GURPS Old West - leaving the hammer down on an empty chamber

Danimal · 07-27-2009, 09:49 PM

My GURPS Old West sourcebook mentioned that a careful gunman would leave the hammer of a revolver down on an empty chamber to prevent accidental discharge. However, I was never able to find any rule in the book to encourage this practice or penalize loading all six chambers. Was this ever addressed in a later edition?

I invented a house rule to promote leaving the hammer down on an empty chamber, which said that a live round with the hammer left down on it would go off when

1) the wearer rolled a critical failure on a Fast-Draw attempt.

2) the wearer dismounted and failed a DX roll at any appropriate penalties i.e. Shock).

3) the wearer used the Jump skill and failed a DX roll at any appropriate penalties.

4) the wearer fell down, succumbed to Knockdown, or otherwise hit the ground unexpectedly and failed a DX roll at any appropriate penalties.

Never got a chance to test this rule, so I don't know how playable it is. The one Old West game I GM'd, the PCs only loaded five rounds.

07-27-2009, 09:49 PM	#1
Danimal Join Date: Jul 2009	GURPS Old West - leaving the hammer down on an empty chamber My GURPS Old West sourcebook mentioned that a careful gunman would leave the hammer of a revolver down on an empty chamber to prevent accidental discharge. However, I was never able to find any rule in the book to encourage this practice or penalize loading all six chambers. Was this ever addressed in a later edition? I invented a house rule to promote leaving the hammer down on an empty chamber, which said that a live round with the hammer left down on it would go off when 1) the wearer rolled a critical failure on a Fast-Draw attempt. 2) the wearer dismounted and failed a DX roll at any appropriate penalties i.e. Shock). 3) the wearer used the Jump skill and failed a DX roll at any appropriate penalties. 4) the wearer fell down, succumbed to Knockdown, or otherwise hit the ground unexpectedly and failed a DX roll at any appropriate penalties. Never got a chance to test this rule, so I don't know how playable it is. The one Old West game I GM'd, the PCs only loaded five rounds.