RE: [DL] gatlin' pistols

["Jeff Yates" <jyates@primaryfunction.com>]

My own house rule makes anything with a ROF > 1 follow the automatics
rules, i.e. you roll one shootin' per burst of 3 (or fractions thereof).
So DA pistols and semi-auto pistols and double barrel shotguns all need
a raise to hit with their second shot in an action.  The -2 recoil
penalties apply (but in the 1870's just about no weapon qualifies).  In
addition, DA pistols suffer an additional -2 for trying to pull the
trigger that hard and fast.  This brings the two fisted two gun kids
back down a notch, unless they're using two gatling pistols (6! Bullets
per action!).  It also makes the rules for ROF > 1 consistent no matter
what weapon you use.  And it avoids the problems with going
cross-setting to HOE, where doubling the rate of fire of all those
automatic weapons makes for tremendous headaches.  It's bad enough in
Weird West doubling the ROF of Gatling pistols, rifles, shot guns, plus
steam-powered Gatling Guns, etc.  Then you need to think about the "ROF"
for hexes and bows and...  It's an ugly snowball effect going that way.
It seemed easier to slow down DA pistols than speed up everything but.

This may be why the players I marshal for tend to prefer fannin'.  To
hit with 2 bullets on a single card by my house rules, you'd need to
roll a 12 (before any other modifiers get added in) for a DA pistol.  To
fan two bullets you'd need a 14, but have the option of trying for three
bullets at a 19, or 4 at 24, etc.  If you add in the -1 for shooting DA
pistols (optional rule from Law Dogs, that can be offset with "Set
Trigger" gun improvements) once per card, then SA pistols look more
useful.  And Gatling pistols keep their "mystique".  Especially when the
two fisted two gun kid gets his mitts on two Gatling pistols!

As an aside, the only time Gatling pistols got used in my campaign, the
character in question cleared a room full of mooks with the two GPs he
had found earlier.  Between his good Shootin' and amazing luck at
hitting "innocent" bystanders, only about 3 of the 24 bullets the two
guns fired didn't hit some mook.  And in just over a round had emptied
the guns and dropped all my mooks.  He then dropped the guns and moved
on.  "Too hard to reload" he said.

Jeff Y.
Marshal for the Dynamite Gang


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-deadlands@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-deadlands@gamerz.net] On
Behalf Of William Ogden
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 11:31 AM
To: deadlands@gamerz.net
Subject: [DL] gatlin' pistols


My only comment to this debate, is that in first edition DL, a gatlin
fired 
a 3 round burst, a da fired 1/action, an SA fired 1/2 actions (unless
you 
slipped the hammer)

in 2nd ed, DA's fire 2, SA's fire 1, but the gatlin didn't change.  (I
think 
someone else already mentioned this in passing).  I think in my next
game, 
I'm going to bump the Gatlin pistol to ROF6, doubling it like everything

else was doubled.

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