Firearms in basic D&D

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been experimenting with a couple of alternative rules in my running of the Grinding Gear.

It saw the first outing of my rules for mixed-class characters (which went well, by the way), and my rules for fatigue-based spell casting (which, no doubt, I'll talk about here some time).

It also featured (for the first time in any D&D game I've run) some rules for primitive gunpowder weapons, largely influenced by JB's thoughts on the matter.

Here are the rules I used:

Gunpowder weapons work just like any other missile weapon, with the following additional points:

• Guns fire high velocity projectiles which can penetrate armour. Pistol shots negate up to 2 points of AC due to armour, musket shots up to 4 points.
• Loading the weapon (ramming the powder and shot down the muzzle) requires one round. Guns can be carried, but not stored, pre-loaded.
• A to hit roll of 1 indicates that the weapon has backfired. The user suffers damage as if hit by the gun. The gun is unusable until it is cleaned for 1d6 turns.
• Matchlock weapons require a smoking slow match (fuse). These matches burn for 1 hour (6 turns) and produce a recognisable odour and light.
• Slow matches and gunpowder are very susceptible to damage by water & humidity.
• Fighters may use any type of gun. Thieves and mixed-class characters may use pistols.
• Pistols have a short range of 20', medium range of 60', and long range of 100'.
• Muskets have a short range of 40', medium range of 80', and long range of 140'.

Costs:
Matchlock pistol, 100 gp, 2 lb., 1d8
Matchlock musket, 250 gp, 5 lb., 1d10
Wheel lock pistol, 400 gp, 2 lb., 1d8
Wheel lock musket, 600 gp, 5 lb., 1d10
Powder & shot (10), 5 gp, 1 lb.
Slow match, 1 gp, negligible weight

Only a single pistol shot was fired during the session, but it was impressive -- taking down a flying stirge. I really enjoyed describing the loud noise the gun shot made, how it echoed around the buildings in the inn's courtyard, and the distinctive (atypical for D&D) flavour even this single shot brought to the game.

Recommended.