Firearms in the worldship

So, the worldship is a weird setting, it’s a sword and planet setting, a sci-fi game dressed up as a fantasy game. Overall though I seek to maintain relevance to fantasy weapons in amongst more modern and alien weapons.

As most visitor encounters result in several weapons remaining behind I don't treat these weapons as magic item (in most cases). If I did treat them as magic weapons they would be swimming in magic items very early on in the game given the prevelence of these encounters in this setting. I role on the scavenging weapons tables in ACKs to determine the weapons condition when found leading to many being damaged. A side effect of this is technically these weapons can be enchanted, though I leave this up to players to do not include enchanted modern weapons in treasure tables.

In play I give some disadvantages to modern weapons. The main is noise, if they are used in a battle I give +1 to the next random encounter role in a dungeon. Also I “alert” neighbouring rooms, I check who is there and decide what they do to respond. This still leaves the silence advantage strongly in the court of bows and crossbows.

Also I apply a misfire rule draw from warhammer fantasy, on a natural unmodified roll of 1 or 1-3 the weapon can jam or explode. An explosion destroys the weapon and applies the shots damage role to the character firing the weapon. A jam causes the weapon to lock up and it requires a full turn to clean and repair the weapon outside combat.

They have many advantages, under my initiative rules an aimed shot gains a bonus to reducing the targets armor class. If you're not using those rules a simple -2 to the target's AC suffices. Many have access to the rapid fire rules from plasma rifles in Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu. The final main advantage is simply range, though in cramped corridors and buildings this is often of little use.

Their are three dominant technology levels on the worldship Gaumont, Terran and Visitor.

Gaumont technology

Gaumont is a renaissance era technology level, in the main they use sword and crossbow. But they have access to automatons that are custom build by craftsman that differentiate them for a standard fantasy empire. Firearms are built by these craftsmen, they use meteor powder as the propellant for their weapons, made of arcane powders and dusts concocted by alchemists that is highly explosive. This is bound with wax and paper into a shot cartridge with the bullet that is inserted down the barrel as a single object.

Their designs take strong influence from terran weapons and include rifling, but they still use breach loaded for its sturdy nature and perceived accuracy. While aware of clip based weapons they do not use them more out of cultural preference. With many fights quickly becoming close quarter melees they use these weapons more as an opening salvo before closing. They use a wheellock mechanism drawing on complex clockwork designs that has been perfected over centuries.

Gaumont firearms jam on a natural roll of 2-3 and must be cleared outside combat. On a natural 1 they explode, doing 1d8 damage to user. Cleaves can only occur if a character has multiple pistols loaded and available and has the fighting style proficiency to access the quickdraw feature of that proficiency.

Terran technology

Terran technology reflects technology of the modern world, slightly into the current future. They use chemical propellants, an artificial variant of meteor powder from the Gaumont empire that is more efficient but has similar effect. They use rifling and are breach loaded with ammunition clips. They jam on a natural roll of one and may cleave so long as ammo is in the clip.

The terran weapons and ammunition are deliberately expensive, representing rarity.

Visitor technology

Visitor weapons are Plasma based weapons in the main. They are presented in BCK and follow all rules within. As a house rule they have access to the armor penetration of other modern weapons in my setting and also benefit from cleaves limited to their clip.

Modern Weapon Summary Table

	Cost	Ammo/loading	Ammo cost	Damage	Range Inc.	Notes
Gaumont
Clockwork pistol	100	1/ Cartridge	1gp/shot	1d8	30'	Misfire (1 explode, 2-3 jam)
Clockwork rifle	300	1/ Cartridge	1gp/shot	1d8	70'	Misfire (1 explode, 2-3 jam)
Terran
Auto pistol	250	10/ Clip	5gp/shot	1d8	60'	Misfire (1 jam)
Submachine gun	500	20/ Clip	5gp/shot	1d8	60'	Rapid fire, Misfire (1 jam)
Auto rifle	600	30/ Clip	5gp/shot	1d10	140'	Rapid fire, Misfire (1 jam)
Visitor
Pistol	300	As crystal	1-5gp/shot	2d4	210'	None
Rifle	900	As crystal	3-30gp/shot	2d6	360'	Rapid fire

Structural Automatons

In building larger vehicles I have been struggling with the nature of hit points. The largest automatons can still be damages by a sword. Yet when I read the rules for Galleon SHP are used and these can only be damaged by specific sources. Also, Visitor vehicles in BCK follow an advanced form of SHP that makes them significantly more resilient than their hit dice implies, could such rules be applied to an Automaton?

