RE: [HOE] Handguns

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

I can respond to parts of your question...

Firearm damage is a mix of velocity and mass.  Mass is pretty much
caliber, velocity is pretty much the broken into Pistol, Magnum Pistol,
Rifle categories (in very broad strokes for a game).

Converting every gun and ammo mix into game terms is basically
imposible, so Deadlands uses some generalizations.  The average Pistol
round does d6 damage. (The difference between the killing capacity of
9mm vs 10mm vs .45 is too fine for a game.)  The average pistol also
does 3 dice worth of damage.  Add a little velocity and get an extra die
(Magnum rounds).  I don't know for a fact, but are .38's generally a
slower bullet?  Since .38's and 9mm are nearly the same size, I'd
probably bump that to 3d6.  But if I remember correctly, the .38
mentioned in the rules is a snub-nose revolver -- nearly no barrel.
That affects bullet velocity, so maybe that was where the author was
justifying the 2d6 damage.  If you give your players a .38 with a 4 or 6
inch barrel, then 3d6 would be perfectly justified.


In reference to Theo's post -- grain is a unit of measure.  It can be a
measure of the amount of powder in the round, or the amount of lead used
to make the bullet.  Something like 70 grains of powder behind a 230
grain bullet (isn't that the specs for the .45-70 rifle cartridge?).
And to confirm his other comments, the caliber is only part of the
equation.  .45 Long Colt is what my Peacemaker fires.  It is understood
that the bullet is a certain size, and that there is a certain amount of
powder in it to allow guns like mine to fire it without exploding.  The
BFR line of revolvers actually has a .45 Long Colt version, but it's a
huge gun with lots of extra metal in the frame and cylinder.  It takes
very special ammo that would destroy my gun.  It can do that because the
.45 Long Colt is an old round that used to be filled with old-style
powders.  But the cartdridge has enough room for lots of modern powder.
The .44 Magnum, while physically smaller than the .45 LC, is spec'd for
newer guns so it contains more powder.  Higher velocity of the slightly
smaller bullet is more damaging.  Similarly, the .38 and .357 Magnum
rounds are nearly the same size (and can be fired from the same gun
without mods), but the Magnum packs more powder.

Sorry for the rambling post, but all I've had for breakfast is donuts
and Coke...

Jeff Y.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hoe@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-hoe@gamerz.net] On 
> Behalf Of Stephan Elsner
> Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 5:40 AM
> To: hoe@gamerz.net
> Subject: [HOE] Handguns
> 
> 
> Hello there,
> 
> I´ve got some problems with the handguns in HoE. I´m not 
> quite sure but some damage values seem to be inappropriate. A 
> 9mm pistol does 3d6 damage, a .38 revolver does 2d6, but .38 
> is just the same caliber, even a bit larger. Furthermore a 
> cal. .45 Colt does only 3d6 damage, but I can remember this 
> being a damn big gun and cal. .45 is a lot more than 9mm.
> 
> So whats wrong with this? HELP!
> 
> 
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