4/26/2022
Welcome Back, Adventurers!
Hey Adventurers, this is going to be our first edition of Tuesday Rulesday, a weekly rules drop for Crowns. These are usually variant rules that are quick reads. They’re also places for me to dump ideas that I will later put together into official Crowns content.
By that point they will be more thought out, consider this more like proof of concept posts.
Adventurers with Guns
I don’t know about ya’ll, but I like the idea of guns in my Crowns games, or really, in most fantasy environments. This was a tradition taught to be by a good bundle of fantasy classics:
- Joel Rosenberg’s “Guardians of the Flame” series (books)
- Robert E. Howard’s “Solomon Kane” (short stories and an okay movie)
- Red Hook Studio’s “Darkest Dungeon” series (games)
- John Logan’s “Penny Dreadful” (tv show, has way too much sex in it though, like, way too much)
And while I like to keep it grounded in reality, I’m not too against the idea of giving my players modern AK-47s and telling them to clear ancient tombs with them. If the idea excites you, check out the Forgotten Ruin series. It really drags on in places, but it does have some STELLER concepts and ideas.
However, modern guns are a topic for another day. In today’s Tuesday Rulesday I’m going to be revealing a drafted series of rules for early firearms (handguns, arquebuses, blunderbusses, and pistols).
Matchlock, Wheellock, Flintlock, does it matter?
No, it doesn’t.
To some, what I just said is one of the greatest heresies, but here’s the deal.
Matchlock, Wheellock, and Flintlock weapons were all muzzleloaders and reloaded the same way, the only difference was the firing mechanism
The only major difference between them should be this: The players must spend a match every time they want to fire a Matchlock gun.
I think it’ll be a fun resource drain, and help enable the gun to feel powerful, turning it into a Veblen good.
Buying Firearms
Firearms and all firearm-related supplies can only be bought from Gunsmiths, which are a new building that can be in town. Depending on the era the game takes place it could be rare or as common as a blacksmith.
Gunsmiths cost 100c and 7 days to build in town.
Ammunition
Firearms will use the ammunition item Shot and Powder.
It costs 25c, and if you are exposed to fire while it’s being held or worn, make a SEN save. On a failure, a charge is expended and you suffer 1d6 damage.
Handcannon
A miniature cannon on the end of a stick. This is one of the earliest firearms and is exclusively fired through the use of matches. It does not have a stock, and thus can only be fired from the hip.
Deals d10 damage, -3 to-hit, one main action and movement action to reload
120ft range
Attacks made within 30ft of the target ignore 2 points of armor
Firing this in the dungeon causes a wandering monsters roll.
Requires shot and powder to reload
Both hands
Arquebus
A hand cannon with an elongated barrel and a wooden stock. This form will be kept for the rest of firearm history, with matchlock, wheellock, and flintlock versions appearing over the ages.
Deals d10 damage, one main action and movement action to reload
240ft range
Attacks made within 30ft of the target ignore 2 points of armor
Firing this in the dungeon causes a wandering monsters roll.
Requires shot and powder to reload
Both hands
Blunderbus
An arquebus with a bloomed barrel, allowing for greater spread. This encourages the use of grapeshot or shrapnel instead of a single round ball as ammunition.
Deals d10 damage, one main action and movement action to reload
25ft range
Attacks made within 10ft of the target are enhanced
Attacks made over 15ft from the target are impaired
Firing this in the dungeon causes a wandering monsters roll.
Requires shot and powder to reload
Both hands
Pistol
An arquebus with a reduced size, allowing it to be held in one hand, but still has many of the problems of the fully sized versions. Often preloaded and worn in pairs to allow for rapid firing instead of reloading.
Deals d10 damage, one main action and movement action to reload
90ft range
Attacks made within 30ft of the target are ignore 1 point of armor
Firing this in the dungeon causes a wandering monsters roll.
Requires shot and powder to reload
Main hand/ Off hand
Players can fire their guns every turn???
Yes and here’s why:
The action economy in Crowns is two main actions plus a move.
There is already a Crossbow that takes one main action to reload. The reason for this is that it disables the ability of the user to use a utility action on a failed shot in the middle of combat (excluding the first round).
Crossbows take a while to reload, old-style guns take a while to reload. Crossbows are less versatile than bows, and firearms are less versatile than crossbows.
Some would suggest we need to have the player spend their entire turn (or maybe just both their main actions) reloading the gun to make it fair. This is also not true, we can create balanced firearms in other ways.
Having someone spend their whole turn reloading their weapon, only to potentially miss their shot, really sucks. It’s arguably antithetical to the whole idea of the Crowns’ Combat system, which allows for second chances.
Thank you so much, everyone!
Until we meet again,
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR ADVENTURES
Ward Against Evil 
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