Do these weapons suck enough?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by zylosan

Another rules quesiton: Why do single shot weapons have a recoil stat listed? But more importantly why does it differ between weapons?

Firstly, because someone might make a two-barrelled version of it, in which case it would have RoF 2 and Rcl would matter.

Secondly, because at some later date, a GURPS author might* introduce a fiddly optional rule into a supplement designed for such things that made use of the Rcl stat and then it would be embarrassing to have a bunch of weapons for which no such stat exists.

*There are currently no such plans and in fact, it is unlikely that it will happen. But it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by zylosan

Another rules quesiton: Why do single shot weapons have a recoil stat listed? But more importantly why does it differ between weapons?

In addition to the reasons cited by Icelander, GURPS has all kinds of rules options and powers and its quite possible that a weapon that is normally single-shot could be under some effect which lets it be used as if it could be fired more often. Again, not having a Rcl stat would be a problem here.

Plus, GURPS GM's are encouraged to invent their own gear by analogy to existing items, so it helps with "like X but not single shot".

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Firstly, because someone might make a two-barrelled version of it, in which case it would have RoF 2 and Rcl would matter.

Secondly, because at some later date, a GURPS author might* introduce a fiddly optional rule into a supplement designed for such things that made use of the Rcl stat and then it would be embarrassing to have a bunch of weapons for which no such stat exists.

*There are currently no such plans and in fact, it is unlikely that it will happen. But it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Originally Posted by cmdicely

In addition to the reasons cited by Icelander, GURPS has all kinds of rules options and powers and its quite possible that a weapon that is normally single-shot could be under some effect which lets it be used as if it could be fired more often. Again, not having a Rcl stat would be a problem here.

Plus, GURPS GM's are encouraged to invent their own gear by analogy to existing items, so it helps with "like X but not single shot".

Thanks, guys. These are the first explanations of any kind that I've seen for single-shot Recoil. It was a little frustrating searching the Basic Set and not finding anything.

[Kuroshima]

Let's see, there IS already something that makes rcl for single show weapons important: the Multishot imbuement from Power Ups 1: Imbuements. In fact muscle powered missile weapons DON'T have rcl, and I had to guesstimate such a value for my game.

[Kale]

You can also have multi-bullet loads, so again it is important to know Rcl.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by zylosan

Yes Iron Kingdom does have machine guns but they are more along the line of the original maually powered gattling guns and are restricted to the most advanced nation in the RAW setting.

The model looks a lot more like a WWI machine gun than a Maxim or Gatling. Even if it is intended to represent a Gatling-like weapon that would be TL5 not TL4.

The other side of that is that in Iron Kingdom even a moderately low level character (5-9) can pretty easily shrug off a few hits from a rifle that does 2d8 damage.

Isn't this an effect of the d20 system? Damage in d20 doesn't represent purely physical injury but also luck, morale, and other intangibles. In GURPS a lot of d20 hits are actually dodged (especially with Feverish Defense). At any rate in the original game, bullets are pretty lethal to ordinary troops.

Plus see the part about not intending to replicate or follow the RL progression and development of firearms.

In the original game, there doesn't seem to be a lot of use of muscle powered weapons on the battlefield. Generally it feels like late 19th to early 20th century warfare. Could that bit in the d20 game be there simply to maintain compatibility with Dungeons and Dragons?