Saturday, September 19, 2020

GURPS Demolitions: Custom Shrapnel

 GURPS Demolitions: Custom Shrapnel



Explosives are fun. Adventurers are always able to find things to blow up, such as Cthulhu spawn or a werewolf or a nazi tank. Except, in GURPS, the concussive force of the explosion runs out of steam very quickly. Man-portable charges are rarely lethal at 5 yards, let alone 10, so a person may feel discouraged when a big boom doesn't really kill anyone.

How is the issue resolved IRL? Well, one solid way to increase your explosive's lethality is to encase it into shrapnel-creating object. That's how a hand grenade is made - fragmenting shell and an explosive charge.

GURPS does not readily have rules for custom shrapnel explosives, but with the help of Kromm's post and Kalos's math affinity, there is now a way to create custom shrapnel for your satchel charge.

1) Take your explosives and figure out it's damage using rules on B414.
2) Gather shrapneling material.
3) Roll Explosives (Demolitions) to assemble the device. Success by 0 yields a device with up to 1:1 ratio of shrapnel and explosives. For example, 1 lb of C4 can have up to 1 lb of shrapnel, for total of 2 lb. This is equivalent to a pipe bomb in box on TS67.
For every success after 0th, you can decrease the amount of explosive needed by 5%, or increase amount of shrapnel by 5%. Maximum ratio is 19:1, with only 5% of the device being explosives. This is equivalent to factory made aircraft bombs!
4) Calculate shrapnel damage using this formula: 
x^1/3*2.35, result in dice
x=shrapnel material weight in lbs
5) Record the device's statblock: It's explosive damage, it's shrapnel damage and weight of the device.

Example:
A Werewolf Hunter wants a handmade explosive that launches silver shrapnel but doesn't explode too hard.
He takes 1 lbs of Liquid Explosive Foam (REF 1.1) and prepares a smithy to forge silver casing.
He rolls Demoliton (Explosives) and succeeds by 9, creating a very-well designed device with explosive content of only 5%.

If he wants to, he can create a 2 lbs portable satchel, with 0.1 explosive and 1.9 shrapnel material.
1.9^1/3*2=2.47 or 2d+2, see box on HT166
End result: Dmg 4d [2d+2] cr ex, Wt. 2 lbs

If he wants to, he can encase 1 lbs of explosives in 19 lbs of shrapnel, retaining the 19:1 ratio.
19^1/3*2=5.33 or 5d+1
End result: 26d+1 [5d+1] cr ex, or 6dx4+8 [5d+1] cr ex, Wt. 20 lbs.

Optional rule: Involving explosive's REF
If you have noticed, shrapnel damage has no relation to how much damage the explosive outputs, or it's REF. Folks in the thread that the Krommpost is from insist that it is realistic.

If you believe otherwise, feel free to divide the final weight of explosive filler by it's REF. Assume everything above was said about REF 1 explosive.

For example, you assemble a device that is 1 lb shrapnel and 1 lb REF 1 explosives for a total of 2 lb. If you use REF 1.4 plastic explosive instead, you only need 0.7 lbs of it to achieve the same result as 1 lb REF 1 charge. The device's final weight is 1.7 lbs when using plastique. One must be careful with this optional rule, as it allows miniscule amounts of explosive (like REF 5 Fuel-Air mixture) propel teeth-shattering amount of shrapnel. Alternatively, an unskilled person can make more effective bombs if they just use a higher REF explosive.

Notice, the damage from the explosion is STILL related to the weight of explosive. Using less explosives means the explosive damage is reduced as well. This only allows you to further reduce explosive to shrapnel ratio.

Friday, September 18, 2020

GURPS Firearm: ALFA .357 Magnum, UK-Legal Muzzleloading Caplock Revolver

 GURPS Firearm: ALFA .357 Muzzleloading Caplock Revolver


Ah, United Kingdom. Homeland of tea parties, colonialism and quirky weirdos who save the world from weekly calamities (that mostly happen in London). They also have great gun laws that allow one to own such beautiful handguns like these:



Just kidding about the last one. But yeah, handgun ownership in UK is not the same as it was at the start of 20th century. Doctor Watson had to turn his Webley in, and his modern counterpart from Sherlock is straight up breaking the law as he runs around modern-day London shooting an illegal, smuggled in SIG P226. None the less, inventive people exist, and they readily find loopholes in the law to permit their fellow countrymen to enjoy handgun shooting like proper gentlemen.

Meet ALFA Series .357 Muzzleloading Revolver

ALFA .357 begins it's life as bona-fide cased cartridge .357 Magnum revolver, built in a Czech factory. It's relatively unknown, and is built for civilian market. The magic happens when it's almost complete. A number of ALFA .357s are sent on to a small, grassroots manufacturer in UK without a cylinder - technically not a firearm since it cannot chamber or shoot anything. The manufacturer, Westlake Engineering, assembles their own cylinder, but not a typical one. This cylinder operates on a caplock design, like early TL5 revolvers of the Wild West, requiring all the proper stuff of filling the slots with powder, pressing a bullet in, sealing it with a cap, etc, the difference being - it uses smokeless powder and modern .357 projectiles. This is an ingenious design, as UK gun laws do not regulate the length of muzzleloading firearms, allowing to dispose of weird shoulder things and to have any conceivable barrel lengths.

This weapon is LC3 in UK, being legally a muzzleloader, only requiring a basic firearms permit to own. The weapon has to be registered, alongside any spare cylinders, and the license usually holds up to 5 items, allowing for 1 Revolver and 4 spare cylinders. Spare cylinders are costly, usually no less than $250, Wt 0.3, but the weapon itself comes with two - one in gun, one spare.

Performance-wise, recommended loadings output behavior on par with .38 Spc. While the revolver itself is able to sustain .357 loads, the cylinder is less reliable - if using .357 Magnum loadings, Malf 16. Available projectiles are Solid and Hollow-Base Wadcutter (Treat as Solid and Hollow Point, respectively). WPS and CPS remain the same as with cased cartridges, use either .38 Spc or .357 Magnum values depending on load.

Weapon comes in 4 barrel lengths:
6" - In table
4" - 2d pi, bulk -2,  Wt 2.1/0.3
3" - 2d-1 pi, bulk -1, Wt 1.9/0.3
2" - 2d-1 pi, bulk -1, Wt 1.8/0.3

Magnum loadings:
6" - In table
4" - 3d-1 pi
3" - 2d+2 pi, rcl 5, ST 11
2" - 2d+2 pi, rcl 5, ST 11

Reloading is the same as for all cap&ball revolvers, (10i). Speedloaders are impossible. On the bright side, the cylinder is not held in place, so it can be swapped out rather quickly. Shooter can pre-load all of his cylinders at home and simply swap them out as the firefight goes.

1: Swing the cylinder out
2: Remove the cylinder and discard it. Keeping it is an extra Ready maneuver.
3: Draw a spare cylinder
4: Insert the cylinder onto it's base
5: Swing the revolver closed

In short, it's a solid piece for a civilian UK gun owner, something to defend yourself from a robbery, or while investigating a murder mystery. The weapon can come with a mount for sights and other improvements for sporting use, making fine (accurate) variants available. Do note that UK frowns upon any self-defense, armed or not, so consult your GM regarding all this, and don't use my advice on the matter IRL.
.gcs file (4.2)

Credits to Kalos for helping me figure out the damages and range of this thing.

