INITIAL EQUIPMENT ISSUE

Sarge you receive One M-23 Extended Range Radio.
You each receive the following;
One suit of MandelBrite combat armor.
One cartridge of combat drugs. Here is a copy of the health warning. Sign this release from liability form.

One M-1 Entrenching tool.
One K-Bar combat knife, titanium edged.
One box Flares.
One Personal Medipack.
One pack Trooper Ready Meals, commonly called TRMs.
One pack Hydration Tablets.
One Holo-Show emitter for personal use.
One pack inhalant Smoke Sticks. Today we have Maple Syrup or Blueberry, your choice. It is suggested that you read the health warning on the side of the pack.
One pack Radium Gun. It is suggested that you read the health warning on this also.
One leather Mitt or one Telescoping Bat, your choice, and one Polymer Ball.
One Playboy issue number 3,835. (he opens the fold out) “…ooooh miss Mars. Actually this is my copy ”
(rolls it up and puts it under his desk).
“A little supply humor… this is for yours”.
One Expeditionary Force Field Manual, EF 1 0 4 2 0 7 stroke 3 dash J.
“Sign here for the above items.”
Now report to the Armory to draw weapons.

KILL COUNTER EXPLANATION
(to explain why the kill counter stays the same no matter how many or what size enemy PC’s face)

The Kill Counters installed on the PC’s weapons utilize specialized sensors on the weapon and in the Mandelbrite suits. This information is then fed into a processor in the counter that uses a classified algorithm to award kills, which are then displayed on counter’s display screen. How the calculation is made is always a subject of conjecture and complaint by troopers but follows these general guidelines; killing a man sized alien is a kill, killing or even wounding larger aliens also awards “kills” although the actual individual alien may not be killed. Similarly against smaller aliens killing more than one may be necessary to actually be awarded a “kill”. In this way a trooper’s actual lethality can be scored competitively with his peers even if one trooper came up against a horde of small aliens and the other just one monstrous alien.

It should be noted that to keep the size of a suite as small as possible the pilot only have a side arm should he/she be forced to baleout.

They are two types of Suit one configured for long range engagements the other so short range. A suits weapons can be upgraded but once a suit is destroyed all upgrades are lost.

Note a Suit pilot does not need to make a NFA roll to switch weapon. he/she just needs to declare which weapon system they wish to use this turn.

Long range Suit
Rocket Pod
Heavy machine gun
Power claws

Short range Suit
Grenade launcher* +can fire Grenades to Far range
Heavy machine gun
Flame gun

A suit is a vehicle. We have allowed a group to start with one but A Lieutenant could also be able to recuperation one instead.

I have lowered the kills the various weapons do to keep in line with the grim and gritty nature of the Warhammer setting.

WEAPON STATS:

Weapon Close/Near/Far
Dagger D3/1/x
Sword 1/D3/x
Spear x/1/D3
Great Weapon 0/D4/0
Bow x/1/D3
Pistol 1/D4/D3
Blunderbus x/D6/D3
Throwing Axe 1/D3/1
Throwing stars x/1/1
Fire Bomb* D4/D3/1

* A PC starts with D3 fire bombs. In de development phase he can try to get an additional D3 fire bombs by rolling NFA.

Ranks
1. Adventurer
2. Warrior
3. Hero
4. Knight (warhorse)
5. Paladin (barded warhorse)
6. Chosen
7. Champion
8. Lord

Location Type:
1. Plateau
2. Borderlands
3. Sprawling city of trades
4. Outpost
5. Mountaintop keep
6. Forest shrine
7. Mountain realm
8. City of canals
9. Underground temple
10. Thick fog
11. Underground city
12. City in the trees
13. Decadent city state
14. City filled with plague
15. Ancient ruins
16. Graveyard
17. Harbour
18. Wizard’s tower
19. Desolate keep
20. River delta

or for a more general Fantasy setting:

