Numenera: Distinguishing Light Weapons

Numenera's weapon table has a number of 1-Shin weapons that are essentially the same as a Dagger or Knife, however their descriptions would suggest that they are used very differently. Given that all these weapons all cost the same each different type should have some tradeoffs in tactical options to make the differences meaningful.

After all in Numenera it's not unusual for a Dagger or Broadsword, or Greatsword to be shaped as a giant bladed circle or to be equipped with a T-handle or shaped an any number of exotic ways, it doesn't make it a different weapon for game-rule purposes.

Knife or Dagger: 

This is the baseline level of utility. A knife or Dagger can be used in Melee or thrown a short range. Other light weapons will sacrifice one or the other for different effects.

Punching Dagger: 

Punching daggers cannot be effectively thrown, however they are useful for those trained to fight unarmed. Any character with the Needs No Weapons ability or Needs No Weapons focus can use a Punching Dagger to give their unarmed attacks a Weapon Distinction (Numenera p.115). A typical Punching Dagger would provide the Stabbing distinction, while a "Bladed Hand" would make the attack "Slashing", and good-old-fashioned "Brass Knuckles" would be Crushing. The defensive bonus from a 'Reaching" weapon of this type would work well to represent Tonfa.

Sisk or Razor Ring

These throwing weapons lack a proper grip to hold in melee combat, however thrown correctly they have a "boomerang" effect if they miss the target by a narrow margin. A Razor ring or Sisk will return to the thrower and be caught if the roll missed by the target's level or less. If the weapon hits it does not return to the thrower.

Example: Thrown at a Level 2 guard, the weapon needs a roll of 6 or better to hit, on a 4 or 5 the weapon returns to the thrower, on a 1 -3 the weapon misses completely and has to be retrieved.
Thrown at a Level 3 Captain the weapon hits on a 9 or better, returns to the thrower on a 6 to 8, and misses completely on a 1-5.

Note: Yes with increased target difficulty means a greater chance of a "Boomerang Effect", however this simply reflects that with increased target difficulty is an increased possibility of ways to miss.

Suggested Weapon Intrusion: The thrower reaches out to catch the returning weapon, but the weapon strikes their hand. Thrower takes the weapon's damage (including any spent for effort) and cannot wield a weapon in that hand until they have been healed. Fighting from the "Off Hand" imparts a 1-step penalty to attacks.

Rapier:

The rapier is double the cost of the Dagger, however lacks the ability to be thrown. Rapiers are used with a fighting style that emphasizes defense and should be considered "Reaching" by default, in addition to whatever other distinctions they may have if any. (typically Slashing or Stabbing).

Whip:

Like the Rapier this is also a "Reaching" weapon. It may also be "Entangling". An "Entangling" weapon may be used to inflict damage, or it may be used to "Stun" (Lose a turn) a creature with a level of the weapon's damage or less (attack roll required every round to maintain effect, miss means the target gets free and may act normally). Higher level creatures may be entangled by using effort to increase 'damage', however to maintain the effect Effort must be spent every turn.

Rotary Firearms.

A monstrous device combining a ballet of mechanical precision and a ravenous appetite for ammunition and destruction, the rotary autocannon or "Minigun" is a Hollywood favorite for it's intense sound and light, as well as it's visceral effects.



Rotary Machineguns are heavy, mechanically complex, and typically mounted on a vehicle because of the vicious torque they generate and they eat vastly more ammunition in a single firefight than an infantryman (or possibly an entire squad) can reasonably carry. None of these considerations have stopped Hollywood from making rotary autocannons cinematic favorites though, and Cypher is nothing if not cinematic.


A weapon may have the "Rotary" property or the "Rapid Fire" property but not both. Rotary weapons may not be fired "Single Shot" for half-damage to conserve ammo, once the barrels start spinning it's all or nothing. (If a Rotary gun could be fired "Single Shot" the individual round would inflict 1/4 to 1/3rd base damage, or possibly less.) Rotary weapons may benefit from special abilities that require the "Rapid Fire" distinction, such as "Spray" or "Arc Spray".

Rotary weapons are massive, and count as one weapon size higher for purposes of weapon skills. IE: a Light Rotary weapon requires Practiced with Medium weapons to use without a penalty, Practiced with Light weapons imparts a 1-step attack penalty, and no weapon skill imparts a 2-step penalty. A Medium Rotary weapon requires Practiced with All weapons. Heavy, V-Heavy and S-Heavy weapons impart a 1-step penalty to attack for someone with Practiced with Heavy Weapons.

A Rotary weapon takes a few seconds to "Spin up". On the first turn a Rotary is fired the weapon inflicts normal damage, on the second and consecutive turns a Rotary inflicts double damage. First turn of firing consumes a full Attack of ammo as normal ("Attacks" worth of ammunition are an abstraction representing an "average" trigger pull rather than a specific amount of ammunition). Any turn that the weapon is not fired the barrels spin down and the next attack inflicts base damage.

A shooter may forgo the doubled damage to gain a one-step benefit to their attack roll by spraying the shot around rather than holding the weapon on the target. This benefit is neither a Skill Increase, nor an Asset and does not prevent any skill or Assets from being used.

Because of the weight of a Rotary's mechanics and the torque of the machinery that rotates the barrels the shooter must make a Might roll with a Difficulty of the base damage of the weapon (2 for Light, 4 for Medium, 6 for Heavy, 8 for X-Heavy, 10 for S-Heavy) or be Dazed for the next turn (increasing the difficulty of all rolls, including the second round of shooting, by one step).

If firing a X-Heavy Rotary weapon unbraced, the Might difficulty is 10. Other effects of firing X-Heavy and S-heavy weapons unbraced are cumulative with Rotary penalties. See Firearms in Cypher System for more details on X-Heavy and S-Heavy firearms.

Rotary guns and Swarms:

If you're ruling that an attack against a Swarm of creatures can only kill one creature at a time and excess damage is lost, Rotary weapons may spread their damage across multiple creatures in the swarm so that excess damage transfers to the next creature in the Swarm. (Shotguns firing Shotshell or Flechette rounds also benefit from this effect).

Feeding the Beast, Rotary Guns and Ammunition:

If you're using basic ammunition rules and counting individual bullets rather than "Attacks" Rotary weapons consume around 300 rounds per turn of firing (assuming a 6-second turn, at an optimal 3,000 rounds per minute).

