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The game of battling cars as sport.
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WAVGame Design by Chad Irby and Steve Jackson
Additional Material by Aaron Allston, Stephen Beeman,Keith E. Carter, Scott Haring, David Ladyman,Charles Oines, Ken Scott and David N. Searle
Cover by John DismukesIllustrated by Dan Carroll, C. Bradford Gorby, Denis Loubet and Kim Strombo
Loyd Blankenship, Managing Editor; Carl Anderson, Production ManagerLayout and Typography by Monica Stephens
Production by Carl Anderson and Don ArbuniPrint Buying by Kerry Havas
Playtesting, helpful comments and creative interference: Karen Bingham,Loyd Blankenship, Ian J. Brotzman, Christopher Burke, Carl Cravens, Scott Mercer,
Mike Montgomery, Charles Oines, Mike Piacsek and Tim Ray
Fourth Edition. Copyright © 1990 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Car Wars, AADA, Autoduel,Uncle Albert's and the all seeing pyramid are registered trademarks, and the AADA logo and Boat
Wars are trademarks, of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION 3Chronology 3System Support 4
The AADA 4
1. GETTING STARTED 5Game Setup 5
The Game Maps 5Vehicle Selection 6The Referee 6
2. MOVEMENT 7Movement Chart 7
Straight-Line Movement 8Maneuvers and Speed Changes 8Using the Movement Chart 8
ISBN 1-55634-185-7
Acceleration and Deceleration 8Handling Class 9Handling Status 9
Regaining Handling Status 9The Control Table 10Maneuvers 11
Bend 11Drift . 12Swerve 12Controlled Skid 12Bootlegger Reverse 13T-Stop 13Pivot 14Deceleration 14Evening-Out 14Reverse Movement 14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10
STEVE JACKSON GAMES
Fishtail 14Hazards and Road Conditions 15
Tire Blowouts 15Banked Curves 15
Jumping and Falling 15The Crash Tables 17
Crash Table Modifiers 17Crash Table Results 17
Crash Table 1: Skids & Rolls 17Crash Table 2: Fishtails 18Collisions 18
Collision Damage Table 19Collision Types 19"Conforming" Movement 19
Collision Procedure 20Concussion from Rams (Optional) . . . . 21Fixed Objects 22
Debris and Obstacles 22Off-Road Duelling 23
Ditches and Gullies 24Water 24Jumping Out of Vehicles 24Rolling 24
Pedestrian Movement 24
3. COMBAT 25Rate of Fire 25General Combat Procedure 25Line of Fire 25Car Targeting 25Cycle Targeting 26Trike Targeting 26
Rolling to Hit 26Targeting Modifiers 27
Range 27Movement 27Vehicle Targets 27Specific Target 27Visibility 27Miscellaneous 27
Damage 28Burst Effect 28Area Effect 28Recording Damage 28Damage Location 28Collision Damage 29
Combat Results 30Injury to Drivers 30Fire and Explosion 30
Odds and Ends 31Automatic Fire 31Dropped Weapons 32Paint and Smoke 33Linked Weapons 33
Hand Weapons 34Range 34Firing Penalties and Bonuses 34Grenades 34
Buildings 36Breaches and Collapsing Buildings . . . . 36
Cover 37Height Modifications 37Missed Shots 37
4. CHARACTERS 38Skills 38
Beginning Skills 38Earning Skill Points 38General Skill Points 39Spending Points to Improve Skills . . . . 39Using Skills 39Contests of Skill 39
Skill Descriptions 40Prestige 42Wealth 43Pedestrians 43
Pedestrian Movement 43Equipment and Encumbrance 44Combat 44Pedestrians and Vehicles 45Pedestrian Equipment 45
Hand Weapon List 47
5. VEHICLE DESIGN 48Cars 48Body Types 48Armor Types 48Chassis 49Suspension 49Power Plants 49
Range with Electric Power Plants 50Tires 50Weapons 50The Human Element 50Cargo 51Acceleration & Top Speed 51Vehicle Diagram 51Repair and Salvage 52
Modifying Vehicles 52Cycles 52
Suspension 53Power Plants 53Tires 53Weapon Placement 53Cycle Accessories 53
Trikes 53Construction 53Reversed Trikes 54Trike Combat 54
6. WEAPONS 55
7. ACCESSORIES 57
8. SAMPLE VEHICLES 60
9. SCENARIOS 62
ABBREVIATIONS 63
INDEX 63
IntroductionSince Car Wars was first released in
1981, it's become one of the most popularadventure games ever written. This box isintended to be a basic rule s e t . . . to let youget into the world of Car Wars quickly.