1. A Desert oasis
2. A great wall across a northern border
3. A sprawling city of trades
4. A border outpost
5. A mountaintop keep
6. A forest realm
7. A mountain realm
8. A city of canals
9. A jungle realm
10. An icy fastness
11. An underground realm
12. A city in the trees
13. A decadent city state
14. A kingdom filled with plague
15. An island kingdom
16. A city of ancient ruins
17. A jungle state
18. A port of pirate villainy
19. A flying fortress
20. A lone tower

PC Name:
1. Wernherus
2. Leitdorfer
3. Koch
4. Thuringmann
5. Von Hals
6. Ossmann
7. Boselmann
8. Flensburger
9. Boehmann
10. Wulfen
11. Hausier
12. Traschelmann
13. Engel
14. Kant
15. Horstmann
16. Dieterich
17. Theodosius
18. Draken
19. Pritzstocker
20. Peregrinus

Location Name:
1. Averland
2. Hochland
3. Stirland
4. Middenland
5. Nordland
6. Ostermark
7. Ostland
8. Reikland
9. Helmgart
10. Talabecland
11. Wissenland
12. Praag
13. High Pass
14. Troll Country
15. Thunder Mountain
16. Black Fire Pass
17. Badlands
18. Marshes of Madness
19. Mt Bloodhorn
20. Sylvania

Mission/Threat Difficulty: stays the same

Threat Abilities: stays the same

Threat Types:
Orcs, Beastmen and Skaven appear more than once as PC’s are likely to encounter them. All Threat have an inborn Ability. The GM rolls for a second Ability on the Threat Abilities table. If the GM rolls the same Ability then the Threat can use it for free without spending Tokens.
1. Orcs (Enrage)
2. Wood Elves (Leaping)
3. Skaven (Swarm)
4. Cultists (Flee)
5. Orcs (Enrage)
6. Beastmen (Isolate)
7. Dark Elves (Reduce Visibility)
8. Lizardmen (Armour)
9. Goblins (Suicide)
10. Mercenaries (Ambush)
11. Thieves (End Encounter)
12. Assassins (Rapid movement)
13. Chaos warriors (Ignore Wounds)
14. Witches (Stop)
15. High Elves (Boost Ability)
16. Skaven (Swarm)
17. Dwarves (Impair)
18. Beastmen (Isolate)
19. Undead (Lasting Wounds)
20. Daemons (Induce Weakness)

For Missions I use the Quest Generator from the Advanced Heroquest supplement Terror in the Dark.

Sub Missions
1. Administration
2. Assault
3. Retreat (e-vac)
4. Investigation
5. Kill Counting
6. Latrine Duty
7. Manoeuvres
8. Meal Ticket
9. Morale
10. Propaganda
11. Recon
12. Recovery
13. Recreation
14. Relief
15. Repair
16. Seek & Destroy
17. Signalling
18. Supply
19. Support
20. Training

First off weapons:

Lancer Assault Rifle
(w/Chainsaw Bayonet)
d6 d10 0
2d6 2d10 1

Hammerburst Assault Rifle
1 d10 1
1d10 2d10 1d10

Snub Pistol (same as sidearm in 3:16)

Boltok Pistol
1 d6 1
d6 2d6 d6

Longshot Sniper Rifle
1 d6 d10
d6 2d6 2d6

Mulcher/Troika (same as Heavy MG)
Scorcher (same as Flame Gun)
Gnasher Shotgun (same again)
Mortar (same as Rocketpod)

Boomgun
1d6* d10 0
2d6* 2d10 d6
*(same effect that grenades have to allies at close range)

Torque Bow
1 d6 d6
d10 2d6 2d6
(melee damage configured into close range)

Hammer of Dawn
0 d6 1
d6 d10 d6
(Always does damage; equivalent of ‘Ignore Armor’ Special Ability)

Ink or regular Grenades (same as in 3:16)
Smoke Grenades- One way to describe cancelling your own success

Boomshield- May sacrifice success on an FA roll to block kills if FA roll is equal to or less than the AA roll. (Only compatible with Pistols)

Other Notes:

The Sargeant gets ‘Jack’. This limited AI Bot will assist in ‘ripping’ doors and many other extraneous tasks, hence the reference to “Jack-of-all-trades”. Although mostly used as just a setting device, The sargeant may command Jack to repair any one squad member’s armor between encounters. Optionally, Jack may also grant a +1 to certain NFA rolls (GM’s Discretion).