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

GURPS Homebrew: Binary Trigger Pack

 

GURPS Homebrew: Binary Trigger Pack Gunsmithing Option



We all watched the movies or played the games where a brave commando fires his gun full auto, destroying his enemies in droves as an inspirational battle track plays in the background. That's how many people got into guns as a hobby, even. Similar to how many car enthusiasts started enjoying cars after seeing an F1 grand prix.

And while car owners can still head over to the racing track with their street cars and break a few limits while drifting a few corners, civilian gun owners are forbidden by law to own a weapon capable of automatic fire, sans some exceptions. And so, weapon engineers set out to find a loophole in the law and assemble a legal device that would give a civilian firearm a semblence of automatic fire. 

And the loophole was, your firearm must fire only once per trigger pull. But trigger release is not mentioned.




Binary Trigger Pack (TL8)
$400, neg, LC3
This device replaces standard safe-semi trigger and fire control group with safe-semi-binary. While the weapon functions as normal in safe-semi modes, the new binary mode functions unlike any other firearm. In binary mode, when you pull the trigger, a bullet is fired. Then, when you release the trigger, another bullet is fired. Effectively, a weapon fires twice per trigger pull! Treat it as 2-round Limited Burst (HT83). Due to the system's unique behavior, those unfamiliar with a firearm that has it suffer an extra -2 familiarity penalty (-4 total) to Guns skill. The second shot's discharge can be canceled by moving safety selector to semi or safe while the trigger is held down (Ready maneuver or free with Lightning Fingers).

These devices only work with semiautomatic weapons, and each one is designed for specific system (AR15, Glock, H&K G3 etc), but designs are available for virtually all popular semi-automatic firearms, including rifles, pistol caliber carbines (civilian SMGs), semiautomatic shotguns and pistols as well. Installation is treated as Adding Accessories (TS68) and is a Complicated process. The weapon's ROF changes to 6 and it operates as if it has 2-shot Limited Burst (HT83).

This design originates in the USA and in majority of states it is an LC3 device, although some states have moved to independently ban it, making a firearm with binary trigger an LC2 weapon. Outside of the US, such designs are rare and most jurisdictions do not include the same loophole as US gun laws, making the item itself LC2. Despite that, due to design's novelty, one can still try to import and install it, since laws seldom have provisions to forbid it. A good lawyer is recommended still.

In situations where law is of no concern, such device could be part of a unique weapon, or used by folks who need firepower, but are unable to acquire actual automatics. It is also much safer to install on a firearm than trying to convert it to full-auto via homemade measures, and limited RoF ensures the gun doesn't beat itself to death.

Friday, August 14, 2020

GURPS Cinematic Medicine WIP Draft 2

 Cinematic medicine




Medicine. The art of making your fellow man feel better, recover from ailments, resume proper operation.

Cinematography. The art of framing events and scenes in an exciting, beautiful fashion.

Cinematic Medicine. Portrayal of medical work in an exciting and beautiful fashion.

It came to me one day that GURPS 4e medicine is boring. There are a dozen ways to lose those virtual hit points, but barely any ways to restore them. All of the medical involves rolling one (or two) skills checks and then waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

This absolutely kills any sort of game where violence is the point of the fun, as the party on a bad day may suffer so much damage that, despite winning and surviving, they wont be able to continue the plotline until they spend a month recovering in a high tech clinic. And if there's none, you can shut the game down. It's especially awful if only part of the player team gets messed up - everyone's rushing into action, but Billy Bob can't!

I was utterly baffled that even Action series had no solution to this, so I decided to invent my own. Enter Cinematic Medicine.

This entire system has 3 goals in mind. First, portray cinematic medicine - people recover quickly, in a surprising way, in a dramatic fashion. Second, coat it up with veneer of realism. Third, make playing the group's medic a more exciting and tactical task.

The system is, technically, cinematically realistic. Most of the written concepts have barely any connection to real life, but the system pretends really hard that they do, as should you when you see a group of commandos in the Amazon forest stitching up their bullet wounds, or when an old grizzled vigilante escapes from the hospital after taking a miracle super drug that will hurt him badly, but not before the big bad guy is defeated and the baby is rescued.

Main inspiration for this system are video games, namely ArmA series, Escape From Tarkov, Far Cry. Grittier movies, especially medical dramas, have also influenced this article.

The system is suitable for games that follow Basic Set's Heroic Realism, although it might just be one cinematic thing in an otherwise Gritty Realism game. It's main effect is to speed up injury recovery of PCs without affecting their combat survivability too much. Guns still kill, people still drop, and if there is no medicine or no medics nearby, nobody can help you.

Rule specifications:

Repeated attempts - Are in play, cumulative -1 per failed attempt. Reset by success or by waiting a "reasonable" (for example, until next scene) amount of time to reconsider the issue.

Time spent - Is in play, as per B346. Perk Efficient (PU2:16) is available for all medical skills.

Other rules - Work as written, unless explicitly contradict the system. Medical equipment, drugs, etc function as written unless they explicitly contradict the system. Blood-stopping equipment works x5 as fast.

Skills

Diagnosis (B187) - Skill of identifying various medical issues with the patient. Other medical skills cover most common issues such as flu, heartstop or broken leg. In such cases, diagnosis can serve as complimentary skill (+1 on success, +2 on critical success, -1 on failure, -2 on critical failure). This is in addition to to the effects listed under Diagnosing an illness. Example, success on Diagnosis roll of Common Flu provides Physician+1 to treat it. Critical success provides +2, and any successful treatment is considered Critical Success.

In uncommon cases, Diagnosis is required to do any treatment at all. GM discretion regarding what is considered uncommon.
  • Diagnosing an illness: On Success, the illness is identified and treatment can proceed as normal. Critical Success means that any successful treatment is treated as Critical SuccessFailure means the diagnostician is baffled and no treatment may happen, but repeated attempts are possible. Critical Failure means the patient is misdiagnosed and any treatment is treated as Critical Failure.
Fast-Draw (Medical Equipment) (B194) - Quickly draw and prepare medical equipment for use. On Success, If the treatment is under a minute in length, reduce the time needed by 1 second. If the treatment is over a minute, reduce it by 10%. Failure means treatment continues as normal. Critical Failure means you drop the tools, which either means needing to pick them up or to re-sterilize and clean them which takes 1 minute per margin of failure. GM discretion indicates when sterile tools are needed, but usually the answer is always. Using dropped tools without sterilization prompts Infection (B444).

First Aid (B195) - Skill of emergency, low-invasion treatment. Concerns usage of Paramedical tools and techniques. Mostly concerns treatment of HP loss.

Physician (B213) - Skill of advanced therapeutic medical care, short and long term. Concerns usage of diagnostic tools and drugs that treat complicated illnesses. Mostly concerns treatment of Afflictions. Physician skills includes all the knowledge and abilities of First Aid skills. Any First-Aid Action can be executed by Physician skill instead.

