Science Fiction Film Weapons

[Max Schreck]

For use in SF campaigns, I have written up some well-known examples of personal weaponry in SF in cinema. The two first are the "Blade Runner Gun", and the M41A Pulse Rifle of Aliens fame.

The Blade Runner Gun: Pflage-Katsumata Model D Detective Special

This sidearm actually comes in three varieties, mutually exclusive. The reason for these three variants is that no one can ever agree what piece Deckard is really toting. Everybody knows what the gun prop really is, a Charter Arms Bulldog inside a part of a Steyr .222 SL rifle, but not what it is supposed to be in the film (presumable not a Bulldog in a Steyr hunting rifle part; that would just be silly).

In the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, on which Blade Runner is very loosely based, Deckard uses a "laser-tube", presumably some sort of laser pistol, and a .38 as back-up. The three guns below take only the film into account. There are three schools of thought regarding Deckard's sidearm: one that it is a revolver that fires normal bullets. This could be because the prop is in fact a revolver, and it is interesting to note that there is no magazine well for the sidearm, so it is not a semiautomatic pistol. Many also feel that that other than the prop, the weapon seems in the film itself to be a chemical slugthrower of some sort. For this interpretation I have built the weapon thus:

EDIT: After suggestions, the revolver will now use electro-thermal chemical ignition, greatly increasing stopping power and range, which also reflects how powerful the gun seemed for its size in the film.

TL9 Revolver variety: PK-D Detective Special, .45 ETC
Damage: 5d+2 pi+ Acc: 2 Range: 300/3,000 Weight: 3.5/0.3 RoF: 3 Shots: 6 (3i) ST: 11 Bulk: -2 Rcl: 4 Cost: 1,500 LC: 3

Others argue that while the gun may be a slugthrower, it need not be chemically based. These people point to the diodes on the side of the gun, seeming to indicate a charge. This interpretation suggests that Deckard's gun is an electromagnetic weapon, a Gauss pistol:

TL10 Gauss pistol variety: PK-D Detective Special, 6mm Gauss
Damage: 4d+2 (3) pi- Acc: 4 Range: 400/2,100 Weight: 2.1/0.5 RoF: 3 Shots: 20 (3)/C ST: 9 Bulk: -2 Rcl: 2 Cost: 1,600 LC: 3

Finally, we have the energy weapon interpretation; this is based on the fact that initially Ridley Scott had envisioned that firearms in the Blade Runner universe would fire some sort of beam carrying a microscopic black hole that would implode tissue on impact. The first prints of the scene where Leon blasts Holden had a black beam of energy issuing from his holdout, but Ridley Scott thought it looked silly, and removed it again. However the script still retains the name "blaster" for the firearms in Blade Runner. Based on this, fans have argued that the sidearm is indeed an energy weapon, firing an "implosion beam". This would as above also explain the diodes that supposedly were indicators of how charged the gun was.

TL12^ Blaster (“black hole gun”) variety: PK-D Detective Special Implosion Gun
Damage: 9d (3) cr Acc: 4 Range: 500/1,500 Weight: 3/2C RoF: 3 Shots: 12 (3) ST: 7 Bulk: -2 Rcl: 2 Cost: 5,000 LC: 2

M41A Pulse Rifle (Aliens Colonial Marine Corps standard long-arm)

This firearm needs little introduction; it has become an iconic weapon for Bug Hunt SF, despite in reality consisting of a WWII-era Thompson M1A1 and parts of two different shotguns encased in a plastic shell. The M41A is basically a double-barrelled weapon like various OICW projects have been envisioned, consisting of a caseless 10mm assault carbine on top and under it a 30mm grenade launcher. As described below APHEX ammunition (p. UT152) has been assumed for the rifle, as it seems to be the standard load in the film, and HE grenades (p. UT153) for the launcher.

