Script: Rapid Fire in GURPS
Another transcript of a video.
I was asked to explain the Rapid Fire rules in GURPS, so this is
exactly what this post is going to be about – everything about Rapid Fire.
These rules can come up in low-tech
games too due to existence of magic and blunderbusses. I haven’t played many
systems for high-tech games other than GURPS, but whatever systems I did play
had very, very unsatisfactory rapid fire rules. I still remember that when I
was reading the GURPS Basic Set for the first time, I was surprised to see such
elegant rapid fire rules that just make
sense. Most of the rules can be found on pages 373-374, and sometimes they
are enough. But as always with GURPS, there are many special cases and rules
that might come up, and some of them are only present in other books. I hope I
will cover everything here.
All ranged weapons have two statistics that are important to rapid fire attacks – Rate of Fire and Recoil. For example, H&K MP5K has RoF 15 and Rcl 2. Rate of Fire indicates how many projectiles it can fire per second normally, and Recoil measures how controllable the weapon is when firing multiple shots. The lower the Recoil, the better. Recoil 1 means that the weapon is recoilless.
If a weapon has a RoF of 2 or more, then you decide how many shots you fire before you make your attack roll. Your attack roll gets a bonus based on the chosen Rate of Fire as per the following table.
If your attack roll is successful, then you score at least one hit. An attack scores one extra hit for every full multiple of Recoil by which you make your attack roll. Obviously, you cannot score more hits than the number of shots you fired. If an opponent tries to Dodge your attack, a successful Dodge roll lets him avoid one hit, plus additional hits equal to his margin of success. A critical success lets him dodge all hits. While typically you cannot Parry or Block bullets, sometimes you can, and the rules for that do not say anything about rapid fire attacks. Douglas Cole mentions on the forums that they should work identically to Dodge.
That’s the basics, and most of the time, they are enough. Some people have issues with the rapid fire bonus to hit table and suggest replacing it with the normal Size/Speed and Range Table, some even suggest using the Size Modifier table. If you’d like to see more about such houserules, check the links in at the end of the post. I’ve also seen people complain that Recoil is not granular enough and suggest introducing fractional recoil. If you want to do it – go ahead, you will not break anything at all. It’s also unclear how this interacts with hit locations. By default, all your shots go to the same hit locations, and the ones that miss just miss, they don’t have a chance to hit a different hit location instead. To see some rulings about that, yet again – check the links at the end of the post.
Another question that often pops up is “But what if my character is very strong? He should be able to hold the gun steady enough to nullify all recoil!” The answer is no, Recoil does not have anything to do with that in GURPS. Kromm explains this on the forums, and I will also link this post at the end of the post.
Now, there are some special rules that have to be covered. If you have a weapon capable of Rapid Fire, you might want to attack multiple targets at once, right? You can do that in multiple different ways in GURPS.
The first one is Spraying Fire (p. B409). All targets must be within a 30-degree angle, and you must have a weapon with RoF 5+. First, choose the direction of engagement – from left to right, or from right to left, then announce how many shots you will fire at each target. If the targets are more than one yard apart, then you will also waste some shots. For RoF 16 or less, you lose one shot for each yard between targets. For any higher RoF, you lose two shots per yard. These shots still may hit unintended targets.
Roll to hit each target separately, with a separate effective RoF bonus for each one. Your weapon is harder to control, so your effective Recoil is increased by 1 for your second target, by 2 for your third target, and so on. I would show you an example, but the Basic Set already has one, and it’s pretty good – give it a read.
The second option is Suppression Fire (p. B409). Just like Spraying Fire, this one requires a weapon with RoF 5 or higher. You do not try to hit anyone, you just hose down an area with fire. This will affect anyone, friend or foe, who enters the area before the start of your next turn. The area must be two yards across at some point within your weapon’s range.
Suppression Fire is an All-Out Attack maneuver that takes an entire second; you can do nothing else that turn. Just like before, you should specify how many shots you are firing. If your weapon has RoF 10+, then you can suppress multiple two-yard zones, as long as they are adjacent and you fire at least five shots into each one. Your effective Rate of Fire for each zone depends on how many shots you fire into them.
