The Black Powder Armory · Chapter 5

Flintlock Pistols

The pistols of 1650 to 1840: the age of sail, the highwayman, and the duel.

A flintlock pistol fires once and takes two maneuvers to reload, so nobody reloads in a fight. They carry more pistols. A boarder goes over the rail with two, four, or six, fires each once, and finishes with a blade.

Drawing the next pistol is a maneuver. From a sash, a baldric, or a ribbon round the neck it is free once per turn.

Nearly every entry is Unreliable: 2 Bane or a Calamity on the attack and the pistol misfires, a flash in the pan, until an action is spent re-priming it.

Carried	Damage	Concealable
In a pocket	5	3
In a belt or sash	6	1
In a saddle holster	7	none

Skill: Light Ranged throughout.

Pocket Pistol

Muff pistol, Queen Anne pistol, turn-off pistol, toby

A pistol short enough for a coat pocket or a lady's muff. Damage 5, once, at Concealable 3. It is the traveller's answer to a highwayman, and the highwayman's second gun.

Belt Pistol

Holster pistol, officer's pistol, trade pistol

The ordinary flintlock pistol: a nine-inch barrel and a half-inch ball. Damage 6, Crit 4, Short range. This is the reference pistol of the flintlock age, and a brace of them is two shots.

Sea Service Pistol

Boarding pistol, naval pistol, pirate pistol

A heavy, plain pistol with a belt hook and a brass-capped butt, issued from the arms chest before boarding. It is fired once at arm's length and then reversed.

Used as a club it is a Weapon Butt (Chapter 10) that deals Might+2 instead of Might+1, and switching to it costs nothing. Sailors carry them in pairs on a ribbon round the neck.

Horse Pistol

Dragoon pistol, cavalry pistol, heavy holster pistol

A cavalry pistol with a twelve-inch barrel, carried in pairs in saddle holsters. Damage 7 is the most a flintlock handgun delivers. It needs Might 2.

Duelling Pistol

Target pistol, saw-handled pistol, a case of pistols

A pistol made for one careful shot: a heavy barrel, a set trigger, and a lock fitted by hand. Accurate 1, Crit 3, and Medium range. It is the only flintlock in the chapter that is not Unreliable.

They are made and sold in matched pairs. The price is for one.

Double-Barrelled Pistol

Turn-over pistol, side-by-side pistol, tap-action pistol

Two barrels and two locks, or one lock and a barrel block that turns over. Limited Ammo 2: it fires twice before reloading, and each barrel takes its own Prepare 2.

Duck-Foot Pistol

Volley pistol, mob pistol, four-barrelled splayed pistol

Four barrels splayed like the toes of a duck, fired together by one lock. It was sold to ship's officers and prison warders, who expected to face several men at once.

Blast 4 for 2 Boons catches those Engaged with the target. All four barrels must be reloaded: Prepare 4.

Dragon

Blunderbuss pistol, coach pistol

A blunderbuss cut down to a pistol, with a flared muzzle and a charge of swan shot. It gave the dragoons their name. Damage 7 with Blast 3 at Short range.