Weapons

       Upon the Red Planet there are a limited number of standard weapons which are used by the majority of races and classes. Table 4.1 also gives statistics for some uncommon weapons which may be of terrestrial or fantastical origin.   

INITIATIVE

            The weapon’s  modifier is used to calculate the initiative score (p.20) for a player or the individual members of his party.  Often in combat he who strikes first often strikes last. There are 10 rounds of combat per xat.  Each round is about 18 seconds in duration, so a combat round is much slower than a regular or exploratory turn or xat.

            During the course of a combat round a character is allowed one action; either move at a sprint, attack with either melee or ranged weapon, use a skill or cast a spell. Characters can be attacked by multiple opponents at a time and with the exception of troopers an higher level warriors, character may only attack one adversary at a time in melee combat.

             The placement of miniatures on a battle mat represents the average location of a character during combat and will help guide the GM in determining which characters may attack whom. In real combat, characters are moving around a lot.  Obviously, you may not attack an opponent in hand-to-hand combat or melee if there is a significant intervening obstacle such as a wall or an ally.

COST

       Cost is the purchase price of the item in gold coins unless specified otherwise. The letter ‘k’ is the abbreviation for one thousand gold coins.  For characters that are fortunate enough to find or ‘liberate’ weapons and other equipment, expected resale/ pawn value for these items is

 

  10% for low technology (TL I – VI),

  20% for standard technology (TL VII – VIII), and

  50% for gadgets or unique items (TL IX - X).

The Barsoomian firearm, shoots a small caliber, high velocity projectile.  “The opaque outer coating is broken by the impact, exposing a glass cylinder, almost solid, in the forward end of which is a minute particle of particle of radium powder.  The moment the sunlight, even though diffused, strikes this powder it explodes with a violence which nothing can withstand.  If you ever witness a night battle you will note the absence of these explosions, while the morning following the battle will be filled at sunrise with the sharp detonations of exploding missiles fired the preceding night. As a rule, however, non-exploding projectiles are used at night.”    (PM, XIII)

“Moonlight is not powerful enough to detonate this explosive, and so projectiles fired at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of a searchlight detonate at sunrise.”            (MM IX)

 

 

Image is from Pixarz movie

John Carter of Mars