Professional Skill (Paramedic) (B215) - IQ-based professional skill of operating as an EMT, combat medic and other paramedical staff. It's main and only use within this system is to Treat Affliction like a physician. It does NOT perform any other medical tasks and does NOT substitute First-Aid. Defaults to Physician+0, IQ-5.

Surgery (B223) - Skill of advanced invasive medical care. Concerns usage of tools, drugs and equipment to directly manipulate internal organs in order to repair them. Mostly concerns treatment of crippling.

Soldier (B221) - Skill of basic military training. Concerns usage of tools that a soldier is familiar with but does not have the training in the tool's main skill. Mostly concerns the use of injectors.

Medical Treatment:

First Aid:


Tech Level

Time per patient

HP Restored

0-1

30 min

1d-4

2-3

30 min

1d-3

4

30 min

1d-2

5

20 min

1d-2

6-7

20 min

1d-1

8

10 min

1d

9

10 min

1d+1
  • Bandaging - It takes 12 seconds (5 times less than Basic Set indicates) to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. This restores 1 HP. Using the bleeding rule (B420), someone who's wounded but receives a successful First Aid roll within 1 minute of Injury loses no HP to bleeding. A later roll will prevent further HP loss.
  • Treating lost HP - Use a medical kit to recover HP lost to trauma. 
    Roll against First-Aid and expend 1 use of the medical kit. On Success, heal HP equal to HP restored on First-Aid Table (B424) per 1 use. Critical Success heals maximum possible HP per charge. Consult the same table for the time needed to provide first aid. Failure means the charge and time are spent, but patient doesn't heal.Critical Failure spends charges and time, but causes no healing and the patient loses 2 HP.

    You can treat lost HP of a single character as many times in a row as desired, expending further charges of the medical kit.
  • Restoring consciousness - If a character is unconscious but is not below -1xHP threshold, he can be forcefully awoken via pain stimuli (such as the sternum rub or clavical rub). Roll First Aid. On Success, the patient receives an HT roll to instantly awaken and suffers -4 shock penalty on his next turn. The patient continues to act as appropriate for his current HP level.

    If patient is on painkillers, or has High Pain Threshold, this maneuver is less likely to succeed. Add drug's pain reduction as a penalty on first aid roll. High Pain Threshold gives -4. On the other hand, Low Pain Threshold gives +4 to the attempt, and any drugs that intensify the pain add their penalty as a bonus for this maneuver.

    It takes 1 second to execute the maneuver once the patient is in reach (meaning you must crouch or kneel to reach a lying patient), but any rigid torso armor increases the time to 2.

  • Resuscitation - Any character that has died as a result of anything other than Instant Death (B423) and has HP no worse than -10xHP can be resuscitated within 10 minutes of death.

    Make a first aid roll, at -1 per full multiple of patient's HP below zero (10 HP patient with -40 HP gives -4 to First Aid Roll). Another -5 if you're not using medical equipment! One attempt takes as much time as treating injury at your TL. Attempt with medical equipment/drugs expends 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific Medicine.

    On Success, the patient is alive, but is considered mortally wounded (B423).
    Critical Success means the patient is not only alive, but is simply suffering from injury - restoring HP is enough to treat the condition.
    Failure means the attempt has failed. You can repeat it as long as the patient wasn't dead for more than 10 minutes, including time spent resuscitating him.
    Critical Failure means the attempt has failed and the patient is lost. No further mundane resuscitation attempts are possible.

  • Administer Treatment - Any treatment under Physician entry is possible to be provided by First Aid. A Physician roll diagnoses the issue and prescribes treatment, which can then be passed on to a less trained medic. 

    Roll First-Aid to administer treatment, expending appropriate uses of Medicine Bag or specific medicine. Roll is at -2 if you're following a checklist, medical book or internet search instead of orders of a present Physician. Without any sort of guidance, treatment is impossible.

    Critical Success, Success, Failure, Critical Failure, Time Spent and other are as per the treatment entry.

    This allows one Physician to issue out multiple orders to nurses and paramedics to treat large number of patients.

Physician:
  • Remove Affliction - Roll Physician and expend 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific medicine to remove the effect of any affliction listed on B428-B429. Time required is equal to Time Per Patient entry for your TL on First Aid table. This also covers temporary disadvantages gained as a result of an attack, such as Blindness as a result of tear gas, but not temporary disadvantages gained as part of crippling, or as a secondary effect of injury, such as blindness as a result of eye crippling. In case of drugs and other items that give both positive effect and a negative temporary disadvantage/affliction, removing affliction also ceases positive effect.

    Usually, medicine can only treat mundane afflictions, or afflictions with mundane effect, for example a spell of intense light causing blindness by light overload. At GM's discretion, if the effect is purely magical, Remove Affliction fails - mainly in cases of directly giving a disadvantage, or attacks with cosmic modifier. For example, a spell might blind someone by creating magical fog around the eye itself, in such cases medicine is powerless.

    On Success, the affliction is removed until the origin of the affliction is applied again, such as another dose of poison or another cycle of the illness (B442). Removing affliction is impossible without at least improvised equipment.

    Failure means the medicine had no effect and it's use is still expended

    Critical Failure means the wrong medicine was chosen, or patient had allergic reaction. Medicine had no effect, one use is expended and patient suffers 2 HP of toxic damage.

  • Treat Illness - Roll physician and expend 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific medicine to treat illness, poisoning and other effects that have cyclic, long term nature. On Success, add your margin of success to your patient's HT roll for this cycle. If the patient succeeds on his HT roll, he is cured. The treatment is administered once per cycle and time it takes is equal to Time Per Patient entry for your TL on First Aid Table.

    Critical Success on Physician roll means the patient automatically succeeds his next HT roll to shake off the illness.

    Failure
     on your Physician roll, the medicine had no effect and the patient has to rely on his own HT.

    Critical Failure means the wrong medicine was chosen or patient is not receptive to treatment. Add your margin of failure to Patient's next cycle HT roll.
  • Treat Toxic and Corrosive Damage - Roll Physician and expend 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific medicine to remove HP damage caused by illness, poison and the like. 

    One use heals as much damage as listed on First Aid Table on your TL, but healing may never exceed the toxic/corrosive damage dealt to character - it doesn't fix broken bones or bullet wounds alongside treating sickness. Failure and Critical Failure are as for Remove Affliction.


Surgery

  • Stabilizing a mortal wound (B423) - Each attempt takes as long as Time Per Patient of your TL. Roll Surgery, at -2 if the patient is -3xHP or worse, or -4 if the patient is -4xHP or worse. Lack of tools applies appropriate penalties! 

    On Success, patient continues to act as indicated by his current HP and only requires his HP to be restored. On Failure, the patient is still mortally wounded, and further attempts to stabilize are at -2 per attempt. Critical Failure means the patient dies.
  • Repairing lasting crippling injuries - To repair a lasting crippling injury, roll 1d. This is how many hours the surgery will last.