If you're using the "Tons of Ammo" rules (Firearms in Cypher System) you might be looking at actual Tons of Ammo. Each time the party sets out on an adventure/mission they will need to acquire ammunition for each of their Rotary weapons. Each supply of Rotary gun ammo is treated as an Artifact with a Depletion of 1-2 of 6. Roll at the beginning of the game session where the Rotary was used in the *previous* session (if they didn't use the Rotary last session then they're not going to magically be low on ammo unless there's a GM Intrusion explaining why the ammunition went missing). When the depletion happens the Rotary can be used in one more game session and then it's out. (so if Depletion happens and the Rotary isn't used in that session then there's still one more game session of Rotary Ammo in the box).

Light Rotary ammo for one mission is a Moderately Priced item ($200)
Medium Rotary ammo is an Expensive item ($2,000)
Heavy Rotary ammo is a Very Expensive item ($20,000)
Very-Heavy Rotary ammo is an Exorbitant item ($200,000)
Super-Heavy Rotary Ammo is a Very Exorbitant item ($2,000,000)

These are large crates of Ammunition that require two characters to carry, and tend to be left back in the party's main transport rather than carried in to combat.

Optional: Carrying Rotary Ammo

Rotary ammunition is heavy and bulky, there's not only the extensive quantities of ammunition itself but disintegrating link belts and/or canisters adding to the weight. Each character can only carry one reload for a Rotary gun (the shooter may have two, one "in the gun" another on his person), and when the Rotary is out of ammo the character carrying the reload and the Rotary Gunner must be in Immediate range of each other to reload the gun.

It may be possible to attach two belts of ammunition together, doubling the number of attacks a belt-fed weapon can make before needing to be reloaded. A Double Length Belt inflicts a 1-step penalty to all movement tasks until the first belt has been consumed. This may be an option for any belt-fed machinegun, not just rotary autocannons.

(In the World Wars (1900-1950) ammunition belts were often made of fabric rather than the modern disintegrating link belts. A Double Length Belt of this type continues to inflict the penalty to movement tasks until the entire belt has been consumed).

Vehicular Rotary Weapons:

Rotary weapons mounted to a vehicle (like the 20mm or 30mm autocannons on most modern fighters) are only a special effect and have no special rules. They don't suffer from the weight or torque of the Rotary mechanism, and the increased damage from firing a Rotary gun is covered under the "Size Class" increase to the weapon's damage for it's class. A mounted weapon is assumed to be designed as an integral part of the vehicle with sufficient ammunition for the vehicle's mission profile.

If a Giant Robot were to be equipped with a scaled up Rotary cannon, or a vehicle were to be reverse-engineered with a rotary autocannon it wasn't designed to mount then the Rotary Gun rules above would apply as the weapon is not integral to the vehicle it is fired from. Damage on the second turn is the weapons base damage, doubled, then the scale modifier is added. The pilot or gunner still needs to make the Might roll from the vehicle's Might pool to avoid the crew being Dazed as the Rotary cannon attempts to vibrate the vehicle to pieces.

EX: a Size 3 Mobile Armor is equipped with a Medium Rotary weapon. The first turn the Mobile Armor inflicts 7 damage (4 base, + 3 size mod), the second and subsequent turns it inflicts 11 damage (8 for the doubled base damage, + 3 size mod). The pilot must make Might 4 rolls based on the mecha's Might Pool or be Dazed on the next turn.

Sample "Man Portable" Rotary Guns:

General Electric M134 "Minigun", 7.62 x 51 (Exorbitant):
A 6-barrel rotary machinegun used by helicopter gunners in the Vietnam war. The Russian GShG-7.62 and Chinese Hua Qing Minigun are similar designs. The M134 and the GShG-7.62 are primarily for aircraft deployment, however the Hua Qing has been purpose developed as an infantry/anti-terrorist weapon.
In the movie Predator "Blaine"(Jessie Ventura) carries a GE M134 Minigun with a custom (Hollywood) modification to allow it to be handheld. It's rate-of-fire was cut in half so the spinning barrels would be visible on camera instead of a blur, and the ammo feed only carried 4 seconds of "blank" ammunition.
Mythbusters used a M134 mounted on a SUV in a concealed pop-turret for the "Shooting Fish in a Barrel" and "Cutting down a tree with a machinegun" myths.
-Heavy Rotary, Damage 6/12, 10 attacks, Long Range, Rotary (Very Expensive)

GE XM214 "Microgun", 5.56 x 45 (Very Expensive):
The "Microgun" was developed in 1966 as a lighter alternative to the M134 using the smaller caliber 5.56 rifle ammo. Tests proved the smaller ammunition used by the XM214 to be unsuitable for use from aircraft (the rounds lacked the mass to resist airflow effects around the aircraft). GE redesigned the XM214 in to an 81-pound infantry-carried weapon system known as the GE 6-Pak, however the U.S. Army showed no interest. The weapon was part of their catalog until the late 1990's
-Medium Rotary, Damage 4/8, 10 attacks, Long Range, Rotary

Bonus Gear: Articulated Weapon Harness

An Expensive piece of gear, an Articulated Weapon Harness is a harness with an articulated arm with hydraulic pistons that help manage the weight and recoil of weapons that may cause the Shooter to be Dazed, like unbraced X-Heavy firearms and Rotary weapons. Using an Articulated Weapon Harness halves the difficulty of the Might roll to avoid being Dazed on the next turn.

A Sci-Fi "Robotic" weapon harness is a Very Expensive piece of gear that provides one Asset to the Might roll to avoid becoming Dazed in addition to halving the difficulty.

Armor, Slashing and Crushing Weapons.

Some brief thoughts about the Weapon Distinctions for Slashing and Crushing.

In the descriptions of the Weapon Distinctions Slashing and Crushing are modified based on the kind of armor the target is wearing. Slashing does 1 less point of damage to anyone wearing armor.. any armor at all. This means that weapons like the Katana can be effectively mitigated by wearing the cheapest armor, or gear that might qualify as heavy work clothes. Historically this would have taken much of the appeal out of bladed weapons as symbols of the warrior class, as pretty much everyone on the field of battle would have been wearing some kind of armor.

