Mad Science

Here's where the wonders of "New" science come to life before your very eyes through the works of Dr. Joseph Flashpan, and his company, Flashpan Technologies, Inc... Scroll down, or select one: Flamepistol Flechette Ammo Safety Bullets Flare Compensation Goggles Light Grenades Rocket Flare "Hand Cannon" Revolving Shotpistol St.Clair's Hellfire & Hydrastrike Shells

The Venerable Dr. Flashpan, contemplating his next incredible invention.

Joseph Flashpan's Flamepistol

In an effort to stop the use of clumsy, dangerous flamethrowers sold by such incompetant companies like Smith & Robards, Joseph Flashpan created the flamepistol, a device of much higher quality than it's antiquitated predecessor. This marvel carries all the firepower of normal throwers in a one handed size not much larger than a pistol! Not only that, but the flamepistol uses hydrogen as it's fuel source. This fuel can be obtained for free at any nearby water source, thanks to another wonderful device, the water separator. No more spending huge amounts of money on Ghost Rock! Furthermore, the flamepistol retains all the handy features of the S&R device, such as a fuel dial (select a shot) and a muzzle choke. The whole device is armoured to prevent explosion, and the fuel can be replenished by changing the self sealing gas canisters.

Operation - The flamepistol functions exactly like a flamethrower with a few exceptions:
1)The user requires the Shootin':Flamepistol aptitude
2)Each shot only does 1d8 damage.
3)The range of the weapon is a max of 15
4)The whole weapon has an armour rating of 2
5)The weapon can be reloaded by switching gas canisters taking two actions

The water separator is a water tank with an electrostatic capacitor in it, attached to a hand crank. 1 litre of water and two minutes of cranking fills one gas canister

WEAPON	SHOTS	DAMAGE	SPEED	ROF	RANGE	COST
Flamepistol	30	d12	1	1-6	15 max	$6000

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Flamepistol	18	Engineering & Chemistry	Full House	15	5 weeks

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
W.Separator	19	Physics	Straight	11	40 hours

Malfunctions
Flamepistol - same as flame thrower
Water Separator - same as vapour collecter in S&R, but no chance of contracting Ghost Rock fever

Joseph Flashpan's Flechette Ammo

While the good doctor is opposed to the destruction of human life he feels no such pacifism towards the creatures of the reckoning. These ammunition rounds were created to combat these abominations quickly and painfully. The round consists of hundreds of razor sharp bits of metal pressed into a bullet shape, with an extra strong charge on the end. When the bullet is fired from an ordinary gun the metal bits break free in the air, creating a stream of of shrapnel flying toward the unfortunate target at the speed of sound!

Game Effects
A weapon loaded with Flechette rounds causes one more dice of damage at a higher dice type. ie 3d6 pistol damage becomes 4d8, and 4d8 rifle damage becomes 5d10. Unfortunately the metal bits have a hard time penetrating armour, double the effects of all armour hit with Flechette rounds (armour of 1 becomes 2, armour of 2 becomes 4 etc). Also, due to the extra strong charge of the round all shots made with Flechette ammo suffer a -2 penaly to the roll to hit

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Flechette	18	Engineering & Chemistry	Three of a kind	7	8 hours/ 6 bullets

Malfunctions
Roll every time a Flechette round is discharged (reliabilty is 18)
Minor Malfunction: Click - the round doesn't go off this action, try again later
Major malfunction: The round goes off but the bullet doesn't disintigrate. All damage bonuses are lost but all penalties still apply (-2 hit modifier and extra armour penalty)
Catastrophie: The round tears itself apart inside the barrel. The firer takes no damage but the weapon is destroyed

Joseph Flashpan's Safety Bullets

Dedicated to the preservation of human life, Dr. Flashpan developed these bullets to take down threats without causing permanent injury. They are made of a thick gelatinous substance that flattens out on impact, distributing it's energy over a wider area. This effect stuns the target with minimal chance of drawing blood

Game effects: A weapon loaded with safety bullets rolls damage as normal, but when resolving the damage no wounds are assigned, instead inflict 5 wind in place of each wound. From Smith & Robards the bullets cost $3 each and have a reliability of 16.