    On Success, the limb is repaired and any HP lost from the crippling is restored. The crippled limb will fully heal after normal sleep cycle of bed rest (8 hours for an average human). If the limb is used before rest, patient suffers -4 shock penalty on any actions that utilize or affect the limb (such as standing for legs). High Pain Threshold and other pain suppressants work as normal.

    Critical Success treats the limb, and it is ready for use right away.
    Failure means the surgery did not fix the limb, but further attempts are possible.
    Critical Failure makes the injury permanent.
  • Repairing permanent crippling injuries - As above, except duration of the surgery is 12 man/hours and has penalty of -3 to skill. 

    On Failure, patient must have bed rest for 1d days before another attempt is made. 

    Critical failure makes further attempts impossible. GM should carefully appraise which permanent injuries can be healed at specific tech levels and circumstances, especially in a field setting.
  • Self-Surgery - a surgeon can perform surgery on himself! Unless properly anesthetized or possessing High Pain Threshold, he suffers maximum shock penalty to his surgery roll with up to -6 for injuries in awkward places.
Hospital Stay And Long Term Care:

Based on the above, virtually any injury can be healed within a day of intense work by medical professionals. Because of that, cinematic hospital stay is often extremely short and most of it is due to medical professionals wanting to make sure the condition does not return and complications wont arise. A patient may choose to escape from a hospital if he does not want to wait for the entire duration of treatment (usually 1 week), which usually carries no penalties beyond anger of the medics.

In case of insurance, paid medicine or psychiatric help, escaping from the medics may cause them to pursue you in order to make you pay your bills or continue treatment. May involve automatic weapons.

If the GM believes that a specific condition or injury needs an extended stay to actually heal, he sets the length of time needed to cure the affliction and the date of check out at his discretion.

Medical equipment and drugs

Kit/Bag Sizes:
Small - 4/4 uses, only covers issues that do not require Diagnosis roll. $20, 1 lb.
Medium - 10/10 uses. +1 (Quality) to Skill Roll the equipment was designed for. $50, 2 lb.
Large - 20/20 uses. +2 (Quality) to Skill Roll the equipment was designed for. $200, 10 lb.

First Aid Kits (FAKs) - Equipment designed for First Aid skill.
  • Crash Kit (TL8, HT221) - Heavy paramedic bag, may come in a variety of forms. Counts as Medium First Aid Kit and Medium Physician kit. Improvised Surgical equipment. Gives +2 (Quality) to first aid.
  • Military First Aid Kit (TL8, P3-57:14) - Pouch-sized medical kit for soldiers, sometimes has controlled substances. Counts as Small First Aid Kit of +1 (Quality) with 4/4 uses. 
    Includes tourniquets for rapid blood-loss stop.
  • Large First Aid Kit (Homebrew) - Medically marked duffel bag/backpack containing equipment to treat large number of wounded in emergency or combat situations. Sometimes carried alongside a Crash Kit. +2 (Quality) to First Aid. 20/20 uses. 10 lbs, $200.
Medicine Bags - Equipment designed for Physician and Diagnosis Skill
  • Small Medicine Bag - A pouch or small bag with pill blister packs, something that hikers, soldiers or chronically ill carry with them at all times. $20, 1 lb, 4/4 uses.
  • Military Individual Medicine Kit (Homebrew) - A small plastic container with injectors filled with medicine for common battlefield conditions such as pain, shock, diarrhea, hyperthermia, vomiting or chemical weapon attack. A paper checklist is attached to the internal side that describes each injector and it's use. Soldier-2, First-Aid-2 or Physician+0 to use it for conditions that do not require Diagnosis roll. Counts as small Medicine Bag, $100, 2 lb, 4/4 uses. 
  • Medium Medicine Bag (Homebrew) - Common medicine bag for a variety of conditions that many keep at home in case of an emergency. $50, 2 lbs, 10/10 uses.
  • Doctor's bag (TL5, HT221) - A heavy doctor's bag, similar to crash kit but is often more fashionable. Counts as +1 (Quality) equipment for Physician/Diagnosis, Improvised Surgical Kit and +1 (Quality) First Aid kit. Counts as Medium First Aid Kit and Medium Medicine Bag.
  • Large Medicine Bag (Homebrew) - Portable pharmacy that includes majority of drugs on the "vital drugs" list of the country of origin. Usually made of solid material to prevent damage to vials and such inside of it. $200, 10 lbs, 20/20 uses.
Other medical equipment:
  • Combat Tourniquet (TL8) (P3-57:14) - An emergency blood stopping device that quickly stops bleeding by compressing the affected vessel closed. Combat version gives +2 to First Aid to stop bleeding and takes 2 ready maneuvers to apply once in hand.
    Modern Clip Tourniquet (TL8) is a plastic lock with a non-slipping strap, medic must wrap it around limb and connect the lock closed, then pull the strap to tighten (2 ready maneuvers, but requires two hands) +1 to Stop Bleeding, $15, 0.1 lb.
    Simple Disposable Tourniquet (TL6) is a rubber strap that has to be wrapped around the limb and tied off manually, requiring multiple layers for effective hold (4 ready maneuvers, requires two hands). Improvised tourniquets are applied the same, but rubber sticks to the limb better, making it easier to pull off (-1 if using an improvised tourniquet)
  • Splint (TL0) (LT146) - Long plank or similar object with attachment points for straps to immobilize broken limb and prevent further damage to the bone and tissue. TL8 versions are folding, compact and light 0.5 lbs, $100 for one limb. Any limb with lasting crippling can be splinted and then used as normal, but the patient suffers their maximum shock penalty whenever the limb is used. At the end of any combat, or once an hour of a long task in which the limb was used (such as marching), roll HT. Any failure makes the crippling permanent.
Drugs - The system uses standard drugs present on LT150, BT148, HT226, B440 etc. 
  • Cinematic Painkillers and High Pain Threshold - When utilizing painkillers and analgesics, apply the reduction of pain penalty to shock penalty as well! High Pain Threshold works as normal and any drug that gives High Pain Threshold advantage also reduces pain penalty by -4, alongside halving it.
  • New Drug: Trauma Analgesic (TL7) - High strength analgesic for treatment of medium to severe pain such as broken bones, such as tramadol. Is weaker than Morphine but with less side effects. HT-4 to resist, on failure removes -4 pain penalty and grants user laziness advantage for Margin of Failure in tens of minutes. Still highly addictive. $10/Dose.
  • Medicine Delivery - Depending on delivery method, drugs are easier or harder to apply and kick in right away or after delay. Drugs and medicine may be available in for purchase in these forms:
    Pills, gels, applicables - Easy to apply, but take time to be absorbed by the body. Effect arrives after time per patient of drug's TL. No extra cost and no roll.
    Injectable liquids (TL5) - Vials of drugs that need to be delivered via an injector, usually a hypodermic needle. It takes 1 minute to choose dosage, prepare syringe and find an injection site (not covered by anything) to deliver the drug, as well as a Professional Skill (Paramedic) or Physician roll. Once injected, the drug activates instantly. Hypodermic syringes are not designed to hold drugs for long, so pre-filling is not common. No extra cost.
    Syrette (TL6) - A toothpaste tube-like sealed container that ends with a protected needle. Dose is set at the factory, so a physician only needs to remove the cap, find an injection site (not covered by anything), optionally disinfect it, apply the needle and empty the tube - 4 (5) ready maneuvers. Requires Physician or Professional Skill (Paramedic) to apply. +$10 to price, neg
    Autoinjector (TL8) - A plastic tube with colorful instructions on the side, uses either needle on a spring or compressed air to deliver the drug automatically. After Soldier or First Aid roll,  it takes 1 second to remove the cap and activate the mechanism, 1 second to apply to injection area (penetrates 1 DR of clothes) and 1 second for the mechanism to inject the drug. +$20, 0.1 lbs. Variant with audio instructions has +2 (Quality), is as loud as a normal conversion and adds +$50 cost.
    Contact Agents (TL7) - Usually sprays that either work on contact with injury (such as quick acting analgesics sprays for sore throat) or penetrate the skin and enter the blood stream without injection. Any clothing stop it. No roll needed. +$50 to cost, 0.1 lbs
  • Using syringes as a weapon - Treat syringe as a reach C, no parry, 1d6-4 (2) pi- Knife (DX-4). Whatever drug is inside acts as a follow-up to the attack, as long as it dealt at least 1 point of damage. Syringe is not designed for combat, so on a roll of 12 or above the needle breaks or the dosage is wasted. Same happens if the attack is parried. A safer alternative is to grapple an enemy and attempt to hold him still for injection. Once grappled, attempt a grappling skill or ST vs Grappling skill, ST or DX quick contest. If the attacker wins, he injects the defender with the syringe, otherwise the syringe breaks or the dosage is wasted.

