Space Alien Tech?

[bluskreem]

We started to introduce Alien technology in our game, and the players were quite excited to find their first calcium riffle, and Nightvision Sights (or as it's called at our table the "Geordi visor". Nerdiest RPers ever.) I can't wait to see the reaction to a Black Pudding pistol, or Bazooka Emitter.

I do have a few questions however:
What does a pulse range pattern mean?
What kind of damage does a grenades / missiles do?

[geoffrey]

Dec 9, 2008 12:42:31 GMT -6 bluskreem said:

What does a pulse range pattern mean?
What kind of damage does a grenades / missiles do?

Pulse patterns: Think of hand-held blasters in Star Wars. When you pull the trigger, a "pulse" of whatever (literally 3 inches long) shoots out of the barrel. Contrast that with beam projections. A beam is a continuous line stretching from the barrel all the way to the thing it hits. Thus (for example) a beam weapon hitting a guy 200' away will actually have a 200' long beam stretching between the weapon and its target.

Grenades, bombs, mini-missiles, and missiles have a VERY wide range of damage. A minor grenade might do only 1 die of damage, while a massive bomb or missile might do 200 dice of damage. How much damage each individual weapon of these types does is up to the referee.

Thanks for your questions!

[Morandir]

Casting a Reanimate Thread spell here.

With regards to the other projection patterns, just how wide is the cone of a Ray? Is this like a "standard" D&D cone, spreading out to be as wide at the end of the range as it is long? (Or half width, can't remember). And what of emitters? Are they essentially an area of effect like a fireball?

I assume that pulse, beam and ray weapons are meant to be single-target, but I figured I would check. This came up in my Sunday night Carcosa game when I rolled up a Microwave Ray Rifle, and imagined mowing down an entire village with a single shot.

[tkdco2]

I would personally treat ray guns as single-target weapons. Perhaps the ray is wider at short range than at long range.

[Malcadon]

I treat direct-fire weapons (beams, pules, energy bolts, etc.) as normal range attacks, but with the exception that advanced firearms effectively ignores standard armor -- the target is counted as wearing no armor. Only high-tech armor can protect someone against advanced firearms.

I treat area effect weapons (cones, clouds, blasts, etc.) like breath weapons: automatic hit, with a save to only take half-damage. Grenades follow the normal rules for missing and bouncing elsewhere, but if someone falls in the blast area: automatic hit, with a save to only take half-damage.

I treat advanced weapons, along with any advanced technology, like I do in Gamma World: characters have no idea what they are; it takes time to figure out what they do; and the descriptions that are vague or strange enough to defy the expectations of the players (e.g. it looks like an oversized key with a large ball on one end, but is in fact a weather-control device that can also shoot lightning, or something that looks like a tuning fork and a T-bar connected by a cylinder that emits a field of orgasmic rays).

[Morandir]

Hmm, that's definitely a good way to do it, I think. I'll be using that from now on. Thanks for the input guys!

[tkdco2]

I have thought of adding lightsabers (or the equivalent) to Carcosa. One of the B/X modules (City of the Gods) says they function as a +4 sword. I was thinking more like a sword of sharpness.

[ritt]

Where did the tech go? There was a very noticeable lack of "Pew! Pew!" in the four recent Carcosa AD&D modules...

[geoffrey]

Nov 2, 2016 8:29:21 GMT -6 ritt said:

Where did the tech go? There was a very noticeable lack of "Pew! Pew!" in the four recent Carcosa AD&D modules...

Each module includes the following note: "Many hexes on the map are given points of interest. Of course, these encounters are only the merest fraction of what can be found in the lands represented on the map."

I wanted to make sure that each module was self-contained. I did not want anyone to buy a module and think, "Hey! Now I have to buy the $38 Carcosa book before I can use this module? What a jip!"

Of course, those with the $38 Carcosa book can easily add Space Alien technology as they see fit.

[tkdco2]

Given that the named NPCs were not outfitted with equipment, feel free to give them any tech items you want them to have.