Ammo & Mecha Weapons

My mind wandered back to mecha some weeks ago; specifically, it went back to a mecha system that I've been dragging my heels on (at least with 4e and Modern 2.0, I know have an excuse to procrastinate). A few months prior, I had hammered out the beginnings of a point-based weapon designer meant to be part of a mech construction system. I hit a wall when I came upon the question of ammunition.

The problem I encountered is that everything is relative. A single shot of a 1d4 weapon does not have the same objective "value" as a 20d6 weapon. I could not take a simple route with ammunition - it wouldn't be fair to allow readers to buy a static number of shots for a static price regardless of actual damage values. I had begun writing a table outlying how many shots of ammunition could be purchased for a single point, based on the type of damage dice and number of dice. It made my head hurt, and it was several steps down the slippery slope of abstraction. So, when this idea hit me recently, I was so damn relieved to be free of having to pull values and numbers out of my ass. I managed to come to a fast, adaptable mechanic for ammunition in mecha weapons that reduces bookkeeping and speeds up play.

While solving my point-buy problem was my big concern, making mechs play faster in a d20-ish environment was my other goal. In my limited experience, the big thing that bogs down combat (and play in general) is the bookkeeping - keeping track of stats as they change, gear that gets used and consumed, and just watching the numbers in general. In my first D&D campaign, there were a lot of bottomless quivers... both I and my players would forget to keep track of expended ammunition, leading to frantic recollections and retcons as we realized the party would have been completely out of arrows three encounters ago. When dealing with mechs, machines that can range in size from a person to a skyscraper, you are dealing with weapons whose ammunition counts can range into the hundred thousands. It isn't enjoyable to keep track of amounts that large, at least for me and many people I know. The following mechanic provided a great solution.

The idea for this mechanic came from a throwaway suggestion in the original Star Wars d20 Roleplaying Game, 1st Edition. It's not an OGC source, but it'll be cited anyways in this blog's OGL.

OUT

When making an attack role with a mecha weapon that consumes ammunition, a natural role of 1 indicates the weapon has run out of ammo. The weapon is considered "Out" and cannot fire again until it is Reloaded.

This rule is entirely at the Gamemaster's discretion. If the GM feels that a role of 1 occurs at an inappropriate time (such as the first time that weapon is fired after reloading), he may rule the 1 represents merely a weapon jam (requiring a move action or full round to clear) or a missed shot instead.

Reloading is something that typically happens between encounters, at locations equipped to reload the mech. The GM decides what locations and times are appropriate for Reloads. Reloads can also be purchased while designing the mech weapon; these reloads represent internal reserves of ammunition.

The following Features (think Gadgets in d20 Modern) can be added to weapons. They interact with the Out mechanic.

Reload
A Reload is an internal store of ammunition which allows it to fire again after running Out. A weapon with a Reload may expend it to overcome the Out condition and be able to fire again. Reloads come in three varieties, each ones restocking the weapon at faster speeds. Standard Reloads take a full-round action, Quick Reloads take a move action, and Instant Reloads take a mere free action. Any number of Reloads may be added to a weapon.
Cost Mod: Standard, +1/5 of base cost. Quick, +1/4 of base cost. Instant, +1/2 of base cost.

Low Ammo Capacity
All weapons have a default Out range of 1 (meaning that a weapon using ammunition will be Out on a natural roll of one). This feature represents weapons with a lower than average store of ammo. Each time this feature is applied, the Out range of the weapon increases by one. For example, a weapon with this feature applied once will be out on a roll of 1 or 2. This feature can only increase a weapon's Out range to 1-5.
Cost Mod: -1/5 of base cost (each time feature is applied)

One Shot
Weapons with this feature are expended after one shot. Once fired, the weapon is considered Out regardless of the result of the attack roll.
Cost Mod: -3/4 of base cost


So you see... take a weapon with thousands of rounds of ammunition, and only worry about how much left in its reserves until you make a bad roll. It isn't very realistic, but it is more cinematic, and it's a lot less bookkeeping (at least during play). It's not your standard d20, but it could definitely could be made to work within it. Maybe I'll finish the rest of this system one day... or at least post what I have to date.

The Out, Reload, Low Ammo Capacity, and One Shot mechanics are open game content under the terms of the OGL.