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Safety Bullets	16	Physics& Chemistry	Two pair	7	8 hours/dozen

Reliabilty - Roll every time a weapon loaded with Safety Bullets is fired

Minor Malfunction: The gel melts in the barrel, requiring 5 minutes to clean out. This shot is wasted
Major Malfunction: The gell bullet calcifies in the air when fired, if the shot hits then normal damage is incured rather than "safety" damage
Catastrophie: The bullet melts in the barrel of the gun and then calcifies. The weapon is ruined and the shot wasted

Joseph Flashpan's Flare Compensation Goggles

This amazing invention uses a pair of specially coated polarised lenses to protect the wearer's eyes from overly bright light. While wearing these goggles one can stare into the sun, ignore flash grenades, or gaze into the magical fireworks of a "Bedazzle" hex. The goggles also slightly enhance the wearers eyesight in the darkness, reducing penalities due to darkness by 2

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Flare Comp. Goggles	16	Physics & Chemistry	3 of a Kind	9	8 hours

The goggles have a reliabilty of 16 if bought from a gizmo retail store (such as Smith & Robards) and cost around $300. Roll reliabilty everytime a flash occurs and the Goggles are being worn:

Minor Malfunction: The goggles do not operate at full efficiency Instead of negating all blindness modyfiers caused by flashes, the goggles halve all penalties
Major Malfunction: The goggles fail entirely and the user suffers the full flash penalties
Catastrophie: A chemical reaction causes the lenses to shatter, the wearer takes 3d6 damage to his eyes (noggin) and is blinded until all wounds caused are healed.

Joseph Flashpan's Light Grenade

The grenade consists of a glass orb roughly the size of a human fist. Within is a mixture of powdered Ghost Rock, sodium, and magnesium - all specially treated so that upon exposure to air the compound ignites and creates an intensly blinding flash, visible for several miles at night and effectively blinding every soul within 100 yards!
In game terms the flash occurs when the globe is broken (usually by throwing it at the ground) and everybody nearby who witnesses this must make a Cognition check at TN 15. Every 20 yards from the flash 3 is subtracted from the TN making the range about 100 yards. Anyone failing this roll has stared into the light and is temporarily blinded by the bright flash - subtracing -8 from all rolls asosciated with sight (ie shooting and fighting!) for the next five rounds (but may be left with a smaller modifier afterwards of perhaps -1 or -2 for up to 30 minutes if the flash was witnessed at night). If the Cognition roll is passed then penalty is reduced to -4. A raise on the roll totally negates the penalty. Botching this roll causes a longer period of blindness - 3d6 hours in total!
Obviously if one realises a flash grenade is about to be used and recognises it for what it is then she may try to "vamoose" normally to cover her eyes - thus a Cognition roll is not needed.

The grenade has a thrown range of +1/10 and max range same as throwers Strength die type times 5

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
L.Grenade	19	Chemistry	two pair	9	8 hours

Malfunctions! Roll reliabilty every time a grenade is used

Minor Malfunction: Weak flash. The effective radius of the flash is reduced to 25 yards and the Cognition TN becomes 7
Major Malfunction:The powder fails to ignite and the grenade is wasted
Catastrophe!: The grenade explodes in the throwers hand! This does 4d8 damage to his arm and blinds him for 3d10 hours!