Medical Workflow:

Differential Diagnostics and Treating An Illness.

Dr. Shed gathers his team of diagnosticians and presents them a case of a patient with certain symptoms. Dr. Shed and his team make complimentary Physician/Diagnosis rolls as they argue about the case. At the end of the meeting, Dr. Shed makes a Physician/Diagnosis roll, modified by everyone's complimentary skill checks.

The roll fails, so Dr. Shed orders tests done. His team executes them using Physician, Physiology, Pharmacy etc, nurses assist them with First Aid and Electronic Operation (Medical) skills. Each roll counts as complimentary.

The team returns to Dr. Shed with test results and they run another differential, combining test result bonuses with new theories (Physician/diagnosis rolls).

Dr. Shed shuts them all up and stares off into the distance as he makes his Physician/Diagnosis roll. He succeeds, prescribes treatment and orders his team to deliver it.

On Critical Success, the treatment is extremely effective, but unconventional, so ever-present Dean of Medicine Dr. Muddy is objecting. Now the team has to somehow bypass this obstacle.

Monday, August 3, 2020

GURPS Basic Set Vehicular Combat Cheatsheet

GURPS Basic Set Vehicular Combat Cheatsheet


A lot of people want to know how vehicles work in GURPS - most people don't! In fact, there are at least three systems for vehicles and vehicular combat within GURPS, and as far as I can tell the Basic Set one is the least popular. I found that rather upsetting, so I ran a few one shots and campaign sessions using Basic Set vehicle rules and it ended up being a very interesting, fun experience. Very tactical.

And to assist me with that, I made a cheatsheet. It covers basic vehicular rules from Basic Set, as well as ground vehicle specifics. It doesn't cover aerial and water combat fully, but that may change later. For now, consult Basic Set - Campaigns for details.

Using cars in tactical combat, especially in a gunfight, can give PCs needed boost and force multiplier against overwhelming foes, or create a boss-type enemy for modern realistic campaigns.

I urge everyone to review and comment with your suggestions and corrections, as when I made it I felt like I missed something, but then forgot what it is and then successfully used the sheet quite a few times, so it seems that I now need public assistance with correcting it.

Sunday, July 26, 2020

GURPS Firearm: Taurus Judge, .410G 3" and .45LC

Taurus Judge, 3" cylinder, 3" barrel

Popular in movies, videogames and among US gun owners, this revolver can fire both .45 Long Colt and .410G Shotshells and slugs thanks to it's shallow-rifled barrel. US Federal Law classifies it as a handgun. Produced in a few variants, among most common are: 3" cylinder 3" barrel model (in the table), 2.5" cylinder model (can only use 2.5" .410G Shotshells) and 6" barrel (acc 2, bulk -3, 45 LC dmg 2d+1 pi+, .45 S&W dmg 1d+2 pi+). 3" cylinder 6" barrel variants are also available.

Among many ammo types it can fire are these:
.45 LC - In table
.45 S&W - Dmg 1d+1 pi+, rcl 3, ST 10 
.410G 3" 00 Buckshot - In table
.410G 3" Slug - dmg 3d-1 pi+, acc 1, range 100/1,200, rcl 4.
.410G 3" 0000 Buckshot - 1d+2 pi, RoF 3x3
.410G 2.5" #5 Buckshot - Dmg 1d-4 (0.5) pi-, range 10/220, RoF 2x204
.410G 2.5" 00 Buckshot - RoF 3x3
.410G 2.5" Slug - dmg 2d+1 pi+, acc 1, range 100/1,200, rcl 4.

Custom speed-loaders are available at TL8(HT155) and fit all calibers the Judge can fire.

TL8 Improved Buckshot (TS78) adds up to 2 extra pellets into .410 muti-projectile shells.

Use Guns (Pistol) when firing pistol cartridges and .410G slugs. Use Guns (Shotgun) when firing .410G.





GURPS Firearm: Saiga-410K-01 in .410G 3"

Top: Saiga-410K-01 with 16" barrel and full body folding stock
Bottom: Saiga-401K-04 with 14" barrel and skeletonized folding stock 



Produced since 1994, Saiga-410K-01 is a civilian variant of AK74M chambered for .410G 3" shotgun shells. Designed for civilian gunowners and legally classified as a shotgun, it's an easy to acquire self-defense and hunting weapon. In countries that restrict rifles, but not shotguns, it can serve as a primary longarm for a party of civilians. Folding stock allows comfortable transportation, while dovetail accessory side-mount allows installation of optical, night and collimating sights. Most accessories designed for AK74M can fit on it.

Saiga-410K-04 is based on AK-105 instead and is slightly handier. Due to Russia's gun laws regarding weapon length, 410K-04 cannot fire with it's stock folded.

Both variants are primarily used with 3" Magnum Rifled Slugs (in table), but 00 buckshot is available (dmg 1d+1 pi, acc 3, range 40/800, RoF 3x5, rcl 1) as well as 2.5" #5 Buckshot (Dmg 1d-4 (0.5) pi-, acc 3, range 10/220, RoF 3x204, rcl 1). 2.5" slug (Dmg 2d+1 pi+) and buckshot (Dmg 1d+1 pi, RoF 3x3) are rather anemic.

Saiga-410K feeds from plastic detachable 10- or 15-round magazines. 15-round magazines often have a rudimentary 10-round limiter, which can be removed in 1 minute without any tools.

Saiga-410K has sound signature of 150 db and can use shotgun suppressors(-2 to hearing).
Made for civilians, it has no bayonet lug and cannot fit grenade launchers designed for the AK family.

