# Reading an Entry

*The Black Powder Armory, Firearms, Blades, and Armour for Exodus NDS, 1400 to 1938. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/black-powder-armory/reading-an-entry*

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Belt Pistol
<span class="weapon-aka">Holster pistol, officer's pistol, trade pistol</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">6</span>
<span class="crit">4</span>
<span class="range short">Short</span>
<span class="enc">1</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="skill">Light Ranged</span>
<span class="price">200</span>
<span class="avail">Common</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Prepare 2, Unreliable, Concealable 1</span>

</div>

## The Fields

**Damage** is a flat number for anything fired or thrown. Add 1 for each uncancelled Success, then subtract the target's Resistance. Hand weapons print a bonus (**+2**) added to the wielder's Might.

**Crit** is the number of net Boons spent to inflict a Critical Injury. A dash means the weapon cannot inflict one.

**Range** is the farthest band at which the weapon attacks. **Placed** means it is set in position and fired later.

**Enc** is Encumbrance. A dash means the weapon is mounted and is not carried.

**Skill** is Light Ranged, Heavy Ranged, Gunnery, or Melee. At a table using the core rules' single Ranged skill, use Ranged for the first three.

**Type** is the damage type. Every firearm is Ballistic. Chapter 11 says what armour does about it.

**Qualities** are defined in Chapter 3.

## One Shot, Then Reload

A muzzle-loading firearm holds one charge. It is carried loaded. After it fires, it is empty until it is reloaded.

**Prepare X** is the reload: the wielder spends X maneuvers, and the gun is loaded again. The maneuvers need not be in one turn. A character has one free maneuver a turn and may take a second for 2 Strain.

| Lock | In use | Reload | Weakness |
|:--|:--|:-:|:--|
| **Hand-held match** | 1400 on | Prepare 4 | Slow Match, Unreliable, Inaccurate |
| **Matchlock** | 1400 to 1700 | Prepare 3 | Slow Match, Unreliable |
| **Wheellock** | 1500 to 1650 | Prepare 3 | Price |
| **Flintlock** | 1650 to 1840 | Prepare 2 | Unreliable |
| **Flintlock rifle** | 1700 to 1840 | Prepare 3 | Unreliable |
| **Percussion cap** | 1820 to 1870 | Prepare 2 | None |
| **Breechloader** | 1850 to 1890 | Prepare 1 | None |
| **Revolver, repeater** | 1836 on | Fires six, or runs dry | See its entry |

A flintlock musketeer who spends both maneuvers reloading, at a cost of 2 Strain, fires every turn. A matchlock musketeer fires every second turn at best. That difference won battles.

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/black_powder_armory/black-powder-armory-lock.jpg">

### Loading Aids

| Item | Effect | Price |
|:--|:--|--:|
| **Bandolier of charges** | Twelve wooden flasks, each one measured charge. A matchlock or wheellock's Prepare is 1 lower. Twelve reloads | 20 |
| **Paper cartridges** | Powder and ball in a paper tube, twenty to a box. A smoothbore flintlock, a percussion muzzle-loader, or a Rifle-Musket has Prepare 1 lower, to a minimum of 1. No effect on the Long Rifle | 15 |
| **Spare cylinder** | A loaded cylinder for a Cap-and-Ball or Dragoon Revolver. Swapping it takes two maneuvers | 60 |
| **Powder horn and shot bag** | What everyone else uses. Thirty reloads | 10 |

### A Brace of Pistols

Drawing a loaded pistol is a maneuver. From a sash, a baldric, or a ribbon round the neck, the first draw each turn is free.

Dropping a fired pistol is free. A pistol on a ribbon or lanyard is not lost.

Loaded pistols count their full Encumbrance. Six of them is a real weight.

## Misfires, Rain, and Damp

**Unreliable.** If an attack with an Unreliable weapon generates 2 or more Bane or a Calamity, it misfires: the priming flashes, or the match has gone out. The weapon is still loaded. It cannot be fired until an action is spent clearing and re-priming it.

**Slow Match.** The weapon fires only while its match is burning. Lighting a match is a maneuver with a flame to hand, and an action with flint and steel. A lit match is visible at night out to Long range and adds 2 Bane Dice to its carrier's Stealth checks.

| Conditions | Matchlock | Flintlock, wheellock | Percussion, cartridge |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| **Wind or spray** | Add 1 Bane Die | Add 1 Bane Die | No effect |
| **Rain** | Cannot fire | Add 2 Bane Dice | No effect |
| **Soaked or submerged** | Charge ruined; reload | Charge ruined; reload | Cap-and-ball: charge ruined. Cartridges: no effect |

Bane Dice from weather count toward a misfire like any others.

## Smoke and Noise

**Every shot gives away the shooter.** Black powder makes a white cloud and a flat boom. No check is needed to know where a shot came from, by day or night.

**Smoke builds.** In still air, below decks, or in a room, after three or more black powder shots in the same place in one round, add 1 Bane Die to ranged attacks into, out of, or through it until the end of the next round. A swivel gun or a grenado counts as three shots.

The smokeless weapons of Chapter 12 make no cloud.

## Price, Money, and Availability

**Price** is in the same units as the other armories. It is not a price in period money. As a rough guide:

| Setting | Divide prices by | To get |
|:--|:-:|:--|
| 1650 to 1800, the Atlantic world | 50 | Spanish dollars (pieces of eight) |
| 1650 to 1800, Britain | 200 | Pounds sterling |
| 1850 to 1900, the United States | 20 | US dollars |

A Universe with its own coinage picks one divisor and applies it to the whole book.

| Tag | Meaning |
|:--|:--|
| **Common** | Sold to anyone with the money, in any port or market town |
| **Restricted** | A gentleman's or an officer's weapon; a commoner carrying one is asked questions |
| **Military** | Made for a crown, a company, or a navy. Bought from a quartermaster, a prize court, or a thief |
| **Rare** | Made by a few craftsmen, or newly invented |

## Period

Every entry is marked with the first period in which it is found: **1400** (1400 to 1650), **1650** (1650 to 1840), or **1840** (1840 to 1938). Old weapons stay in use. A matchlock is still a militia gun in 1700, and a flintlock is still a trade gun in 1870, at half the listed price.