Topic: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Greeting fellow doomed adventurers!

New guy here. Just got my copy in the mail. Skimmed it over. 

I have a question on firearms.  Why the Musket?  Its more expensive than the Arquebus and has a penalty for not using a firing stand. Everything else that I can see is the same. 

How about the Blunderbuss? I dont know its placement in history, but I though maybe someone made some rules for it for LOTFP.

Thanks.

Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Hi Bloodaxe!

...by the by, the same "Bloodaxe" as in the goblinoid-forums? smile Anyway, welcome on board.

About the musket:
Yep, it is not the kind of weapon an adventurer would bring to a regular dungeon. But as soon as it would be an outdoor adventure with exploring and open fields (like in Weird New World) the musket becomes something you can just as well put onto your beasts of burden, just in case.

While an adventurer might not favor this weapon, people that guard positions (forts, towers, fortresses, barricades) will. And as adventurer once in a while try to get by such folks it is not a bad thing to know the stats, either.  After all, we want those players to have something to worry about, don´t we?

Last but not least, in the open a PC musketeer is (on the first round, mind you!) not very different from a pc with a longbow. A lot of the "why?" and "how?" of those firearms are explained in the detail at p.162 (short: yes, it was an army weapon and not one for personal use or heroe-games).

About the blunderbuss
I have to pass in that regard. My players would carry round a pistol, I guess, but right at the moment they still stick to the faithful shortbow. If I would need to come up with a quick-and-dirty approach, I would take the stats for an arquebuse, have it deal 2d6 damage on short range / 1d6 on medium and non thereafter). In addition, there would be no reduction of the enemies AC, instead the AC of actual metal armor would be increased by +2.

Last edited by Gregorius21778 (2018-04-08 11:22:47)

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Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Yup , same guy.    Gregorius21778 as in the Gregorius with the cool pdf products for Mutant Future and such?

Thanks for the answer.  I'll have to read everything over more carefully and get a better feel for the game.  If Id run it, Id go with only human characters, and get rid of the Demi.

Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Bloodaxe wrote:

Yup , same guy.    Gregorius21778 as in the Gregorius with the cool pdf products for Mutant Future and such?

"..and such", yes smile It is a good idea to read the firearms section carefully. I for one simply over-read the 5-point armor reduction the arquebus. Basically, treat those little boom-sticks as "once per fight" weapons and you will be fine.

Off-topic&removing the demi-humans: Your choice, but I for one found them rather easy to include into the game as soon as you treat it as an "alternate version" of our world.

For example, in my game (England around 1530 or 1535) I removed all of Scotland and turned it into the (once great) Kingdom of the Dwarfs. Of course, the Hadrian Wall was not build by the Romans to keep barbarians at bay, but by the Dwarfs to keep the humans at bay!

Elves are rare and basically Sidhe half-bloods while small communities for Halflings may be found here in there in Ireland. In fact, magic (both clerical and other) gave me a harder time to shoehorn-in as the demi-humans did. But then again, my LotFP players are an easy-going bunch that just want to have some fun.

Last edited by Gregorius21778 (2018-04-08 17:30:30)

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Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

On muskets: they actually have a really useful ability compared to arquebuses. Most firearms ignore five points of armour at short range, muskets ignore five points of armour at all ranges. While in a dungeon pistols are probably better, arquebuses in the larger halls and caverns, once you get into engangements at ranges greater than fifty feet muskets still get that nice 'effectively ignoring armour' bonus, which essentially makes up for their increased range penalties. If you're using a rifled musket it's even better.

On demihumans: I agree with removing them in many games, although I'd suggest using any players really want to use. Of the three the Elf is basically MU+ and can generally be subsituted for the local fair folk/alfar equivalent. Dwarves are an interesting alternate option, basically being the ultimate dungeoneers with some warrior training, and in some alternate earths I can actually see the idea that there are communities of small hardy people to trade with in the mountains as a sort of open secret (i.e. it's well known in the villages near dwarven settlements, most other places have heard tales but don't really think about them). If you don't want halflings just living alongside humans then... well I can't think of anything right now, maybe recast them as more goblinesque?

Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

On muskets: they actually have a really useful ability compared to arquebuses. Most firearms ignore five points of armour at short range, muskets ignore five points of armour at all ranges.

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AH! I knew I missed something!  Thanks guys.

Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Hi Bloodaxe,

I overlooked something myself. Have a lookt at p. 152 of the Player Core Book: Scattershot. Combine that with an arquebus and you have a blunderbuss, I guess. Or declare that a blunderbuss is an arquebus that cannot fire anything but scattershot (due to the barrel). Reduce the price to 20 sp (and out-rule any firearm options at a whim). Should work.

With kind regards
Gregorius21778
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Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Gregorius21778 wrote:

Hi Bloodaxe,

I overlooked something myself. Have a lookt at p. 152 of the Player Core Book: Scattershot. Combine that with an arquebus and you have a blunderbuss, I guess. Or declare that a blunderbuss is an arquebus that cannot fire anything but scattershot (due to the barrel). Reduce the price to 20 sp (and out-rule any firearm options at a whim). Should work.

p152 of what?   I looked LOTFP book and 5E PHB- cant find it.

Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Bloodaxe wrote:
Gregorius21778 wrote:

Hi Bloodaxe,

I overlooked something myself. Have a lookt at p. 152 of the Player Core Book: Scattershot. Combine that with an arquebus and you have a blunderbuss, I guess. Or declare that a blunderbuss is an arquebus that cannot fire anything but scattershot (due to the barrel). Reduce the price to 20 sp (and out-rule any firearm options at a whim). Should work.

p152 of what?   I looked LOTFP book and 5E PHB- cant find it.


In my LotFP R&M book, it’s page 157 and 164 where scattershot is discussed.

Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Crunk has it right, it was p.157 (for the rules and stuff) sad

With kind regards
Gregorius21778
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Re: Firearms- Blunderbuss. Musket & Arquebus?

Ok, thanks guys!