My house rule is that Slashing does 1 additional point of damage against unarmored and Light armors, as Light armors tend to be 'flesh-like' materials like fabrics and leathers subject to being more effectively 'cut', while the more rigid Medium and Heavy armors are less subject to the slicing edge.

Crushing weapons on the flip side get their bonus of ignoring one point of Armor against Medium and Heavy armor, but lose a point of damage against unarmored and Light armors, which makes sense as the flexible materials of Light armors act as padding and return to their original shape after impact, where rigid Medium breastplates and Heavy plate armors suffer from increased deformation after repeated impacts.

(Essentially you work Light armor materials with cutting implements, Heavy and Medium rigid components are shaped with hammers. Facing these kinds of implements in battle means your armor gets "aggressively reshaped" and not to improve the fit.)

Of course not all weapons occupy either Weapon Description. Axes for instance have the heavy impact weight with a cutting surface, so have neither Slashing or Crushing (which combined are worse than none at all). Some swords might not qualify as 'Slashing', and likewise some polearms might not benefit from "Crushing".

I know Chain Mail doesn't really fit either description of flexible or rigid armor materials, but for game balance reasons I'm loath to reduce "Crushing" weapons to getting their bonus only on Heavy armor which is the least common type of armor you would encounter, making Crushing weapons the least popular to carry.

(This rule applies to firearms, and vehicular weapons/armor as well.)

Thoughts? Comments?

Vehicles in Cypher System, Part 4: Vehicular Combat

In many genres vehicles are important characters themselves, especially in games inspired by Japanese Anime, but often in other stories certain vehicles take on a role almost as significant as the characters themselves.

Links for Vehicles in Cypher System series: 
Part 1: A Matter of Scale
Part 2: Vehicles
Part 3: Vehicles and Special Abilities
Part 4: Vehicle Combat

   Related Posts:
Firearms in Cypher System
More Modern Weapon Distinctions

Combat in the detailed vehicle rules works identically to the way combat works between characters. The Player rolls a D20 and attempts o match or exceed the Level of the NPC vehicle, then apply the damage of the weapon to the vehicle's hit points. A combat between vehicles shouldn't be any more difficult or involved than a similar combat between individual people.

Vehicles and Weapon Skills:

For PCs operating a vehicle , their skill in light, medium, or heavy weapons can be transferred to vehicular weapons of the same size. For instance an Adept with training in Light weapons piloting a giant combat robot (size 5) can use Light weapons for that mecha (damage 7) at no modifier, Medium weapons (damage 9) at 1-step increase in difficulty, or heavy weapons (damage 11) at two steps increase in difficulty.

Vehicles and NPC Levels:

If an NPC and their vehicle have levels that are off by one step then the higher value should be used.

When a vehicle or it's NPC operator have different levels of two or more steps it's appropriate for the GM to split the difference between the NPC and the vehicle. For instance a professional race driver (level 7) is racing in a used car (Level 3), the overall level of the vehicle for targeting and attempting feats would be level 5 (the lower value, plus half the difference). The driver can work miracles with the car that the average driver wouldn't be able to accomplish, but he can do more with a dedicated racing vehicle. Likewise our Level 7 driver gets behind the wheel of a prototype rocket car (level 9), the overall level is an 8. The car can do more, but the driver isn't skilled enough to actually push the vehicle to its limits.

This modification does not have an effect on hit points. No matter the skill of the driver, it doesn't make the vehicle more or less resilient to damage once it's been hit.

CSR Abstract rules: Targeting Locations (CSR p. 215):

The hit locations and effects of the abstract vehicle combat system are still valid options, though there is one modification. The attacker takes the step penalty to hit in the table, and if the attack is successful and one point of damage gets through Armor, the effect is applied to the targeted vehicle.

Vehicles and Explosive Weapons

"Immediate Range" for the weapon's blast area is based on the vehicle's size.

If a vehicle expends Effort to increase damage firing an Explosive weapon and misses, it still inflicts 1-point plus the vehicle's size modifier.

Firearms in Cypher System: Gun Store 1 Modern Firearms

Related posts:

Firearms in Cypher System
Shotguns (and a Varmint Rifle)
More Weapon Distinctions

Gun Store Posts:
Gun Store 1: Modern Firearms

So I've posted some extended firearms rules including some rules that let you tweak your firearms to taste, but how does that translate to your firearm and gear purchasing needs?

Maybe you're equipping an elite special ops strike force, facing down gangsters in 1920's Chicago, knocking over a deserted big-box store for anti-zombie weapons in the post-apocalypse, or need to find just the right lethal accessory to go with your Super Spy's evening ensemble.

Below are a sampling of common, famous, or notable real world examples translated to Cypher System. I've attempted to cover at least one weapon that covers each of the modern firearm weapon stats in CSR, as well as weapons of historical, or cultural note, and some 'edge case' firearms that push the boundaries of my firearm customization.

Moderately priced Firearms (< $200):

Firearms in this price class are typically small caliber holdout or target-practice weapons that inflict 1 point less damage than an Expensive weapon of the same size class.

Colt Model 1908 "Vest Pocket", .21 ACP: Short on power, range, and accuracy, these small holdout pistols were common backup weapons through the first half of the 1900's and most military officers could be found carrying one or something similar concealed on their person (they didn't break the crisp lines of a properly laundered uniform).

-Light Automatic Pistol,
-2 damage, 6 attacks, Short Range, adds 1 asset and 1 skill to conceal.

("6 attacks, +1 damage" balances with "-1 damage for being Moderately Priced")

Daisy Number 111 "Red Ryder", .175 BB: Don't shoot your eye out with this lever-action spring-powered BB rifle.

-Light Automatic Rifle
-0 Damage (can be increased with Effort, or a GM Intrusion), effectively unlimited attacks (approx 1,000 BBs, or until the GM gets annoyed enough with your BB Gun antics to issue a GM Intrusion that breaks your toy), Short Range.

Lorcin L-380, .380 ACP: A cheap gun produced in the last decade of the 20'th century, it was underpowered and dangerously unreliable (the manufacturer went bankrupt twice in the face of multiple injury and wrongful death lawsuits), but many hundreds of thousands were sold to people who needed inexpensive firepower and/ or didn't know better.