A gunsmith can modify the shotgun to fire automatically. Unfavorable Task (-1), Time: 12 hours, RoF 6!, Malf -16. See TS69 for more information.

It is also possible to modify the 410K-04 variant to fire with stock folded. Use the same rules as for converting the weapon to full auto.

Uses Guns (Shotgun) or Guns (Longarm) skill.



Friday, March 27, 2020

GURPS Cinematic Medicine WIP Draft 1

Cinematic medicine



Medicine. The art of making your fellow man feel better, recover from ailments, resume proper operation.

Cinematography. The art of framing events and scenes in an exciting, beautiful fashion.

Cinematic Medicine. Portrayal of medical work in an exciting and beautiful fashion.

It came to me one day that GURPS 4e medicine is boring. There are a dozen ways to lose those virtual hit points, but barely any ways to restore them. All of the medical involves rolling one (or two) skills checks and then waiting, and waiting and waiting...

This absolutely kills any sort of game where violence is the point of the fun, as the party on a bad day may suffer so much damage that, despite winning and surviving, they wont be able to continue the plotline until they spend a month recovering in a high tech clinic. And if there's none, you can shut the game down. It's especially awful if only part of the player team gets messed up - everyone's rushing into action, but Billy Bob can't!

I was utterly baffled that even Action series had no solution to this, so I decided to invent my own. Enter Cinematic Medicine.

This entire system has 3 goals in mind. First, portray cinematic medicine - people recover quickly, in a surprising way, in a dramatic fashion. Second, coat it up with veneer of realism. Third, make playing the group's medic a more exciting and tactical task.

The system is, technically, cinematically realistic. Most of the written concepts have barely any connection to real life, but the system pretends really hard that they do, as should you when you see a group of commandos in the Amazon forest stitching up their bullet wounds, or when an old grizzled vigilante escapes from the hospital after taking a miracle super drug that will hurt him badly, but not before the big bad guy is defeated and the baby is rescued.

Main inspiration for this system are video games, namely ArmA series, Escape From Tarkov, Far Cry. Grittier movies, especially medical dramas, have also influenced this article.

The system is suitable for games that follow Basic Set's Heroic Realism, although it might just be one cinematic thing in an otherwise Gritty Realism game. It's main effect is to speed up injury recovery of PCs without affecting their combat survivability too much. Guns still kill, people still drop, and if there is no medicine or no medics nearby, nobody can help you.

Skills

Diagnosis (B187) - Skill of identifying various medical issues with the patient. Other medical skills cover most common issues such as flu, heartstop or broken leg. In such cases, diagnosis can serve as complimentary skill (+1 on success, +2 on critical success, -1 on failure, -2 on critical failure). This is in addition to to the effects listed under Diagnosing an illness. Example, success on Diagnosis roll of Common Flu provides Physician+1 to treat it. Critical success provides +2, and any successful treatment is considered Critical Success.

In uncommon cases, Diagnosis is required to do any treatment at all. GM discretion regarding what is considered uncommon.

  • Diagnosing an illness: On Success, the illness is identified and treatment can proceed as normal. Critical Success means that any successful treatment is treated as Critical Success. Failure means the diagnostician is baffled and no treatment may happen, but repeated attempts are possible. Critical Failure means the patient is misdiagnosed and any treatment is treated as Critical Failure.

Fast-Draw (Medical Equipment) (B194) - Quickly draw and prepare medical equipment for use. On Success, If the treatment is under a minute in length, reduce the time needed by 1 second. If the treatment is over a minute, reduce it by 10%. Failure means treatment continues as normal. Critical Failure means you drop the tools, which either means needing to pick them up or to re-sterilize and clean them which takes 1 minute per margin of failure. GM discretion indicates when sterile tools are needed, but usually the answer is always. Using dropped tools without sterilization prompts Infection (B444).

First Aid (B195) - Skill of emergency, low-invasion treatment. Concerns usage of Paramedical tools and techniques. Mostly concerns treatment of HP loss.

Physician (B213) - Skill of advanced therapeutic medical care, short and long term. Concerns usage of diagnostic tools and drugs that treat complicated illnesses. Mostly concerns treatment of Afflictions. Physician skills includes all the knowledge and abilities of First Aid skills. Any First-Aid Action can be executed by Physician skill instead.

Surgery (B223) - Skill of advanced invasive medical care. Concerns usage of tools, drugs and equipment to directly manipulate internal organs in order to repair them. Mostly concerns treatment of crippling.

Soldier (B221) - Skill of basic military training. Concerns usage of tools that a soldier is familiar with but does not have the training in the tool's main skill. Mostly concerns the use of injectors.


Medical Treatment:


First Aid:


Tech Level

Time per victim

HP Restored

0-1

30 min

1d-4

2-3

30 min

1d-3

4

30 min

1d-2

5

20 min

1d-2

6-7

20 min

1d-1

8

10 min

1d

9

10 min

1d+1


  • Bandaging - It takes 12 seconds (5 times less than Basic Set indicates) to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. This restores 1 HP. Using the bleeding rule (B420), someone who's wounded but receives a successful First Aid roll within 1 minute of Injury loses no HP to bleeding. A later roll will prevent further HP loss.
  • Treating lost HP - Use a medical kit to recover HP lost to trauma.

    Roll against First-Aid and expend 1 use of the medical kit. On Success, heal HP equal to HP restored on First-Aid Table (B424) per 1 use. Critical Success heals maximum possible HP per charge. Consult the same table for the time needed to provide first aid.

    You can treat lost HP of a single character as many times in a row as desired, expending further charges of the medical kit. Second and further charges take half as much time, but still require First-Aid roll. This is based on assumption that the character does not suffer from multiple shock conditions and doesn't need multiple doses of the same upkeep medicine. This effect lasts until the character is healed to their maximum HP or takes more damage.

    Failure means the charge and time are spent, but patient doesn't heal.

    Critical Failure spends charges and time, but causes no healing and the patient loses 2 HP.
  • Restoring consciousness - If a character is unconscious but is not below -1xHP threshold, he can be forcefully awoken via pain stimuli (such as rubbing his clavicle with the side of your palm). Roll First Aid. On Success, the patient receives an HT roll to instantly awaken and suffers -4 shock penalty on his next turn. The patient continues to act as appropriate for his current HP level.

    If the patient has High Pain Threshold or is under effects of drugs that grant it, or different immunity to pain, this maneuver is impossible.

    It takes 1 second to execute the maneuver, but any rigid torso armor increases the time to 2.
  • Resuscitation - Any character that has died as a result of anything other than Instant Death (B423) and has HP no worse than -10xHP can be resuscitated within 30 minutes of death.

    Make a first aid roll, at -1 per full multiple of patient's HP below zero (10 HP patient with -40 HP gives -4 to First Aid Roll). Another -5 if you're not using medical equipment! One attempt takes as much time as treating injury at your TL. Attempt with medical equipment/drugs expends 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific Medicine.

    On Success, the victim is alive, but is considered mortally wounded (B423).

    Critical Success means the victim is not only alive, but is simply suffering from injury - restoring HP is enough to treat the condition.