TL9 M41A Pulse Rifle, 10mm CL

Damage: 6d (2) pi+ & 1d-4 cr ex [1d-2] Acc: 4 Range: 500/2,000 Weight: 9.5/4 RoF: 12 Shots: 95+1 (3) ST: 10† Bulk: 4 Rcl: 3 Cost: 2,000 LC: 2
— 30mm Grenade Launcher
Damage: 4d cr ex Acc: 4 Range: 360/2,200 RoF: 1 Shots: 4 (3i) Rcl: 2 LC: 2

Max

[SuedodeuS]

Very nice. One bit of advice on the .45 version of Deckard's weapon - to account for the diodes that seem to track weapon charge, you could have it as an ETC weapon. As per UltraTech p139, the weapon would deal 1.5x damage, have 1.5x range, cost twice as much, and require an A cell for every 10 full magazines emptied. This is assuming your weapon isn't already statted to be ETC, but the damage implies that it isn't.

[Max Schreck]

It isn't. That's mainly because it's a revolver. ETC weapons can only be caseless, and I cannot imagine a revolver being caseless, but I am not sure. Maybe it can.

Cheers,

Max

[Langy]

There's no reason a revolver can't be caseless.

Also: According to David Pulver, the M41A Pulse Rifle is the Storm Carbine from Ultra-Tech. The only problem is it only has half the ammo capacity of the one from Aliens; I think that's because you just can't fit that many bullets into a clip without it getting too large.

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Max Schreck

It isn't. That's mainly because it's a revolver. ETC weapons can only be caseless, and I cannot imagine a revolver being caseless, but I am not sure. Maybe it can.

Cheers,

Max

Good point. I could imagine a speed-loader that would allow the caseless rounds to not degrade, but hand-loading could prove problematic.

However... is there anything preventing a case that just about instantly degrades into damn-near nothing once the electric charge of ETC is activated? I could see such a disintegrating case allowing for ETC revolvers (it would be effectively caseless, but allow for firing). If I recall correctly, the guns in the movie tended to be fairly powerful - ETC certainly allows for this. Price might go up a good deal - I'm not that familiar with the concept of ETC, but if each chamber needs to be modified to allow for it you could easily end up with ETC revolvers being prohibitively expensive.

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by Langy

There's no reason a revolver can't be caseless.

Okey-dokey. ETC revolver it is, then.

Originally Posted by Langy

Also: According to David Pulver, the M41A Pulse Rifle is the Storm Carbine from Ultra-Tech. The only problem is it only has half the ammo capacity of the one from Aliens; I think that's because you just can't fit that many bullets into a clip without it getting too large.

Yeah, I know. I reduced damage and range on the M41A compared to the UT storm carbine to reflect that the M41A has less propellant, giving it smaller ammunition size. 95 shots to a magazine is still an awful lot, especially since the shots are 10mm. The gun is specific to the Alien universe, though, and I wouldn't use it outside it. There I would use the UT storm carbine. Aliens obviously has some sort of superscience, because it is not only the M41A that has an enormous magazine capacity. The M240 Incinerator (flamethrower) has a fuel tank a little larger than an assault rifle magazine, but still has the capacity of a WWII flamethrower. Just one of the quirks of that setting, I suppose. When I post the flamethrower, though, I will append a ^ to the TL. The M41A could theoretically have 95 shots, but there is no way a flamethrower could last that long with so little fuel.

Max

[Max Schreck]

And here's the ludicrously efficient compact flamethrower from Aliens, the M240 Incinerator. Unlike other flamethrowers where the fuel tank is carried on the back, the M240 has a compact fuel tank inserted directly into the weapon much as a magazine in an assault rifle. Due to some unknown, superscience chemical process, the M240 carries as much fuel in its miniscule fuel tank as a full WWII flamethrower fuel tank.

M240 Incinerator (Aliens Colonial Marine Corps flamethrower)

TL9^ Flamethrower: M240 Incinerator
Damage: 3d burn Acc: — Range: 50 Weight: 10/2 RoF: Jet Shots: 10 ST: 10† Bulk: -5 Rcl: — Cost: 1,800 LC: 1

[Langy]

The M240 probably uses supercompressed fuel - I wouldn't automatically call it superscience without doing some research into just how much you can compress different flammable gases (maybe even into liquids or solids, if that gives you a density high enough).

