Pacesetter Weapon Damage

[krb243]

ok, I've looked thru all the genre books (including star ace) and I'm not finding it. how much damage do weapons do besides what's on the action chart? does a .22 do the same damage as a .357? does a dagger do as much as a two-handed sword? I know STR comes into play with melee attacks, but what's the damage of the difference in blades or calibers of guns? thanks in advance!

[sniderman]

(I'm typing on a tablet from North Texas RPG Con excuse any typos)

This question comes up a bit with regards to the Pacesetter system. Weapons don't have damage potential. The player's SKILL with that weapon determines damage potential. Someone unskilled with a pistol will do less damage than a marksman who knows where to hit and how to aim, so the system takes that in account rather than giving both PCs the same "pistol does 3d10" (or whatever a damage rating would be).

We got into a bit of a discussion about "no damage listings for weapons" here:

viewtopic.php?f=75&t=2529

[krb243]

thanks sniderman for taking the time to reply. that thread definitely answered my question. i'll give it a try through my group before I condemn it, but it's pretty obvious a .22 wound to the shoulder would be a much smaller wound than one from a .357 magnum.

[ReaperWolf]

One option occurring to me was to basically provide a weapon die cap for each weapon with larger weapons having a higher damage range than say smaller weapons. You'd still roll the dice listed for a successful attack according to the attack table but each die over the cap would be treated as if it were the cap. Say a baseball bat was capped at 5 and you score a H result on the armed combat table. You'd roll 3d10 x2 but with the die cap in place, you'd roll 3d10 and any die exceeding 5 would count as a 5. Not sure how to handle wounds though.

Alternatively the die cap could be lower numbers for larger weapons with the dice rolling over the cap counting towards STA loss but those rolling less than only counting as 1 or even ignored.

This was was all sorted out with Strike Ranks in Chill 2nd ed. but not sure if Cryptworld or the other Pacesetter games really need expanded weapon damage rules. This tends to lead to arms races and players just buying the biggest hand cannon they can afford.

Any weapon in the hands of a skilled wielder can be lethal but other games have taught us the source of the damage is the weapon not the wielder. In the hands of an expert, a straight razor or a stiletto will carve you up like a Christmas goose. On the other hand a two-handed sword or bearded axe in the hands of an unskilled wielder will be almost useless. In Pacesetter games the guy with the knife or small caliber pistol could be just as lethal as someone armed with a large blade or a Desert Eagle, and I think that's the point.

Have fun!

>>ReaperWolf

[sniderman]

FYI: Monsters Macabre has optional rules for variable weapon damage if you wanna check it out.

[ReaperWolf]

FYI: Monsters Macabre has optional rules for variable weapon damage if you wanna check it out.

I do but I'm holding off for the actual dead-tree copy of the sourcebook.

Incidentally, does Pacesetter/Goblinoid Games provide gratis .pdfs of books purchased from local game stores? I purchased Cryptworld from my FLGS the Game Kastle of Santa Clara a few weeks ago. A .pdf would be keen as I read my iPad mini a lot.

>>ReaperWolf

[Goblinoid Games]

FYI: Monsters Macabre has optional rules for variable weapon damage if you wanna check it out.

I do but I'm holding off for the actual dead-tree copy of the sourcebook.

Incidentally, does Pacesetter/Goblinoid Games provide gratis .pdfs of books purchased from local game stores? I purchased Cryptworld from my FLGS the Game Kastle of Santa Clara a few weeks ago. A .pdf would be keen as I read my iPad mini a lot.

>>ReaperWolf

Hey ReaperWolf sorry for not getting back to your email about that!

I generally don't do free PDFs with hard copies because I already take this into account by pricing the books and PDFs low. I'd do it differently but I operate through different vendors and they don't all have it set up to offer free PDFs with purchase, so instead I just price it lower to compensate.

In the Kickstarter, though, you do get the PDF for free by ordering the hard copy.