Speed: This value is added to or subtracted from your initiative score when using this weapon. If using more than one kind of weapon, just roll initiative as normal and then add these results for each kind of weapon.
Accuracy: This is added to, or subtracted from, difficulty 6 when using this weapon.
Damage: This is added to the character’s Strength + extra successes to determine damage when attacking with this weapon. Note that values in [ ] are damage levels.
Defense: This value is added to or subtracted from difficulty 6 when using this weapon to parry attacks.
Minimums: The minimum number of dots in specific Attributes or Abilities to use the weapon properly. For each dot below the minimum, the character subtracts 1 from the speed, and adds 1 to the attack and defense difficulty of the weapon. Str. means Strength, Dex means Dexterity, Me means Melee.
Axe: A normal axe is simply a few feet of wood with a broad blade on one side, sometimes with a narrow pick blade on the other. Battle axes had a brief heyday during the worst of the invasion, with better balance, a haft shaped to aid in throwing, and honed tungsten-steel blades. Reduce all weapon qualities by 1 for a normal axe.
Resource cost: (normal) •, (battle) ••
Cestus: The crudest form of these are simply brass knuckles, but several variations have appeared on the streets in the past several years. The most popular variety is breathable spandex with shaped aluminum plugs over the knuckles. Hand-to-hand parries are easier with a cestus, and some have enough metal that they can block edged weapons.
Resources: •
Cestus, Power: Built specifically for street fighting, a power cestus is actually a steel alloy gauntlet that covers the forearm from elbow to knuckles. A combination of air compressors and electrical contact pads in the knuckles delivers a blow with greater speed and shock. The downside is that their battery packs must be replaced after every hour of constant use, and that the user will suffer 1 (bashing) level of damage for every five rounds of continuous use in combat.
Resource cost: •••
Chain: Just as it says, this is a length of steel chain, usually anywhere from three to six feet, gripped in one hand and swung around to build up terrible momentum. Chains can be used to entangle a target, at +1 diff to the attack, and three net successes after dodge. The target must make a Dexterity roll, difficulty 7, and accumulate three successes to remove the entangle, which takes an action. Chains also add one die to attempts to disarm an opponent.
Resource cost: none.
Claws: Supernatural beings can often grow claws to aid them in battle. Seeing how useful these claws were in action, many normal troops tried to make their own claws for close combat. The best design, still being manufactured for infantries, are carbon-tungsten steel blades extended from the back of the gauntlet, just behind the knuckles. These blades are up to six inches long and honed to razor sharpness.
Resource cost: ••
Club: The basic weapon of choice on the streets. This is a length of wood or metal, usually more than two feet long. Many clubs are improvised and fall apart after little use, but things such as tonfa, nightsticks and jo staves are built for the abuse.
Resource cost: (improvised) none, (jo staves, nightsticks, tonfa) •
Hammer: A sledgehammer became a very popular weapon during ground fighting against the Hammer of the Stars. Some effort was made to improve the design, but the basic 16 pound sledge was hard to beat.
Resource cost: •
Kick: Striking a target with a foot. The second most-basic attack there is.
Knife: The basic combat knife has a blade about a foot long, with both chopping and stabbing edges. Some knives are smaller or larger, and can be designed for throwing as well.
Resource cost: •
Knife, Blur: The latest generation of high-tech close-combat weaponry. A blur knife has a slightly flexible alloyed blade and an oversized handle that contains vibration dampers and a strong motor. When activated, the blade oscillates a few millimeters from side to side at high frequency, which makes it able to slice through most objects softer than osmium steel. While a blur knife is a vicious weapon, is still has several limitations. The battery pack is only good for half an hour of continuous operation, the vibration of the blade can make the weapon difficult to aim with, and the motor is vulnerable to breakdowns.
Resource cost: ••••
Knife, Fiber: Considered by many soldiers to be more reliable than a blur knife, but more expensive to build and maintain. A fiber knife is a molecular chain of titanium alloy surrounded by carbon polymer chains. The blade is three nanometers wide by 10 nanometers thick, and approximately half a meter in length. It is held in place by magnetic force, and marked by a large metal plug at the end of the wire. There is a weak laser in the handle, meant to reflect off the plug, to show the wielder where the blade is. This weapon can cut through most solid substances. The fiber knife’s main limitations are that the battery pack only allows an hour of constant use and that on rare occasions, the blade can slip out of the magnetic field and whip around invisibly, usually removing fingers in the process (on a botch with multiple 1’s rolled).
Resource cost: ••••
Nightstick, Taser: A taser nightstick is simply a large hard rubber club with a several wire contact points drilled through it. Almost any strike with the stick will activate the taser charge, shocking the target into submission. These are very popular with police.
Resource cost: •••
Nunchaku: Two lengths of wood, or sometimes steel, joined by a chain. The nunchaku can be whirled around to build up momentum for a strike. A favorite weapon of martial artists and street gangs.
