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Old 06-12-2017, 08:57 PM   #141
Kalzazz
 
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

The idea of smashing someone with a torque wrench makes me cringe, that surely isn't good for torque wrenches
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Old 06-13-2017, 02:21 AM   #142
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

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My former kenjutsu instructor in bygone college days positively extolled the virtues of floor jacks and their handles, he considered the handles to be positively swordlike, logical to carry in the back seat of your car in easy reach (complete with jack), and the floor jack to be infinitely superior to the little bottle or scissor jacks usually found in cars. So in kenjutsu class we dutifully practiced flailing around with jack handles
That's great!

Ok, so I want either a fairly short handle or one that can be taken apart, as any of the 30+ inch ones probably use Broadsword, Two-Handed Sword and/or Staff skill. Which is fine, generally, but we're looking for a tool that works with machete forms, not bo or sword forms.

I also want to avoid those no-doubt-very-sensible foam padding ones. A firm gripping surface for the hand and bare cold steel for the rest of the jack handle.

Any suggestions for a brand or model?

I'm clearly going to need a picture of the specific jack handle chosen, for the edification and enjoyment of the GM and other players.

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Combination wrenches should be reasonably balanced due to having a weight on both ends, and come in all sizes
That's an interesting thought. What happens to an Axe/Mace weapon with both ends weighed? In most cases, I'd probably still use the Axe/Mace skill, but fairly light examples might also be usable with Shortsword.

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Lengths of pipe used as 'cheater bars' to slip over a wrench would work, since all the batons I've used have just been very light pipes with rounded ends, this would be a heavy pipe with open ends, which would probably knock it from baton up to shortsword
If they are too wide, they'll be unwieldy. Same if they are too thick. I'd be inclined to limit the use of Shortsword skill to lengths of pipe that seem like they could be used to attack and parry in the same turn.

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Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
Torque wrench? In particular the slipper or click type without the socket attached.
Some of those do look like they could be used with Shortsword skill.

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The crescent wrenches really won't be long enough for you.
Seem like Axe/Mace weapons.

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That's all I can think of, other than the steel tubing used for welding together your own frames, like in a custom shop. And the floor jack handle mentioned above is essentially just a bit of steel tubing.
Indeed. I don't know much about steel tubing, but it seems like I'm looking for something around 1.25" in diameter and 1-2 lb/ft. A solid grip is a nice bonus.

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The idea of smashing someone with a torque wrench makes me cringe, that surely isn't good for torque wrenches
By the time you are hitting a human being full force with a length of metal, things are probably serious enough for the cost of a replacement hand tool to be a secondary consideration next to the preservation of life and limb.
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Old 06-13-2017, 09:32 AM   #143
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Default Storing a disassembled AR-15 in motorcycle saddlebags

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Originally Posted by clu2415 View Post
More likely, she would keep all the accessories attached, but separate the upper and lower halves. That cuts down the OAL some. Just have to mate the two halves and push the two captive pins together. Then pull the charging handle and rock and roll.
If a character has a Bushmaster Carbon 15 flattop rifle with a 16" barrel that is 32.75" in overall length and the saddlebags of his Harley cruiser will only fit a weapon a smidge over 27" OAL, even with after-market accessories, how well will this work?

Is the Carbon 15 easy to disassemble and assemble quickly? Are there reasons this won't work with it?

How long would the weapon be with the upper and lower seperated, assuming as little as possible was detached?

How long does it take to ready the weapon for action?

How difficult would the IQ-based Guns or Armoury (Smallarms) skill check for doing so quickly under pressure be?
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Old 06-13-2017, 02:54 PM   #144
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Default Motorcycle crashes and safety gear

It seems pretty easy to get into crashes on a motorcycle that do 1d+2 cr followed up by one or more 'attacks' of abrasion from contact with the ground for ca 1d(0.2) corr. Crashing your bike in real high-speed chases seems to do upwards of 3d cr and probably a lot of nasty abrasion damage.

In light of these dangers, it seems like DR that protects from crushing and abrasion damage would be a good idea for PCs riding bikes, whether cruisers, racers, dirt bikes or dual-role motorcycles.

