# Covert and Improvised Weapons

*The Modern Armory, Firearms, Explosives, and Ammunition for Exodus NDS, 1939 to Today. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/modern-armory/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.

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/modern_armory/modern-armory-covert.jpg">

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Silent Pistol
<span class="weapon-aka">Welrod Mk II, B&T VP9, Type 67</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">5</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">900</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Silent, Slow-Firing 1, Limited Ammo 6, Concealable 1</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Integrally Suppressed Pistol, .22
<span class="weapon-aka">High Standard HDM, suppressed Ruger Mark II</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">4</span>
<span class="crit">5</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">700</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Silent, Accurate 1, Concealable 1</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Captive-Piston Pistol
<span class="weapon-aka">PSS, S4M, OTs-38 revolver</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">5</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">2500</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Silent, Limited Ammo 6, Concealable 2</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Disguised Pistol
<span class="weapon-aka">Lipstick pistol, pen gun, cane gun, glove pistol, belt-buckle pistol</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">4</span>
<span class="crit">5</span>
<span class="range short">Engaged</span>
<span class="enc">0</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="skill">Light Ranged</span>
<span class="price">600</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Concealable 4, Limited Ammo 1, Inaccurate 1</span>

</div>

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**.

##### <span class="weapon-bar thrust"></span>Dart Projector
<span class="weapon-aka">Umbrella gun, dart pen, cigarette-case projector</span>

<div class="weapon thrust">

<span class="dmg">1</span>
<span class="crit">—</span>
<span class="range short">Engaged</span>
<span class="enc">0</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="skill">Light Ranged</span>
<span class="price">800</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Thrusting</span>
<span class="qual">Silent, Concealable 4, Limited Ammo 1, delivers a poison dose</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Zip Gun
<span class="weapon-aka">FP-45 Liberator, street-made single shots</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">5</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">20</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Inferior, Limited Ammo 1, Concealable 2</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar ballistic"></span>Pipe Shotgun
<span class="weapon-aka">Slam-fire guns, four winds shotgun</span>

<div class="weapon ballistic">

<span class="dmg">7</span>
<span class="crit">4</span>
<span class="range short">Short</span>
<span class="enc">3</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="skill">Heavy Ranged</span>
<span class="price">30</span>
<span class="avail">Rare</span>
<span class="type">Ballistic</span>
<span class="qual">Inferior, Limited Ammo 1, Blast 2</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar fire"></span>Flare Gun
<span class="weapon-aka">Very pistol, Orion 12-gauge signal pistol</span>

<div class="weapon fire">

<span class="dmg">4</span>
<span class="crit">5</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">80</span>
<span class="avail">Common</span>
<span class="type">Fire</span>
<span class="qual">Burn 1, Limited Ammo 1, Inaccurate 1</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar thrust"></span>Tranquilizer Gun
<span class="weapon-aka">Pneu-Dart, Cap-Chur, veterinary dart rifles</span>

<div class="weapon thrust">

<span class="dmg">2</span>
<span class="crit">—</span>
<span class="range short">Medium</span>
<span class="enc">3</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="skill">Heavy Ranged</span>
<span class="price">600</span>
<span class="avail">Restricted</span>
<span class="type">Thrusting</span>
<span class="qual">Silent, Slow-Firing 1, Limited Ammo 1, delivers a sedative dose</span>

</div>

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.

##### <span class="weapon-bar thrust"></span>Speargun
<span class="weapon-aka">Band and pneumatic diving spearguns</span>

<div class="weapon thrust">

<span class="dmg">6</span>
<span class="crit">3</span>
<span class="range short">Short</span>
<span class="enc">3</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-detail">

<span class="skill">Heavy Ranged</span>
<span class="price">250</span>
<span class="avail">Common</span>
<span class="type">Thrusting</span>
<span class="qual">Pierce 1, Limited Ammo 1, Slow-Firing 2</span>

</div>

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.

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/modern_armory/modern-armory-harbour-night.jpg">