Automatons cannot take immunities to weapons by their nature, they are not magical. But there is a logic to larger automatons potential being immune to normal sized weapons by being a large structure in nature. 

But this “bonus” should also come with a cost, Galleons have restrictions on repairs and movement. A vehicle of this nature would not be a standard automaton in nature. Also to consider, the vehicle rules used on flying saucers and balancing the differences between technological vehicles and automaton vehicles. 

What is SHP?

SHP is mentioned in the sea combat rules in the ACKS core rules and in domains at war. Here I am considering it more in terms of a galley rather than a fort. Under the standard rules a galley can be damaged by artillery (in full) in addition to Gigantic or larger creatures and magic at a rate of 1 damage per 5 hit points of normal damage. This sounds very similar to the visitor vehicle structure rules I explored in the Visitor Trader post. But repairing a galley in the field is limited to repairing 1 SHP per turn with 5 people and can only repair half the damage.

Repairing technological vehicles is not as difficult as repairing a galley. But then advanced material repair options would be available with Alien Parts that make this less concept breaking.

Damage to a galleon with SHP reduces its movement rate proportionately. As such any vehicle using SHP should have its speed reduced at some point, though calculating rates as damage is taken can be a pain in normal play so maybe a threshold would be easier.

Damage from magic weapons is tricky. Structures receive damage from specific sources, and personal scale weapons are not listed. But technology weapons are not considered either. As such I would say the rules I apply to technological vehicles would apply to a mundane structure, that being 1 damage per 5 for a personal scale technological weapon. A squad of visitors blasting at a stone wall with plasma rifles would certainly make a dint. But then in play fighting a flying saucer the question came up “would a magic arrow damage a flying saucer” they are magic but also a personal weapon. I ruled that magic weapons can do 1 damage per 10 to go a little way in between none and zero. This way mundane characters without technological weapons can do something against alien tech, but it’s still very little. I would only apply this rule to vehicles with SHP.

Overall, these rules should not apply to personal scale automatons, only the largest vehicles would have it available. But how large? Using my rule of 5 from the discussion on large sized automatons I would say the limit should be that required to get the maximum weight of an automaton in the gigantic category from L&E +1HD. That is 800 stone at 9HD lifted to 10HD giving 1,000 stone (7 Tons) or 10 HD for a normal automaton.

The Reinforced Structure ability (granting VHP)

As this is not quite the same as the SHP rules from domains at war and applies to automatons, I will refer to it as Vehicle Hit Points or VHP. Applying the rules for VHP to vehicles should be viewed as an optional rule as follows.

At its most basic this is a positive ability costing a full special (*) called reinforce structure. To take this ability the automaton must weigh over 1,000 stone or 7 tons. This grants the damage immunities as follows:

The reinforced structure of this automaton/vehicle is difficult to damage. Primitive personal weapons deal no damage as does any natural attack from creatures of huge size or smaller, though enchanted weapons deal 1/10th damage. Advanced technological weapons, natural attacks from gigantic creatures or larger and magic deal only 1/5th damage. All artillery or technological vehicle mounted weapons and spells that do direct SHP damage do full damage.

A vehicle with reinforced structure that takes up to half its hit points in damage is restricted in its movement and has its move rate reduced by half.

Automatons with reinforced structure can be repaired in the field only up to half their maximum hit points. This requires the assistance of 4 people in addition to the mechanist to perform but otherwise follows the same rules as repairing standard automatons. Full repairs can be performed in a workshop to the value of the automaton following the normal rules.

VHP vs THP

The following table summarises these resistances for SHP types into two categories for vehicle to represent two different tech levels. VHP is used to signify SHP used on a vehicle/automaton hit points. THP is for technological vehicle hit points used in Vistor vehciles.