-Medium Automatic Pistol,
-3 Damage, Short Range, Adds 1 asset to concealment.
GM Intrusions like jams or spontaneous weapon discharges may happen if this weapon is handled roughly, like it would be in any combat situation...

SplatMaster Paintball Marker, .68: A pistol-sized paintball gun powered by a standard 12g C02 cartridge good for 30 shots. Internal magazine holds 10 paintballs.

-Light Pistol,
-1 Damage, 10 attacks, Short Range. Target is marked with high-visibility paint. Anyone marked suffers a 2-point penalty on their die rolls for Stealth and Speed Defense.

"Varmint Rifle", .22 Long Rifle Rimfire: A common light caliber rifle for hikers and survivalists to carry that allows them to hunt small game, and frequently the first gun a child learns to handle firearms with. More expensive models (which can push them in to "Expensive" gear) may include survival kits in the stock (asset to Int rolls for Survival related tasks), and a collapsible frame (+1 asset to conceal, requires 2 turns to assemble rifle and another turn to mount a scope if one is available).

-Light Automatic Rifle
-2 Damage, 6 attacks, Long Range.

("6 attacks, +1 damage" balances with "-1 damage for being Moderately Priced")

Expensive Firearms ($200 - $2,000):

The vast majority of firearms fall in to this price category, Handguns typically retail for $300 to $900, while SMGs, Rifles and other long guns can range from the mid hundreds to around $1500.

In Cypher System Rulebook the "Very Expensive" weapons listed don't actually reach the level of being "Very Expensive" in the real world (even with some pretty steep licensing or black market markup), but the GM should keep in mind that those weapons (Heavy Handgun, Heavy Rifle, Assault Rifle, and Submachine Gun) tend to be difficult to conceal (+2 steps of difficulty on the Heavy Rifle and Assault Rifle, +1 step difficulty on the Heavy Handgun and SMG), and they tend to draw the attention of the authorities, and make civilians call said authorities. Played right; having law enforcement show up can stifle the activities of heavily armed PCs and make heavy weapons somewhat self-limiting.

Avtomat Kalashnikova obrazets 1947g, 7.62x39: The (in)famous soviet AK-47, possibly the single most manufactured gun in the world estimated at more than 90-million copies worldwide. In African conflict zones a fourth-hand loaded Kalashnikov can be purchased as an Inexpensive weapon (possibly as cheap as $5) though such heavily used rifles may impart a -1 or -2 to the die roll to hit. Bulk purchased from the factory each unit is Moderately Priced ($90 a piece in an order of multiple thousands, good for cheaply arming a small military or large militia). A Semi-Auto version of the AK-47 can be purchased in the United States for $300.

-Heavy Automatic Rifle
-6 damage, 10 Attacks (30 individual shots), Long Range, Rapid Fire

Beretta Mod 92F, 9x19mm: A Semi-Automatic 9mm pistol common with military and police forces around the world.

-Medium Automatic Pistol

-Damage 4, 10 attacks. Long Range, Decreases difficulty to conceal by 1 asset

Beretta Mod 93, 9x19mm: A machine pistol variant of the Beretta Mod 92F, popular in movies.

-Medium Automatic Pistol, Rapid Fire

-Damage 5, 6 attacks/18 individual rounds, Long Range, Decreases difficulty to conceal by 1 asset

Colt Government M1911, .45 ACP: Standard issue for the U.S. military since 1912 up through 1991 (replaced for standard issue by Beretta M9), and continues to be in production for the civilian market today.

-Medium Automatic Pistol

-Damage 4, 10 attacks, Long Range,  decreases difficulty to conceal by 1 step,

Colt M16, .223 Remington: First issued to USAF security forces in 1962, the M16 became the iconic battle rifle of American ground forces from the Vietnam war onward. Early versions suffered from maintenance and reliability issues (exacerbated in part by the belief the newfangled "plastic gun" didn't require maintenance), though the battlefield issues were more than resolved with the successor M16A1. The current M16A4 removes the carrying handle in favor of an accessory rail for optics and has additional accessory rails on the forearm.
-Medium Automatic Rifle
-Damage 4, 10 attacks (30 individual shots), Long Range, Rapid Fire

Daewoo USAS 12, 12G 2.75": The Universal Sporting Automatic Shotgun is anything but a sporting gun. Resembling an oversized M16 assault rifle the USAS is a fully-automatic shotgun that feeds from a 10 round box magazine, or a 20-round drum. The Izhmash "Saiga-12" is a similar Russian-built weapon patterned on the AK-47.
-X.Heavy Automatic Shotgun
-Damage 9/7/5/4, 6 Attacks (18 individual shots), Shotgun Range, Rapid Fire.
-(Shotshells use listed damage at Immediate/Short/Long/and up to 200' Range and have double the Slashing modifier +2 damage against unarmored targets,-2 damage against armored targets. Slugs have the base damage (9) at Long range and no distinction modifiers.)  

H&K MP5, 9x19mm: First adopted by West German border guards in 1966, the Heckler and Koch MP5A has become the submachine gun of choice for professionals from special ops, counter-terrorist and SWAT units around the world. At GM's option the MP5 may add 1 point to rolls to hit because of the quality of the design.
-Medium Automatic Rifle

-Damage 4, 10 attacks (30 individual rounds), Long Range, Rapid Fire

-The MP5SD variants include an integral sound suppressor (1 asset to being undetected by hearing), but increase the weapon's cost to "Very Expensive" gear. 

-The MP5K variant is a shorter weapon designed to be concealed under a coat (no step penalty to concealment) but lacks a stock and has only rudimentary sights reducing it's accuracy (Short Range). An attache case can be purchased that can conceal the MP5K and a spare magazine (1 item of additional "Expensive" gear. Adds 1 level asset and 1 level skill to conceal the firearm, though opening the case immediately reveals the weapon). A trigger in the handle allows the MP5K to be fired from inside the case at a 2 step penalty to accuracy, 1 step penalty if the shooter braces the case before firing but this makes it obvious there's a weapon inside. Removing the weapon from the case takes an Action.

