Small Arms of the World: 1950 - 2000

[Mistah_Richard]

There will be at least two books for the gun series. The first is the one we are currently working on and about to finish. It covers Small arms from 1950 to 2000. The second book would cover Small Arms from 1900 to 1950. There are a huge number of guns out there.

By breaking them down into periods, we make the projects manageable. This also covers design periods. In the 1950s certain trends took hold of the arms industry in the design of weapons on many levels. We see another one happen in the mid to late seventies, and yet a third in the 90s. The first book covers these weapons.

The second book in the series will cover the weapons and the design theories that come out of the Civil War, British "Brush Wars", and Franco-Prussian War which are put to the test in the early 1900s, the design changes following World War I and the massive changes that happen right before and during World War II.

Who knows, if the demand is there, we could always do an 1800 to 1900 book and maybe a pre-1800 book that covers the dawn of firearms from 1400 to 1800. There are a fair number of options available and it all depends on what the company we work with allows us to do!

Ultimately, we hope to be the "Jane's" of Game Industry. We have the tools, the resources, and the minds to do it. We just need a publisher to do it. I think AOG will be the publisher to do just that!

Hope that helps!

Cheers!

 

[Ranger REG]

Will the weapons' stats be usable in games that have VP/WP health system (e.g., Spycraft) as well as the current Hit Point health system?

 

[Mistah_Richard]

The weapons will be using the HP system. Currently D20 uses a HP system AND D20 Modern, based on the WotC forums and Mr. Ryan's excellent and informative answers to the questions posed there, is a HP system as well.

Our goal with the book is to make a product compatible with the most D20 products available. A grand majority of those products are HP based damage systems, thus, so will this book.

Hope that answers your question!

Cheers!

 

[Ranger REG]

Will you be including new rules like your version of the firearms rules that is simple to resolve yet nearly imitate real-world situation?

 

[Mistah_Richard]

No, these have been dropped. For two reasons.

Space

We packed a LOT of firearms in this book. More than any book to date.

Reality

D20 does not imitate the real world. It is a modern fantasy setting. When we were first developing things for Sanguine's Polyhedral system we had the ability to tweak aspects of the game that would allow firearms to work like they do in the real world. In D20, you can dodge bullets, take hits that would normally result in massive trauma, and rock and roll with an assault rifle, landing lots of hits. It may not reflect the reality of a gun fight, but it is fun and high in drama!

Reality is represented very little in gun mechanics and more so in core mechanics. In some ways, all guns are created equal. You point, you shoot, you hit (or miss). Yes, there are a lot of guns out there that are better than others. Ultimately though, a crappy .22 has JUST as much of chance of killing someone as a .45 does and a crappy .32 revolver is about just as effective as a H&K USP Tactical in the hands of someone that has never fired a gun before (your average person and thus your starting point). Most of combat is pure will-power and MASSIVE amounts of training. We see this time and time again.

To make guns work the same way they do in reallife is to change the very core of D20.

I hope that helps. I know it is not the answer that you probably wanted to hear, but those are the reasons.

Hope every had a good weekend!

Cheers!

 

[Ranger REG]

What about an accepted degree of mortal danger, even though heroes do get a chance (however slim that may be) to dodge bullets in a crossfire?

 

[thundershot]

I think all of those rules will be in the d20 Modern book...

My big concern... Do you think there'll be a lot of conflict with the ULTRAMODERN FIREARMS book? I'd like to get both books, but only if they have different weapons. One of the worst things about d20 is having 5 different stats for the same weapon done by 5 different companies. Ditto for feats. I hate repeat feats...



Thanks!
Chris

 

[NeghVar]

IIRC This book was announced quite some while ago...way before the D20 Ultramodern Firearms announcement.

Odds are I will purchase both...hell I already bought the Spycraft weapons book and Cthulhu D20, those alone have enough firearms. I can't help it that I dig books on guns...

This book so far looks like it could be the best of the bunch.

Later!

 

[Ranger REG]

I don't want to make any prediction or speculation. I'll judge them when I get them.

 

[Mistah_Richard]

Ok, this post tackles two individual questions.

What about an accepted degree of mortal danger, even though heroes do get a chance (however slim that may be) to dodge bullets in a crossfire?

Not too sure what you are looking for here. Simply making the weapons more powerful or more "realistic" doesn't solve the problem. I think Mr. Ryan tackles these issues pretty well here: Charles Ryan on Firearms Combat and Damage

Again, this is a core mechanic issue, not a gun stat issue.

I think all of those rules will be in the d20 Modern book...

My big concern... Do you think there'll be a lot of conflict with the ULTRAMODERN FIREARMS book? I'd like to get both books, but only if they have different weapons.

When we originally decided to do this book back in November of 2001, we had no idea that Ultra Modern Firearms was republishing. UMF has a nice dedicated fan base and at the time of its release was top notch. If they follow a similar format for this new edition, you should expect nothing but a high quality product. Green Ronin does great stuff and the art work is fantastic.

With that said, as mentioned earlier in this thread, Small Arms of the World lists over a THOUSAND weapons and has detailed descriptions and images for around 800 (Example: There are only really three major designs to a Glock, thus you will only see three images, however, you will have stats for over a dozen Glock variants). Keep in mind, this book doesn't cover any weapons prior to 1950 AND doesn't cover heavy weapons other than Anti-Material rifles and Machine guns. There will be some extremely ground breaking releases that RPGs to date has or will be releasing. The book will contain more single illustrations that any book to date and I believe that it will be worth every penny.

Ultimately the question you need to ask is what you need. If you want a massive amount of guns, our book is it. If you need some stats and don't care about every gun in the world, either book will do quite fine. I would buy both (I own a copy of UMF and will buy a new copy when it is released).

Cheers!