Once anyone enters the zone or a swath that extends one yard to either side of a line drawn from you to the center of the zone, you roll to attack, applying all normal penalties, except the target visibility penalties. Yes, you even apply bonuses you got from Aiming. However, there is a catch – your final effective skill cannot exceed 6 + your rapid-fire bonus, or 8 + your rapid-fire bonus for vehicle- or tripod-mounted weapons.
You cannot target specific hit locations, you determine them randomly. Also, you cannot score more hits than the number of shots you fired, obviously.
GURPS Tactical Shooting expands this maneuver on page 18, allowing you to use Suppression Fire in situations where you do not have a gun with RoF 5+, but have multiple guns that provide this RoF combined! Effective skills are determined separately for each weapon, and rolls to hit are made separately for each weapon.
There is another option that was introduced on page 18 of GURPS Tactical Shooting and page 85 of GURPS High-Tech – Ranged Rapid Strike. Just like the normal rapid strike, this one allows you to make two attacks, both at -6, if you have a weapon with RoF 2 or higher. You must divide your gun’s RoF between the two attacks; use the shots fired for each attack to calculate the rapid-fire bonus. Just like Spraying Fire, this option requires the targets to be within a 30-degree angle. Also, this might be the same target, but two different hit locations. Unlike the normal rapid strike, this -6 penalty can be bought off with the Quick-Shot technique.
That’s already a lot to digest, but do you know that even if two weapons have the same RoF on the table, they might act differently? For that, you will have to consult the description. And what about the exclamation mark or the number sign in the RoF column? What do they mean?
Some weapons can only fire in the full-auto mode. Such weapons have a “!” after its RoF statistic. Minimum RoF for such weapons is one-quarter full RoF, rounded up.
Some other weapons have a burst limiter that only lets you fire a fixed number of shots per pull of the trigger. This is not indicted in the statline, check the description. You cannot use Spraying Fire if you have a burst limiter, and can fire only up to three bursts per attack.
But did you know that sometimes you can fire more shots than your RoF indicates? For single-action revolvers, you can perform Fanning (p. HT83, p. TS14), Thumbing (p. HT83, p. TS14), or Two-Handed Thumbing (p. HT84, p. TS14). For any semi-automatic weapon with RoF 3 that does not have a burst limiter, you can also increase the RoF by performing Fast-Firing (p. HT84, p. TS14). I will not describe the mechanics, I will just point to where you can find them.
Is that all? No, there are some other considerations. The first one is Rapid Fire vs. Close Stationary Targets (p. B408-409). If your target is totally immobile and has a Size Modifier high enough to completely counteract the range penalty, a successful attack roll means that half the shots fired hit, rounded up. If the attack succeeds by the weapon’s Recoil or more, all of the shots hit.
Finally, shotguns use the rapid fire rules even if they are not rapid-fire weapons. The rules are described on p. B409.
There are some other things to keep in mind. First, rapid fire is incompatible with area attacks and cone attacks. Yes, some weapons in GURPS Ultra-Tech deliver area attacks and have a high RoF, but… the rules do not support that. Second, some magical effects, such as imbuement skills, can give an increased RoF to weapons that do not have a Recoil statistic – muscle-powered or thrown weapons! The fix for that can be found on page 27 of Pyramid #3-60 - use Rcl 1 for weapons with Bulk 0 to -2, Rcl 2 for
weapons with Bulk -3 or -4, Rcl 3 for weapons with Bulk -5 or -6, and so on. Increase Rcl by 2 for weapons that deal Swing damage.
Finally finally, did you know that there’s Rapid Fire, and there is also Very Rapid Fire? This enhancement was introduced in GURPS Power-Ups 4: Enhancements. It works like Rapid Fire, but you get two extra hits per point by which you make your attack roll. You cannot do Spraying Fire or Suppression Fire, but when using the Rapid Fire vs. Close Stationary Targets, any success means that all shots hit. I don’t think any guns use these rules, they are only for powers. But maybe they should be used for beam weapons? Who knows?
