One-handed reloading of a pistol crossbow?

[ravenfish]

When choosing a ranged weapon for a character with the One Hand disadvantage, I considered the pistol crossbow, which can be fired one-handed but theoretically needs two hands to load. I was wondering if there are any official rules for loading such a weapon one-handed (presumably by taking extra time or requiring some sort of skill roll). I have looked through Low Tech and Martial Arts without finding anything promising, but it is possible I have overlooked something, and I have vague hopes that someone can direct me to a High Tech supplement (with which I am much less familiar) that has equivalent rules for gun loading that could be borrowed. Assume that use of "cinematic" rules is to be minimized if an alternative exists, and that the character does not have any mitigator more advanced than a hook or stump-knife.

[If no one can come up with anything, a house-rule I am considering would be to multiply the time required by a factor of fifteen, as that corresponds to sufficient "extra time" as per Campaigns to cancel out the -4 penalty to success rolls for a task that is difficult but not impossible to perform one-handed, so that pistol crossbow could be loaded in a minute of awkward bracing and pulling. In the absence of official rules, does this seem reasonable to people?]

On a related note, once that crossbow is loaded, is there any guidance (either in terms of GURPS rules or reenactor experience) for how long it can stay in such a state? Obviously it doesn't need to be kept drawn by muscle power like a self-bow would, but I understand that torsion weapons tend to degrade if kept stretched for long periods (certainly, my rubber-band weapons exhibited such behavior when I was a child, and I recall references to needing to unstring bows when they aren't in use). If the character keeps the crossbow loaded under his desk ready to whip out and fire, is that asking for it to fail when it's needed?

[Anthony]

While I don't know of any rules for it, it's probably not that hard to do a one-handed reload if you have a hook or similar prosthetic -- while you'll need a hand to load ammunition, the other arm doesn't need to do much more than keep the crossbow from moving too much while you load it, and that's probably possible (if somewhat tricky) without a hand. This can probably be made easier with a bit of hardware (some sort of socket that can hold the stock, something like a protruding nail near the front that you can hook on to).

[Varyon]

A crossbow scaled to your ST isn't going to be able to reloaded with one hand, at least not without mechanical assistance such as a goat's foot, winch, etc, because you need the strength of both arms to draw it back. For one that is scaled to an ST around 70% of yours, however, a single hand will be sufficient to draw it back (70% ST has right around half the BL), you just need to do something to keep it in place. For a short draw length (which is likely for a pistol crossbow), you could probably brace it against your hip or similar. That might be doable in as little as two additional seconds - one second to get it placed securely, the normal time to draw it back and place an arrow, and one second to get it back into position to fire - but I'd probably go with +3 or +4 seconds instead. Attaching something like a goat's foot probably adds another +3 or +4 seconds (+6 to +8 seconds), in addition to the normal amount of time needed to actually use such a device.

[zoncxs]

I would be ok with the character modifying a piece of armor to have a hook, most likely by the hip/waist, that can catch the rope of the cross bow and they can then push it down, drawing it back.

This requires that they always wear this special gear in order to reload the pistol crossbow and the bow needs to be rated such that they can do this with one arm.

Once its cocked, they would then need to attach it on the special gear to then be able to load the bolt.

So, though I would allow it with a pricy custom gear, it would still take much longer than a normal person still.

[pawsplay]

Goat's foot boot, I think.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by pawsplay

Goat's foot boot, I think.

Yeah, Goats Foot or a windless. Also a repeating crossbow.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Varyon

A crossbow scaled to your ST isn't going to be able to reloaded with one hand, at least not without mechanical assistance such as a goat's foot, winch, etc, because you need the strength of both arms to draw it back.

Unless it has a foot stirrup, in which case you're using the strength of your leg(s), not your arms.

Also, you can load a crossbow of ST+2, so one handed would be 0.7 times ST+2. I'd be inclined to simplify this to 'can load at up to your ST by taking twice as long' and be done with it.

[Icelander]

If we're talking a realistic TL3 to TL4 crossbow, the actual efficiency was so low that one that has a draw weight low enough so that the user can string it by hand, it's not an effective weapon anyway. It might be used for target practice or it could possibly kill game birds at short ranges, but not really well enough to be all that good for hunting. Scale it down enough to justify calling it a 'pistol crossbow' and a hand-spanned one at TL4 is just a toy, the TL4 equivalent of a Red Ryder airgun.

Historical TL4 'pistol crossbows' that were powerful enough to hunt birds with (the main realistic use of them) or possibly killing an unarmoured man at short ranges if you loaded it with a much heavier, all-steel bolt, couldn't be hand-spanned anyway, not with one hand or two. It would use a complex cranequin to draw back the string and when you're using something that complicated and time-consuming to load, it's not practical to reload in combat anyway.

The added complexity and time (another 5-10 seconds when the reloading time is 30-60 seconds) of having only one hand and needing to secure the bow on a belt hook or in some other way is not really a barrier to using it for the same purpose as others would. Aristocratic hunting of game birds for sport, from horseback, in Italy done with parties of mixed genders, and thus somewhat equivalent of falconry, in that the upper class participants would often be courting or at least flirting under socially acceptable conditions.

Or, the use that adventurers would probably be more likely to care about (sadly, because aristocratic courting, with its elements of allegiances between houses pursued for wealth and power, mixed with the hormones of young people flirting and actual attraction perhaps at odds with planned marriages, is great adventure and narrative material), commiting murder at very close range with a weapon one could conceal under a cloak, shooting a heavy all-steel bolt from a compact cranequin-spanned crossbow of a draw weight in many hundreds of pounds, it would in practice be a weapon shot only once, and then the assassin would switch to a knife or sword, whether they had one arm or two.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Icelander

If we're talking a realistic TL3 to TL4 crossbow

For a realism based one-handed user, a thrown weapon would definitely be superior to a pistol crossbow at TL 3 & 4. But for TL 4 there's also the alternative of early pistols in the form of flintlocks and wheellocks if you just need an opening shot before engaging in melee.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Unless it has a foot stirrup, in which case you're using the strength of your leg(s), not your arms.

Also, you can load a crossbow of ST+2, so one handed would be 0.7 times ST+2. I'd be inclined to simplify this to 'can load at up to your ST by taking twice as long' and be done with it.

Yeah, using the legs is an option for a typical crossbow, but I don't think would work very well for a pistol crossbow. The ST+2 figure (actually ST+20%) in LT is for when using a foot stirrup (and gets boosted to +3/+30% if using both feet). If you're instead referring to the crossbow-equivalent of the Strongbow Perk, well, that's functionally the same as having Lifting ST +2 (Crossbows Only), so you use that strength value as your base before adjusting downward to 70% normal. Or just do something like 85% normal.