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Holdout and Pocket Pistols for HoE by Matthew Weaver-Uzelac |
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While assault rifles can be durn handy in a firefight, they are none too subtle during social occasions. And while a combat shotgun is most impressive in dealing with those pesky wormlings, they are very hard to sneak past a guard (trust me, I've tried many times, and it has only worked once - don't ask). For years, gun manufacturers have made pistols to fit in a pocket. These weapons were popular with criminals and undercover police officers because they were easy to conceal under street clothes. Uniformed police officers carried small hand guns in case their main side arm ran out of ammo, or was grabbed by a suspect. Many holdout guns were simply cut-down versions of standard sidearms, while a few were whole new designs. In general game terms, a weapon that is considered "holdout" has a -2 modifier to be found in a visual search of the owner. Besides the pistols in this list, the snubnose .38 revolver is also "covered" by the -2 modifier. Compact Police Pistol This is basically the same weapon as the standard Police Pistol with a smaller frame and slide. The gun fires the same ammo as it's big brother, and even uses the same magazine. COP357 This small gun was designed to be used by law enforcement officers who were off-duty and needed an easy to conceal pistol with a lot of stopping power in case their work followed them home. The C.O.P. was a four-barreled "pepperbox" weapon. Each barrel holds a single .357 round. The firing pin rotates inside the weapon so there is no hammer, magazine or cylinder. Each round must be loaded individually into it's barrel, and the shell casing must be extracted seperately as well. The main disadvantage to the weapon is the small magazine capacity and very limited range. But it does pack a powerful punch and is quite handy to have around. .44 Caliber Derringer This is a throwback to the good old days of Cowboys and Hucksters. Using the same design as Mr. Derringer's original pistol, this weapon accepts the powerful .44 Magnum cartridge. The weapon has the break-open design of its grandfather. The big problem with a pistol this small firing a round this powerful is that the recoil can dislocate your wrist, all the way to your elbow. Any brainer with less than 3d6 Strength that fires this piece will suffer 1d4 damage to the firing hand. In the Confederacy, the gun was often produced in .50 caliber. This became a favorite of the Officer Corp who wanted a little something extra in their dress uniform. The Strength restrictions still apply to the .50 cal version of this weapon. Saturday Night Special Before the war, some gun companies had more greed than brains (go figure) so they cranked out a large number of cheap (in price and quality) pocket pistols. Most of these almost disposable weapons landed in the hands of low-level criminals and gangers. These things were responsible for thousands upon thousands of death and injuries before the war. The most common surviving of these "Zip Guns" were 6 shot .22 caliber revolvers. Many have survived to this day. Because of the poor "quality control" that went into these guns, several rules apply. These guns suffer an automatic -1 to the users' Shootin' roll. Also, each gun is considered to have a reliability of 17. Whenever a player goes bust on a Shootin' roll, roll verses this target number. Failure means the weapon jams, and needs to be fixed (or thrown away.) PM-3000 This is a 9mm automatic intended for the civilian market that was based on the old Walter PPK design. The two pistols are physically similar. The 9mm cartridge was adopted because it was felt that there was more punch behind it than the older .32 caliber. This was the gun of choice for many Northern Executives who felt they needed protection. Not only was it concealable and had good stopping power, it fed a certain adolescent pipe dream of being a "super-spy" for many of these overgrown teen-agers. Weapon Ammo Shots Speed ROF Range Dam Cost Compact Police Pistol 10mm 7/9 1 2 5 3d6 $120 COP .357 .357 4 1 2 3 3d6 $145 .44 Caliber Derringer .44 2 1 2 3 4d6 $165 .50 Caliber Derringer .50 2 1 2 3 4d6 $120 Saturday Night Special .22 6 1 1 2 2d4 $25 PM-3000 9mm 7 1 2 5 3d6 $120 |
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