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This is something that I haven't seen, although I admit that I don't own every Third Party publication ever.
I'm thinking mainly of a predominantly fantasy setting that features firearms (or a flint-, match- or wheel-lock variety) although it could also apply to a modern/futuristic setting with magical elements.
What seems to be lacking are ideas for, for want of a better term, "magic guns". Perhaps this is a lack of real-world analogues. There is no firearm equivalent to Excalibur, for example. The nearest you could get with iconic firearms tend to focus more on the user - Patton's pearl-handled revolver, a six-shooter belonging to Billy the Kid, Dirty Harry's Magnum .45. Others are sort of iconic in a generic way, like the Tommy Gun used by all 1920s gangsters (in Hollywood if not real life), or the Winchester rifle.
But that doesn't mean they couldn't be incorporated into a game that fully embraced firearms and magic. A "magic bullet" blessed to kill a single enemy, for instance, or a rifle with accuracy over an incredible distance. A pair of duelling pistols that belonged to a great swashbuckling hero that now have some mystic powers, even just applying the standard magic weapon abilities to firearms - a Thundering Blunderbus ("Roaring Meg") for example.
Anyone done any such thing in their games? Or come across any supplements that feature such an idea?
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Well, I remember in the Chicago book for WoD, there is a spirit possessed Tommy Gun.
Also, check out wild-west myths there are plenty of stories about revolvers which have some special property. Like being forged by the devil, can kill something in one hit, will cause harm to whoever owns it, etc.
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A pair of duelling pistols that belonged to a great swashbuckling hero that now have some mystic powers, even just applying the standard magic weapon abilities to firearms - a Thundering Blunderbus ("Roaring Meg") for example.
I'm statting up a Ranger for a PbP at the moment for one of the players. He's playing an Elven desert nomad... one of his weapons is a twin-barreled flintlock jezail. (The twin barrels are so he can use powers like Twin Strike and Split the Tree without us having to imagine him reloading a flintlock rifle super fast!) And it's a Thunderburst weapon, so once per day he can fire a shot that deals damage to everyone within five feet of his target...
Another character uses flintlock pistols, and has the Quick Draw feat. We figure he carries about five of them preloaded...
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You may want to look at the free C13 world book for JAGS. Magic bullets (and guns) are a fairly common fixture of the setting (which is a magical alternate reality based on Colonial America).
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Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger, has a pair of revolvers made from the metal of a shattered Excalibur.
Karl Zermann (Ozo) from Tannhauser has a demon-possessed Borchardt c-93 that can shoot around corners.
Hellboy has the Samaritan, an enormous 4-shot revolver made from melted-down church bells.
Alucard from Hellsing has his Jackal, a massive 13 mm automatic with anti-undead powers.
I think a lot of animes have special guns for their characters that might make good relics and magic items, but I can't really think of any other good ones off the top of my head..
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The revolvers of the Saint of Killers, from Preacher:
"And from the sword of the Angel of Death the Devil made a pair of Walker Colt revolvers. Any shot from them would find its target, and no wound from one of them would be anything less than fatal."
-the gist of the narration from the comic.
An obvious homage to the aforementioned Western myths.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Asha'man
The revolvers of the Saint of Killers, from Preacher:
"And from the sword of the Angel of Death the Devil made a pair of Walker Colt revolvers. Any shot from them would find its target, and no wound from one of them would be anything less than fatal."
-the gist of the narration from the comic.
An obvious homage to the aforementioned Western myths.
Yeah. That's kind of like the Colt from Supernatural. It can kill Demons with one shot. Initially it could only be used with the ammo that was made for it (of course when they found it they only had six bullets left). But a female rebel Demon showed them how to make it work again, with any ammo. It's a seriously awesome gun.
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As a matter of fact, our new homebrew setting has legendary gunsmith who makes legendary guns...
"Erik Anathema is the Port's foremost gunsmith, despite being almost entirely blind. He charges exorbitant prices for his work, but none can deny that they are worth it -- his creations are both beautiful and reliable, a delight to the hand and the eye alike. Anathema keeps a god in his workshop, an entity called The Juddering Manxome, that protects and inspires him. Each of Erik's guns has a invocation to the Juddering Manxome etched upon it, and each time one of those guns is fired the god hears its voice and knows its target."
Anathema pistols are highly sought after, like lethal Stradivarius violins.
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These are all cool ideas, folks, thanks. I use Monte Cooke's firearms from the free "Technology" PDF on his website, which I guess are probably the same ones that can be found in Ptolus (Dragon Rifles and the like). I like that they are deliberately designed for a D&D world and not merely ports of real world guns.
So, guns made from holy/unholy relics seem to be common. There's something iconic about the gunslingin' preacherman, isn't there? Particularly in graphic novels. You need a duster coat, and to always appear first in silhouette.
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Any six-gun from most any early Western movie or serial. (AKA: 40 shooters.) And Patton's revolver was ivory handled. See the movie to hear what he thought of pearl handled guns.
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I came in here to mention the Colt on Supernatural, but see I got beat to the punch...
Might be worth looking into World of Warcraft, too, as guns are probably the most popular ranged weapon in the game. They tend to be less magical than pseudo-scientific, e.g. one of the best guns in the game is the Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer.
Iron Kingdoms has a Gun Mage, sort of a sorcerer with a gun. Personally I wasnt happy with the mechanics of the class but liked the flavor. It wouldnt take much to turn the Sorcerer or the Battle Sorcerer from UA into a better version, focusing on Ray Spells.
Scion from WW also features a demi-god with a mjonir-like oversized pistol.
Guns do carry a certain mistique, especially in the US, that has been hard to capture in RPGs.
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