Damage source	VHP	THP
Environmental	Full	None
Personal weapons - low tech	None	None
Personal weapons - enchanted	1/10	1/10
Personal weapons - tecnological	1/5	1/5
Artillary - Wood	Full	None
Artillary - Stone	Full	1/10
Artillary - Technological	Full	Full
Creature - Huge or smaller	None	None
Creature - Gigantic	1/5	1/10
Creature - Colossal	1/5	1/5
Magic - Spells	1/5	1/5
Magic - Spells doing SHP	Full	Full

Applying this to current automatons

This ability is easy to add to a current automaton build that weights over 1,000 stone as you are just adding a major ability. Given this is an optional rule consider the nature of the vehicle, this would logically apply to a tank, but should it apply to a wooden frame aircraft? Either way the current design just adds the following to hack this ability onto it:

• +5000 cost
• +5 days to build
• +1 difficulty to build

The Warrens of Mystery, Zone B

Continuing with the Warrens of Mystery, with over 200 rooms their is a lot to cover...

Zone A creates a natural bottleneck resulting in two choices - the door to the south and the open passageway to the west. In both my playthroughs players have opted to go west as their first choice (the open passage invites another step where a door is a choice), leaving the south door unopened.

This next zone, Zone B, I refer to as The Junction. At its centre is a crossroad on what my players have referred to as the top corridor. This natural passage on the top of the map allows players to quickly traverse multiple map zones to reach deeper into the warrens.

The theme here is Visitors. A small Visitor group have occupied most of the rooms in this area and seek to hack into the Vault in this region. They have a guard post setup right in the middle of the junction that allows them to control traffic through the top of the map. They can be reasoned with but tend to be hostile to Humans and Endjinns (their hated enemies that caused the worldship to crash).

My first group to play through this area went with open assault, attacking the group at location 1, then the reinforcements from 2 then 6 in a glorious rolling battle. They then advanced through to 4 and eliminated the leader. The second group set an ambush, quickly cleared the main group, and went north before reinforcements could arrive. Both groups had recovered the vault key from Zone A which opens the Vault on this map. I describe the vault entries as a 10ft square raised platform with a pedestal in the middle. Placing the key within opens a hole in the roof and activates this flying platform (as an elevator) that rises rapidly upwards and takes them to the Vault. Zone A and B effectively teach the players about the vaults and gives them an understanding of how finding and opening them works.

Modifying automatons (A.K.A. Junk Bots)

While most mechanists use blueprints and libraries to create perfect designs which they then inflict upon the world some choose a different path. Many have no grand design or form for their automatons and instead cobble together designs based of the works of others to create uniquely new and undocumented automatons. Often samples drawn from destroyed designs are used as insiration leading to cluttered and messy workshops full of broken and junked automatons in various states of disrepair.

Following these rules, a functional automaton must exist that is the primary recipient of the modification. The secondary design may be a sample (destroyed automaton that is usable as a blueprint) or an intact and functional automaton (that won't retain this status for long). If the secondary automaton is functional it becomes destroyed through the modification process and usable only as a sample in future projects. For secondary automatons that are already a destroyed sample they become unusable junk once the process is complete.

Through the modification process the mechanist “designs” a new automaton following the guidelines below, though no blueprint is created. Instead the primary automaton in the process is modified to reflect the nature of the new design. Once completed, this new automaton may be used as a sample for future projects and used as a “blueprint” under the normal rules for samples.

Step 1: Designing the modified automaton

A primary automaton and secondary automaton must be declared, these are the base models. The new hybrid design is referred to as the new design. Once the new design is approved by the judge the primary automaton will receive the changes to make it reflect the new design.

All three designs must have a HD that is equal to or less than twice the mechanist’s level. Additionally, they must all have a number of special abilities less than the mechanist’s level. 

Only special abilities from either of the base designs are available, though they may be removed or reduced as required. Either step through the full design principles or this simple approach from the crossbreeding rules framework:

Hit Dice: The new design must have a hit dice at or between the base models.

Movement: The mechanist may assign the new design the movement capabilities of either or both the primary or secondary automatons.

Armor Class: While the automatons base AC is determined by its Hit Dice it may take AC modifiers up to the maximum of either of the base models.