IMI Mini-Uzi, 9x19mm: A smaller version of the  original Israeli Military Industries Uzi designed for commandos and vehicle crews, and popular with action filmmakers of the 1980's for it's unique profile.
-Medium Automatic Rifle
-Damage 4, 10 attacks (30 individual rounds), Short Range, Rapid Fire

Izhmash Snayperskaya Vintovka Dragunova (Dragunov's Sniper Rifle), 7.62x54mm: A soviet era sniper rifle still in production. Weapons are typically equipped with an optical scope standard.
-Heavy Automatic Rifle
-Damage 6, 10 attacks, 300' Range

Remington Model 870, 12g: One of the most popular pump-action shotguns for both law enforcement and civilian use.
-Heavy Shotgun
-Damage 7/5/3/2, 6 Attacks, Shotgun Range.
-(Shotshells use listed damage at Immediate/Short/Long/and up to 200' Range and have double the Slashing modifier +2 damage against unarmored targets,-2 damage against armored targets. Slugs have the base damage (7) at Long range and no distinction modifiers.)  

Reutech Protectra, 12g: This South African short-barrel shotgun was designed for riot control and home defense. A similar licensed weapon was sold briefly in the United States (1986-1994) as the Street Sweeper, until it was declared a "Destructive device with no sporting value."
-Heavy Shotgun
-Damage 6/4/2/1, 10 Attacks, Shotgun Range.
-(Shotshells use listed damage at Immediate/Short/Long/and up to 200' Range and have double the Slashing modifier +2 damage against unarmored targets,-2 damage against armored targets. Slugs have the base damage (6) at Long range and no distinction modifiers.) 

Ruger Super Redhawk, .454 Casull: A stainless steel .454 caliber revolver for big game hunting and target shooting. Shinier than a jet airplane and twice as noisy this hand cannon is the antithesis of 'subtle'.
-Heavy Revolver Pistol
-Damage 7, adds 1 step of difficulty to conceal. 6 attacks between reloads. Long Range

Smith and Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum: The revolver made famous by Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry". In all the excitement a GM Intrusion may make you forget if you've fired all six rounds or only five. Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do you?
-Heavy Revolver Pistol
-Damage 6, no modifier to conceal, 6 attacks between reloads. Long Range

Walther PPK, .32 ACP: The easy-to-conceal weapon of choice for a particular British movie secret agent during the Cold War.
-Light Automatic Pistol
-Damage 2,  10 attacks between reloads, Short Range, +1 asset and +1 skill to conceal,

Winchester Model 70, 30-06 Springfield: A popular high-power bolt-action hunting rifle.
-Heavy Automatic Rifle
-Damage 7, 6 attacks, 300-foot Range,

Very Expensive Firearms ($2,000 - $20,000):

Very Expensive firearms tend to be restricted to the military or civilians willing to pay significant licensing costs (or willing and able to steal them).

Auto Ordinance M1921 "Thompson" .45 ACP: The circular 50 or 100 round drum magazine gives the "Tommy Gun" a profile as iconic as the gangsters that used it during the Prohibition era. U.S. forces used the Thompson Submachine Gun during WWII, though they were generally equipped with the 20-round straight box magazine as the drums could be unreliable.
-Heavy Automatic Rifle
-5 Damage, Effectively Unlimited attacks, Long Range, Rapid Fire

Barrett M82 "Light Fifty" .50 BMG: An Anti Material Rifle designed to provide light anti-armor firepower to the infantryman. Urban Myth has it that firing an Anti-Material rifle at a person is against the Geneva Conventions, however this is not the case. The myth may have come from military supply noting that a $0.80 7.62 NATO round kills an enemy combatant just as dead as a $4.00 BMG round for less than a quarter of the price.
-X.Heavy Rifle
-Damage 8, 10 attacks between reloads, 500 foot Range
(Typically loaded with Armor Piercing Hardcore rounds, Ignores 2 points of armor, does 2 points less damage to unarmored targets.)

Browning Automatic Rifle M1918 .30-06: Introduced too late to be fielded in WWI, the BAR was adopted by police and security forces. Gangsters and bank robbers of the late 20's and the Depression like Bonnie and Clyde would 'acquire' these weapons from police stations and National Guard armories.
-X.Heavy Rifle
-Damage 9, 6 attacks (18 individual shots), 300-foot Range, Rapid Fire

Exorbitant Firearms ($20,000 - $200,000):

It's possible that a collector might have a weapon that crosses in to Exorbitant prices, but they are definitely manufactured to military specifications, and not something you'll get a hold of as a private citizen without getting a lot of government licencing and attention.

Styer-Solothurn S18-1000, 20x138MM: One of the most powerful, if not the most powerful man-portable anti-tank weapons of WWII. The S18-1000 was over seven feet long and could not be fired from the hip or shoulder. It could be disassembled for transport, or attached to a wheeled or ski carriage and dragged in to position.
-S.Heavy Rifle
-Damage 10, Range of 1,000 feet. 10 attacks.
Typically loaded with AP or SAPHE:
Armor Piercing (AP) rounds in this monster cannon they double Crushing weapon distinction, ignores 2 points of armor but does 2 points less damage to unarmored targets. 
   --or-- 
Semi-Armor-Piercing-High-Explosive (SAPHE) ignores 1 point of armor, inflicts 1 less damage to unarmored targets. If the round does not penetrate armor the explosive charge goes off on the surface doing 5 points of damage to all targets in Immediate range. If the round penetrates armor the explosive charge goes off inside the target doing an additional 5 points of damage to the vehicle with no armor protection, all occupants take 5 points of damage as well.

Ammunition notes:

9x19mm Caliber:

The 9x19mm round tends to have high penetration for it's size, but sacrifices wounding potential. At GM discretion 9x19mm weapons may have the "Crushing" modifier as a Weapon Distinction (ignores 1 point of armor, but inflicts 1 less damage to unarmored targets). 9x19 Armor Piercing would double the "Crushing" values, while 9x19 Hollow-Point rounds remove the Crushing modifiers.

Hot Loads:

Some people who hand-load their own ammunition create so-called "Hot Loads" or rounds packed with extra powder, or a more energetic powder than is typically used in that round. Hot Loads inflict an additional point of damage, but cause the gun to fail on a roll of 2 or less. Making a magazine of Hot Load ammo is an Intellect task against a difficulty of 3 for a "Light" weapon, 4 for a "Medium" weapon, and a 5 for a "Heavy weapon.

