The Stellar Armory ยท Chapter 1
Introduction
A space opera weapon list usually sorts by size: pistol, rifle, cannon. The laser rifle and the slug rifle then differ by a point of damage and a name.
Every technology has an armour that stops it and an armour it goes straight through.
In this book a weapon belongs to a technology, and the technology decides what it is good against. A character who carries a laser carbine has made a bet about what the other side is wearing.
What You Should Expect
Six technologies. Kinetic, Beam, Plasma, Disruption, Gravitic, and Ordnance. Each has a chapter that opens with what stops it and what it goes through.
Armour with gaps. Armour here carries two kinds of quality. Deflecting names a damage type the armour turns aside. Vulnerable names one that finds its weak point. Chapter 11 has the rules and Chapter 13 puts every matchup on one page.
Energy weapons that overheat. Beam and plasma weapons never run out of ammunition. They carry Overheat instead.
Stun and kill. Two beam weapons switch between a stun setting and a kill setting. No weapon in the book kills outright.
Might requirements. Cumbersome marks every heavy weapon and every heavy armour.
Using This Book in Your Universe
The names are generic. A Universe renames them, assigns them to its powers and makers, and decides which technologies are common. A setting where lasers are everywhere and plasma is a military secret uses the same stat lines as one where it is the other way round.
Prices are in the same units as the other armories. One multiplier converts the whole book to your Universe's currency.
The damage scale matches The Modern Armory. The century between that book and this one, with its smart weapons and cyberware, is in The Chrome Market. A slug pistol here and a 9mm there are the same weapon.
What You Need
The Exodus NDS core rules. This book assumes them and does not reprint them.
