by Gurth (Gurth@dds.nl and
A little note: Heavy Pistol rounds are hard to build realistically using the 3G3 rules: the Power Level of 9 requires a DV of 63! You'd have to fire assault rifle rounds from a pistol-size frame to achieve this. The same thing applies to Sniper Rifle and Assault Cannon rounds: to get a Power Level of 14 will require a DV of 631... Sniper Rifle and Assault Cannon rounds cannot really be constructed using these rules. If you insist, I suggest dropping the Power Level to a more realistic level. The same goes for Heavy Pistols, which would be a lot more realistic with a Damage Code of around 6M.
To counter this problem somewhat, we introduce the following trade-off: for every 2 points you take off the Power Level, you can increase the Damage level by 1; also, for every Damage Level you take off, you can increase the Power Level by +2. This does not increase costs, malfunctions, or anything else. The reasoning behind this meathod is that Power Level is not just penetarting ability, but also a measure for how much tissue damage the weapon does.
See the Ammunition section, at the end of the text, for typical Shadowrun rounds, calculated using 3G3.
For example, if you design a sporting rifle with an Aiming RC of 4, its normal IA will be 2. In this case, simply use the Sporting Rifle ranges. However, if IA is decreased to 1 for some reason (a genuine "Made In Hong Kong," for instance), the weapon will use Assault Rifle ranges, even though it is actually a Sporting Rifle. If a similar weapon has an IA of 4 instead of 2, it used Sniper Rifle ranges instead of those for a Sporting Rifle.
The Shadowrun ROF is lower than in real life "in the interests of game balance, practicality, survivability, and sanity." Thus, to see in which class a weapon falls, use the table below. ROF is 3G3's ROF in rounds per second for the complete weapon (not for a single barrel). A weapon must have more than one barrel in order to qualify for being a Minigun.
As an alternative rule, each time a number of dice equal to (1 + skill - malfunction class) come up as 1s, the weapon malfunctions. This means, that if a character with a skill of 4 fires a weapon with a malfunction class of III, all it takes is two 1s (1 + 4 - III = 2); if this same character fires a weapon with malfunction class I, he must roll four 1s for the weapon to jam.
Grenades and other exploding weapons calculate their Power Level in the same way as firearms: 5 x log(DV). This is the Power Level for the grenade at zero meters from the blast point.
Also, some grenades do Stun damage, or use the Flechette rules. Grenades doing Stun damage are simply designated as such -- you say "This grenade does Stun damage" while designing it. As for using flechette rules, any grenade that has a Damage RC of 1f or 2f is assumed to use flechette rules.
Power Level Reduction is -1 per meter for grenades with a Damage RC of 2, -1 per .5 meter for grenades with a Damage RC of 1.
The Power Level is calculated as for firearms, but substract 3 from the result. This -3 is because a melee weapon's Power Level is based on the wielder's Strength, and average Strength for a human is 3.
For example, if a melee weapon has a DV of 15, it's Power Level is (str+3).
The weapon's Damage Level is based on its length:
And again, you can trade Damage Level for Power Level. Every +2 on the Power Level reduces the Damage Level by 1, every +1 on Damage Level reduces the Power Level by -2.
Reach is based on the weapon's length in meters: for every meter (round off normally) the weapon gets +1 Reach.
Concealability is calculated as for firearms.
Contents
Ranged Weapons
TECH
Shadowrun is in TL12 mostly, though some weapons are very 20th-century-like, and so could use TL11. It does not matter much which is used, though especially for caseless weapons (which are not very common, though almost all commercial weapons can be bought in caseless models; see Fields of Fire p.77), TL12 is recommended. Lasers are very uncommon, the only commercial models being the Ares MP Laser series and the FireLance Vehicle Laser. Significant is the fact that laser prices have dropped by 2,000% between 2050 and 2054, so they might be getting more common (or this could be because FASA, when the first laser came out, decided to put it out of reach of the average shadowrunner by making it cost truckloads of money, but now with the availability figures the prices can go down as long as the availability stays high enough :).
Particle-beam weapons are not yet in use, and railguns are used only as main armament for heavy tanks.
DV and DAMAGE RC
Damage Value determines the Power Level of the weapon. Take the log of the DV and multiply the result by 5 to find the Power Level. Round off to the nearest whole number.
Power Level = 5 x log(DV) (n)
Damage RC determines the Damage Level of the attack, as per the table below.
DAMAGE RC DAMAGE LEVEL
1-2 Light
3 Moderate
4 Serious
5-8 Deadly
This scale is reasonably accurate at lower Power Levels (those of most hand-held weapons), but once the Power gets over, say, 10, everything is distorted out of proportion: a second-world-war German 88mm PAK43 anti-tank gun has (according to my own calculations) only a DV of about 655, which would give it a Power of 14 in Shadowrun. This is a gun that could knock out almost any tank of its time, but would bounce off the military armors from Fields of Fire! Admittedly, the gun would be 110 years old in Shadowrun, but still...
