4th edition weapon design

[SteveS]

I know that Vehicles is the place for weapon design rules in 3rd. What is the appropriate resource in 4th?

And are there any outside resources that are particularly good in terms of physical simulation of weapons up to the point of converting from physics (joules, etc.) to gaming (hit points, etc.)?

[Tymathee]

Melee weapons? GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2 has weapon design in it.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

4e doesn't have anything equivalent to the weapon design system in Vehicles for 3rd edition. There are some design/customization rules for melee weapons in LTC2, though they don't operate to anything like the level of detail I suspect you're looking for, and there's "The Deadly Spring" in Pyramid #3/33 which provides quite detailed rules for bows, which give you more of the physics you appear to want. I also have a vague recollection of a beam weapon design system in some other Pyramid, but ultimately there's no 4e equivalent of what 3rd edition had.

[Anders]

Isn't there a beam weapon design system in some Pyramid?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

4I also have a vague recollection of a beam weapon design system in some other Pyramid,

3/37 for Lasers and Blasters..

[Shuckster]

Supers covers a system for using magical or otherwise abnormal weapons in the form of advantages with gadget modifiers rather than as items purchased with money, I usually use that, or otherwise build a mundane weapon and give the character advantages with "Granted by magic weapon -40%" to signify they only have the power while holding it

[SteveS]

I know about "The Deadly Spring". But I appreciate the reminder. It's excellent.

I haven't thought much about melee weapons, except to come to the conclusion that they present a lot of different puzzles.

I know there's also a spreadsheet created by a weapons gearhead GURPS fan that goes beyond Vehicles 2. I probably have it somewhere, but wouldn't mind a fresh link.

I've heard good things about the multi-system Guns, Guns, Guns, which a review says covers a lot more than just guns. It's on my shopping list.

The Traveller supplements named Fire, Fusion, and Steel are said to be good too. The New Era edition is said to be better edited, while the T4 edition might cover more territory. T5 apparently has rules too, largely unusable in the first release, but functional in the revised edition.

Another question: how much does GURPS 4th differ from 3rd in terms of to-hit rules, damage rules, hit points, and so forth? My impression is that things are more streamlined, but I haven't had the opportunity to see 4th in play.

Thanks for the pointers.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by SteveS

I
I know there's also a spreadsheet created by a weapons gearhead GURPS fan that goes beyond Vehicles 2. I probably have it somewhere, but wouldn't mind a fresh link.

I've heard good things about the multi-system Guns, Guns, Guns, which a review says covers a lot more than just guns. It's on my shopping list.


Another question: how much does GURPS 4th differ from 3rd in terms of to-hit rules, damage rules, hit points, and so forth? My impression is that things are more streamlined, but I haven't had the opportunity to see 4th in play.

Thanks for the pointers.

https://gamingballistic.com/

You may ahve to ask Doug for the spreadsheet but he is the creator.

As to Guns,Guns, Guns let me say that I found it unsatisfactory and not just because my eyes glazed over whn it asked me to pick the length of the receiver for my gun..

3e to 4e changed "to hit" primarily indirecty through the great reductions to ACC, Damage changed majorly for explosions. Direct damage for projectiles and HEAT weapons changed not at all. Energy weapons were completely re-thought. Hit points decreased hugely for large objects. You probably need to ask specifically for anything else.

[Phantasm]

My eyes glazed over at the spreadsheet, to be honest. "Mass in grain of the bullet and powder"? How the aitch-ee-double-hockey-sticks is someone who is not a gun nut supposed to figure that out for their TL10 setting's antique 8.4mm caseless service pistol?

[Ottriman]

The others have given some pretty good answers, but I can still add something.

I made a very involved ranged weapon design system homebrew file for personal use a while back. I can share that with you using Google Docs, available both as .doc and .odt formats.

I based the stuff in this brew on a combination of several things: Old 3e Vehicles weapon design, stats from the 3 GURPS Tech Books (Low, High, Ultra), and then some dashes of my own intuition and desires codified into rules.

Here is a link to this thing for download if you wish to check it out: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19X2...ew?usp=sharing