[HOE] Stungun from Minority Report

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

I really liked the self-powered stun gun they had in minority report, so I
thought it'd be cool to bring it into HoE. Originally I was going to have
it be a junker device, but there was no way (that I could find) to make a
junker item that WASN'T powered by g-rays, so it's a regular gun instead.

DB-9 Concussion Stun Gun
This weapon was developed for personal defense and also for use by riot
and regular police in non-lethal situations. The gun uses a series of
capacitors to release a diffuse electrical burst at short range. The
electrical burst has the side-effect of ionizing the air it passes
through to a small extent and creating an associated "force" that travels
with the burst and knock over people or objects. The weapon would be just
another footnote in the Librarian's research if it weren't for its unique
backup power mechanism.
Although the weapon can be connected to a power pack and powered by
standard batteries it can also be "hand cranked" to build up a charge in
the internal capacitors. To do this the user flicks his wrist, which cause
the entire barrel to rotate about the handle. As it rotates a static
charge is built up on internal magnets and transfered to the capacitors in
the "barrel". The more times the gun is cranked the larger the charge that
is built up (to the limits of the capacitor).
Because of its effectively unlimited ammunition and its non-lethal nature
this weapon has become a favorite of pacifist survivors.

Stats:
Cost: $2000
RI: 2 (the charge dissipated quickly in air)
Damage: stun and knockback*
RoF: 1+
Capacity: 1 or by battery type

Rules:
Firing the gun requires the Shootin:Concussion Gun skill.
To use the gun without an attached battery the user must first "crank" it.
This requires an action and Deftness-based Quickdraw roll (use your
Quickdraw skill, but your Deftness coordination) against TN 3. Each
success and raise spins the gun one time and counts as one "crank". The
user can spend multiple actions cranking the gun if he wishes to build up
a bigger charge. The weapon can be "hip shot" in which case the user makes
his quickdraw roll and fires it with the charge based on that single roll.

The gun's base stats (for one crank) are:
Stun TN		Knockback distance
3		1d4 yards

For each additional crank the Stun TN goes up by +2 and +1 yards is added
to the knockback distance. If the target passes the stun check he is still
knocked back, but is still standing. If he fails, he's knocked back and
lands on his keister. The maximum Stun and Knockback is 11/1d4+4.

Knockback assumes a roughly man-sized (size 6) target. For each size
greater than 6 subtract 1 from the knockback (can be brought to 0) and for
each size under 6 add 1 (no limit, yes you can punt squirrels with this
thing, you sick little monkey!)

The capacitors are not designed to hold a charge for an extended time
period. For each round that the weapon goes unfired one charge (one crank)
is bled off from the internal capacitors (so the TN goes down by 2 and the
knockback down by 1 yard) to a minimum of 0.

If connected to a battery of any kind then each charge counts as one crank
and the number of charges used per shot can be dialed in (as a short
action) anywhere from Stun TN 3 to 11 as per the rules above. A battery
cannot be used in conjunction with cranking (there were too many instances
of power cords being accidently pulled and people getting shocked).

Though there is a bright flash when the gun is fired (equivalent to an
average light bulb burning out) the gun makes little noise. Other than a
slight sizzling sound and a low, bass "PUM" sound as the charge distorts
and heats the air it moves through.

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Thoughts? I know the unlimited ammo thing is a bit powerful, but I figured
that was balanced by the cost and relative slowness of the weapon.

Theo McGuckin - SysAdmin, JLab, Safety Warden (Bldg. 85)


	"They're attacking. We should build a fort."
	"I'll get some pillows."