The Modern Armory · Chapter 13

Demolitions and Mines

Explosives that are placed, not thrown. They print Placed in the Range field.

Setting a charge takes the maneuvers its Prepare rating lists and an Average Craft check (or Demolitions, in a Universe that has the skill). On a success the charge is set. Each uncancelled Success adds 1 to its damage. On a failure it is set badly: it deals 2 less damage and loses half its Blast. A Calamity sets it off, or leaves it live and unreliable, at the GM's choice.

A placed charge needs no attack check. When it fires, it deals its damage to the object or person it is set against and its Blast damage to everyone Engaged with that.

Firing it needs a detonator from the list at the end of this chapter.

Skill: Craft, or the Universe's Demolitions skill.

Plastic Explosive Charge

C-4, Semtex, Nobel 808, PE-4

A half-kilogram block of putty-like explosive. It can be moulded, cut, and dropped without harm, and it does nothing until a detonator tells it to.

Damage 12 to whatever it is set against, Pierce 4, and Blast 8 to everyone Engaged with that. Prepare 2 is two maneuvers to place and arm. Two blocks used together add 2 to the damage and 2 to the Blast; further blocks add nothing a GM needs a number for.

Satchel Charge

M37 demolition kit, pole charges

A canvas bag holding eight to ten kilograms of explosive and a pull igniter.

Damage 16 and Blast 10. It can be placed, or thrown to Short range by a character with Might 2 as a Gunnery attack with 2 Bane Dice.

Breaching Charge

Door frame charges, detonating cord, water charges

A strip or frame of explosive shaped to cut a door, a lock, or a hole in a wall.

Pierce 6 against the structure it is fixed to. A door or interior wall is opened without a check. People are not its target: those Engaged with the far side take its Blast 2.

Limpet Mine

SOE limpet, Type 6, clam charges

A magnetic charge with a time fuse, made to be fixed to a ship's hull or a vehicle by a swimmer or a saboteur.

Damage 14 and Pierce 6 against the thing it is stuck to. It has no Blast: the charge is shaped inward.

Anti-Personnel Mine

S-mine, M16 bounding mine, PMN

A buried charge fired by a footstep or a tripwire.

It attacks whoever sets it off, with no check, for damage 10 and Vicious 2, and applies Blast 6 to everyone Engaged with them. Finding one before stepping on it is a Hard Perception check; a mine detector or a probe and ten minutes makes it Easy.

Directional Mine

M18 Claymore, MON-50

A curved block of explosive faced with steel balls, set on legs and fired by wire.

When fired it attacks one target at Short range in front of it for damage 10 and applies Blast 8 to everyone else in that arc out to Short range. Nothing behind it is harmed beyond Engaged.

Anti-Tank Mine

Tellermine, M15, TM-46

A plate-sized mine that needs the weight of a vehicle to fire it. A person can walk across one.

Damage 20 and Pierce 8 against the vehicle that sets it off. It is in a book of personal weapons because one person carries it, buries it, and walks away.

Detonators

A charge without a detonator is a brick. Each of these is bought separately and used once unless it says otherwise.

Detonator	Fires the charge	Price	Avail
Safety fuse and cap	After a burn the setter chooses when cutting it, from one round to ten minutes. Once lit it cannot be stopped without reaching it	5	Restricted
Time pencil	After a delay fixed when it is made: ten minutes to a day. Accurate to within a quarter of that delay, early or late	20	Military
Clockwork or electronic timer	At the set time, to the second	60	Restricted
Command wire	When the setter closes a hand switch, from up to Long range along the wire. Reusable	40	Military
Radio detonator	On a signal from a transmitter within Extreme range. From 1946. Reusable transmitter	200	Military
Pressure or pull switch	When someone steps on it, opens it, or trips a wire. This turns any charge into a mine or a booby trap	15	Military

Booby traps. A grenade or charge fitted with a pull switch attacks whoever triggers it as a mine does, with no check. Noticing one is a Hard Perception check, or Average for a character who is searching for it.

Disarming a set charge is an Average Craft check, Hard if it was set with a Breakthrough or is fitted with an anti-handling switch. A Calamity fires it.