The Modern Armory · Chapter 14
Covert and Improvised Weapons
Two kinds of weapon share this chapter. The first kind is made by an intelligence service at great expense so that it will not be noticed. The second kind is made in a garage for nothing because its maker has no other option.
The covert weapons buy Silent or Concealable 4, and pay in damage, in rate of fire, and above all in price and Availability. Every one is Rare. Being found with one identifies who supplied it.
The improvised weapons carry Inferior and Limited Ammo 1, and cost less than a meal.
Skill: Light Ranged, except the three long guns.
Silent Pistol
Welrod Mk II, B&T VP9, Type 67
5 4 Short 1
Light Ranged 900 Rare Ballistic Silent, Slow-Firing 1, Limited Ammo 6, Concealable 1
A manually operated pistol built inside a suppressor. The Welrod was made for the Special Operations Executive in 1942 and the type is still made.
Silent as printed, with no special ammunition. Slow-Firing 1: the bolt is worked by hand, so it fires every other round. The magazine is the grip and holds six.
Integrally Suppressed Pistol, .22
High Standard HDM, suppressed Ruger Mark II
4 5 Short 1
Light Ranged 700 Rare Ballistic Silent, Accurate 1, Concealable 1
A .22 target pistol with the suppressor built around the barrel.
Silent and Accurate 1 at damage 4. It keeps firing every round, which the Silent Pistol does not.
Captive-Piston Pistol
PSS, S4M, OTs-38 revolver
5 4 Short 1
Light Ranged 2500 Rare Ballistic Silent, Limited Ammo 6, Concealable 2
A pistol whose cartridge traps its own propellant gas behind a piston. There is no muzzle blast to suppress, so the pistol is no larger than an ordinary one.
Silent and Concealable 2 together, with no Slow-Firing. It costs eight times what a pocket pistol does, its ammunition is made in one country, and owning one identifies who issued it.
Disguised Pistol
Lipstick pistol, pen gun, cane gun, glove pistol, belt-buckle pistol
4 5 Engaged 0
Light Ranged 600 Rare Ballistic Concealable 4, Limited Ammo 1, Inaccurate 1
A single small-calibre barrel built into a lipstick, a pen, a cane, a glove, or a belt buckle.
Concealable 4: it passes a search as the object it appears to be unless the searcher handles it and succeeds at a Hard Perception check. It fires once, at Engaged range only, with Inaccurate 1.
Dart Projector
Umbrella gun, dart pen, cigarette-case projector
1 — Engaged 0
Light Ranged 800 Rare Thrusting Silent, Concealable 4, Limited Ammo 1, delivers a poison dose
A compressed-gas or spring mechanism that fires a pellet or dart carrying a dose of poison, hidden in an umbrella, a pen, or a cigarette case.
The 1 damage is a pinprick. The weapon is whatever the dart carries: use the poison's own rules. The Apothecary has the doses. The target makes an Average Perception check to notice it was struck at all.
Zip Gun
FP-45 Liberator, street-made single shots
5 4 Short 1
Light Ranged 20 Rare Ballistic Inferior, Limited Ammo 1, Concealable 2
A barrel, a nail, and a rubber band, or the stamped single-shot pistols dropped to resistance movements in the 1940s.
Inferior and Limited Ammo 1. It is in this chapter because it is the gun for a person who has no other way to get one.
Pipe Shotgun
Slam-fire guns, four winds shotgun
7 4 Short 3
Heavy Ranged 30 Rare Ballistic Inferior, Limited Ammo 1, Blast 2
Two lengths of pipe that slide together over a fixed nail.
It fires one shotgun shell with Inferior and a reduced Blast 2. It takes a maneuver to reload and it takes any shell in Chapter 16.
Flare Gun
Very pistol, Orion 12-gauge signal pistol
4 5 Short 1
Light Ranged 80 Common Fire Burn 1, Limited Ammo 1, Inaccurate 1
A single-shot signal pistol.
As a weapon it is Inaccurate 1 and does 4 damage with Burn 1. As a signal it is seen for miles, lights the area within Long range for three rounds at night, and starts fires in dry country.
Tranquilizer Gun
Pneu-Dart, Cap-Chur, veterinary dart rifles
2 — Medium 3
Heavy Ranged 600 Restricted Thrusting Silent, Slow-Firing 1, Limited Ammo 1, delivers a sedative dose
A gas-powered rifle that fires a syringe dart. It was built for veterinary work.
The dart does 2 damage and delivers a dose. A standard sedative makes the target check Fortitude against Hard difficulty at the start of each of its turns, for up to five rounds. It suffers 3 Strain on a failure, and the drug wears off after two successes. A target incapacitated by that Strain sleeps for an hour. Doses are sized by body weight: a dose made for a larger animal also deals 2 Wounds at each failed check. This is the Tranquilizer Dose in The Apothecary, which has the full rules.
Speargun
Band and pneumatic diving spearguns
6 3 Short 3
Heavy Ranged 250 Common Thrusting Pierce 1, Limited Ammo 1, Slow-Firing 2
A rubber-powered or pneumatic gun that fires a barbed steel spear on a line.
It works underwater, where no firearm in this book does past Engaged range. Slow-Firing 2 on land; reloading it underwater takes an action.