    Failure means the attempt has failed. You can repeat it as long as the patient wasn't dead for more than 30 minutes, including time spent resuscitating him.

    Critical Failure means the attempt has failed and the patient is lost. No further mundane resuscitation attempts are possible.
  • Administer Treatment - Any treatment under Physician entry is possible to be provided by First Aid. A Physician roll diagnoses the issue and prescribes treatment, which can then be passed on to a less trained medic.

    Roll First-Aid to administer treatment, expending appropriate uses of Medicine Bag or specific medicine. Roll is at -2 if you're following a checklist, medical book or internet search instead of orders of a present Physician. Without any sort of guidance, treatment is impossible.

    Critical Success, Success, Failure, Critical Failure, Time Spent and other are as per the treatment entry.

    This allows one Physician to issue out multiple orders to nurses and paramedics to treat large number of patients.

Physician:
  • Remove Affliction - Roll Physician and expend 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific medicine to remove the effect of any affliction listed on B428-B429. Time required is equal to Time Per Patient entry for your TL on First Aid table.

    On Success, the affliction is removed until the origin of the affliction is applied again, such as another dose of poison or another cycle of the illness (B442). Removing affliction is impossible without at least improvised equipment.

    Failure means the medicine had no effect and it's use is still expended.

    Critical Failure means the wrong medicine was chosen, or patient had allergic reaction. Medicine had no effect, one use is expended and patient suffers 2 HP of toxic damage.
  • Treat Illness - Roll physician and expend 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific medicine to treat illness, poisoning and other effects that have cyclic, long term nature. On Success, add your margin of success to your patient's HT roll for this cycle. If the patient succeeds on his HT roll, he is cured. The treatment is administered once per cycle and time it takes is equal to Time Per Patient entry for your TL on First Aid Table.

    Critical Success on Physician roll means the patient automatically succeeds his next HT roll to shake off the illness.

    Failure
    on your Physician roll, the medicine had no effect and the patient has to rely on his own HT.

    Critical Failure means the wrong medicine was chosen or patient is not receptive to treatment. Add your margin of failure to Patient's next cycle HT roll.
  • Treat Toxic Damage - Roll Physician and expend 1 use of your Medicine Bag or specific medicine to remove HP damage caused by illness, poison and the like.

    One use heals as much damage as listed on First Aid Table on your TL, but healing may never exceed the toxic damage dealt to character - it doesn't fix broken bones or bullet wounds alongside treating sickness. Failure and Critical Failure are as for Remove Affliction.


Surgery

  • Stabilizing a mortal wound (B423) - Each attempt takes as long as Time Per Victim of your TL. Roll Surgery, at -2 if the patient is -3xHP or worse, or -4 if the patient is -4xHP or worse. Lack of tools applies appropriate penalties!

    On Success, patient continues to act as indicated by his current HP and only requires his HP to be restored. On Failure, the patient is still mortally wounded, and further attempts to stabilize are at -2 per attempt. Critical Failure means the patient dies.
  • Repairing lasting crippling injuries - To repair a lasting crippling injury, roll 1d. This is how many hours the surgery will last.

    On Success, the limb is repaired and any HP lost from the crippling is restored. The crippled limb will fully heal after normal sleep cycle of bed rest (8 hours for an average human). If the limb is used before rest, patient suffers -4 shock penalty on any actions that utilize or affect the limb (such as standing for legs). High Pain Threshold and other pain suppressants work as normal.

    Critical Success treats the limb, and it is ready for use right away.
    Failure means the surgery did not fix the limb, but further attempts are possible.
    Critical Failure makes the injury permanent.
  • Repairing permanent crippling injuries - As above, except duration of the surgery is 12 man/hours and has penalty of -3 to skill.

    On Failure, patient must have bed rest for 1d days before another attempt is made.

    Critical failure makes further attempts impossible. GM should carefully appraise which permanent injuries can be healed at specific tech levels and circumstances, especially in a field setting.
Hospital Stay And Long Term Care:

Based on the above, virtually any injury can be healed within a day of intense work by medical professionals. Because of that, cinematic hospital stay is often extremely short and most of it is due to medical professionals wanting to make sure the condition does not return and complications wont arise. A patient may choose to escape from a hospital if he does not want to wait for the entire duration of treatment (usually 1 week), which usually carries no penalties beyond anger of the medics.

In case of insurance, paid medicine or psychiatric help, escaping from the medics may cause them to pursue you in order to make you pay your bills or continue treatment. May involve automatic weapons.

If the GM believes that a specific condition or injury needs an extended stay to actually heal, he sets the length of time needed to cure the affliction and the date of check out at his discretion.

Medical equipment and drugs

Kit/Bag Sizes:
Small - 4/4 uses, only covers issues that do not require Diagnosis roll. $20, 1 lb.
Medium - 10/10 uses, only covers issues that do not require Diagnosis roll. +1 (Quality) to Skill Roll the equipment was designed for. $50, 2 lb.
Large - 20/20 uses, covers issues that require Diagnosis roll. +2 (Quality) to Skill Roll the equipment was designed for. $200, 10 lb.

First Aid Kits (FAKs) - Equipment designed for First Aid skill.
  • Crash Kit (TL8, HT221) - Heavy paramedic bag, may come in a variety of forms. Counts as Medium First Aid Kit and Medium Physician kit. Improvised Surgical equipment.
  • Military First Aid Kit (TL8, P3-57:14) - Pouch-sized medical kit for soldiers, sometimes has controlled substances. Counts as Small First Aid Kit of +1 (Quality) with 4/4 uses.

    Includes tourniquets for rapid blood-loss stop. It takes 1 second to withdraw the tourniquet, 1 second to place it on the limb and 1 second to tighten the knob or tie it off.
  • Large First Aid Kit (Homebrew) - Medically marked duffel bag/backpack containing equipment to treat large number of wounded in emergency or combat situations. Sometimes carried alongside a Crash Kit. +2 (Quality) to First Aid. 20/20 uses. 10 lbs, $200.
Medicine Bags - Equipment designed for Physician and Diagnosis Skill

  • Small Medicine Bag - A pouch or small bag with pill blister packs, something that hikers, soldiers or chronically ill carry with them at all times. $20, 1 lb, 4/4 uses.
  • Military Individual Medicine Kit (Homebrew) - A small plastic container with injectors filled with medicine for common battlefield conditions such as pain, shock, diarrhea, hyperthermia, vomiting or chemical weapon attack. A paper checklist is attached to the internal side that describes each injector and it's use. Soldier-2, First-Aid-2 or Physician+0 to use it for conditions that do not require Diagnosis roll. Counts as small Medicine Bag, $100, 2 lb, 4/4 uses.

    It takes 1 ready to withdraw the kit and once the issue is known or checklist is read, 1 ready to pick an injector and discard the cap, 1 ready to inject it into exposed skin. Drugs begin to work 1 second after injection.