Note that although PCs may start out carrying just one rifle and one sidearm, if you are playing this like the video game they may end up carrying 2 rifles, one sidearm, grenades and possibly lugging a Heavy Weapon. GMs may want to penalize NFA rolls when hauling 5 weapons like this. Or perhaps keep them stuck at one range during the encounter based on the Dominance Test.

Because of the extra weapons and having Jack with the squad, Total Threat tokens per PC each mission should be increased.

The Trooper gains FA 10/ NFA 0
He must be equipped with a PowerClaw and an Energy Cannon. He can’t use any other weapons.

He gains 2 ticks in Armour. He loses any leftover Flashbacks. If the Dreadnought dies all the other Troopers suffer one Emotional Damage.

Here are all the changes:

New rule: “HEAVY WEAPONS”
* Some guns (the biggest and baddest-ass, generally) are “Heavy” weapons. You can only carry one “Heavy” weapon at a time.
* The E-Cannon, Heavy MG, Flame-Gun, and Rocketpod are now “Heavy”.

E-CANNON
* Change Far damage from 0/d6 to -/-.

POWERCLAW
* Change Close damage from d6/2d6 to d10/2d10.

POWERBLADE
* Change Close damage from d10/2d10 to 2d6/3d10.

SIDEARM
* Add special ability “[Can automatically switch to this weapon]“.

That’s all the game-mechanical changes. Pretty simple. If you want to know why I did all that, read on…

(Quick recap of the dice track, since it’s important later: 0, 1, d6, d10, 2d6, 2d10, 3d10, d100.)

Far-range weapons:
Let’s start with the easiest. Pretty much only the Rocketpod really lives here, with the Slug Rifle coming to visit during the early game. I think the Rocketpod is great as-is. There’s room to design another gun that could also share this niche with the Rocketpod, but I don’t want to do that right now. I’m happy here.

Near-range weapons:
The Energy Rifle and Slug Rifle are really the foundation of the game. They’re a baseline I don’t want to mess with.

At the moment, I don’t see much of a role for the Heavy MG. It starts out with the ability to shoot close when the E-Cannon doesn’t, but you can get many more Kills by fast-switching to your ‘nades. Being able to upgrade to a d10 instead of a d6 at Close range just doesn’t offset the huge difference between d100 and 3d10 at Near range.

Now, if we buff the Heavy MG, it’ll step on the toes of the baseline rifles. And, already, 3d10 is nothing to sneeze at. So, instead, let’s subtly nerf the E-Cannon:
>> Change E-Cannon damage to “0/d6 | 2d10/d100 | -/-“.
The E-Cannon is still king of the battlefield, but now the Heavy MG has a small leg up. For characters with high FA and low NFA, having to use NFA to transition out of Far range can be tough; the Heavy MG gives you the ability to keep using your attacks to move.

Close-range weapons:
A lot of weapons occupy this space, so there’s a lot to tweak here. For me, the Flame-Gun, Shotgun, and Grenades really stand out. In contrast, think the PowerClaw and PowerBlade are rather on the weak side and could use an upgrade.

The PowerClaw is cool, but I think it’s only trivially better than vanilla Hand-to-Hand or just using your rifle to fight (going from d10 to 2d6 is, on average, only worth 1.5 Kills — the smallest difference for any of the “steps”). Grenades do more damage, can be used from Near, and add a special effect that’s occasionally harmful and occasionally very good. So, I want to buff up the PowerClaw:
>> Change PowerClaw damage to “d10/2d10 | (close combat only)”.
So, now the Lieutenant has a close-combat weapon comparable to Grenades. Seems pretty fair to me.

