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The gonne is TL3. It's a cannon lock mini cannon stuck to the end of a pole. They're dreadfully inaccurate and difficult to use, but it IS technically a firearm in the classic fantasy technology range.
Not that classic fantasy has black powder at all, but... Didn't Saruman use a bomb?
A gonne can use lead bullets and a bolt similar to a crossbow's.
Bullets do 2d+1 pi++, bolts do 1d imp. Ranges are 55/550 and 75/1,200 respectively.
It's 6.9 lb. and costs $240.
How does that compare to a longbow?
A REAL English longbow has a ST of about 17 (real men those archers).
It's 3 lb. and costs $200. It will do 2d imp out to 255/340.
The bow is more accurate; 3 vs 1 Acc.
The bow fires a lot more often, firing every other round instead of once every 30.
But most adventurers aren't going to drop 70 points on ST.
ST 14 is more likely for an adventurer. While a ST 14 longbow isn't any lighter or cheaper, it does do less damage and has less range. 1d+2 imp and 210/280.
Against someone wearing everyday medium scale armor (DR 4) they will do:
A gonne bullet does 3-13 raw damage, 0-9 will penetrate doing 0-18 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 8 which gets 4 to penetrate for 8 damage.
A gonne bolt does 1-6 raw damage, 0-2 will penetrate doing 0-4 damage to the
body. Average hit will roll a 3 and fail to penetrate.
ST 17 Longbow does 2-12 raw damage, 0-8 will penetrate doing 0-16 damage to the body. Average hit will roll a 7 which gets 3 to penetrate for 6 damage.
A ST 14 Longbow does 3-8 raw damage, 0-4 will penetrate doing 0-8 damage to the body. Average hit will roll a 5 which gets 1 to penetrate for 2 damage.
A gonne isn't looking too bad here, is it?
But it's the rate of fire that adds up fast... Except. Arrows are bulky. A quiver will only hold 20 of them (2.5 lb). Skill will matter, but even if every arrow hits a ST 14 archer can only expect to do 40 points of damage before running out of ammo. Recovering arrows is chancy.
Black powder ammunition is a lot more compact but a bit heavier. 20 shots is 3.4 lb. plus what you carry the powder in. On top of an already heavier weapon.
But what if we let the TL advance a little bit?
A matchlock Caliver does 3d+1 pi+ out to 85/870 and has an Acc of 2 at 6.6 lb. for $135.
A caliver bullet does 4-19 raw damage, 0-15 will penetrate doing 0-22 damage to the body. Average hit will roll an 11 which gets 7 to penetrate for 10 damage. Once. A. Minute. Half the rate of fire for the gonne!
I figure the Dwarves will have figured out wheellocks.
A wheellock carbine does 3d pi++ out to 80/800 and has an Acc of 2 at 6.5 lb. for $290.
A carbine bullet does 3-18 raw damage, 0-14 will penetrate doing 0-28 damage to the body. Average hit will roll a 10 which gets 6 to penetrate for 12 damage. Rate of fire is a bit better than the matchlock with one shot every 40 seconds.
What this means is, in a dungeon melee the gunner will get to fire once and be reloading for the entire rest of the fight in all likelihood. That also means that it's unlikely that guns will much supplant archery in a typical adventuring setting.
It's actually the same problem with using a very high ST crossbow and any of several mechanical devices to draw the bow.
One example of fantasy with gunpowder is The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny. The protagonist finds a chemical from a parallel dimension that works like gunpowder in his dimension, and then uses it to make ammunition for if memory serves FN FALs
ReplyDeleteWith gonnes and heavy crossbows in a dungeon situation, front rank fires, drops gonne or bow and goes cold steel. Or if the party is smart, front rank fires, 2nd rank moves up with cold steel and front rank drops and goes cold steel.
ReplyDeleteIt's the classic problem of missile troops, even longbowmen. Eventually the missileer runs out of ammo or can't reload, then what? Drop and go cold steel is always the answer.
Meanwhile the irregular in the corner with the light self bow or light crossbow is plugging away at targets of opportunity because he/she/it can't go cold steel in a peer-to-peer environment. Think of the bow troopies amongst the Normans at Hastings. All the knights and armored foot running around, bashing and stabbing and hacking, but who takes down a goodly portion of the Anglo-Saxon king's guard and the king himself? Light bow troopies.
This is where I have gotten many an adventurer party jammed up. "You see a big chamber, maybe 60x100, and there's a mass of goblins, you see about 30-40." "We charge, thief throws daggers, mage fires magic missile, elf shoots while running." "The goblins form ranks quickly, shields forward, spears behind, and your thief gets three arrows in the gut while the mage gets whacked by a sling shot for 6 pnts of damage and loses his spell."
Most player characters don't think enough to work out tactics. Or consequences. Like the proverbial 10x15 room full of deadly spores and slimes that the mage fires a fireball (traditional D&D fireball, 30' diameter sphere of fiery doom) and they all wonder why they got blown down the hallway and take serious damage even though they were standing 40' from the center of the fireball.
The English longbowman's traditional sidearm was the maul. Big strapping lads swinging massive hammers.
DeleteWe did tactics more when we used a hex-map. You can SEE what's going on better than just describing it.
One of my favorite weapons was a halberd. But it's slow, you have to recover a turn after using it. But it's got up to a 3-hex reach.
So I set up behind two buddies using sword and shield. They kept me from taking hits so I could "all-out-attack" for the +4 to hit without the worry of giving up my active defense that turn.
The archers and mages stood behind us and gave fire support.
The traditional SCA kill team is 2-3 shields forward with a polearm and a spear behind. Which works quite well in an open or semi-closed battlefield.
DeleteOf course, line vs line is shields forward and spears behind, polearms working the sides and any opening that is exposed.
Spear only line is defeated by a wedge of shields and polearms.
Combined arms works.
I used to be a wizard with the halberd in SCA. Even more so when I got thrusting tip and butt-spike qualified.
DeleteMy only trip to Pennsic resulted in me being like a scythe and breaking through the enemy lines... alone.
I was disabused of the notion that a single halberder could fight an entire army.