(TFT) TFT Industrial Revolution

[Joey Beutel <mejobo@comcast.net>]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the group, so this is my first post....
I've been playing TFT since forever, on and off. Moving around  
recently meant that my old gaming groups and I are restricted to PBEM  
games. Anyway, with a new group the other day, we made some TFT  
characters and talked about the possible settings..... from the get go  
we talked about including Guns and such, something that my groups had  
usually kept away from before.... indeed, one of the characters is a  
blunderbuss wielding dwarven mechanic. Eventually the idea evolved  
into a somewhat 1860s-1880s like game. If anyone is familiar with  
Thief or Arcanum, to classic computer games, you might be getting part  
of the idea by combing the two. Anyway, this inevitably led to the  
following problems:
What should guns (beyond the Arquebus and Blunderbuss) be like?
How to balance swords, spells, and bullets (not to mention arrows)?
What sort of models would be good for this (chainmailed soldiers with  
winchester rifles is not a common sight...) if we decide to use the  
kinda brilliant suggestion of using heroscape terrain and 28mm models  
to make the maps.

So far I've gotten the following:
Note: all pistol type weapons are at -1dx at 3 megahexes, -2dx at 4  
megahexes, and so on, giving an additional disadvantage for pistols.
Musket- no strength requirement
Damage: 3
Accuracy: -1 DX
Weight: 5 kg
Reload/Readying time (after being taken out for use): 4/1
Blunderbuss as in game, but with the same reload time as the Musket  
above (the Arquebus and the Blunderbuss are the two most inaccurate  
parts of TFT- in TFT the blunderbuss is very, very slow to load,  
taking a full minute, while the musket takes a minute as well, with  
the readying time perhaps justified by setting up stands and stuff. In  
addition, it is made far too accurate for users of guns. In real life,  
it should load in about 4 turns, equalling 1/3 of a minute, or three  
shots a minute approximately, and be LESS accurate even for a skilled  
user than a bow is, while more people will use a Gun without the skill  
than a person without the Bow skill will use a bow) while the first  
readying turn is used to represent the overall slowness of bringing a  
large gunpowder weapon to bear)
Gunpowder Charges are much less expensive, I think we settled on $10  
per charge.
Flintlock Pistol no strength requirement (we know about recoil, but we  
think its best to just not think about it unless it is a shotgun/ 
blunderbuss)
Damage: 2
Accuracy: -1DX
Weight: 1 off the top of my head?
reload/readying: fires every other turn.

Then things start to get even more advanced as the game begins, with  
recent improvements being:
Rifle- like musket but without -1DX accuracy and a possible speed up.
Clarington Rifle: holds 15 shots, shoots every turn, shoots even  
faster at -2dx, 2+2 damage.
Revolver: 2 dice damage, holds six shots. May shoot twice a turn at  
-2dx.
Shotgun: like blunderbuss but reloads faster and can shoot twice, or  
shoot twice at once for 2 dice damage.
Bullets: 10 for $40.

In addition, some thieves items:
Black Jack- 4 dice damage to Subdue, but counts as a one handed club  
in ordinary combat (4 dice is only for when you are behind the enemy  
and he is unaware of your attack).
Flashbombs- haven't totally figured this out, but I think it will  
basically blind the opponents for two turns.
Water arrows: shoots like ordinary arrow but does not damage, can put  
out torches.
Noise maker arrows
Etc.

The big problem is to find the balance of making guns good in their  
own right but make bows and swords useful too, not to mention magic.
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"