Paintball:
Someone hit with a paintball is splattered with high-visibility paint and suffers from a -1 or -2 penalty to their Stealth and Speed Defense dice rolls (not step difficulty). Standard  .68 caliber paintball guns impart a -2, while the 9x19mm SESAMS (Special Effects Small Arms Marking Systems) used in military training only impart a -1. SESAMS rounds can only be fired from specially modified weapons that cannot fire live 9x19mm ammunition.

More Modern Weapon Distinctions.

Other pages in my Firearms in Cypher System series:
Firearms in Cypher System
Shotguns (and a Varmint Rifle)
More Weapon Distinctions

Gun Store Posts:


Gun Store 1: Modern Firearms

A brief interlude in the Vehicles rules to take another look at weapons, and specifically Weapon Distinctions you would find on military weapons and vehicular mounted armaments.

These are additions to the Weapon Distinctions presented in Firearms in Cypher System

Range bands are based on the size class of the attacker as per Vehicles Part 1.

Applying Multiple Weapon Distinctions: 

Most weapon distinctions have a benefit and a downside, so taking a single weapon distinction shouldn't significantly increase the cost of a weapon. A weapon with more than one distinction however has certain benefits of flexibility that a weapon with no distinctions or a single distinction wouldn't have, so that can increase the cost. Actual increases in cost may vary with the way the GM is counting wealth.

A distinction labeled "Limiting" reduces the effectiveness of a weapon, but will offset any costs associated with having an additional Weapon Distinction. IE: an Explosive, Dead Fall Ordinance, Single Shot(limiting) would have effectively one Weapon Distinction as Single Shot offsets one of the other two.

A weapon with only a limiting distinction may be once price class lower than an equivalent weapon without a distinction.

Weapon Distinctions:

Condition Detonated Ordinance: Most weapons are assumed to inflict damage on contact, whether it be a kinetic slug or a shaped charge. Condition Detonated Ordinance inflicts damage based on certain conditions other than contact with a surface. Different types of conditions may include the following:

Command: Command Detonated ordinance is set off by a remote command, at the simplest technology this could include yanking on a very long string tied to a pin, however most purpose-built Command Detonated Ordinance is set off by an electrical signal through a wire, or by a radio signal and a small receiver on the device itself. The downside of Command Detonation is there are often ways to prevent the weapon from going off, be it cutting the string/wire, to the use of electronics jamming to prevent the device from receiving it's' detonating signal..

Magnetic: Typical of Anti-Tank or Anti-Vehicle mines, these devices detonate when large metallic masses pass near them and disturb a series of magnets in the device.

Pressure: Rater than detonate when they come in to contact with a target, these weapons wait for the target to come in to contact with them.

Timed: A Timed warhead goes off after a certain number of rounds. Keep in mind a typical timed-fuse hand grenade has a fuse of less than 6 seconds, less than 1 round of combat, so they are not Timed Detonation devices by these rules.

Vibration: Typical of anti-personnel or Anti-Tank mines, these devices are set off when a sensor in the device detects vibration. These sensors are typically calibrated to trip with certain levels of vibration, such as anti-personnel mines being tripped by quantities of footsteps, or anti-tank mines being tripped by the vibration of a large vehicle passing over it.

Dead Fall Ordinance: These weapons inflict an additional 2 points of damage, but must be thrown or 'dropped' which increases the difficulty of hitting the target by one step. If a vehicle has robotic arms it may throw DFO a Short range, otherwise DFO are dropped from the vehicle like aircraft bombs. The rounds dropped from a vehicle will inflict their damage on impact, though a weapon selected to be both Dead Fall and Condition Detonated would be deployable like mines from a minelayer. Dead Fall Ordinance distinction does not include the Explosive modifier (from Firearms in Cypher System).

Guided Weapon: Attacks with Guided weapons receive one inability at Immediate range, one Asset to attacks at Long or farther ranges, and one level of Skill at ranges more than long (ie: 1 step more difficult at Immediate range, no modifier at Short range, 1 step easier at Long, 2 steps easier when range is modified to reach beyond Long*).

Inaccurate (Limiting):  Attacks from an Inaccurate weapon are modified one step in the defender's favor.

Unreliable (Limiting): An Unreliable weapon will jam on a natural 2, requiring 1 action spent clearing the jam. On a natural 1 the weapon breaks and is unusable until it is properly repaired. This is in addition to the GM Intrusion for rolling a 1.

Cypher System Shotgun and Varmint Rifle

Other pages in my Firearms in Cypher System series:
Firearms in Cypher System
Shotguns (and a Varmint Rifle)
More Weapon Distinctions

Gun Store Posts:

Gun Store 1: Modern Firearms

Immediate range shotguns listed in the Cypher System book are terribly difficult to go hunting waterfowl with. My humble suggestion for a more detailed Shotgun:

Shotguns are brutal in close quarters against unarmored opponents (like Zombies), but can lose effectiveness at range or against armored targets (because each pellet needs to penetrate armor individually). 

At Immediate range 12-gauge Shotguns have a base damage of 6, Short range this drops to 4, at Long range it drops again to 2, and if Effort is applied to modify the range to 200' damage drops again to 1. 

Shotguns also have double the Slashing modifier (+2 against unarmored targets, -2 damage against targets wearing armor).

Effort to extend range to 200' reaches typical waterfowl hunting range. Double slashing and 1 point of damage at that range is just enough to pluck a Level 1 unarmored duck from the sky.

If the duck is wearing armor, your dog laughing at you when you don't kill it is the least of your worries.

Double Barreled Shotguns may fire twice at a single target in one action. The difficulty of the attack is increased by two Steps and the shooter must make a Might(4) roll or be Dazed for one round (as an Extra-Heavy weapon). Roll once for both attacks at Immediate range, once for each attack at Short or longer ranges. The potential for double-damage makes them a popular choice for Short range zombie blasting. The downside is that reloading a double-barreled shotgun takes two rounds, which gives the horde plenty of time to get to the shooter.

Shotgun gauges:

Shotguns are made in larger and smaller bore sizes than 12-gauge. The gauge number is determined by the weight, in fractions of a pound, of a solid sphere of lead with a diameter equal to the inside diameter of the barrel. So, a 10 gauge shotgun nominally should have an inside diameter equal to that of a sphere made from one-tenth of a pound of lead.