High-Tech has TL7 motorcycle helmets, but it doesn't list a complete set of motorcycle armor.

Are modern TL8 motorcycle helmets functionally identical to mid-20th century ones? If not, what changes should be made?

What are typical DR values for other motorcycle protective gear?

According to the Interwebz, ca $6,500 ought to buy you whole body protection like that worn by world-class competitors. That occasionally allows a trained athlete to walk away from crashing at 290+ mph. Even if we assume that this only works in the absence of a direct collision with a hard object, that still seems like the sort of speed to produce a whole fist of damage dice.

Any guesses at how much damage that would do? And how much would be crushing and how much abrasion?
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Old 06-13-2017, 04:13 PM   #145
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Default Re: Storing a disassembled AR-15 in motorcycle saddlebags

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
If a character has a Bushmaster Carbon 15 flattop rifle with a 16" barrel that is 32.75" in overall length and the saddlebags of his Harley cruiser will only fit a weapon a smidge over 27" OAL, even with after-market accessories, how well will this work?

Is the Carbon 15 easy to disassemble and assemble quickly? Are there reasons this won't work with it?

How long would the weapon be with the upper and lower seperated, assuming as little as possible was detached?

How long does it take to ready the weapon for action?

How difficult would the IQ-based Guns or Armoury (Smallarms) skill check for doing so quickly under pressure be?
IIRC, the Carbon 15 is identical to a standard AR-15 in parts and functioning. I have found a couple of sources that say an AR-15 upper half with 16" barrel is 24.5-25" including flash hider. Afternarket accessories

Mating the two halves, pushing in the two captive pins, and operating the charging handle could be done in 5-10 seconds. Assuming you had a loaded magazine inserted in the lower, at that point you would simply have to disengage the safety and point the rifle at your target. Double the time if you aren't familiar. I'd say it would be a roll at no penalty, possibly at +1 or 2. On a critical failure, you tilted the upper the wrong way and the bolt carrier fell out, so you have to retrieve the bolt carrier before you can finish.
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Old 06-13-2017, 04:21 PM   #146
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

With regards to how much damage is crushing vs how much is abrasive. From my (quite varied now I think about it) experience of bike and quad crashes the division of damage would be almost random at gurps levels of detail. At one end a crush heavy crash would be bike stops suddenly, you hit bike, continue forward on an angle that results in a sudden stop then the bike hits you (23 parts of my body x-rayed after that one only a couple of broken bones though 30kph approx) At the other end, bike flips cleanly, catapulted off, land well, skate on back for many meters (20-30) and walk off (50kph approx). It didn't even put a hole in my vest.

As a general rule, the smoother the terrain the less crushing will be faced. At lower speeds various DX based rolls and skills would be good for converting all the impact energy into rotational energy.

Shock is a factor but not immediately, this isn't associated with the damage taken either.

Edit, maybe look at the knockback rules to do with hitting things while being knocked back.
Edit 2, maybe initial tumble damage then eyeball the speed of the person, halve this each turn, if they hit something then calculate damage as per stopped knockback, and apply abrasive damage for every turn spent traveling?
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Old 06-14-2017, 09:44 AM   #147
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Default Re: Storing a disassembled AR-15 in motorcycle saddlebags

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IIRC, the Carbon 15 is identical to a standard AR-15 in parts and functioning. I have found a couple of sources that say an AR-15 upper half with 16" barrel is 24.5-25" including flash hider. Afternarket accessories
I have found an accessory tailor-made for what I want. The Law Tactical AR Folding Stock Adapter is perfect. Gets the Carbon 15 with a 16" barrel down to around 27" and this makes it fit just fine in a Harley saddlebag designed for folding stock rifle.