Resource cost: •
Punch: The most basic form of attack.
Staff: Four to six feet of wood or metal. The long reach and leverage can allow devastating blows, and in the hands of an expert, the staff moves with frightening speed.
Resource cost: •
Sword, Saber: There are many varieties of sword, all with their own distinct qualities. During ground fighting and battles in spaceships, a need was found for a useful close-combat weapon that did not break down. Most troops adopted the old cavalry saber for the purpose, three feet of steel, a single edge, and stabbing point. There are many of these floating around these days, and a sword is part of the dress uniform of most militaries.
Resource cost: ••
Sword, Blur: As a blur knife, but with a blade about a meter in length. The greater power requirements are met by a larger battery in the handle.
Resource cost: •••••
Sword, Fiber: As a fiber knife, but with a blade about two more nanometers in thickness and width, and a meter in length. The fiber sword is more prone to slipping its magnetic field, because of the greater length (on any botch).
Resource cost: •••••
Whip: A long, limber weapon normally made of leather. The whip can be used to entangle a target, at + 1 difficulty, with 3 net successes meaining the target is grappled. It takes a Dexterity roll at diff 7, three successes required to free oneself. The whip gives –1 difficulty to disarm attempts.
Resource cost: ••
Whip, Shock: A wire mesh inside the leather whip delivers a powerful electric shock to a target. Shock whips became famous among Children of Ether during battles onboard ships.
Resource cost: •••
Wind-Fire Wheels: Hoops of metal, sometimes with edges or protruding blades. These are a popular martial arts weapon, and easy to make for use on the streets.
Resource cost: ••
Speed: This number is added to or subtracted from the character’s initiative when using this weapon. When using more than one kind of weapon, roll initiative normally and add this number afterward.
Accuracy: This number is added to or subtracted from difficulty 6 when using this weapon.
Damage: This is the damage rolled, in addition to hit successes, when using the weapon.
Range: This is the weapon’s practical range in meters. A weapon’s maximum range is twice this number, attacks at this distance are + 2 difficulty. Between normal and maximum range, attacks are at +1 difficulty.
Rate of Fire: This is the number of times a weapon can be fired in a single round. Slugthrowing weapons are capable of semiautomatic bursts and fully automatic attacks, which dump an entire clip at a target. Energy weapons using fully automatic attacks fire up to their rate of fire in a round. [An energy weapon cannot be made to fire more than the rate of fire, or they will melt their internal components, or in the case of plasma weapons, blow up.]
Clip: This is how many shots or charges a weapon contains. Plasma weapon clips contain small magnetic bottles of highly-compressed plasma, which is released in small bits by the weapon. Destroying the magnetic field of these clips makes them into bombs.
Ranged Weapons
Primitive: These weapons can often be improvised or built with Crafts skill.
Axe: The melee weapon, when it is thrown. Normal axes cannot be thrown as effectively as battle axes. Add one to speed, reduce accuracy and damage by one each, and reduce range to 5 meters.
Resource cost: •
Bow: One of the oldest hunting weapons of humanity. This saw a great deal of use during ground fighting, and is still in evidence in many places, including some urban ruins. There are variety of bows, from short to large composite fiber materials, but the most common is the basic long bow, about four to five feet high, recurved, and strung with synthetic fibers or dried gut. Bows fire arrows, most often broadheads, which cause the listed damage.
Resource cost: •
Crossbow: The middle step between bows and guns. Crossbows require some degree of technology to build the winches and steel springs. Some military forces, especially in Africa and Australia, supply their military forces with crossbows as well as standard munitions. A crossbow has a clip, some kind of stock or lever to reload the bolts, and are easy to learn and use.
Resource cost: ••
Knife: Almost every standard knife can be thrown to some degree, but only throwing knives can travel any distance with any degree of deadliness. Blur knives and fiber knives cannot be thrown effectively.
Resource cost: •
Slingshot: A slingshot is a humble weapon, an elastic cord stretched between two uprights. However, due to the ease of building and using these weapons, many people living in the wild or urban ruins employ these weapons. Some have become very creative about the shot they fire with their slingshots. Even some police and military forces have experimented with them as primitive grenade launchers.
Resource cost: none
Spear: The oldest of humanity’s ranged weapons. A spear is thrown overarm, usually after a short run. Some hunters also use atl-atls, or throwing sticks, which add +1 to difficulty but double a spear’s range.
Resource cost: none.
Pistol: Any round up to .45 caliber or 10 mm is considered a standard pistol. These can be concealed.
Classic 9 mm: A great many of these can be found in almost every country. Almost every kind of older 9 mm gun is referred to as a "classic," regardless of manufacturer.