Attacks: The new design should be assigned the attacks of either or both progenitors. If either or both have restricted or no attacks this should be reflected. The final damage inflicted by the attacks will be scaled up proportionate to the increase in Hit Dice.

Special Abilities: The new design may have the special abilities of one, both, or none of its base models but may only draw on those present in the base models. 

The final design will not be converted into a blueprint but will still require judge approval and should reflect an addition to the primary design or a hybrid design to honour the nature of these rules. The build class level, build penalty time taken and cost should be determined as per a normal blueprint. No test is required to create this new design as a blueprint once created, it moves immediately to the modifying phase that consumes these progenitor automatons.

Step 2 Apply the modifications 

To complete the modification process the mechanist spends time in their workshop modifying the primary automaton to the new design through a build throw. This throw uses the following modifications to the normal build process, and failure destroys both automatons used and any additional parts:

Workshop: The mechanist must have a workshop suitable for the new design, with bonuses to their throw following the normal rules using the new designs full cost as the benchmark.

Cost: The cost increase from the primary design to the new design and reduction of the secondary design to sample or junked. 

Build throw penalty: From the new design. Additional quality materials may be expended through the modification to gain a bonus to the throw as per normal, the limit refers to the total cost of the new design.

Modification time: Half the time required to fully build the new design.

The "junk bot" house rule: Generous judges may allow the secondary design to be “in spirit” only. Using destroyed robots as inspiration for the new build to allow grafting of modern and old designs into a hideous amalgams of technology. The difficulty here is the robot being used was never built as an automaton so strong guidance is needed. I leave this one up to the judge.

Example build: Ballista mounted clockwork stevedore (B-POCS)

This takes the Clockwork Auto-Stabilizing Light Ballista and mounts it on a Pilot-operated Clockwork Stevedore (POCS). This gives an Aliens like power suit with an over the shoulder light ballista mount! Both are covered in machinery to the max, jump on the Autarch Patreon to grab a copy.

We allocate the POCS to the primary and the Ballista to the secondary.

We will use: 

Hit Dice: 5 hit dice, as the POCS.

Movement: as the POCS.

Armor Class: as the POCS.

Attacks: add Ranged attack (10’ multiplier) ##; remove Reduced attack (Half) ####.

I’m hoping that the extra damage covers us for the ballista… The added attack is - 

Attacks: 1 light ballista bolt (1d10 damage, +2 to hit, ROF 1/2, range 120’, effective damage 6). 

add Requires ammunition (light ballista bolts, 1lb/1gp count as an item) ## (not a full #### from the secondary automaton as it only applies to less than half the damage, yes I’m being tight here as its 6 damage not 7.5).

The POCS punch does 8, which is half 15 rounded up, so the full 15 will definitely fit that.

Special Abilities: No other changes applied. 

Final design:

Ballista Mounted Pilot-operated Clockwork Stevedore (B-POCS)

Hit dice: 5 (20 HP, save F3)

Armor class: 6 

Move: 60’ (20’)

Weight: 250 st. (1.8 ton)

Carry: 125 st. (1 passenger, ammunition for ballista)

Attacks: 1 fist (1d8) and 1 light ballista bolt (1d10 damage, +2 to hit, ROF 1/2, range 120’, effective damage 6). 

Positive abilities (total): Automaton immunities *, Increased AC (+3) ###, Passenger (1) #, Ranged attack (10’ multiplier) ##. (* #### ##)

Negative abilities (total): Requires ammunition (light ballista bolts, 1lb/1gp count as an item) ##, Requires operator (mechanist, learned or labor (stevedore)) *. (* ##) 

Cost (net abilities): 12,500 (####)

The upgraded B-POCS design can be built by a 3rd level machinist at a +3 build penalty taking 20 days with a base construction cost of 12,500gp.

The modification requires:

Workshop: to the value of 12,500 minimum.

Cost: 2,500 gp in mechanical materials, if the ballista is functional the remaining parts after modification grant the player a non-function sample for later use. 

Build throw penalty: a build throw at +3, modified by additional workshop value and quality materials.

Modification time: 10 days in the workshop (half the new design).

You now have an artillery mounted POCS perfect for those dungeon explorations where you open up with a ballista then wade into melee… Ahhh the joys of automatons in dungeon explorations.