Of course, we just stole the PowerBlade’s niche. And the PowerBlade was rather weak to begin with. Its damage is comparable to the Shotgun or Grenades, but it has neither range nor special ability. No matter how you statted it, making it yet another quick-draw melee weapon would conflict with the PowerClaw. Plus, I like the image of the PowerBlade being such a big thing that it definitely isn’t a piece of equipment you can just whip out in five seconds. We can get a lot out of it by bumping up the category, though:
>> Change PowerBlade damage to “2d6/3d10 | (close combat only)”.
Yes, the PowerBlade hits harder than a shotgun to the face. That’s intentional. I’m imagining this weapon as a ChainSword or super-charged energy katana or whatever, so being able to cleave through hordes of enemies just feels right. That 3d10 kinda scares me, because I’ve just created another high-end weapon out of one that decidedly wasn’t before, but I think that little bit of discomfort means I’m doing the right thing here.

Finally, we have the trusty Sidearm. I think it’s a great weapon as written. The Shotgun is obviously stronger, but you get the Sidearm early, so it has its own niche. However, since we’ve just made the PowerClaw stronger,
>> The SideArms gains the description “[Can automatically switch to this weapon]“.
This right here is actually the tweak I think could be the most game-breaking. Being able to juggle weapons easily is quite potent. Still, with the PowerClaw improved the way it is, so a quick-draw Sidearm doesn’t really conflict with anything. I think Grenades are easily just as versatile and potent, so I’m not too worried about Sidearm-happy Sergeants stealing the show. And I just have a soft spot for pistols… again, it just kinda feels right.

Cleaning up loose ends:
Notice that the Flame-Gun is unchanged, and still clearly just a little bit superior to the PowerBlade. I think it’s a stronger weapon than the Shotgun, too — this is because d10 to 2d6 is a pretty small upgrade. The E-Cannon and Heavy MG still stand out over the regular rifles, too, in my opinion. And I’m worried about the temptation to overdo combinations like Flame-Gun / Rocketpod.

The way I approach the fiction, the biggest, ass-kicking-est weapons are big, they’re awesome, they’re… “heavy to carry and hard to run with”. So, let’s formalize something that likely already exists as an informal constraint derived from the narrative for many groups:
>> The Flame-Gun, E-Cannon, Heavy MG, and Rocketpod are “Heavy weapons”. You may only carry one “Heavy weapon”.
What does this rule affect? In most cases, you kinda have to pick one range to really specialize in. The PowerBlade becomes a nice companion for the E-Cannon or Rocketpod, which is something I can live with. I figure most characters will still want a powerful Near-range weapon, but now the full-upgraded Energy Rifle offers a nice non-”Heavy” alternative as well.

Having that additional category around might be helpful if you want to expand the weapons later, too. No new guns for today, though.

The main thing for me was to crank up the desirability of a few of the weapons — chiefly the PowerClaw, PowerBlade, and Heavy MG — that I thought were kinda languishing because other options looked tastier. I think I’ve succeeded without overdoing it too much.

– Alex

I’m sure this has been done before, but I’ve been watching a lot of The Clone Wars recently. But as far as 3:16 is concerned, I think you can do Jedi with jus two simple weapons…

LIGHTSABER
Only available to Jedi (or Sith); development roles for non-Jedi cannot procure a lightsaber. If a non-Jedi uses a lightsaber, use the powerblade stats. Lightsabers can only be used at Near or Far range if the aliens are using a ranged attack that can be deflected and redirected back to them. Far can never be improved higher than the current value of Near.

LIGHTSABER CLOSE/NEAR/FAR
Basic Profile d6/0/0
Best d100/3d10/2d10

THE FORCE
Only available to Jedi (or Sith). There are many powers available to the Jedi, from telekenisis to hypersences to shooting blue lightning out one’s fingers to choking an underling with their mind. Any use of the Force to attack uses this weapon block, regardless of how the player describes the action.

THE FORCE CLOSE/NEAR/FAR
Basic Profile d6/1/0
Best 3d10/3d10/3d10

There are a couple other tricks that I think might be nice to give the Jedi at different levels (like take a NFA action to allow you to go first next turn to represent their defensive schtick), but you really could get by with something as simple as this.