All ranged weapons have two statistics that are important to rapid fire attacks – Rate of Fire and Recoil. For example, H&K MP5K has RoF 15 and Rcl 2. Rate of Fire indicates how many projectiles it can fire per second normally, and Recoil measures how controllable the weapon is when firing multiple shots. The lower the Recoil, the better. Recoil 1 means that the weapon is recoilless.
If a weapon has a RoF of 2 or more, then you decide how many shots you fire before you make your attack roll. Your attack roll gets a bonus based on the chosen Rate of Fire as per the following table.
If your attack roll is successful, then you score at least one hit. An attack scores one extra hit for every full multiple of Recoil by which you make your attack roll. Obviously, you cannot score more hits than the number of shots you fired. If an opponent tries to Dodge your attack, a successful Dodge roll lets him avoid one hit, plus additional hits equal to his margin of success. A critical success lets him dodge all hits. While typically you cannot Parry or Block bullets, sometimes you can, and the rules for that do not say anything about rapid fire attacks. Douglas Cole mentions on the forums that they should work identically to Dodge.
That’s the basics, and most of the time, they are enough. Some people have issues with the rapid fire bonus to hit table and suggest replacing it with the normal Size/Speed and Range Table, some even suggest using the Size Modifier table. If you’d like to see more about such houserules, check the links in at the end of the post. I’ve also seen people complain that Recoil is not granular enough and suggest introducing fractional recoil. If you want to do it – go ahead, you will not break anything at all. It’s also unclear how this interacts with hit locations. By default, all your shots go to the same hit locations, and the ones that miss just miss, they don’t have a chance to hit a different hit location instead. To see some rulings about that, yet again – check the links at the end of the post.
Another question that often pops up is “But what if my character is very strong? He should be able to hold the gun steady enough to nullify all recoil!” The answer is no, Recoil does not have anything to do with that in GURPS. Kromm explains this on the forums, and I will also link this post at the end of the post.
Now, there are some special rules that have to be covered. If you have a weapon capable of Rapid Fire, you might want to attack multiple targets at once, right? You can do that in multiple different ways in GURPS.
The first one is Spraying Fire (p. B409). All targets must be within a 30-degree angle, and you must have a weapon with RoF 5+. First, choose the direction of engagement – from left to right, or from right to left, then announce how many shots you will fire at each target. If the targets are more than one yard apart, then you will also waste some shots. For RoF 16 or less, you lose one shot for each yard between targets. For any higher RoF, you lose two shots per yard. These shots still may hit unintended targets.
Roll to hit each target separately, with a separate effective RoF bonus for each one. Your weapon is harder to control, so your effective Recoil is increased by 1 for your second target, by 2 for your third target, and so on. I would show you an example, but the Basic Set already has one, and it’s pretty good – give it a read.
The second option is Suppression Fire (p. B409). Just like Spraying Fire, this one requires a weapon with RoF 5 or higher. You do not try to hit anyone, you just hose down an area with fire. This will affect anyone, friend or foe, who enters the area before the start of your next turn. The area must be two yards across at some point within your weapon’s range.
Suppression Fire is an All-Out Attack maneuver that takes an entire second; you can do nothing else that turn. Just like before, you should specify how many shots you are firing. If your weapon has RoF 10+, then you can suppress multiple two-yard zones, as long as they are adjacent and you fire at least five shots into each one. Your effective Rate of Fire for each zone depends on how many shots you fire into them.
Once anyone enters the zone or a swath that extends one yard to either side of a line drawn from you to the center of the zone, you roll to attack, applying all normal penalties, except the target visibility penalties. Yes, you even apply bonuses you got from Aiming. However, there is a catch – your final effective skill cannot exceed 6 + your rapid-fire bonus, or 8 + your rapid-fire bonus for vehicle- or tripod-mounted weapons.
You cannot target specific hit locations, you determine them randomly. Also, you cannot score more hits than the number of shots you fired, obviously.
GURPS Tactical Shooting expands this maneuver on page 18, allowing you to use Suppression Fire in situations where you do not have a gun with RoF 5+, but have multiple guns that provide this RoF combined! Effective skills are determined separately for each weapon, and rolls to hit are made separately for each weapon.
