Firearm Rules Compendium Is a a compendium article (no duh) of all of my prior smaller modern firearms rules articles for an OSR system I'm working on, cleaned up and made a bit more presentable compared to the older articles that make up this one.

Of note this is a fairly utilitarian article, as I use these at my playtest table in lieu pdfs when I can't be bothered make one. so except more terse bullet point presentation of rules.

Another thing to note is this is a living document/article, there is bound to be things I missed, failed to correct or spot, and likewise any additions I might in the future add, so this article is probably going to be updated from time to time rather than a new one created.

Lastly, as a voucher for these rules as well, I've been playing with a version of these rules for nearly a year, my playtest group and a friend's playtest group have been quite satisfied with them.

I quite like the details in the Malfunctions section. Having a quick and easy way to see what happens on a malfunction and how the quality of the current weapon and care put into maintaining actually matter. If I use it in a game I'll write how it went.

I like how it pulls everything together in a clear/practical way. Definitely makes it easy to reference during play. The fact that it's a living document and gets refined based on playtest feedback sounds cool too! looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

Quote from: T4lkingSKU-11 on February 02, 2025, 08:02:09 AMI quite like the details in the Malfunctions section. Having a quick and easy way to see what happens on a malfunction and how the quality of the current weapon and care put into maintaining actually matter. If I use it in a game I'll write how it went.

Thanks, I'm always looking for input and feedback and these sort of rules.

Quote from: Fatal_theory on February 03, 2025, 02:15:53 PMI like how it pulls everything together in a clear/practical way. Definitely makes it easy to reference during play. The fact that it's a living document and gets refined based on playtest feedback sounds cool too! looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

Indeed we will see! I've already done some small tweaks since it's been released such as more weapon listings and substitute crit tables, I suspect there will be further refinement as my group and others playtest these rules more.   

Question ... maybe I'm dumb and did not get something. But if damage dice explode on maximum value, and Spray shooting lowers that range by 2. If I spray shoot with a varmint caliber weapon, it means damage keeps exploding as long as it's 2,3 and 4 on a d4? Did I miss something?

Why it's easier to explode in smaller caliber weapons than high ones?

Quote from: yurei on March 17, 2025, 08:10:57 AMQuestion ... maybe I'm dumb and did not get something. But if damage dice explode on maximum value, and Spray shooting lowers that range by 2. If I spray shoot with a varmint caliber weapon, it means damage keeps exploding as long as it's 2,3 and 4 on a d4? Did I miss something?

Why it's easier to explode in smaller caliber weapons than high ones?

To answer your question in the short way, yes this is a feature, not a bug.

To answer in the long way. The intention of this mechanic was to abstract out a couple different ballistic concepts, but the primary one was felt recoil impulse, basically if you've ever seen a video of someone firing a machine gun you'll notice they can typically get a couple shots off on target before muzzle climb begins, the larger the caliber the sooner muzzle climb begins. something like 308. battle rifle has a lot of recoil and thus doesn't have good follow-up shots when in full auto, while something like a 22lr has very little recoil and thus can stay on target a lot better.

just watch a video of someone using a machine gun chambered in 22. with tracers and you'll notice it looks like a laser beam.

Oh, ok, interesting take. Thanks.

Weapon Quality/Maintenance Table - aside from new weapons fresh out of stores, weapon quality should be limited by character skill. Unskilled people don't merely shoot badly, they don't know how to take care of their firearms.

Likewise of course people with medical skill and that equipment, people with computer skills and their computers, drivers and their cars and so on. People who are skilled in the use of a particular tool take care of it; people who are unskilled do not.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron on March 19, 2025, 04:19:07 AMWeapon Quality/Maintenance Table - aside from new weapons fresh out of stores, weapon quality should be limited by character skill. Unskilled people don't merely shoot badly, they don't know how to take care of their firearms.

Likewise of course people with medical skill and that equipment, people with computer skills and their computers, drivers and their cars and so on. People who are skilled in the use of a particular tool take care of it; people who are unskilled do not.

The quality and malfunction rules currently there are placeholders to one degree or another. but that is a good suggestion. though most of the games and playtests I'v rune so far that degree of fidelity to reality hasn't come up enough for me to really use malfunction rules.

In my current system gunsmithing is a skill players can have, and I'm wondering if that should be used in place of the weapon skill itself for maintenance? though not every solider or person proficient with weapons is a smith of weapons.

What I had for Conflict was a stoppage number. When rolling to hit, if you roll under your stoppage number then the firearm stops - whether you've burned through a mag, got a misfire, it's jammed up or whatever is irrelevant. You need to use an action to clear the weapon. The system doesn't count rounds, only magazines; clearing a stoppage uses up one magazine.

The to-hit roll was a 2d6. Weapons were in condition unusable (n/a), poor (5 or less), acceptable (4) or new (3). It was assumed that any weapon which had just been in a firefight was now in poor condition, and any weapon which had been owned for a while by someone without the relevant weapons use skill. Firing automatic raises the stoppage level by one, so that poor stop on 6 or less, etc.

Firearms will vary in reliability, of course. Typically, if a weapon has been in service with a military for 50+ years, either it was more reliable to begin with, or upgrades and adjustments over time have made it so. If it's entirely new then who knows. 

This means that people who are skilled are less likely to get stoppages, and will use fewer rounds/magazines to achieve their objectives. Less skilled people are more likely to blaze away, and more likely to neglect their weapons, so they jam up etc. More skilled people take well-aimed shots and care for their weapons.

I used the same approach for the use of other equipment with consumables, like vehicles and trauma kits. 

This makes skill much more important than equipment. I believe this matches reality: who are you more worried about, the 10 year SAS veteran with a Lee Enfield, or the skinny illiterate insurgent with no training and a Minimi?

Quote from: Kyle Aaron on March 21, 2025, 01:48:18 AMWhat I had for Conflict was a stoppage number. When rolling to hit, if you roll under your stoppage number then the firearm stops - whether you've burned through a mag, got a misfire, it's jammed up or whatever is irrelevant. You need to use an action to clear the weapon. The system doesn't count rounds, only magazines; clearing a stoppage uses up one magazine.

The to-hit roll was a 2d6. Weapons were in condition unusable (n/a), poor (5 or less), acceptable (4) or new (3). It was assumed that any weapon which had just been in a firefight was now in poor condition, and any weapon which had been owned for a while by someone without the relevant weapons use skill. Firing automatic raises the stoppage level by one, so that poor stop on 6 or less, etc.

I don't know if I'm missing something or not, but this doesn't sound like the mechanic I wrote at all