RE: [DL] Fanning, Single and Double action pistols.

[Jeff Yates <jyates@primaryfunction.com>]

I tried to balance the weapons out a bit also.  Made them more logical in
game rules terms, at least to my mind, and consistent with autofire rules.
You should be able to put more lead in the air with a DA pistol (as compared
to SA), unless you fan the SA.  The DA will have heavier trigger pull -- you
are moving more mechanism, pushing against springs, etc, where the SA is
just releasing a catch when squeezing the trigger.  Makes a difference when
you are trying to empty the gun quickly.  I went so far as to write a
document with house rules for my players.  The Shootin' related bits are:

ª	Recoil penalties accrue at ?2 per burst after the first in the
ACTION for automatic weapons.  Specific weapons may adjust this.  After the
ACTION is over, the recoil penalty starts over at 0.
ª	Most weapons only need one action to use (lariats and nets are
example exceptions).  This means ?Shootin? From The Hip? penalties are
nearly never used.  So, rifles, shotguns, and single-action pistols fire
once per card.  Single-action revolvers can be fanned still, using the usual
rules.
ª	Weapons with a rate of fire of 2 (2 shots per action) incur
penalties much like automatics, with bursts of two shots, but the option of
not firing in burst mode.  These weapons include double-barrel shotguns,
double-barrel scatterguns, double-action pistols (revolvers), and
semi-automatic pistols.  The second shot hits on a raise on the shootin?
roll.  Double-tappin? like this incurs a ?2 penalty on shootin? rolls per
double-tap in a ROUND after the first.  Double-action revolvers have an
additional ?1 to every double-tap roll, unless specifically modified by a
gunsmith.  Example:  Ronan draws his double-action peacemaker on three
Mexican banditos.  He decides to do a double-tap at each enemy, and finds
that he has the action cards to empty his gun before they can shoot back.
So, his first shot is at ?1 for double-tapping a revolver.  With a 6 he puts
one bullet into the baddie.  On an 11 the second hits.  On Ronan?s next
card, he needs an 8 to hit with one bullet, and a 13 to hit with the second.
On Ronan?s third card, he needs a 10 to hit with one bullet, a 15 for two,
and his gun is empty.  If he had a double-action pistol with more shots, and
waited ?till next round, his penalties would reset to zero ? at least as far
as double-tapping is concerned.
ª	Double barrel shotguns and scatterguns can double-tap, but don?t
suffer the penalties because they are empty after the one roll.  Shoot
carefully!

I own a SAA reproduction.  It is much easier to hit with a single bullet
than my father's modern DA revolver -- just a little squeeze compared to
what may be called an actual "pull."  I tried fannin' once.  Only once and
only a couple of rounds.  Not accurate, not at all.  You'd have to be very
very good to hit that way.  So it makes sense to have nice penalties on that
style of shootin' and then only very skilled PCs will try it and hope their
big Shootin' die pool will counter the penalties.

As a note -- we use the same house rules when playing HOE too, but you get
fewer people fanning.  More often you get wasters double tapping their
autoloader pistols... Revolvers seem to be too old-fashiond.

Jeff Y.
Marshal for the Dynamite Gang.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-deadlands@gamerz.net 
> [mailto:owner-deadlands@gamerz.net] On Behalf Of Bobby Farris
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 9:21 PM
> To: deadlands@gamerz.net
> Subject: [DL] Fanning, Single and Double action pistols.
> 
> 
> Howdy y?all. Gotta question for ya.
> 
> When I started playin? Deadlands there wasn?t any weapon 
> speed. Yep, I am that old. Anyhoo. I am now starting a new 
> campaign and using the new weapon speed rules. I understand 
> them fine and like that they speed up combat, ie by making it 
> more deadly, but I hate what they have done to Fannin? and 
> Single Action revolvers.
> 
> My new posse won?t touch a Single action revolver because why 
> do it? Just use a Double action and get more shots and not 
> have any penalties to hit with lower TN?s.
> 
> So, I really don?t want to go back to weapon speeds, but I 
> want to change it so that Single Action pistols have some 
> bite to them and make it more of a question of preference on 
> what to use.
> 
> So, what or how would you do it? I am playing around with the 
> idea of making the double shot of the Double action pistol 
> work like automatic fire where you have to get a raise to get 
> the second bullet to hit.
>