There is another option that was introduced on page 18 of GURPS Tactical Shooting and page 85 of GURPS High-Tech – Ranged Rapid Strike. Just like the normal rapid strike, this one allows you to make two attacks, both at -6, if you have a weapon with RoF 2 or higher. You must divide your gun’s RoF between the two attacks; use the shots fired for each attack to calculate the rapid-fire bonus. Just like Spraying Fire, this option requires the targets to be within a 30-degree angle. Also, this might be the same target, but two different hit locations. Unlike the normal rapid strike, this -6 penalty can be bought off with the Quick-Shot technique.
That’s already a lot to digest, but do you know that even if two weapons have the same RoF on the table, they might act differently? For that, you will have to consult the description. And what about the exclamation mark or the number sign in the RoF column? What do they mean?
Some weapons can only fire in the full-auto mode. Such weapons have a “!” after its RoF statistic. Minimum RoF for such weapons is one-quarter full RoF, rounded up.
Some other weapons have a burst limiter that only lets you fire a fixed number of shots per pull of the trigger. This is not indicted in the statline, check the description. You cannot use Spraying Fire if you have a burst limiter, and can fire only up to three bursts per attack.
But did you know that sometimes you can fire more shots than your RoF indicates? For single-action revolvers, you can perform Fanning (p. HT83, p. TS14), Thumbing (p. HT83, p. TS14), or Two-Handed Thumbing (p. HT84, p. TS14). For any semi-automatic weapon with RoF 3 that does not have a burst limiter, you can also increase the RoF by performing Fast-Firing (p. HT84, p. TS14). I will not describe the mechanics, I will just point to where you can find them.
Is that all? No, there are some other considerations. The first one is Rapid Fire vs. Close Stationary Targets (p. B408-409). If your target is totally immobile and has a Size Modifier high enough to completely counteract the range penalty, a successful attack roll means that half the shots fired hit, rounded up. If the attack succeeds by the weapon’s Recoil or more, all of the shots hit.
Finally, shotguns use the rapid fire rules even if they are not rapid-fire weapons. The rules are described on p. B409.
There are some other things to keep in mind. First, rapid fire is incompatible with area attacks and cone attacks. Yes, some weapons in GURPS Ultra-Tech deliver area attacks and have a high RoF, but… the rules do not support that. Second, some magical effects, such as imbuement skills, can give an increased RoF to weapons that do not have a Recoil statistic – muscle-powered or thrown weapons! The fix for that can be found on page 27 of Pyramid #3-60 - use Rcl 1 for weapons with Bulk 0 to -2, Rcl 2 for
weapons with Bulk -3 or -4, Rcl 3 for weapons with Bulk -5 or -6, and so on. Increase Rcl by 2 for weapons that deal Swing damage.
Finally finally, did you know that there’s Rapid Fire, and there is also Very Rapid Fire? This enhancement was introduced in GURPS Power-Ups 4: Enhancements. It works like Rapid Fire, but you get two extra hits per point by which you make your attack roll. You cannot do Spraying Fire or Suppression Fire, but when using the Rapid Fire vs. Close Stationary Targets, any success means that all shots hit. I don’t think any guns use these rules, they are only for powers. But maybe they should be used for beam weapons? Who knows?
LINKS
Where do all those extra bullets go? - https://gamingballistic.com/2014/01/18/where-do-all-those-extra-bullets-go/
Hit Locations and Rapid Fire - http://panoptesv.com/RPGs/HouseRules/RapidFire.html
Using the Size Modifier Table for Rapid Fire in GURPS - http://noschoolgrognard.blogspot.com/2013/08/using-size-modifier-table-for-rapid.html
High ST and Recoil - http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=340856&postcount=3
Playbook: High-Cyclic Controlled Bursts for Ultra-Tech Guns - http://hardmaths.blogspot.com/2016/02/playbook-high-cyclic-controlled-bursts.html
Man, you're really thorough with your analysis. Excellent! Do you have anything about dual-wielding and shooting guns?
ReplyDeleteDual-wielding guns is not much different from dual-wielding swords, so I can point you to this post:
Deletehttps://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com/2022/07/everything-about-dual-wielding-in-gurps.html
The only thing that is not mentioned there is mentioned here - dual-wielding pistols allows you to use Suppression Fire even with low individual RoF of the guns.