Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Emerging smokepowder weapons in my fantasy

Nereidalbel · 07-08-2013, 07:32 PM

1. They actually make sling grenades for paintball. I imagine a similar design could work for explosives.

2. Figure you need at least 4 ounces for the grenade itself to survive the launch, so whatever explosive damage you would expect with 12 ounces of powder. Also, figure on either cutting or piercing shrapnel, depending on the material used.

3. Staff sling is probably the way to go for these. Roughly the same range, but easier to get a steeper angle for lobbing heavy projectiles. The current world record for such a weapon is 477 meters.

4. Assuming smokepowder creates enough heat to ignite alchemist's fire, you would probably want the magical fuze so you can have a small container of smokepowder within a larger container of alchemist's fire. If you just want to burn one target to death, you could make it a specialized tip for a bow/crossbow. The 2-3 pound version? You're basically making a napalm grenade there. The initial explosive damage is just a bonus on spreading burning death to whatever radius smokepowder can manage. A staff sling could still launch this into the middle of an army to not only get multiple kills, but also to demoralize the enemy. They can see a mage casting, their mages can counter fireballs, but how do the counter having an entire line of men launching explosive death?

5. If you want to use non-magical means, the smaller container of smokepowder needs to be attached to the outer shell, with either a short fuze, or some form of impact detonation. Again, the minimum size is entirely dependent on the blast yield of smokepowder. If they use the cheap stuff, you'll need more than you would for something freshly made.

07-08-2013, 07:32 PM	#95
Nereidalbel Join Date: May 2013 Location: Ellicott City, MD	Re: Emerging smokepowder weapons in my fantasy 1. They actually make sling grenades for paintball. I imagine a similar design could work for explosives. 2. Figure you need at least 4 ounces for the grenade itself to survive the launch, so whatever explosive damage you would expect with 12 ounces of powder. Also, figure on either cutting or piercing shrapnel, depending on the material used. 3. Staff sling is probably the way to go for these. Roughly the same range, but easier to get a steeper angle for lobbing heavy projectiles. The current world record for such a weapon is 477 meters. 4. Assuming smokepowder creates enough heat to ignite alchemist's fire, you would probably want the magical fuze so you can have a small container of smokepowder within a larger container of alchemist's fire. If you just want to burn one target to death, you could make it a specialized tip for a bow/crossbow. The 2-3 pound version? You're basically making a napalm grenade there. The initial explosive damage is just a bonus on spreading burning death to whatever radius smokepowder can manage. A staff sling could still launch this into the middle of an army to not only get multiple kills, but also to demoralize the enemy. They can see a mage casting, their mages can counter fireballs, but how do the counter having an entire line of men launching explosive death? 5. If you want to use non-magical means, the smaller container of smokepowder needs to be attached to the outer shell, with either a short fuze, or some form of impact detonation. Again, the minimum size is entirely dependent on the blast yield of smokepowder. If they use the cheap stuff, you'll need more than you would for something freshly made.