A .410 caliber shotgun (gauge 67) is a Light Shotgun with the damage profile  3/2/1/0. These shotguns tend to be used by younger hunters learning to handle a shotgun, much like the Varmint Rifle (below), and as compact "Backpacker's guns" that a hiker could use in an emergency.

The 20 gauge shotgun is a Medium weapon and has a damage profile of 4/3/2/1. Some recoil-adverse shooters prefer the 20 gauge to the heavier 12-gauge.

The 12 gauge shotgun is a Heavy weapon with a damage profile of 6/4/2/1 (Default described above). Most shotguns are 12-gauge.

The 10 gauge shotgun is a V. Heavy weapon with a damage profile of 8/6/4/2

Punt Guns were massive 10-foot long shotguns typically mounted to a small boat for use in commercial waterfowl harvesting. A Punt Gun is a Super-Heavy weapon with a damage profile of 10/8/6/4, and may have it's range extended to 400' with a damage of 2. Commercial waterfowl harvesting was declared illegal in most of the United States by the 1860's, and the practice of Market Hunting was banned by Federal legislation in 1918

Shotgun Ammo Types:

Shotshells spread slightly as the pellets travel granting a +1 to the attack roll at Short range and +2 to the attack roll at long range or beyond. Shotguns only benefit from one level of effort to modify their range (200') beyond which the blast isn't concentrated enough to be effective.

Shotguns may load Slugs, which change the weapon to a Short-Range weapon, they benefit from only two levels of effort to extend range and do not have the weapon distinction modifier. Slugs do not get the bonus to hit at Short or Long ranges. Slugs cost the same as Shotshells.

Sabot rounds fire a sub-caliber projectile encased in a sheath that drops away as the projectile leaves the barrel. This changes the Shotgun to a Long-Range weapon which may benefit from effort to extend range as normal, but reduces damage by 2.

Flechette rounds replace the shot in a typical shotshell with aerodynamic darts. 12-gauge flechette rounds were used early in the Vietnam War. This allows the shotgun to have it's range extended beyond 200' with effort, reduces the Slashing modifier to +1 against unarmored targets and -1 against armored targets, and gives the Shotgun an additional "Piercing" weapon modifier (+1 damage on rolls of 17 or higher*, -1 damage on rolls of 5 or lower). Real world applications of flechette rounds have had poor results, so a PC interested in acquiring these rounds may have to pack them himself, a Reloading(4) task.

Flexible Baton or Bean-Bag rounds inflict half damage at short range and the target must make a Might roll against a difficulty of half the shotgun's damage or be Stunned for one round. At Immediate range these rounds inflict full damage. They are ineffective beyond Short range. On a GM intrusion a Baton or Beanbag round may inflict full damage.

Dragon's Breath rounds are a zirconium pyrotechnic round effective up to 20 feet. At Immediate range they inflict full damage and will ignite a target on a failed Speed roll with a difficulty of the amount of damage the target takes. Beyond Immediate to 20' the damage is halved. Targets on fire take half the initial damage per round until they spend a turn to make a Speed roll (same difficulty as the original roll) to put themselves out. Dragon's Breath rounds are visually impressive, but have few tactical uses.

Optional Rule: Swarms and Shotguns

Using this rule most attacks against swarms can only kill one individual of the swarm at a time (example, a 4-damage attack at a swarm of 4 level 1 creatures with 3 hp each will kill one and the last point of damage is lost), shotguns fired at a swarm can do their damage to more than one creature in the swarm at a time. Heavy Melee weapons may also get this benefit.

Bonus Weapon:

Varmint Rifle: a very small caliber, (typically .22) rifle suitable learning to shoot with and/or hunting small game are commonly available without a scope for $150 to $200.
Moderately Priced Light weapon, Long range.

Firearms in Cypher System

Other pages in my Firearms in Cypher System series:

Firearms in Cypher System
Shotguns (and a Varmint Rifle)
More Weapon Distinctions

Gun Store Posts:

Gun Store 1: Modern Firearms

Related posts:

Shotguns (and a Varmint Rifle)
More Weapon Distinctions

Numenera's ranged combat rules work for a fantasy environment, but as happens all too often modern or sci-fi settings get shoehorned in to a ruleset where the state of the art in ranged combat still relied on tensioned sinew.

I have gaming friends who served in the military, this annoys them endlessly.


To 'modernize' the ranged rules for firearms use the following rules:

1): Range Modification with Effort
Range modification with Effort (CSR p.227) is not an optional rule. Quite simply most firearms can reach well beyond 100' or 200'. A shot without effort (modifying range or damage) is a snap-shot, fired from the hip. Long Range is roughly within typical handgun combat ranges.

2): Modifying Range Modification with Effort
Any ranged weapon that does not use the shooter's strength, and has a two-handed grip (not thrown weapons, bows or pistols, but does include crossbows) extending range only increases difficulty by one step for each level of effort. 

(This also justifies the increased cost of a crossbow over a regular bow in Numenera)

3): Point Blank Range:
In Cypher System Rulebook, page 205 under "Range" it lists ranged weapons being fired within "Immediate" range as getting a 1-step shift in the attackers favor. This is true for pistols and one-handed thrown weapons, however 2-handed ranged weapons (rifles, crossbows, bows, etc) receive a 1-step penalty to the attack roll as the defender can attempt to grab or otherwise knock aside the weapon.

A pistol with a silencer (#9 below) has it's length substantially increased, this negates the bonus for firing at Point Blank range (but unlike long-arms does not impart a penalty).

A 2-handed firearm with a "Short" base range (50') can represent SMGs or Carbines designed for close-range fighting. These weapons do not receive a bonus or penalty at Immediate range. Attaching a Silencer to these weapons will increase their length and impose a penalty at Immediate range.

4): Counting Shots:
Most modern weapons listed in the CSR rulebook have 10 "attacks" worth of ammunition. Modern "Rapid Fire" weapons typically have a 3-round burst limiter, so the Assault Rifle and SMG would have 30 individual bullets in a box magazine of 10-attacks, 3 fired with each "Attack". Firing a single round inflicts half damage (rounded up, assuming an average of one round missing, or hitting something nonvital per burst), but allows for three times the number of attacks per clip. Special Abilities that consume multiple shots (Like Spray or Arc Spray) always consume complete Attacks rather than individual bullets.

