[d20 Past] Flintlock Firearms?

[Yellow Sign]

I am working up a Napoleonic era d20 Past game and I have a question about the flintlock firearm rules in d20 Past (pg. 21).

It says that reloading a flintlock requires 2 full-round actions. And a character with the Quick Reload feat can reload with a single full-round action. That's 12 and 6 seconds right? Isn't that a bit fast for loading a flintlock? I tried to google firing and reload times for muskets but I have not found anything yet.

Reading over some of my Napoleonic warfare books, they mention that reloading a rifled musket takes longer than a regular smooth bore one.

Any ideas on this?

YS

 

[Yellow Sign]

Looks like I can answer my own question. I found this:

Soldiers were constantly drilled in formation firing and tactical movement but only fired their weapons a few times a year. The range and accuracy of the musket, as with all muskets, was not particularly impressive. British soldiers were expected to be able to fire one shot on command every fifteen seconds and while the better units managed this, in many cases one shot every twenty to thirty seconds was more realistic. Given the limited range and accuracy, firing tended to be in formation, where a volley of musket balls would be unleashed upon a target in the hope of inflicting casualties. The 14in bayonet was used in close quarter fighting and was, most of the time, the deciding factor in encounters. Ammunition came in the form of rolled paper cartridges containing six to eight drams of powder and a one ounce lead ball. Each end was sealed with pack thread, so when loading, the rear end was bitten off, some powder placed as a priming charge in the pan with the remaining power poured into the barrel followed by the ball. The paper was then used as wadding and packed down the barrel with the ramrod. If after loading the musket was not to be fired immediately, it would be carried half-cocked for safety, however if the soldier suddenly had a fight on his hands, he will have had to fully kock the weapon, otherwise it would not fire (hence the term 'going off half-cocked'). Given the variables that could affect such weapons, they often misfired (hence the term 'a flash in the pan' if only the priming charge ignited), especially if the powder was damp or the flint was worn. Soldiers had to regularly maintain the flints, especially if they could not afford to buy new ones, by chipping, or skinning the flint (hence the term 'a skin flint').

 

[Marius Delphus]

Seems to me that firing every third round is once every 18 seconds and firing every other round is once every 12 seconds. (Firing every round would be once every 6 seconds.) Of course, by the rules, not all of that time is spent reloading (IIRC you can take a move action and fire in any round when you have the silly thing loaded).

I'm not intimately familiar with flintlock weapons, but I guess I wouldn't consider this an especially realistic* rate of fire (if, again, I count the move action allowed in the round you fire). But it seems a little draconian to me to extend the reload time even further. After all... the characters are Heroes!

* One period tactic for massed fire that I recall reading about involved two lines of musket troops: Line #1 would reload while Line #2 aimed and fired; then Line #2 would back off and reload while Line #1 would step forward, aim, and fire. I lost the cite on this, so I don't know how frequently this tactic would produce a volley, but it sounds like in d20 rules it ought to average out to one volley every other round (meaning each line is taking, I guess, a round to step back and kneel + two full-round actions to reload + a round to stand, step forward, and fire; thus each line fires on every fourth round). Maybe they all need some kind of Unit Volley feat to coordinate this, as they should basically all fire on the same initiative count.​

And yes, I can see why a muzzle-loading rifle would take longer to load than a muzzle-loading smoothbore: it seems to me the wadding would track into the rifling and the bullet + powder + wad would thus be harder to physically shove into position with the ramrod.

 

[GMSkarka]

I've done black-powder-era re-enactment stuff (and I'm currently working on a Napoleonic fantasy novel, in fact), and firing every 18 seconds or so is right about spot-on. The process of charge-wadding-ball-tamp-prime-lock-aim-fire is fairly involved.

 

[Yellow Sign]

So if 18 seconds is about right then you would need about 3 rounds to load and fire a musket. Two rounds to load, a half round to aim, and a half round to fire?

 

[ragboy]

Not looking good for the rifled musket...

Check out this:

The problem with the rifle of the time was that loading it was a difficult and slow process. Because the ammunition had to fit inside the barrel tightly in order to fit in the spiral rifling grooves, soldiers had a tough job forcing it down from the muzzle, especially under combat conditions, when repeated firing quickly filled the grooves with the residue of burnt powder. Before long, the rifleman literally had to pound the tight-fitting bullet down the barrel. As a result, the rifle's rate of fire was only one-third of the smoothbore's, making the gun impractical for general military use. Soldiers were better off firing three or four shots a minute in the general direction of an approaching enemy unit than firing once a minute with pinpoint accuracy at individual targets.


From here:

http://www.historynet.com/cwti/blweaponry2/

 

[GMSkarka]

So if 18 seconds is about right then you would need about 3 rounds to load and fire a musket. Two rounds to load, a half round to aim, and a half round to fire?

About that, sure.

 

[Yellow Sign]

Gareth,

You worked on a Napoleonic age game a while back didn't you?


YS

 

[GMSkarka]

You worked on a Napoleonic age game a while back didn't you?

Yes....with Jason Roberts (designer of FVLMINATA).

We took an idea that I had first presented in an RPGNet column, Black Powder, Cold Iron, and started working on a full-length, non-d20 game, under the working title Apollyon Noir.

It didn't work out. He's now apparently using the idea as a "Strange Pages" imprint for Memento Mori's DARKPAGES indie RPG, and I've returned to my original concept of using the background material for a novel, which I've re-titled Black Powder, Black Magic.

I put the first two chapters of the novel up on my journal for folks' comments:

Chapter One

and

Chapter Two

I'm much more interested in exploring the idea in fiction -- not the least of which is because I seriously doubt the market viability of a Napoleonic RPG, even with fantasy elements added.

 

[Lukeworm]

So if 18 seconds is about right then you would need about 3 rounds to load and fire a musket. Two rounds to load, a half round to aim, and a half round to fire?

I see no reason that aiming and firing a ready flintlock (loaded, primed and cocked) should take longer then aminig and firing any personal ranged weapon in a d20 setting = one action.

As for loading from a game "mechanic" point of view it should not take longer then loading a heavy crossbow.

Also remember that Flintlocks were the first firearm to be the weapon of the common soldier. Flintlocks were the third generation of firearms, developed after the early matchlocks and the wheellocks which were considerd better but more complex and expensive then flintlocks.