[HOE] Junker device: MkII custom assault rifle

[Robert Holland <robert@macauley.com>]

Looking through the starting devices on the archetypes in The Junkman Cometh, we
have: a plasma pistol, an assault rifle, a beer cooler, and a radio on a stick.
The plasma pistol's fine, but the rifle and the radio on a stick are only
moderate improvements over ordinary normtech equipment. It seems to me that
choosing a starting device such that you could, for 1 point of Belongin's, buy
something almost as good which is *not* inclined to explode you, irradiate you,
or get you eaten by a demon at the drop of a hat, is a bit of a waste. Junker
devices should be flashier and more interesting than that, even if they are
modelled basically on existed devices.

For example, here's a rework of the custom rifle used by the Tainted One
archetype. I figured a lady of such obvious discernment and taste in weapons
would have something a bit more out of the ordinary. The chamber size has been
changed to 10mm caseless just to piss Throckmorton off (it can chamber HI
Damnation rounds). The clip size has been reduced to 24 rounds, but the gun now
carries two separate clips, inserted over and under the stock (which is set up
bullpup-style), so--with a selector switch--the gun can be swapped instantly
between two types of specialty ammo without having to fumble with extra clips.
(She usually loads it with penetrators in the over magazine for hard targets and
explosives in the under for soft, both with tracers every third round.) It's got
a gyroscopic stabilizer that keeps the bullets heading straight and level no
matter how much jostling is going on; this also preserves the rifle's long-range
accuracy during burst fire, unlike most SMGs and assault rifles. A small battery
is good to run the gyro for an hour and a half before being swapped out.

There's a couple of minor glitches: first off, the clip selector has to actually
push the round in the chamber back into the appropriate clip before loading from
the other. That's a lot of work for one little switch, and it sometimes jams.
Check stability every time the switch is thrown from a non-empty magazine; if
the roll fails, the gun jams and can be cleared with a Fair (5) Tinkerin' roll
and three actions--each raise reduces the time by one action. Second, the gyro
spirit is a bit particular and doesn't like being slammed around. If the gun is
dropped, banged, used as a club, or otherwise violently disturbed, the gyro
might (Marshal's discretion) get thrown out of whack. This kills the bonus and
drops the range to 10/20, plus gives a -1d4 penalty to each shot as the gun
barrel pulls in random directions. 

DEVICE PROFILE: MkII Custom Assault Rifle
FRAME: 3
GUNSMITH: damage 4d8 (10mm caseless), ROF 9, range 20, two 24-round detachable
   magazines, minor side effect (25.65 slots)
TARGETING: motion compensator, minor side effect (2.95 slots, 2 drain/hour)
EXTRAS: magazine selector switch, ROF selector switch, 3-point battery jack
   (2.32 slots); level 1 oversized tech spirit (+1 drain/round, -1 stability)
DRAIN: 2/hour (1 G-ray/30 minutes)
AVAILABLE SLOTS: 0.08
COMPONENTS: 4 electronic, 9 mechanical, 9 structural ($103)
CONSTRUCTION:
   Gunsmith: TN 8, 1d6 hours, 4 cards
   Targeting: TN 10, 1d6 hours, 2 cards

Weapon           Ammo            Shots     Speed   ROF   Range   Damage
MkII Custom AR   10mm caseless   24 each   1       9     20      4d8 AP2 or
  ("Bessy")                                                      frangible

Standard magazine
AMMO: 24 rounds, 4d8 damage
COMPONENTS: 3 chemical, 2 structural ($28)

Penetrator magazine
AMMO: 24 rounds, 4d8 damage, AP2, 1/3 tracer
COMPONENTS: 7 chemical, 5 structural ($66)

Explosive-tipped magazine
AMMO: 24 rounds, 4d8 damage, frangible, 1/3 tracer
COMPONENTS: 5 chemical, 2 structural ($44)

Construction for all magazines is TN 7, 3d20 minutes, 3 cards.

Whaddaya think? I've got more of these, so let me know if you'd like me to keep
posting them.

--Robert Holland