Resource cost: •
Cyclone: A weapon built for infantry forces during the war, the Cyclone is light and accurate. It breaks down often, but can be easily repaired, sometimes adapting parts from other kinds of pistols.
Resource cost: ••
Defender: A heavier pistol built in the last part of the war, the Defender has a reputation for reliability. Some veterans dragged their Defenders through mud, used them as makeshift hammers, and ran over them with Humvees, and the guns still worked.
Resource cost: ••
.357 Magnum: The most common revolver in existence. The gun packs quite a punch and is easy to maintain, which is why it’s still used.
Resource cost: •
.44 Magnum: A bigger cousin to the .357, a .44 is less accurate but is still the most powerful revolver in the world.
Resource cost: ••
Shadow: A surprisingly-small and concealable gun, the Shadow is the weapon of choice for plainsclothes police and agents.
Resource cost: ••
Heavy Pistol: Anything above .45 caliber or 10 mm rounds is considered a heavy pistol. Almost all heavy pistols are extremely difficult to conceal (-1 diff to notice).
Avenger 11 mm: The last joint-forces pistol built during the war years, the Avenger is a massive weapon. Some veterans say they had more kills using the Avenger to bludgeon the enemy than by shooting. Most of the principles of the 11 mm pistol were put to the test with this gun.
Resource cost: ••
Desert Eagle: The largest of the old-style handguns, the .50 caliber Desert Eagle packed a massive punch in a surprisingly-accurate gun. These are still weapons of choice for the U.S. military.
Resource cost: •••
Glock 30: The newest and most-popular gun built by Glock, the 30 is a 10 mm pistol that combines accuracy and reliability.
Resource cost: •••
Stavros 11 mm: A new manufacturer that supplies large handguns cheaply, to many third-world nations. The Stavros looks a great deal like a slimmed-down Avenger.
Resource cost: ••
Tempest: Manufactured for U.N. forces, the Tempest 11 mm packs a huge punch in a reasonably-small frame.
Resource cost: •••
Automatic Weapons: This encompass all automatic or semiautomatic weapons larger than a pistol. Despite the advent of energy weapons, automatic rifles are still the most common firearms around.
AK-47: The Russian-designed assault rifle seen in third-world countries around the world. AK-47s are said to be more common than knives in some places.
Resource cost: •
H&K MP-10: The newest model of carbine built by Heckler and Koch, the MP-10 fires 10 mm shells with extreme accuracy. Most European forces prefer the MP-10.
Resource cost: •••
M-16 2b: The U.S. military’s upgrade of their M-16 assault rifle. The 2b is built to use 10 mm shells and was designed for reliability in harsh conditions.
Resource cost: •••
Tornado: The U.N. joint forces assault rifle, the Tornado fires its 10 mm shells at an astounding rate. However, the Tornado is known to be touchy and often requires maintenance.
Resource cost: •••
Uzi: The Israeli classic design, still seen in many urban ruins and among street gangs. It vies with the AK-47 for title of the most-common machine gun on Earth.
Resource cost: •
Shotgun: Shotguns fire either small loads or shot. Shot is +1 diff to dodge, but causes –1 die of damage from half its practical range up.
Ithaca M37: An old design still found in many homes. The Ithaca is reliable and easy to use. Many of these are sawed-off to give better damage (+2 up to 2 meters away, +1 up to 4 meters away), but less range (practical range is 10 meters).
Resource cost: •
Protector: Built during the war years, the Protector still sees a lot of use in police forces While it doesn’t pack the punch other shotguns do, it is very accurate and fast.
Resource cost: ••
Thunder: The U.N. joint forces autoshotgun design, used for urban combat. The Thunder is very durable, and makes a great club when it runs out of ammo.
Resource cost: •••
USAS 12: The U.S. military’s preferred urban combat weapon. The design has required few improvements over the years.
Resource cost: •••
Laser Pistol: Laser weapons are energy efficient, but are susceptible to atmospheric conditions. Every negative aiming modifier from rain, mist, smoke or other conditions reduce the damage of a laser by one die.
Pulse: One of the first laser pistols put on the market, the Pulse is now cheap enough to be purchased by normal citizens. The power charges are interchangeable with the Wasp, which makes them too big for the Pulse’s design, giving it a distinctive add-on look.
Resource cost: •••
Wasp: Still seen primarily in military hands, the Wasp pistol has a very sci-fi look, with curved emitter assembly, and the lasing mechanism sitting mostly forward of the trigger. The Wasp is sold to the public, but is too expensive for most.
Resource cost: ••••
Voss 33K: As is common for Voss-brand energy weapons, the 33K is the most powerful of its type. It is normally used by U.N. joint forces, but some individual countries’ special forces use them as well.
Resource cost: ••••
Laser Rifles: Laser weapons are energy efficient, but are susceptible to atmospheric conditions. Every negative aiming modifier from rain, mist, smoke or other conditions reduce the damage of a laser by one die.
