Rappan Athuk and firearms

[Unruly]

I'm going to be buying Rappan Athuk sometime soon, and once I get it I plan on running it in a PbP. But before I do, I'd like to get some input on the topic of firearms in the game.

From what I understand, Rappan Athuk is very much made as a firearms-free setting, and so I'd have to make changes to accommodate gunslingers and other firearms-based classes. Which I understand and is something I almost expect to do regardless of if a gunslinger is present or not. What I'm wondering is how extensive those changes will have to be. Is it going to just be loot changes, or will I have to completely revamp some sections? I try not to ban classes from my games, since it's always a put off when it happens to me, but if I'm going to have to rework massive sections of something just to let one player into a game I may choose to do just that.

So I'm just wondering what everyone's experiences with Rappan Athuk are when played with firearms. I'm especially looking for input from GM/DM's who've run it with gunslingers.

[Eltacolibre]

I wouldn't say a total revamp but you might consider including Firearms in the treasures of the monsters. You don't really need to have Succubus and half-orcs with pistols everywhere but once in awhile, might help. Either way even in a regular adventuring party, Gunslingers have a hard time getting their stuffs as loot, consider how expensive guns and ammos are, a lot of monsters won't be able to have it as part of their loot until CR 4+ monsters.

[Jeffrey Palmer]

Unrulv,

In my Rappan Athuk game, running for about a year, one of the PC’s is a pseudo-gunslinger, specifically a kia-gun marksman (from Dreamscarred Press’s Psionics books) with a couple of levels of gunslinger. He only fights with a revolver. The way I handled it was to give him a nicer weapon up front, in his case a chambered revolver, but I made it a one-of-a-kind weapon and then allowed him to enchant it at the nearest city (so that he can be in-line with the rest of the groups power).

Also, story-line wise, I’m having smiths in the local big city becoming interested in his fancy gun and starting to make/sell/enchant firearms related stuff as a result of examining it. I’ve not introduced anything firearms related as treasure.

Not sure if that helps, but it’s how I did it on my end.
Jeff…

[Unruly]

That's an interesting way of handling it. But I think it could end up being a bit strong though. One of the things I see as balancing for firearms is that they're harder to pull off successive shots with until later levels. Giving a revolver at level 1 would open up Rapid Shot immediately, and gives him two attacks per round that target Touch AC up to 100ft away, for 3 rounds straight. Then it's just a move action to set himself up for that again.

Two shots would be enough to drop most low-level enemies in a single round, even with the -2 penalty, since Touch AC is usually the easiest to hit.

I'm leaning towards just keeping the game in the Emerging Guns category, allowing for the crafting of advanced firearms, and sprinkling firearms-based items into rolled loot. That is, if I end up having a gunslinger or other firearms using class in my game when I get around to running it.

If anyone else has more suggestions or thoughts, I'd love it if you'd share them.

[brvheart]

I use firearms in Razor Coast, but not in RA or ST. At least not at this point. I might once Sword of Air comes out. If I were to include them it would be very limited, but that is to each his own I guess.

[Chuck Wright]

Unruly - A slightly overpowered character isn't going to really be a big concern in Rappan Athuk.

[Unruly]

Chuck Wright wrote:

Unruly - A slightly overpowered character isn't going to really be a big concern in Rappan Athuk.

With its reputation I kind of figured as much. But I don't want to start one guy out at an advantage to the others just because of his class, like by giving him a revolver to start. At the same time, I don't want to tell someone "no you can't play a gunslinger" because Rappan Athuk doesn't account for them right out of the gate.

If I could ask you as one of RA's developers, what would you suggest for the handling of firearms in it?

[Jeffrey Palmer]

Chuck Wright wrote:

Unruly - A slightly overpowered character isn't going to really be a big concern in Rappan Athuk.

Yup! That's how it's played out. He might have been a bit stronger than his peers at a low level, but it evened out in a few levels. Rappan Athuk has such challenges that it hasn't made much difference. Again, you are right that there was a bit of a disparity at the beginning, but in the group I'm running it wasn't a big deal.

Good luck with it! It's a damn fine adventure.

[MichaelSandar]

Something to bear in mind about RA when introducing a new element is its rich history, and the history of the setting you are playing it in. The fall of the Army of Light happened generations ago, in my campaign firearms are a recent discovery - hence, there will only be a very small amount of them in the dungeon, mostly left by fallen adventurers.

However, if your campaign has firearms being relatively common, and having been around for a while, then it's possible many in the Army of Light had them and old or magical firearms could be as common as any other weapon available to find. Just remember, the bad guys will use what they can as well. Add a couple of levels of gunslinger to a priest of Orcus and see what kind of damage you can do to the PC's. :)