Joseph Flashpan's Rocket Flare

Another of the good professor's flash orientated devices is the Rocket Flare which consists of three separate parts. The first is the "core" and is made up of Ghost Rock, magnesium, and coal. When ignited the core will give off a very bright and long burning light. The second part is an asbestos parachute which is resistant to the heat given off by the core. The final part of the flare is a tiny rocket engine, allowing the whole thing to be launched into the air like a firework!
The 3 parts are attached together and encased in a steel tube about 1 foot in length. To activate the flare a button on the bottom is depressed and the rocket ignited. The flare shoots 100 yards up into the air with a brilliant glow (taking 1 round) and then the parachute deploys and the flare falls slowly to the ground whilst illuminating an area of darkness roughly equal to twice its height in radius. The flare descends at a pace of roughly 10 yards per round, so allows for 10 rounds of illumination over a radius of 200 yards, which decreass by 20 every round
It is possible to use the flare as a weapon, causing 1d10 damage on a target if a Shootin'pistol roll to hit is passed at a -2 penalty. Due to the rocket's wild nature the range of such a shot is +1/5. Firing the flare at a solid object, such as a wall, will destroy the core and puts out the flare

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Rocket Flare	18	Chemistry & Physics	Two Pair	7	12 hours

Malfunctions!: Roll when the flare is used

Minor Malfunction: The flare fails to ignite and the device is wasted
Major Malfunction: The rocket fails but the flare goes off! This does 2d6 damage in burns to the users hand
Catastrophe: The rocket explodes! The user takes 2d10 damage to his person and is blinded for 3d6 rounds from the flash of the core!

Joseph Flashpan's "Hand Cannon" Shot Pistol
In his travels throughout the Weird West, Professor Flashpan met many people using "sawed off" shotguns as a weapon. These modified scatterguns, while powerful, were crude and inaccurate. In an effort to improve on the concept, the Professor created the "Roomsweeper" shotpistol. An oversized revolver with a snub nose barrel, this gun holds 4 shotgun shells in it's chamber. It provides shotgun power and revolver speed in a lightweight hand weapon!

Name	Speed	Ammo	ROF	Range	Damage
Hand Cannon	1	4 shells	1	5/+1	1-6d6

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Hand Cannon	18	Engineering	Two Pair	7	12 hours

Malfunctions
Minor Malfunction - The Shot Pistol jams, and can't be used for the next 3 rounds plus, or unless a TN 9 Tinkerin' roll is made in the next round.

Major Malfunction - A round in the gun misfires, and the user takes an immediate 1d12 damage from the ignited powder to the arm area.

Catastrophe - A round in the gun explodes, causing all remaining rounds left in the gun to explode with it. The user takes an immediate 2d6+4d6 damage for each round left in the gun before it malfunctioned.

St. Clair's Hellfire & Hydrastrike Ammunitions

Designed by Professor Flashpan's late partner, Emilo St. Clair, Hellfire and Hydrastrike ammunitions are some of the most potent man stoppers available today. Designed to used in a shotgun or shotpistol, these rounds consist of a standard casing, and a membranous inner sac, filled with Greek Fire and acid respectively. Once fired, the sac flies at it's target like a solid slug. Upon impact, the sac bursts, releasing it's payload onto the unfortunate target!

Once a target is hit, the Hellfire round burns for 1d6 rounds, inflicting 2d10 damage each round. Water does not extinguish Hellfire rounds.

The Hydrastrike inflicts 2d10 damage on impact, and does one die type less each round. (See the acid gun in Smith and Robards for the full acid rules)

GIZMO	RELIABILITY	SCIENCES	HAND	CON TN	CON TIME
Hellfire/Hydrastrike Shells	17	Alchemy& Chemistry	Full House	11	12 hours/6 shells

Malfunctions

Minor: Click. The shell doesn't fire. Try again later.
Major: The chemical in the shell is very weak. The damage done is reduced by one die type and one die.
Catastrophe!: The round discharges in the chamber, setting off all the bullets in the gun. The shooter takes 3d6 damage to his shooting arm, plus 1d6 more for each shell left in the gun. The gun is also destroyed.

1999 Smiling Bandit Productions. All rights reseved.