Hornet: The first carbine laser rifle built, and now the only one sold publicly. The Hornet is definitely the most futuristic appearing laser rifle out there.
Resource cost: ••••
Vindicator: The U.S. military’s own laser carbine design. It was first built in the war years but has undergone many minor upgrades since. It looks remarkably like an M-16, with unusual attachments.
Resource cost: ••••
Voss 63K: The most powerful laser carbine in the world, and built especially for U.N. joint forces. The Voss has a distinctive stock in front of the trigger, which can be pumped to load new power charges.
Resource cost: ••••
Plasma Pistol: Plasma weapons are able to strike most incoporeal beings for half damage.
Gray 311: The Gray series of plasma weapons are designed for distance and accuracy. They are preferred by snipers and special forces units, especially in the U.S.
Resource cost: ••••
PS41 Delta: The original plasma pistol design, still in use by many agents. The PS41 is considered bulky and ugly, but is very reliable.
Resource cost: •••
Voss 52M: The most powerful plasma pistol in the world, used only by agents or elite forces. The 52M requires a great deal of maintenance, but is worth the effort.
Resource cost: ••••
Plasma Rifle: Plasma weapons are able to strike most incoporeal beings for half damage.
Gray 622: The only plasma rifle used by U.S. special forces.
Resource cost: ••••
PS74 Delta: The original plasma rifle used during the war years, the PS74 is still the most common of the type.
Resource cost: •••
Voss 86M: This rifle is fresh on the market and so far sold exclusively to agents and elite troops.
Resource cost: •••••
Flechette: Flechette weapons use compressed gas to fire high-velocity ceramic darts in bursts. All armor values are doubled against flechettes.
Nettler Pistol: The Nettler and other flechette weapons are considered more humane than slugthrowers, but their delicate designs and high price keep them in the hands of the rich.
Resource cost: ••••
Scorpion Carbine: Used by private security forces, the Scorpion is designed to resemble the animal of that name.
Resource cost: ••••
Stinger Pistol: Built to resemble a Classic 9, the Stinger is considered a surprise weapon, and is illegal is many countries. Stinger flechettes are often poisoned.
Resource cost: ••••
Sonic: Armor is halved (round up) against sonic weapons.<br> Crescendo: Used only by some security troops and riot police, sonic weapons are considered nonlethal. The Crescendo is the only rapid-fire version released, and requires the user to protect his own hearing in some way.
Resource cost: ••••
Whistler: The original sonic weapon, the Whistler still sees use because it is better-directed and doesn’t have the potential to deafen its user.
Resource cost: ••••
Taser: These fire small metal balls which are surrounded by electromagnetic fields that rapidly coalesce into electrical shock. Ranged tasers are very new.
Lightning: This is weapon is about the size of an Uzi, and is used primarily by police riot squads.
Resource cost: ••••
Shocker: This is sold for public use, although most citizens prefer slugthrowers.
Resource cost: ••••
Heavy Weapons: All forms of heavy weapons are legal only in the hands of agents, military or some police forces. Black-market items come at a high price.
M-60: The classic heavy machine gun built for the U.S. military. The M-60 is often seen in third-world countries.
Resource cost: ••••
M134 Mini: The rapid-fire minigun first developed for use in military helicopters. In the war years, the M134 was taken off its mount, given a variety of gyroscopic stabilizers and kinetic dampers, and pressed into use as a heavy infantry weapon. It was very popular, but if the recoil-control system break down, the user can shake himself unconscious or suffer internal injuries.
Resource cost: •••••
Light Coilgun: A man-portable electromagnetic accelerator, the coilgun launches projectiles at several times the speed of sound. The pack and five-foot long barrel makes this gun very bulky, but it is a favored antiarmor weapon. It is impossible to move around while firing this gun, and if the recoil reduction system fail, the user’s arms and ribs will be shattered.
Resource cost: •••••
Voss 88T Plasma: Normally mounted on a vehicle, the Voss 88T cannon can be carried by a strong (Str 5) individual. The plasma bottle on the back makes for a dangerous target.
Resource cost: •••••
LAW: This is the ever-popular and venerable anti-tank weapon, first used in World War II. A single rocket is placed in the tube and fired at a target.
Resource cost: ••••
Stinger Pack: The Stinger surface-to-air missile system allowed a single operator to take out airborne targets. The Stinger Pack fires three smaller, but still powerful, missiles at one time, which can be directed at one or more targets.
Resource cost: ••••
M555 Smartgun: Still being developed by the U.S. military, the M555 is a hundred pounds of robotic-assist equipment supporting a trimmed-down Vulcan cannon. When the onboard computers, gyroscopes and hydraulics are all working well, this turns an infantryman into a heavy assault platform. Unfortunately, the M555 only works perfectly about half the time.
Resource cost: n/a.