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Mating the two halves, pushing in the two captive pins, and operating the charging handle could be done in 5-10 seconds. Assuming you had a loaded magazine inserted in the lower, at that point you would simply have to disengage the safety and point the rifle at your target. Double the time if you aren't familiar. I'd say it would be a roll at no penalty, possibly at +1 or 2. On a critical failure, you tilted the upper the wrong way and the bolt carrier fell out, so you have to retrieve the bolt carrier before you can finish.
Well, Agent O'Toole doesn't have the Armoury skill and is using Guns at a default improved with the Dabbler Perk. He's pretty good at it, due to his high DX and IQ, but he's only ever shot a longarm at a firing range. And that was a long time ago.

He's not going to be relying on skill+0 checks if he can help it. Anything harder to do than skill+4 is something we should leave to the real professionals, like the SEALs on the security element, the ISA communications team or the former 18B (SF Weapons Sergeant) or the airborne-qualified, tactical SOF-support 97E (HUMINT Collector) on the team.

Note that a roll vs. IQ-based Guns skill 'without penalty' is already a pretty difficult feat for an average hobbyist, with skill 8-11. It may be fair for doing this under combat conditions, of course. A hefty TDM should apply when doing this without being under fire. Skill 12 is a professional, like a front-line infantryman and skill 14 is an expert shooter. I'd expect someone with IQ-based Guns (Longarm) at skill 12-14 to be able to assemble his weapon reliably, at least if he's not trying to do it in 5 seconds while being shot at.

I'd probably call doing this in 10 seconds under combat conditions an unmodified IQ-based Guns or Soldier roll. Alternatively, a qualified armourer can use Armoury (Smallarms) at +4. Lack of stress and a well-lit, organised work-space (rather than the default adventuring use) might give up to +4 or +5 TDM for a more typical situation for most civilians.

Modify as normal with Time Spent rules.

This means that almost anyone with a basic familiarity with firearms can do it in five minutes with no pressure (TDM +9 to +10, for reliable 90% chance even for default use, once it has been explained to the budding shooter), but in order to do it reliably in 5 seconds under fire, someone has to have Armoury (Smallarms) or high Soldier or IQ-based guns.
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Old 06-14-2017, 11:50 AM   #148
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Default Armored Ford pick-up truck

For the trip to the Juarez Valley, Chihuhua, Mexico, our intrepid heroes were assigned a shiny pick-up truck with various luxury options, seized by the CBP or ICE from a less-than-legitimate businessman with interests on both sides of the border.

It's been established that this is a Ford F-series truck of fairly recent make, but probably not the 2017 model. It's probably a SuperCab, as it was expected to be able to hold five people.*

It needs decent off-road capability, at least as good as can be expected with all the weight that the other requirements are going to be putting on the suspension. At the very least, it needs to be able to drive in the Chihuahan desert if necessary.

It's okay to give up some top speed, handling and mileage on good roads for better off-road capability, but the truck was still probably designed for good road performance, with the bigger tires and boosted suspension added afterwards.

A random roll by the GM, in response to a request by Agent Rubio's player, indicated that the truck had been designed for the kind of Legitimate Ethnic Businessman who worries a lot about his enemies and has unsmiling security personnel with concealed high-powered weaponry with him at all times. As a consequence, the truck was armored and had gun ports for the convenience of said security personnel.

So, the truck we are looking at would be something like this 2016 Ford F-350.

More random rolls also indicated that the Department of Homeland Security had installed a bunch of communications gear and computers in the truck, possibly taking advantage of an entertainment system our unnamed Legitimate Ethnic Businessman had purchased. This was because the truck had been used for technical surveillance operations. I imagine this includes a fairly advanced radio set, satellite comms and modem, advanced GPS navigation system and some way to pick up the feed from a lot of surveillance gear.

Will any of this technological gear be bulky enough to affect the stats of the car? Will it be visible from outside the truck to savvy people?

A primary consideration in wanting a huge pick-up truck was the ability to fit motorcycles on the truck bed. An absolutely ideal situation would be the ability to fit five motorcycles there, two dual-role, one racer and two Harley cruisers, but that is deeply impractical. A more realistic goal might be fitting the racer and two dual-role / dirt bikes in specially made mounts on the truck bed, but even that would be an immensely difficult feat of engineering, at least if we want the truck to be servicable and avoid it looking butt-ugly.**

I imagine we'd want the largest possible truck bed and the longest possible model of the truck.

