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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Shaun Hall <Hard.master@********.ATT.NET>
Subject: Re: flechettes and revolvers
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 02:40:25 -0700
----------
> From: Jimpy <lowfyr@***********.COM>
> To: SHADOWRN@********.ITRIBE.NET
> Subject: Re: flecchettes and revolvers
> Date: Saturday, October 04, 1997 9:30 AM
>

>
> Something even more devastating than canister and grape shot (IMHO) is
> chain shot. Used extensively in the American Civil War and presumabely
> other wars prior, it consisted of two balls the caliber of the gun with
> a length of chain varying from 5-10 feet.
>
> They would begin to revolve around each other, spinning and tearing
> everything in their path to peices. I have seen them fired, and while
> they are nothing compared to modern rounds, whew...I'd hate to get hit
> by them ;)
>
> A practical variation on this that I use for SR is on riot control
> vehicles. They have a crowd net gun that is essentially "soft" chain
> shot.
>
> Jim

Kim (the fellow that runs the game I am currently playing) designed a
weapon along those same lines. It fired a low caliber shell that split into
two halves with a monofiliment line between them. The weapon has a limited
range because after the two main halves stretch the wire to its full length
(about two meters ) it snaps. Still anything caught between the two halves
prior to that distance is in serious trouble. Perhaps he will post the
specs on that weapon if anyone is interested. He designed it as the
signature weapon of a professional assassin in his game. It added a nice
bit of color to the character, but as the weapon lacked flexibility it
wasn't practical for regular combat use.
While running rolemaster a few years ago I designed a weapon that had
far more interesting applications. The shell was designed to be fired from
a shotgun. On impact the shell would diffuse its kinetic energy by
unspooling several meters of mono-wire about the target point (the inner
ends anchored to the shell while the outer ends had little hooks designed
to penetrate and hook into any soft surface). The result was an easily
deployable virtually invisible two meter by two meter mono-wire barrier.
Anything attempting to pass through the barrier would end up shredded.
The party first encountered with this was quite interesting. An
assassin was sent to deal with one member of the party. As the party was
quite formidable he hit upon a plan that would kill his target and allow
him ample time to escape. He had watched the bar they were visiting for
some time and picked his moment just as he judged that his target would be
coming down the stairs. He burst into the bar and fired his shotgun in
burst mode. The shot from the first two shells hit his target, and bounced
harmlessly off of his armor. The third was the mono-shot. It hit his target
in the chest and deployed. The party reacted by firing various spells and
weapons at the assassin who fled back through the door firing a second
mono-shell at the floor in front of the door.
The assassin's target made a very high perception roll and happened to
notice the mono-wire surrounding him. He froze in place trying to think of
a way our of his predicament. The first player out the door in pursuit of
the would-be assassin wasn't as lucky. He walked right into the mono-wire
and had a hand severed (rolemaster crit tables are wonderful ). Needless to
say any further attempts at pursuit were abandoned. The target trapped in
the mono-wire finally managed to escape by having one of his friends use a
flaming blade to burn away all of the mono-wire.
Imagine the field applications of tank or mortar shells designed along
the same lines. A grenade launcher designed to fire something similar would
adjust people's tactics in combat as well. The shell is a primarily
defensive weapon. Even if it lands at your feet it wont do damage to you,
until you try to move. I can see corporate security forces using this sort
of weapon.
Thanks for letting me ramble.

Shaun
Message no. 2
From: "Wendy Wanders, Subject 117" <KGGEWEHR@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject: Re: flechettes and revolvers
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 17:42:14 -0500
You wrote:
> Kim (the fellow that runs the game I am currently playing) designed a
> weapon along those same lines. It fired a low caliber shell that split into
> two halves with a monofiliment line between them. The weapon has a limited
> range because after the two main halves stretch the wire to its full length
> (about two meters ) it snaps. Still anything caught between the two halves
> prior to that distance is in serious trouble. Perhaps he will post the
> specs on that weapon if anyone is interested. He designed it as the
> signature weapon of a professional assassin in his game. It added a nice
> bit of color to the character, but as the weapon lacked flexibility it
> wasn't practical for regular combat use.
I do recall reading (in a long-gone-by issue of Guns and Ammo) of people
designing rounds which basically included two smaller slugs, one in front of
the other. The idea was to hit the target with two smaller impacts to increase
the chances of taking the person out. I practical use I think it was found to
produce less damage and have a higher 'takedown' than standard slugs. But the
reason I bring this up is that the two slugs hit withing a few inches of each
other even at moderate ranges, they didn't separate very much en route.
Since all of their acceleration is towards the target, unless it was a very
high tech piece of equipment, the two halves wouldn't separate...

