Proposed Weapons Rules

Following Blackwater 2 we carried out a consultation via the websites Message Board concerning the new game system that had been introduced. From that discussion it seemed that for the most part the new rules for skills had been well received and it was felt that they went fairly well, however the consensus was that two aspects needed to be reconsidered.

The first area to be addressed was the use of “physical” skills. It was felt that these did not fit in with a live action role-playing system, and so these skill types have now been abolished as of the beginning of this year. The second matter raised by many was the use of Weapon Skills. The main issue concerning Weapons Skills was how does a monster, NPC or another player know if someone shooting at them is a “Basic” or “Expert” shot, or even has a gun skill at all? In addition, skills for other weapon types (swords, knives, etc) seemed equally unworkable; where does being an “Expert” swordsman come into it when anyone with or without such a skill could pick up a sword during a game and use it just as well?

It is therefore proposed that Weapons Skills will be abolished. In order to maintain some balance in the games and keep control over the use of weapons by characters these would be accounted for under a separate section of the Character Sheet called “Weapon Use”. Just as with the Sanity Score players may use a proportion of their Skill Tokens to spend on selecting the use of a weapon, and any associated ammunition. It is to be borne in mind that a character must have a minimum of 5 Skills that are expected to reflect the characters profession both in the type of skills selected and the skill level’s applied and so the number of Skill Tokens spent on Weapons Use, as with extra Sanity points, is to be balanced with this.

It is therefore proposed that:

Weapons will be separated from the Skills section of the Character Sheets (as with Sanity) and weapon skills abolished.

Weapons Use will be listed as a separate entry on the character sheet.

Players wishing their character to have a weapon must now spend Skill Tokens to “buy” the right to bring the weapon and any applicable ammunition to the game.

1 Skill Token buys the use of one weapon. Equally, a rifle, pistol, or shotgun, etc. are treated as separate weapon types and cannot be grouped together under “Gun”, so a character with a rifle must state “Rifle” under Weapons Use and may only bring and use a rifle.

In respect to guns a character automatically gets 10 rounds of ammunition in addition to the use of the specified gun.

Further ammunition can be “purchased” by spending additional Skill Tokens. Each extra Skill Token spent in this way buys a further 10 rounds. Where more than one type of gun is used the extra ammunition must be specified, i.e. pistol rounds, rifle rounds, etc.

For game balance the maximum number of weapons and/or additional ammunition re-loads a player can have shall be limited to 5.

Once a character has been generated with a Weapon Use, and any applicable additional ammunition, they will start all subsequent games (should they survive) with those same weapons and ammunition available to them.

At the end of a game any surviving characters are currently awarded 2 additional Skill Tokens to spend on increasing any existing skills. With the introduction of the new Weapons Rules players who wish to may instead spend these bonus Skill Tokens on purchasing the use of additional weapons or ammunition, or to purchase the use of weapon where they did not have one before (their characters perhaps having now realised the need for such protection!).

The Weapon Rules will only apply to purpose built weapons (i.e. guns, knives, sword, etc). Impromptu “weapons” such as shovels, cricket bat’s, mouldy socks, etc. that ordinarily have an innocent use are not covered by these rules and can be brought to the game by a character and then subsequently used as a “weapon” without restrictions applying.

All weapons, including “impromptu” ones, must be physically (and safely) represented during the game. They must also work adequately in order that it will be clear to all concerned that the weapon is being used (e.g. guns must make a recognisable gunshot sound – preferable by firing blanks). Please follow the Game System link on our website for guidance on safe weapons and the safe use of blank firing guns.

In Dark Door games it has always been generally accepted that, as in real life, anyone may pick up a knife or gun and use it - in fact this was one of the areas of contention raised with the current Weapons Skills approach. It is still accepted that during the course of a game a player who has not previously selected a Weapon Use when generating their character may find a weapon or perhaps retrieve one from a fallen comrade and then make use of it. In the “real world” there would be nothing to prevent this and so it would not make sense for us to do so in a Dark Door game. However, the impromptu use of that weapon applies for the duration of the game in question only and therefore should the character survive and the player wish to retain and use the weapon on future games, then they must expend their survivors bonus Skill Token’s on selecting the appropriate Weapons Use for their character.