The motorcycles in question are a Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone, weighing in at a claimed 417 lbs. dry, and two Christini AWD 450 Military, weighing in at around 280 lbs. each. I've got a sneaking suspicion that their bulk is going to be rather more trouble than the weight.

Is there any configuration of Ford pick-up truck that will make it reasonable to haul these three bikes on the truck bed?

What do I need to keep in mind when combining that with after-market armoring and luxury options?

And, PCs being PCs, we're looking at a lot of luggage. If we're packing the truck bed full of motorcycles, what are good solutions for packing along some 100 gallons of water, 100 gallons of fuel and about 200 lbs. of various tools, camping gear, clothing and other personal stuff?

*Mind you, if the otherwise best option has a tiny little bench in the rear instead of proper seats, this is hilarious and would absolutely be accepted by all the players.
**A relevant consideration, as the vehicle is part of the cover we are adopting. A less-than-scrupulous doctor with more disposable income than he should, a fondness for various motored toys and a need to make some contacts in various areas of pharmacological interest that are less-regulated in Mexico than over the border.
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Old 06-14-2017, 12:17 PM   #149
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Default Re: Storing a disassembled AR-15 in motorcycle saddlebags

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Well, Agent O'Toole doesn't have the Armoury skill and is using Guns at a default improved with the Dabbler Perk. He's pretty good at it, due to his high DX and IQ, but he's only ever shot a longarm at a firing range. And that was a long time ago.
He's going to get left behind again, isn't he?

"I was trying to get this [fornicating] gun into action, but Taylor and Rubio charged off and left me behind!"
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Old 06-14-2017, 12:53 PM   #150
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Default Re: Storing a disassembled AR-15 in motorcycle saddlebags

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He's going to get left behind again, isn't he?

"I was trying to get this [fornicating] gun into action, but Taylor and Rubio charged off and left me behind!"
Fortunately for Agent O'Toole, the Law Tactical AR Folding Stock Adapter makes it possible to store his Carbon 15 rifle in the saddlebags of a Harley cruiser without having to partially dissamble the weapon. And no IQ-based Guns roll is needed to ready the weapon for firing, just a single Ready action to unfold the stock.

Granted, it will also take 2-3 seconds of Ready actions to open the saddlebags and draw the rifle from it, but that's true of everyone who wants to keep his firearm off his person, out of view and in a closed container.

Mind you, with Driving (Motorcycle) at skill 15, he is going to be left behind. Rubio has skill 18 and is insanely competative. As soon as she gets on her snazzy Italian racer, she's going to want to... well, race.

Both of them know El Paso well, Ciudad Juarez fairly well and the surrounding countryside okay. (skill 11-14, depending on where they are). O'Toole edges her on navigating in cities and feel for in urban areas (skill 14 at Navigation (Land; OS: Urban) and Urban Survival), but out in the Juarez Valley, he'll be skill 12 and Rubio will still have skill 13 at Navigation (and she has skill 13 at Urban Survival too).

Of course, Chase Taylor would never dream of humiliating someone assigned as his superior in the field by leaving him in the dust, unable to affect events and even unaware of what was happening. Why, O'Toole would need to be some kind of legendary grade-A douchebag in order to rile chummy, selfless, good-natured ole' Taylor badly enough for him to want to do that...

Oh. Right.

Well, Taylor has visited El Paso a couple of times before and has a default Area Knowledge of 9 there. Went over to Juarez once, but he'd only be familiar with a few streets and cafés. Would probably be at a default 7 or so in the Juarez Valley, from his knowledge of Mexico and looking at maps and satellite photos. So, his Area Knowledge is way behind the two federal agents who have been assigned to El Paso for a couple of years.

But on the other hand, Taylor has got Driving (Motorcycle) at 20, Navigation (Land) at 17 and Urban Survival at 19. If he really has to, he can leave O'Toole so far behind that a whole adventure could take place before he catches up.
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