Again this is a snap-shot 'off the hip' with little time or effort spent aiming. Taking Effort to increase the damage brings those single shots back to immediately lethal to the common soldier (or enough so that a level 2 common grunt is going to seriously consider the option of playing dead)

Firing a Rapid Fire weapon in Single-Shot mode allows the weapon to be treated as one-classification lighter for purposes of weapon skills and X-heavy and S-Heavy weapon effects on the shooter (below).

5): Larger gun weapons. 
Military firearms get well above simple "Heavy" weapons as defined by Cypher. 

Extra Heavy weapons (X-Heavy) inflict 8 points of damage and must be braced. Shooting an X-Heavy rifle without bracing it the shooter must make a might(4) roll or be Dazed by the recoil (Training in Might Defense will reduce the difficulty). If firing unbraced a natural one will inflict 2 points to the shooter in addition to the GM Intervention. X-Heavy weapons tend to have a base range of 300' or 500'. (These are your .50 BMG cartridge Anti-Material Rifles.)

Super-Heavy weapons (S-Heavy) inflict 10 points of damage and while technically man-portable must be set up on a tripod before they can be fired, an attempt to do otherwise immediately invites a GM Intrusion, rolling a natural 1 while doing do invites two GMIs. S-Heavy weapons have base ranges of 500' or 1000'.

X-Heavy and S-Heavy weapons require the Heavy Weapons skill to use.

6): Ammunition types. 
Firearms typically get weapon distinctions through the types of ammunition that they fire rather than as a factor of the weapon itself.

Armor Piercing rounds use the Crushing weapon distinction.
Hollow Points use the Slashing weapon distinction.
Needlers (Sci-Fi) or Shotgun Flechette rounds have the "Piercing" distinction.

Explosive rounds do 1 point less damage, but on a hit inflict that damage on everything in Immediate Range of the target. If Effort is expended to increase damage it only adds 2 to the damage, but on a miss it will inflict one point of damage to all targets in Immediate range of the target anyway.

Chemical Injector: If the damage of the weapon matches or exceeds the target's armor (even if the shot does no damage to the target), the target must make a Might Defense roll against whatever toxin the round was loaded with. Increasing Damage with Effort may, instead of doing additional damage, increase the difficulty of the Might Defense roll by one step. Typical chemical compounds (Sedatives, poisons, etc.) have a Level of half the weapon's base damage.

7): Concealing firearms:
While it's typical for a medieval or fantasy hunter to carry their bow even in town, attitudes about carried weapons in civilized areas change dramatically with the invention of the modern firearm. For pistols concealability is the trade-off for a rifle's relative ease of range modification.

Sci-Fi weapons with similar performances can be assumed to have similar concealability.

A Light Pistol gives a level of skill, and one asset to concealing the weapon, either on your person or in a container of some sort. These are small-caliber weapons specifically designed to be concealed on the shooter.

A Medium handgun gives one asset to concealing it. These are typically up to .45 caliber

Heavy handguns give no bonus to concealment, or may impart a 1-step penalty to concealment (for big shiny monsters like the Ruger Super Redhawk). (Optionally Heavy Handguns that don't impart a 1-step penalty to concealment do 5 points of damage (still require Heavy Weapon skill))

Rifles and carbines (2-handed grips that benefit from "Modifying Range Modification with Effort"), Medium weapons have a 1-step increase in difficulty to conceal, while Heavy weapons have a 2-step increase in difficulty to conceal.

"Holdout Holsters" are Moderately Priced gear that provide 1 asset to concealing a firearm, but must be purchased for a specific model of firearm.

8): Scopes:
Adding a scope will add 1 or 2 Assets to shots where effort is used to extend range. Typical optical scopes only provide one Asset, where more advanced electronic scopes with enhanced spectral range (IR, Low Light, UV, etc) grant 2 Assets. Scopes are fragile and must be carefully calibrated. A GM Intrusion from a natural 1 on any Speed Task may break or otherwise make a scope useless until repaired and re-calibrated.

9): Silencers 
Optional equipment that add 1 or 2 Assets to avoid being heard while firing the weapon. They are bulky and each level of asset to avoid hearing detection imparts a step penalty to conceal the weapon while it is mounted.

Base difficulty to avoid detection by hearing is the weapon's damage (a big intimidating .50 handgun is difficult to silence much at all, where holdout pistols can be effectively silenced with a good enough silencer.) Rapid Fire weapons fitted with a silencer use the damage of their attack as the steps of difficulty to conceal their sound (for taking single-shots as above) (the H&K MP5 Submachine Gun has a very effective silencer that makes the gun effectively silent on single shots).

Note: Silencers work by containing and redirecting the expanding gasses expelled by the cartridge. With extremely few (and rare) exceptions revolvers have a gap between the cylinder and the barrel that makes it impossible to silence them.

10): Tons of Ammo:
This is an optional rule for a semi-cinematic treatment of ammo between tracking every bullet fired and "Hollywood Ammo" where guns just keep firing endlessly.

Track of the ammo in the currently equipped magazine or cylinder, but not necessarily the whole inventory of ammo that the PCs are carrying around, unless they're packing something special like Armor Piercing or Tracer rounds, or the scenario / campaign would mean the characters have effectively at-will access to more advanced ammunition.

This means that in-combat you have to manage your shots, and time the moments you spend your action reloading (hopefully in cover), but the team isn't spending hours and hours managing day-to-day supplies.

Most firearms in Cypher have10-rounds of "shooting" (ie, 10 x 3-round bursts from an assault rifle or SMG). Revolvers in modern (ie: 1980's and later) tend to be bigger caliber or longer cartridge (more gunpowder) so they only get 6 rounds, but a +1 to damage to make up for it. Some weapons may have "effectively unlimited" ammunition, either by having a large reservoir of small-caliber ammunition, or some sci-fi weapons may be powered by an internal reactor that prevents the shooter from having to 'reload' in combat. These "Effectively Unlimited" weapons do 1 point less damage.

Reloading for most magazine weapons should only take 1 turn. Revolvers and other large-caliber 6-shot weapons may take 1 turn to reload 3 rounds.

As far as tracking ammo you can also use a D10 or D6 depending on the weapon.