> While running rolemaster a few years ago I designed a weapon that had
> far more interesting applications. The shell was designed to be fired from
> a shotgun. On impact the shell would diffuse its kinetic energy by
> unspooling several meters of mono-wire about the target point (the inner
> ends anchored to the shell while the outer ends had little hooks designed
> to penetrate and hook into any soft surface). The result was an easily
> deployable virtually invisible two meter by two meter mono-wire barrier.
> Anything attempting to pass through the barrier would end up shredded.
Do you mean CyberSpace, or was this some offshoot of the Rolemaster rules
(which I recall being for fantasy gaming)?

losthalo
Message no. 3
From: Shaun Hall <Hard.master@********.ATT.NET>
Subject: Re: flechettes and revolvers
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 05:29:54 -0700
----------
> From: Wendy Wanders, Subject 117 <KGGEWEHR@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
> To: SHADOWRN@********.ITRIBE.NET
> Subject: Re: flechettes and revolvers
> Date: Saturday, October 04, 1997 3:42 PM
>
> You wrote:
> > Kim (the fellow that runs the game I am currently playing) designed
a
> > weapon along those same lines. It fired a low caliber shell that split
into
> > two halves with a monofiliment line between them. The weapon has a
limited
> > range because after the two main halves stretch the wire to its full
length
> > (about two meters ) it snaps. Still anything caught between the two
halves
> > prior to that distance is in serious trouble. Perhaps he will post the
> > specs on that weapon if anyone is interested. He designed it as the
> > signature weapon of a professional assassin in his game. It added a
nice
> > bit of color to the character, but as the weapon lacked flexibility it
> > wasn't practical for regular combat use.
> I do recall reading (in a long-gone-by issue of Guns and Ammo) of people
> designing rounds which basically included two smaller slugs, one in front
of
> the other. The idea was to hit the target with two smaller impacts to
increase
> the chances of taking the person out. I practical use I think it was
found to
> produce less damage and have a higher 'takedown' than standard slugs.
But the
> reason I bring this up is that the two slugs hit withing a few inches of
each
> other even at moderate ranges, they didn't separate very much en route.
> Since all of their acceleration is towards the target, unless it was a
very
> high tech piece of equipment, the two halves wouldn't separate...
>
> > While running rolemaster a few years ago I designed a weapon that
had
> > far more interesting applications. The shell was designed to be fired
from
> > a shotgun. On impact the shell would diffuse its kinetic energy by
> > unspooling several meters of mono-wire about the target point (the
inner
> > ends anchored to the shell while the outer ends had little hooks
designed
> > to penetrate and hook into any soft surface). The result was an easily
> > deployable virtually invisible two meter by two meter mono-wire
barrier.
> > Anything attempting to pass through the barrier would end up shredded.
> Do you mean CyberSpace, or was this some offshoot of the Rolemaster rules
> (which I recall being for fantasy gaming)?
>
> losthalo

Actually Iron Crown Enterprises Rolemaster System was designed to fully
integrate with their high tech game Space Master. Thus I was free to
integrate magic and technology. The conflict between Magic
(spirituality/humanity) vs Science (mechanization/dehumanization) was an
oft used theme in many of the campaigns that I ran. Cyberspace was a very
simplified version of those rules. We often refer to the mechanics system
of that feeble effort as Space Master with training wheels. In fact
Cyberspace is to Space Master as Checkers if to Three-dimensional Chess.
A few of my players were allowed to play characters from
technologically advanced cultures, but that provided them with no advantage
over the other players (there just isn't that much difference between a
lightning bolt and a plasma blaster or a flaming laen sword and a power
sword). Of course I ran these campaigns many years ago, before they screwed
up the Rolemaster rules with the release of the Rolemaster Standard System
(pardon the slight rant). At one time I even ran a shadowrun style genre
game using the combined Rolemaster Space Master rules. It played out very
well, but required far more work to design a game (from 20-35 hours) as the
rules and mechanics for both magic and technology were far more advanced
than anything the Shadowrun designers ever dreamed of.
Don't get me wrong, I love Shadowrun. The game has a simplicity and
elegance that make it fun and playable. In addition new players can learn
how to play in a very short period of time, and it only takes a few hours
of work to design an interesting and challenging game. It's just that the
Rolemaster Space Master rules add more range for those players looking for
greater complexity or reality (in a fantasy game?!!). I feel that this
expanded complexity/reality lets Rolemaster lend itself more readily to
epic adventures and stellar role-playing. Although it is possible to
accomplish this in Shadowrun it requires more effort on the player's and
gamemaster's parts.
Anyway I've spent much of the last five years teaching my players to
expand their role-playing talents. In the process I've experimented with
several genres. Such efforts although satisfying for myself and my players
tend to be a bit draining. I started running Shadowrun (during the off
weekend in out two week Rolemaster schedule) as a relaxing diversion that
didn't require too much effort on my part and even less prep time for the
players. It worked out very well.
Right now I'm taking time off from running games to work on an
Intelligence Genre Campaign using the RM/SM system. While I'm enjoying a
working vacation Kim (a long time friend and player of mine) is allowing me
to play in his fascinating Shadowrun campaign. As I rarely get the
opportunity to enjoy time on the other side of the GM's screens I'm having
a really good time. Kim is a quite talented GM and he knows how to
challenge his players.
I must say I wish that a list like this had existed seventeen years ago
when I was puzzling out the complexities of Mastering an RPG.

Shaun

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