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1001 Science Fiction Weapons - it was bound to happen eventually o.O

C

clementk

SOC-14 1K
Have to wonder if someone leaked a Famile Spofulam catalog.
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:D If there is anything involving fusion and a coffee maker in it I know who to blame.
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Can't find a company website so:
RPG.net review

product page on RPGNOW.com with demo

The review says 406 pages, the demo pdf has at least 420. Stats seem a little high for T20 use. A number look unusuable for IMTU from the description and I'm sure there are a lot that wouldn't be needed or just not fit. Still there may be enough for $9US.

Demo recomended as a look-see for Gun Bunnies, Mad Scientists, Vilani Bureaucrats ("It may not do any damage but it looks deadly on parade and if we buy 5000 of them I get a promotion."), and other similar sophonts.

<Asu paging Ditzie> Heyas! Gots a new catalog full of kawaii stuff to try out!
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Note: not purchsed this one yet

Casey
 
As far as I know this is a pdf only product. The review says pdf-only. Not seeing a POD option for this product either.

Would make one heck of a hardcover though. And I thought 1001 Feats was a PDW... x_X

Casey
 
I got that PDF.

I had great fun in reading it, since most of the weapon descriptions are written in a funny style.

Weapons are made with D&D and D20 Modern in mind, and (well, I don't have the books under my nose, and am too lazy to check before speaking...) since firearms generally do less damage in T20 tha in D20M, the book may not be suited. Now, most of the weapons are much more weird space opera than hard sci-fi. A few examples:

- ICE BLADES: The handle is a technological device which maintains some freezed water onto it. The water is shaped like a blade (so you get an axe, dagger, whatever). This works as a normal dagger/axe/etc. except that since the blade is made of frozen water, it only leaves water in the wound, so nothing that could be detected by investigators. Just note that in the future technology will be able to detect many other things than just remnants of the weapon in the wound, so this ice-blade may look silly.

- ULTRA-HEAVY WEAPONS: any melee weapon, such as an axe, hammer, sword, etc. The blade is made of material taken out of a neutron star of whatnot, so weighs 3 tons. As such, it requires an in-built antigrav device so the weapon can be lifted. Now, since the weapon is ultra-heavy, it is said to slice through anything. Well, my poor knowledge of physics tell me that this doesn't make sense: In absence of a ultra heavy gravity, the material of the blade would expense back to the size of 3 tons of metal on 1g worlds. Furthermore, if the antigrav makes it weighless, I don't see why the weight should add to the kinetic energy when dealing damage. Noneheless, the description is funny to read.

- PIRAHNNA BALL: A living weapon made of bio-something. It is tuned to its possessor, but will bite and then crawl into the flesh of any living creature touching it. So owners throw it at someone, hoping the ball will land unto the victim, and thereafter...

Well, many weapons (such as laser guns, etc.) may not be necessary when you already have those described in T20. There are however good ideas of poisons and similar stuff you wouldn't think about. And I much like the one-use-only weapons: the weapon is a whole; you shoot the number of amunition which are inside, then the weapon dissolves in nothingness. Great weapons for assassins.
 
From the demo it looks very un-Traveller. Lots of "zap-o-tron" type weapons. For Frakk's sake, there's a weapon in it called a "Death Ray." NOT hard science. :(
 
I also have this document. I give it a 2.5-3 stars out of 5. There are some neat ideas, but it's poorly organised (no table of weapons!) and not suited to being extended.

Unless you are desperate for a new set of weapons (like me), I would put this on the pass list.
 
Thanks!

I saw that book and thought it seemed goofy. Now, I know to avoid it.

Is there anything like Ultra-Modern Firearms for science fiction out there that isn't goofy?
 
Hrmm checking my master list, I come up with the following recommendations for SF weapons guides:

GURPS Ultratech 1 and 2. Many good future tech weapons, but it is in GURPS.

Arsenal by Perpetrated press. The weapon descripions are all "magic" based, but it's easy enough to substitute "Technology" for the explinations.

Emperor's Arsenal. This is for Traveller 4th, and contains weapons, vehicles and other implements of desctruction. Again a conversion will be required for T20.

Galladinium’s Fantastic Technology: Guns and Gear. This is for the old West End Games Star Wars, and it appears on Ebay at a reasonable price from time to time. I don't have the D20 Star Wars version.

Lock and Load for Battlelords of the 23rd century. If you want a game that typifies the D&D random violence in a futuristic setting, this is it. Contains lots of Big Guns(TM).

1001 SF Weapons. Despite by ragging on the product above, it is one of the few sources of D20 SF weapons. It will take some work on your part to edit the list down, create the weapon tables, and so on. If the author had done this, it would have been an easy 4.

There are not a whole lot of Future weapons catalogs. There are a few more on the list, but most require some form of tuning or conversion.
 
Emperor's Arsenal is an incredible piece of work. Not only does it include weapons, but essays on the evolution, function and application of technologies. THey even have the theoretical steps beyond TL15, and some interesting artifacts that the GM can use.

I disagree with some of the evolutionary steps that they propose for armor, but that's just me. (Battle Pods are a poor evolution of battle dress.)

Some of the low-tech weapon descriptions are lacking and very generic. Sword variations, club variations etc etc. For the low TL stuff I recommend converting GURPS. from TL5 on up, take the time to convert this book to whatever version you're using.

Take that review as you will.
 
Ah, but the battle pod idea shows what may have been - we "know" that the Imperium didn't go down that route and instead stuck with anthropomorphic battle dress.

Emperor's Arsenal is one of my favorite Traveller books from any of its incarnations.
 
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