     One such kit is AI-2, Russian medkit commonly referred to as "Cheese Slice" in certain circles. Instead of injectors it comes with pills, making it much cheaper. $20, 1 lb, 4/4 uses.
  • Medium Medicine Bag (Homebrew) - Common medicine bag for a variety of conditions that many keep at home in case of an emergency. $50, 2 lbs, 10/10 uses.
  • Doctor's bag (TL5, HT221) - A heavy doctor's bag, similar to crash kit but is often more fashionable. Counts as +1 (Quality) equipment for Physician/Diagnosis, Improvised Surgical Kit and +1 (Quality) First Aid kit. Counts as Medium First Aid Kit and Medium Medicine Bag.
  • Large Medicine Bag (Homebrew) - Portable pharmacy that includes majority of drugs on the "vital drugs" list of the country of origin. Usually made of solid material to prevent damage to vials and such inside of it. $200, 10 lbs, 20/20 uses.

Medical Workflow:

Differential Diagnostics and Treating An Illness.

Dr. Shed gathers his team of diagnosticians and presents them a case of a patient with certain symptoms. Dr. Shed and his team make complimentary Physician/Diagnosis rolls as they argue about the case. At the end of the meeting, Dr. Shed makes a Physician/Diagnosis roll, modified by everyone's complimentary skill checks.

The roll fails, so Dr. Shed orders tests done. His team executes them using Physician, Physiology, Pharmacy etc, nurses assist them with First Aid and Electronic Operation (Medical) skills. Each roll counts as complimentary.

The team returns to Dr. Shed with test results and they run another differential, combining test result bonuses with new theories (Physician/diagnosis rolls).

Dr. Shed shuts them all up and stares off into the distance as he makes his Physician/Diagnosis roll. He succeeds, prescribes treatment and orders his team to deliver it.

On Critical Success, the treatment is extremely effective, but unconventional, so ever-present Dean of Medicine Dr. Muddy is objecting. Now the team has to somehow bypass this obstacle.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

GURPS Firearm: Keltec KSG and KSG25

Keltec KSG and Keltec KSG25, 12G 3"

Top - KSG
Bottom - KSG25
My take on the famous shotguns.


GURPS Homebrew: Tactical Carbine Gunsmithing Option

GURPS Homebrew: Tactical Carbine Gunsmithing Option



In GURPS 4e, bottom and top rifle have bulk -4. Middle rifle, magically, has bulk -5.




More to the point, I wanted [KAC M4A1K] to be in there because it shows what customisation can do, and what that means in the game -- mounting a short suppressor to deal with excessive muzzle blast, grinding off anything that might prevent emergency egress from a vehicle, etc.

Finally, while historically only 20 were made for the 160th SOAR, nobody prevents you from ordering more from KAC -- they are a reasonably small outfit to cater to individual requests of that kind. Hell, using Armoury (Small Arms) or the help of a gunsmith, you could even apply the same process to some other weapon, be it of the AR-15 type or even a completely different weapon.


- HANS, author of Tactical Shooting

It always bothered me how Mk18 is just a worse M4A1 as portrayed in GURPS, and it's main use as suppressed SOF weapon is unfeasible. This article will introduce house rules to mitigate such issues.

Tactical Carbine - any assault or battle rifle which has a barrel shorter than the average member of it's firearm family, by about the length of an average commercial suppressor. This is usually displayed by having bulk value equal to it's longer equivalent, smaller damage die and slight reduction in weight.

For example:

Colt M4A1, 5.56x45mm - Dmg 4d+2, Acc 4, Rng 750/2,900, Wt. 7.3/1, Bulk -4. 14.5" Barrel.
MK18 MOD 0, 5.56x45mm - Dmg 4d, Acc 4, Rng 600/2,500, Wt. 6.8/1, Bulk -4. 10.3" Barrel.

When mounting a suppressor, muzzle break or any other device that makes the bulk of a firearm worse by -1 on Tactical Carbine, ignore the bulk change. If devices reduce the bulk by -2 or more, ignore -1 of it.

Gunsmithing Option:

Most firearms can receive such upgrade. This requires 2 days of work and 2 Armoury (Small Arms) rolls.

Multiply weapon's damage and range by 0.85. Reduce weapon's weight by 0.5 lbs. Do NOT reduce it's acc or bulk statistic.

For shotguns and other non-rifled weapons, simply reduce weight.

Non-exhaustive list of weapons with such upgrade pre-installed:
Colt XM117E1, Colt CAR-15 R635 SMG, Colt CAR-15A2 R733 Commando, FN MINIMI-Para, FN MK16 MOD 0 CQC, FN MK17 MOD 0 CQC, FN MK46, FN MK48, FN P90, Guidelamp M3, HK G36C, HKG36K, HK G3KA4, HK HK53A3, HK MP5 (non-K), HK MP7A1, HK UMP, IMI Mini-Uzi, Izhmash AKS-74U, Izhmash PP-19, MK18 MOD 0, Sterling L2A3, Steyr AUG Para, TSNIITOCHMASH AS VAL (SR-3m variant),  TSNIITOCHMASH SR-2.

Most integrally suppressed weapons also have such upgrade.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Gun Trivia




I'm procrastinating.


- 9x39 AS VAL may seem like a bad weapon, but it's subsonic and APHC for 'free'. If you reverse the formula to achieve an FMJ Supersonic round, it has solid 5d pi damage - highly theoretical mind you. SR-3, AS VAL variant without suppressor, would have Bulk -4*, Acc 4, 3d(2) pi- or 5d pi damage.

- 9x21 SR-1 Gyurza fires APHC bullet by default with damage dice resembling that of a 9x19 pistol. APHC bullets for 9x19 are extremely rare IRL, except in Russia where such option exists and was developed alongside 9x21. Regardless, if we assume that 9x21 is APHC by default, then it costs $0.4 per APHC shot. FMJ shot in that case costs only $0.2. With an extremely low price of gun and ammo, it is a serious sidearm option.

- Five-seveN in High Tech erroneously lists it as firing "same APHC ammo as P90". P90 entry states that it's bullet is AP, and repeats such statement two times, listing both FMJ stats, AP stats and AP stats fired out of a civilian gun. Converting the 5.7 damage dice of 2d+2 (2) pi- back to FMJ from AP, we get 4d-1 pi- bullet. Combining that with APHC bullet, we get 4d-1 (2) pi-, damage equal to that of MP7. Similar execution can happen to P90, whose FMJ shot would do 4d pi-. I think that makes both guns extremely viable.

- Tactical Shooting permits most guns to be converted to curious ammo types, including 12G to 10G, 9x19 to .40 S&W, .40 S&W to 10mm Auto etc. Most of the curious conversions are blocked by maximum increase of x1.2, but with certain persuasion you can have your GM allow you to convert an M16 to 6.8 Barret for that speed 6d-1 damage (G3A3 and such should work without GM fiat), or 7.62x51 battle rifles to .300 Remington Ultra Magnum (Dmg 9d+1 with no rcl increase!)

For MP5 lovers, converting MP5/10 to .357 SIG reduces rcl to 2 in exchange for reducing pi+ wounding to pi.

GURPS Cinematic Medicine Draft 3

    Cinematic Medicine Medicine. The art of making your fellow man feel better, recover from ailments, resume proper operation. Cinematograp...