Date: Sat, 02 Dec 1995 00:07:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Eric David Lichtenstein <el001c@uhura.cc.rochester.edu>
Subject: Repeating Turbolaser
To: jae+sw-rpg@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU (rpg)
Errors-to: jae+sw-rpg-errors@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU
Reply-to: jae+sw-rpg@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU
Message-id: <199512020507.AAA24187@uhura.cc.rochester.edu>
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Well, you asked for it so here it is:
(You have been warned!)

Type:	Personal Repeating Turbolaser
Model:	Tarr Industries RT-17 "Wildfire"
Scale:	Character
Skill:	Blaster-Repeating Blaster
Ranges:	5-60/170/450
Damage:	8D(Speeder Scale)/4D(Speeder Scale)
Ammo:	Belts of 50 standard powerpacks(1 shot = 1 powerpack)
Cost:	7500
Availability:	3, R or X

	This weapon is possibly the only thing produced by Tarr Industries
that has ever sold.  At first, this weapon was designed to be mounted on
speeder or walker scale vehicles.  Due to mounting problems and power supply
problems, the project was scrapped.  Several years later, the R&D department
of Tarr Industries was the target of a pirate raid, and in a hasty attempt
to put togther some type of resistance, the RT-17 was dragged out of the
closet by several techs, and modified to work off the only powersource
available at the time of the crisis: standard blaster powerpacks.  No one
expected the thing to work.  It was a last ditch attempt to save a few
desperate techs.
	The first time it was fired it destroyed an entire speeder of
pirates.  The second time it fired something went wrong and vaporized the
poor tech manning the thing.  The third time it fired the kickback collapsed
the chest cavity of the tech behind it.  The fourth time it fired it jammed. 
By this time, the remaning pirates had gotten out of their speeders and were
advancing on foot to the techs position.  The fifth attempt to fire the
weapon released a hail of pent up energy, spraying most of the area with
blaster fire.  Only 3 of the techs survived, but none of the pirates lived
to tell the tale.
	After that work began again on the RT-17.  It was modified from the
original version to be handled by groundtroops, extra cooling units
installed, and it was modified to use a chain of powerpacks rather than
having to reload after every shot.  The final result was a heavy, difficult
to use, breakdown prone, dangerous weapon capable of laying waste to small
towns.
	Every freelance mercenary and organized private army wanted them,
and despite all their problems, they sold very nicely.

	And now for all the fun other stuff.(Boy, are you gonna love this!)

Rate of Fire:
	No more than 2 shots at 8D(speeder scale) can be made a round.  This
is because the gun cannot fire more than that without melting.  The cooling
system will kick in after the second shot in a round, and will cut off the
firing mechanism so as to avoid damaging the gun.
	The 4D(speeder scale) rain of death can only be fired after the gun
has been charging for 2 full rounds, and after that, the gun will be ready
to fire at the very end of the second round.
	This blast is not so much a single blast as a _very_ fast firing off
of several hundred smaller blasts, that because a great many of them will
hit a single target, the equivilent damage equates to 4D speeder scale.
	Because of the incredible kickback of the gun, the fire arcs
available for this mode of fire is based on the character's strength.  Any
character can fire the weapon in any of the arcs equal to or less than their
strength catagory.
	Also, the equivilent damage in this mode differs depending on the 
fire arc used.
		Strength  Damage	Fire Arc
		  6D	   4D - speeder	   15 Degree Oval Shapped Cone
						Any Length 
					     ________
					    <________>
		  5D	   3D - speeder	   45 Degree Oval Shapped Cone
						No less than 20ft in length 
					 _______________________
					/			\
					\_______________________/		
		  4D	   4D - char	   60 Degree Oval Shapped Cone
						No less than 50ft in length
						(Like the above pictures,
						only bigger and less
						controlled.)
		  3D	   3D - char	   180 Degree Random Shapped Cone
						Wild, uncontrolled burst
						that hits everything in
						front of the character.
		2D/1D	   2D - char	   360 Totally Uncontrolled Random
						burst that hits anything
						and everything around with
						the exception of the lucky
						guy using the thing.