Existing characters weapons skills will need to be converted over to the new Weapon Rules. For Guns this will be a simple matter of taking the current Skill Level for that weapon and using the number of Skill Token’s that were spent in originally selecting the Skill Level (e.g. “Skilled” = 3 Skill Tokens) to “buy” the use of the weapon and any appropriate additional ammunition (e.g. “Skilled” Pistol Shot then becomes 1 pistol along with the basic 10 pistol rounds, plus X 2 additional 10 pistol rounds of ammunition - so the character will have a total of 30 rounds to use with the pistol). Other weapon types (sword, dagger, etc.) will just convert to 1 of each appropriate weapon type (the equivalent of having spent 1 Skill Token for each weapon in question) regardless of the Skill Level previously held by the player. In the interest of fairness any excess Skill Tokens can be redistributed amongst the characters other Skills, or Sanity Score, or even to select further weapons or ammunition (up to the maximum of 5). This may perhaps be something of a fudge, but it seems to be the most obvious and fair approach. In the end the particular games referee will have to judge what is appropriate and acceptable when a player is converting his character over and redistributing any leftover Skill Tokens.

Example of how a new character will be generated using the new rules;

John decides to play a Hunter. He considers that he would be able to track animals, set traps, and will have good survival skills. He may also have picked up some first aid skills. John also decides his character understands a bit of Latin from his lessons when he was at school. His character will also be bringing weapons to the game.

John has 14 Skill Tokens to spend. He spends 4 Skill Tokens on his Track Animal skill, making him an "Expert"; he spends 3 tokens on Set Trap making him “Skilled” and 2 tokens on Survival making him "Good" at this activity. He then spends 1 Skill Token a piece on First Aid and Latin, giving him a "Basic" knowledge of these.

John then decides that he wants to increase his base Sanity Score of 40 and start with a higher Sanity Score. He spends 1 Skill Token on buying a further 15 Sanity points, giving him a starting Sanity Score of 55.

John wants his hunter to use a hunting rifle and hunting knife in the game and so spends his remaining 2 Skill Tokens on his Weapon Use. He spends one Skill Token to allow him the rifle along with the standard 10 rounds of rifle ammunition, and the last Skill Token is spent to allow the Hunting Knife.

John’s Character Sheet then looks as follows:

Sanity Score 55

Skills:

Track Animal Expert

Set Trap Skilled

Survival Good

First Aid Basic

Latin Basic

Weapon Use:

Hunting Rifle plus 10 rounds

Hunting Knife

Total Skill Tokens Spent: 14

Against all the odds, John's Hunter character manages to survive the game, though his Sanity Score takes a battering, leaving him with only 25 points. After the game he receives his 2 bonus Skill Tokens.

John feels that a higher First Aid Skill and an extra re-load of ammunition would have come in handy. He therefore decides he will spend one bonus Skill Token on his First Aid skill, increasing this from "Basic" to "Good". He then spends the second bonus Skill Token on an extra 10 rounds of ammunition for his rifle. After consideration the Referee awards him a Sanity Bonus of 20 points: 10 for surviving and 5 each for defeating the evil cultists and returning the nameless horror they had summoned back to the dimension it came from.

After these bonuses Johns Character Sheet would look like this:

Sanity Score 45

Skills:

Track Animal Expert

Set Trap Skilled

Survival Good

First Aid Good

Latin Basic

Weapon Use:

Hunting Rifle plus 10 rounds

Additional 10 rounds of rifle ammunition

Hunting Knife

Total Skill Tokens used: 14 + 2 bonus’ = 16

These are now the Sanity Score, Skills, Weapons and ammunition with which John’s character will start the next game.

This is what the new character sheet would look like.