Any era
Guns and cover
Kinds of gun, fire modes, rounds and reloading, range, pinning, full cover, fleeing under fire, machines, and guns under a rule system.
Kinds of gun
A fight changes once someone in it holds a gun. Pistols, shotguns, rifles, blasters and energy rifles each have a range, a magazine and a weight of hit, and a common pistol hits about twice as hard as a common sword. Fantasy fights are untouched until someone draws one. Engine
A gun's kind is read from its name ("sniper rifle", "fusil à pompe") in every first-wave language; a name the list doesn't know is judged. Its kind sets its best range, magazine and how hard it hits.
| Kind | Best range | Magazine | Burst |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pistol, revolver | medium | 12 / 6 | no |
| SMG | medium | 30 | yes |
| Shotgun | close | 6 | no |
| Rifle | long | 30 | yes |
| Sniper rifle | long | 5 | no |
| Machine gun | long | 100 | yes |
| Musket | medium | 1 | no |
| Blaster | medium | 20 | no |
| Energy rifle | long | 40 | yes |
| Railgun, plasma cannon | long | 6 | no |
| Launcher | long | 1 | no |
How you fire
Describe the shot ("I take my time and aim for his knee", "I lay down fire on the doorway"). The storyteller reads which mode you meant; the engine resolves it. Storyteller
- Single shot. One round.
- Aimed. One round, more likely to hit and harder, but only standing still.
- Burst. Three rounds, harder and a little less accurate. Automatic guns only.
- Suppressing fire. Five rounds and no harm, but the target is pinned: they shoot blind until after their next turn.
- Reload. Refills the magazine. Shooting in the same turn is hurried.
Range, ammo and cover
- Each gun has a range it works best at: close, medium or long. A shotgun across a car park barely hurts; a pistol at long range is a long shot.
- Your rounds are counted on the gun and shown in the fight. An empty gun clicks. Foes run out and reload too.
- No single shot takes more than about half your health, so one lucky hit never ends you.
Pinned
A pinned fighter shoots blind and counts as down behind cover, so the way to them is a flank. Foes suppress too, and the fight shows when you're pinned.
Cover
- Half cover works as in any fight: low cover beside the target, on the line.
- Someone down behind full cover can't be shot through it. The way to them is to flank or flush them out.
- A grenade or launcher's blast still reaches someone behind full cover; a shotgun's cone doesn't.
- Cover you make: a holo barrier, a riot-shield wall or a shield generator raises a wall on the map that blocks movement and shots for four turns. A smoke grenade leaves smoke.
Stand-offs and surrender
A levelled gun can be talk. Pinned, outgunned or empty foes may give up or run, and someone surrendering ends the fight.
Running from a gunfight costs a parting shot from everyone with a line on you, less through cover. Engine
Machines
In a present-day or science-fiction world, drones, turrets, robots and mechs are machines: they don't talk, carry no purse and fight with machine weapons. Androids and cyborgs talk.
Under a rule system
Guns roll their own dice. A shot past its range counts as long range (under Classic d20 in a modern or sci-fi world, that's disadvantage). Classic d20 in those worlds also brings modern or sci-fi gear and foes: pistols and vests; blasters, energy shields, drones and war mechs.
Everything else about fights is as it is in any world. See Fighting.