	Roughly, the lower the strength of the gunner, the more uncontrolled
the bursts will be.  It is not possible to have 2 people man the gun,
because of the incredible heat that the entire gun generates.
	Basically, the damage listed is done to everything in the
appropriate fire arc.  Nasty, huh?
	Well, how about this:
	Starting on the 5th shot and for every 5 shots thereafter of the normal
8D damage single blast, there is a 1 in 6 chance that the gun will overheat 
and shut down.  For instance, at the 10th shot there is a 2 in 6 chance, the 
15 shot a 3 in 6 chance...If the gun shuts down in this manner, it will
remain in a cool down state for the number of rounds equal to the chance it
had to overheat: if it overheated on shots 1-10, down for 1 round, on shots
11-15, down 2 rounds....
	For every blast of the rain of death, there is a 1 in 6 chance of
the weapon overheating, and shutting down(2 rounds), and not firing off that 
shot.
	Of course, the more often this weapon is used in a single combat,
the more likely the thing will be to melt, and shut down until it cam be
repaired.  The weapon will _not_ explode because it is designed to simply
melt.

Penalties/Restrictions:
	If you dont have a strength of at least 4D, you're gonna get tired
hauling aroud this heavy 40 lb monster.
	Penalties to Blaster Skill Based on Strength
		Strength	Penalty
		  6D		  0D
		  5D		 -1D
		  4D		 -2D
		  3D		 -3D
		  2D		 -5D
		  1D		 -7D
	When this gun is fired, a Strength Roll must be made.  If a
difficult roll is not made, and the fire mode is the 8D mode, depending on
how badly the roll was missed, the kickback can do everything to startle the
gunner, to knocking him down to kicking back into their body and breaking
bones.  If this roll is failed during the burst mode, the arc automatically
drops by a number of catagories corresponding to how badly botched the
Strength roll was, and it is possible for the gunner to drop the gun, and be
thrown into the fire arc!

Ways to Keep From Screwing Up When Firing This Sucker:
	Pretty much the only way to keep the penalties down a bit is to use
a tripod or a gyromount(that thing that Vasquez had her gun mounted on in
Aliens).  When using a gyromount, consider the character at +1D to Strength
for purposes of the recoil roll.
	When using a tripod:
	If the tripod is bolted into the ground, or if the weapon is mounted
to something, consider the gunner at +3D to Strength for the recoil roll. 
However, for every 5 shots of the 8D mode or for every 2 shots of
the rain of death, if the mount is not repaired, that bonus drops by 1D. 
When the bonus reaches 0D, the gun has shaken free of it's mount, and you
better just hope that last shot wasn't a burst.  As long as that baby is
still bolted down, a bonus of +2D to blaster skill is granted.  However, the
weaker the mounting gets, the smaller and smaller this bonus will get.
	If an unbolted(normal) tripod is used, the bonus is still related to
the characters Strength:
		Strength	Bonus to Recoil/Blaster Skill Rolls
		  6D		 	+2D/+2D
		  5D			+2D/+1D
		  4D			+1D/+0D
		  3D			Nothing.  From here on down the
						tripod is only useful for 
						moral support and whatever
						meager psychological value
						it gives the character.

	As an odd side note, it seems that a good number of the users of
this weapon disdain the use of tripods or the mounting of their weapons in
any way.  These people seem to prefere to wade knee-deep into heavy combat
and clear the field using their weapon on their strength and skill alone.

	Well, all thoughts are welcome!  Fire away!(Bad pun, I know.  :)

Eric Lichtenstein
el001c@uhura.cc.rochester.edu

People in stone houses shouldn't throw glass.
Another dumb .sig brought to you by me.