For this reason, if the Damage RC of the round goes over 5, use the following formula for the Power Level:
Power Level = Damage RC x log(DV) (n)
By doing so, the higher Power Levels are also reachable with still reasonable DVs. However, to do this you must use large-caliber rounds (more than 21mm for 3:1 sg11 projectiles). The WWII 88mm would then have a Power Level of 21, just enough to knock out a GMC Banshee.
You cannot make the Damage Level go over D or below L, nor can the Power Level drop below 1.
This means, that if you have a weapon with a DV of 49 and a Damage RC of 4, it would normally do 7S damage. You could make this 9M, 11L, or 5D if you wanted to.
The suggestion in this is that you first convert the damage straight as outlined above, and then adjust it to more closely reflect the actual Damage Code of the weapon type you are constructing: if you build a Heavy Pistol that turns out to do 7S damage, the best solution would be to convert this to 9M, which is what almost any other Heavy Pistol's damage is.
AIMING RANGE CLASS
Aiming RC is not used; instead the range is based on the weapon type being designed: if you design a shotgun, you use the Shotgun ranges. See page 88 of SRII.
INHERENT ACCURACY
Weapons with a low IA have shorter ranges than weapons with average IA, while weapons with higher-than-average IA have longer ranges. On the list below, find the range used for the weapon, and for every point of IA above average, go down the list one step. For every point of IA below average, go up the list one step. The weapon type you end with determines the actual range used for the weapon. Steps above Missile Launcher or below Taser require that you figure out actual ranges in meters for the weapon as you see fit.
* = the ranges of these two are identicalRATE OF FIRE
First determine which Action Types the weapon uses, and then find them in the table below to see which Firing Mode(s) the weapon uses in Shadowrun.
3G3 ACTION TYPE SHADOWRUN FIRING MODE
Revolver (RV) Single Shot (SS)
Single shot (SS) Single Shot (SS)
Semi-auto (SA) Semi-Automatic (SA)
Full-auto (AT) Full-Auto (FA)
Auto-burst (AB) Burst-Fire (BF)
Lever action (LA) Semi-Automatic (SA)
Bolt action (B) Single Shot (SS)
Shadowrun turns last between 3 and 5 seconds, but you can have multiple Actions in one turn, so if you want to know the exact rate of fire, just taking the 3G3 ROF seems like a good idea to find the ROF per Combat Phase.
ROF CLASS
1 to 15 Normal ROF
16 to 25 Super machinegun ROF
26 and up Minigun ROF
RELIABILITY
Not used. The only time a weapon malfuntions is if all ones are rolled on the skill test to fire the weapon (see Fields of Fire, page 78, for a slight variation of this rule)AV and BP
Not used because Shadowrun does not have rules for breaking weapons. You could say that the Barrier Rating of a weapon is equal to its AV if you think you'll need it.
CONCEALABILITY
Shadowrun has strange Concealability differences between weapons: the Ares Predator II heavy pistol --which comes without extras-- has concealability 4, while the Colt M22A2 assault rifle would have a concealability of 7 if you'd remove all accessories (either the pistol is very big, or the rifle is very small. Probably both).
The actual concealability depends on the bulk per location and the weapon's overall length in hit locations. (A hit location equals 15 centimeters.) See the next table. The values in the table were based on some of the weapons in the Street Samurai Catalog and Fields of Fire, by estimating the approximate size of the weapon in the picture; however, the values are not necessarily completely accurate, but come close enough. This concealability is for the bare weapon, without accessories; apply the concealability modifiers from those to the concealability read from the table.
HIT LOCATIONS: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+
BULK PER
LOCATION
Very Small 9 7 5 4 3 2 1 -
Small 8 6 4 3 2 1 - -
Medium 5 3 2 1 - - - -
Large 2 1 - - - - - -
A weapon with a length of 50cm and a weight of 4kg is rated as S/4 in 3G3, because it has 4 hit locations, and has a mass of 1kg per hit location. This gives it a concealability of 4 from the table above.
INITIATIVE
Though not normally used in Shadowrun, you could introduce the rule that, if two people act in the same Combat Phase, the one who has the weapon with the highest Initiative goes first.
OTHER AMMUNITION TYPES
Use the normal Shadowrun rules for things like Explosive, Flechette, and other ammo types. For exploding warheads like those of missiles and (thrown) grenades, see HE & Fragmentation Rounds, immediately following.
HE & FRAGMENTATION ROUNDS
Missiles with armor-piercing warheads are considered to have a shaped-charge warhead. Calculate their DV based on the shaped-charge, and only then convert to the Power Level. This will mean an Anti-Vehicle Missile has a much smaller explosive charge than a High-Explosive Missile.
