and we'd have an enormous weapons
catalog, rather than the few already out-of-date firearms FASA publishes.
But it probably won't happen.
>I have to admit I am getting very frustrated with the rules in SR.
>Especially for the Riggers. Alright, maybe not the rules, but the HUGE
>GAPING HOLES in em.
Well, I went over this before when Rigger 2 first came out. Jon put in
acceleration as a vehicle statistic, but left out the concept of momentum
in the vehicle vs. barrier rules. Hence, you can stop an M1 Abrams tank at
30 kph with a pane of glass (Barrier rating =2), and you can wreck same
tank with a jet-powered skateboard. (Look over the Ramming rules if you
don't believe me.)
*Shrug*
Rigger 2 Errata, in my opinion, would have to fix those gaping holes, and
more besides.
--Adam
acgetchell@*******.edu
"Invincibility is in oneself, vulnerability in the opponent." --Sun Tzu
