Gunpowder Weapons in My Campaign

[eruditus]

Two notes:

I liked the dwarven gunners in Chainmail, whose axe-handles were rifles as well (or whose rifle barrels sported axes - however you wanna look at it). It was a nice design (albiet, not necessarily original) but well concieved. The issue with all of these missile weapons being used as melee weapons is the moving parts. The more complex the machine is the easier it is to break and the more damaging rattling can be.

SO this is my idea based off of Armor breakage rules - you roll ones on your melee attack roll and you increase the Ob to hit by one.

Of course this also could incorporate jamming rules and the like (bowstrings snap, limbs crack, crossbow triggers crack, etc). Hmmm, I wonder if we could develop a wheel for malfunctions much like spell failure :)


Secondly, I want firearms in my new campaign (pre-rennaisance) but I want it to have a unique flavor (alchemy and gunpowder are done to death). Anyone have any ideas (if I use them I will definately give you credit) on the possibilities of a new way to approach firearms. The criteria are:

- fairly rare and bows/crossbows should be easier to make
- should be worked into the merchantile/social structure (for instance in FVLMINATA a certain merchant family controls the development and in ARCANIS only certain nobles can weild firearms)
- need training to use (I don't like that the real world learning curve on using firearms is far less than the bow learning curve)
- yet they have a distinct advantage in the hands of the trained (although really high VA and a steep DOF is advantage enough)

Any ideas?

[Kublai]

You could make firearms rare by having them use some fantasy element besides gunpowder.

Perhaps (going along with the Dwarven Gunner image) the source of the explosion is a crystal found deep in the earth? Dwarf miners would obviously have been the first to find it, and surely they would hold onto its secret with great fervor and greed.

Perhaps only the finest grade Mithril can contain the explosion as well?

Perhaps a training is necessary to properly prepare the crystal and some complex routine is necessary to load the gun?

[ronnieB]

I thought about adding non-blackpowder based firearms to my steam-fantasy campaign but eventually decided to limit them severely. anyway, here's my general concepts:
1.CA rifle - works similar to modern air rifles but fires bigger slugs and requires heavy air tanks- a rifleman could only carry enough compressed air for two shots and refilling requires a rather stationary air compressor, so this rifle will only be of use in a siege defense.
2.CA blowgun- heavy air tank restricting like a CA rifle, can be poisoned and the excellent range and accuracy might make it a specialist assassin's choice (assuming he is ready to leave it behind to escape unencumbered).
3.steam cannon- very powerful, has a built-in steam powered air compressor that must be fueled before every shot.

hope some it gives you ideas