The Damage Level of any explosion is D, so this also goes for grenades. However, you can reduce the Damage Level to increase the Power Level, just as with firearms: every Damage Level you take off adds +2 to the Power Level. Again, Damage Level cannot drop below L.GYROSTABILIZATION
This option gives a weapon 1 point of recoil compensation, while the weapon can still mount gas vents, shock pads, and gyromounts for additional recoil compensation.
MISSILES
Shadowrun assumes that missiles are pretty much fire-and-forget (first you fire it, and then you can forget about it: it'll usually hit). For this, the Intelligence of the weapon is used. 3G3 gives +bonuses for guided weapons, therefore the simplest thing to do is to use the bonus as the weapon's Intelligence. So, a +4 weapon would be considered to have an Intelligence of 4.
ELECTRONICS
Shadowrun accessories are added to the weapon as needed. The weapon, as designed in 3G3, does not have any accessories; any required are simply added on during weapon design from standard Shadowrun accessories, adding their mass to that of the complete weapon.
RECOIL
As normal in Shadowrun: +1 Target Number per round fired. Heavy weapons and automatic shotguns have a recoil modifier of +2.
COST
Weapon cost is calculated in Credits, and then converted to nuyen by putting a nuyen sign behind it (i.e. the cost in nuyen is equal to the cost in Credits). Adjust the cost as you think fits your game.
This is because FASA says that one nuyen is about equal to one 1994 US$. Availability and Street Index figures are up to the designer and GM to decide.
AMMUNITION
Since Shadowrun does not distinguish between calibers, here some stats for typical rounds for all weapon types in the game. These stats are for Regular ammunition.
See SRII, p.94, for abbreviations of weapon types. Calibers are approximate averages, no real attempt was made to match specific real-world calibers to Shadowrun weapons.
All stats are for cased ammunition, and have not been adjusted for different action types.
Firearms HO LP HP SMG SH SR SN AR LMG
Caliber (mm) 5.00 6.5 11 9 18 7.5 ** 5.5 5.5
Power Level* 4 6 7*** 7 8 7 ** 8 9****
DV 7 16 25 25 40 25 ** 50 63
TL 12 12 12 12 12 12 ** 12 12
Energy (J) 36 330 948 794 3887 644 ** 1905 2977
Max.RC 2/2 3/2 3/4 3/3 3/4 3/4 ** 5/3 6/3
Round (g) 1.88 4.45 21.4 12.4 93.1 11.2 ** 8.30 10.8
Propellant (g) .022 .132 .585 .49 2.40 .398 ** 1.18 1.84
Projectile (g) 1.80 3.95 19.2 10.5 84.0 9.72 ** 3.83 3.83
l/w 2:1 2:1 2:1 2:1 2:1 3:1 ** 3:1 3:1
sg 7 11 11 11 11 11 ** 11 11
Velocity (m/s) 200 330 315 390 305 365 ** 1000 1200
Rcvr. mass (g) 76 235 600 537 1461 471 ** 932 1235
Barrel len. (cm) 7.00 13.2 16.4 18.3 20.3 19.8 ** 46.5 58.1
Barrel mass (g) 34 154 404 413 1012 402 ** 1624 2536
Malfunction I I I I I I ** I I
Heavy Weapons MMG HMG Cannon
Caliber (mm) 9.5 13 **
Power Level 9 10 **
DV 63 107 **
TL 12 12 **
Energy (J) 5176 20386 **
Max.RC 4/4 5/4 **
Round (g) 31.9 98.4 **
Propellant (g) 3.20 12.6 **
Projectile (g) 19.8 50.6 **
l/w 3:1 3:1 **
sg 11 11 **
Velocity (m/s) 725 900 **
Rcvr. mass (g) 1749 4149 **
Barrel len. (cm) 44.3 64.3 **
Barrel mass (g) 2550 7345 **
Malfunction I I **
* = this indicates the corresponding Shadowrun Power Level for the ammo
** = impossible to construct using these conversion rules.
*** = you must reduce the Damage Level by 1 to give the weapon +2 Power Level, and thereby the resulting normal Power Level of 9 for heavy pistols.
**** = you must reduce the Power Level by 2 to give the weapon +1 Damage Level, and thereby the resulting normal Power Level of 7 for LMGs.
MELEE WEAPONS
Design these for only one type of attack (cut, puncture, or blunt), and base the weapon's stats on that type of attack. For weapons that can be used with more than one attack type, use the highest DV to calculate the weapon's Shadowrun damage.
Power Level = 5 x log(DV) - 3
The result is added to the wielder's Strength Attribute Rating to find the actual Power Level.
WEAPON LENGTH DAMAGE LEVEL
0-30cm L
31-100cm M
101+ cm S
A blunt weapon does Stun damage, all other types do Physical damage.
More Guns! Conversions
All weapons from More Guns!, the weapons supplement for 3G3, are currently being converted to Shadowrun. It's not finished, so they're not here yet... Just hold on for a while.