Also: You could probably fit 95 rounds into the M41A Pulse Rifle by making it an ETK weapon (which gives it x1.5 ammo capacity and significantly more power - not sure if that makes sense for this weapon or not, as I haven't seen Aliens in a long time) or High-Density or Extended Magazines from High-Tech. Maybe the magazine has several rows of ammo stacked next to each other or something - you'd wind up with a magazine maybe twice as wide but containing three times the bullets for the same magazine length compared with a single-row magazine.

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by Langy

The M240 probably uses supercompressed fuel - I wouldn't automatically call it superscience without doing some research into just how much you can compress different flammable gases (maybe even into liquids or solids, if that gives you a density high enough).

Yes, that may be. I'm not a physicist, so I shouldn't shoot my mouth off. To my layman's eyes, it seems that you wouldn't be able to compress napalm so much (but maybe a gas, as you say), but someone other than me probably knows better. The effects of the weapon seem to suggest napalm, though, as the fire clings to surfaces after a hit. The stream from it also seems viscous, but hey, it's a film. It's hard to test these theories.

Originally Posted by Langy

Also: You could probably fit 95 rounds into the M41A Pulse Rifle by making it an ETK weapon (which gives it x1.5 ammo capacity and significantly more power - not sure if that makes sense for this weapon or not, as I haven't seen Aliens in a long time) or High-Density or Extended Magazines from High-Tech.

They never mention that it is an electro-thermal or liquid-propellant gun. All they say is that it's a "10mm explosive tipped caseless; standard armor piercing round. Why?" A physical bolt is visible on the side of the rifle, which I think would indicate that it uses a standard firing pin, but who knows? Maybe it's intended as an electric weapon (the "pulse" designator could suggest this), and the visible bolt is an unintended effect of the M41A prop being made from a Thompson.

Originally Posted by Langy

Maybe the magazine has several rows of ammo stacked next to each other or something - you'd wind up with a magazine maybe twice as wide but containing three times the bullets for the same magazine length compared with a single-row magazine.

Yes, and I think I also wrote that it could be done in theory. As far as I can tell from the film the magazine looks quite fat, although not that long. Maybe it's a triple-stack magazine with roughly 30 shots in each stack.

Max

[Max Schreck]

Next up, we have some weapons from the MTV animated series, Æon Flux (not the live-action film; please, it hurts, it hurts...).

Monican Folding Machine Pistol

Æon Flux, and presumably other Monican agents, uses a compact, folding machine pistol as her main firearm in the first two seasons (where none of the characters actually talk, but boy oh boy do they kill each other). The weapon can collapse its stock and fold the magazine well with a magazine in it along the barrel for easy and concealed carry, like the French MAT-49, only smaller. When folded, the weapon has Bulk-1, and cannot be fired. It takes two seconds to unfold. It is a conventional firearm using normal, cased ammunition with a modest capacity. Yet Æon Flux never seems to run out...

TL9 Folding Machine Pistol: FUG-1, 9×19mm
Damage: 2d+2 pi Acc: 3 Range: 150/1,900 Weight: 2.5/0.75 RoF: 16 Shots: 25+1 (3) ST: 8 Bulk: -2 Rcl: 2 Cost: 700 LC: 2

Breen Submachine Gun

The principal weapon of Bregna, the technocratic and totalitarian republic bordering Monica, the Breen SMG is in a golden finish, and resembles the Sten SMG of WWII with more doodads on it. This too uses conventional ammunition in a sideloading magazine. The Breen commandos never seem to hit Æon; whether this is due to low Acc on the part of the weapon, or Æon just has a supernatural high Dodge is unknown. I've left the Acc normal.

TL9 Breen Submachine Gun, 9×19mm
Damage: 3d-1 pi Acc: 3 Range: 160/1,900 Weight: 4.5/1 RoF: 12 Shots: 30+1 (3) ST: 9 Bulk: -3 Rcl: 2 Cost: 500 LC: 2