The rules in this set are 100% upward-compatible with the second edition of theCar Wars Compendium. In other words. . . if you want more rules and more detail,you can get the Compendium, and youwon't have to "unlearn" anything.
ChronologyCar Wars is set 50 years in the future.
The "now" of the Car Wars world movesahead as the real world does. It was 2031when the game was first published. Asthese words are written, it is mid-2040. It'sarough world . . . and "Drive Offensively"is its motto.
2000: Federal government moves to na-tionalize dwindling supplies of oil and natu-ral gas production. Legislatures in Texas,Oklahoma and Louisiana react by seceding,and nationalize these resources themselves.Pitched battles with federal forces follow,resulting in the destruction of severaloilfield sites on both sides of the newly-es-tablished border.
2003: U.S. forces stopped in the hills ofcentral Texas, ending bloody "Gulf orBust" campaign. Rebel forces begin to re-take lost territory.
2004: Texarkana Accords are signed,ending the Second Civil War. Oklahoma,Texas and Louisiana become three separatesovereign nations, referred to as the FreeOil States.
2012: Grain blight breaks out in Ne-braska, spreading rapidly to neighboringareas. A simultaneous blight takes root inthe Ukraine. Accusations fly, charging de-liberate biological war, followed by nuclearwarheads. To everyone's surprise, satellitedefenses stop most of the missiles. Mean-while, the world's stock of grains, exclud-ing barley and sesame, has been dev-
astated. Severe food shortages spring upacross the globe. The U.S. is in bettershort-term shape than most, since the blightapparently has no effect on foods with pre-servatives in them.
2016: The Food Riots. "For t r e s s"towns develop. National government failsto keep order throughout much of the U.S.
2018: Gangs rule most of the U.S. out-side of the fortress towns. Country real es-tate becomes worthless; algae farms makeup lost food production.
2020: Many large cities totally aban-doned. National government regains au-thority but enforcement decentralized.Economy weak but stable, with food ra-tioned and unemployment at 37%.
2022: Supreme Court decision decrimi-nalizes manslaughter in arena games."Death sports" become popular. Televi-sion becomes nation's number-two indus-try, just after food production.
2023: "Crazy Joe" Harshman winsFresno destruction derby by mounting asurplus .50-caliber machine gun in hisChevy. Term "autoduelling" first used bysportswriters.
2024: Armadillo Autoduel Arena openson site of former shopping mall in Austin,Texas.
2025: Autoduelling becomes most popu-lar TV sport, edging out combat footballand private wars. Eight more autoduel are-nas open in North America. The AmericanAutoduel Association (AADA) is formed.
2026: Utah autoduellists form vigilantegroup to counter Badlands cycle gangs.AADA holds first sanctioned "NationalChampionship" in Austin, Texas. AADAalso begins issuing area advisories and help-ing duellists organize against cycle gangsand other hazards, upsetting local policeforces.
2027: Police admit inability to deal withduellist-armed vehicles in highway use. In-formal duels increase in numbers.
2028: Many localities legalize vehicularweaponry of a "defensive nature" — veryloosely defined. Duelling outside city limits
Introduction
now legal in 14 states and tolerated in mostothers.
2029: A variety of weapons becomesavailable as "factory options" on all U.S.makes of cars and several imports.
2030: Statistics show "smash-and-grab" cycle and car gangs much reduced.Rural real estate begins to rise in value.Law-enforcement officials credit vehicularweaponry of private citizens, but most pointout that "The gangs that are left are nowbetter armed than we are . . .". Autoduell-ing now legal in 39 states, as well as theFree Oil States.
2033: Autoduel Quarterly, "The Jour-nal of the American Autoduel Associa-tion," is first published. Autoduelling nowlegal in all 47 states in the U.S., as well asTexas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, most Cana-dian provinces, the Republic of Quebec,Australia and Mexico.
2036: Gas-powered racing and duellingevents begin to grow in popularity.
2037: Armed and armored boats be-come popular among coast-dwellers. Piracyrises dramatically but drops again by theend of the year as more and more boatshave "defensive" modifications added.
2038: AADA recognizes boats andother watercraft events.
2040: In response to the increasing num-ber of "sport" flyers armed with duelweaponry, the AADA sponsors several"aeroduel" events on a trial basis.
SystemSupport:
With over 200,000 copies of Car Warssold since its 1981 release, and over a mil-lion and a half Car Wars products of allkinds now in print, the game has a hugebase of players. Steve Jackson Games pro-vides several different kinds of support forthe world of Car Wars, and we are alwaysinterested in your suggestions.
Nearly 50 different Car Wars supple-ments have been published, including both"straight" rules material and the AADARoad Atlas and Survival Guide roleplayingseries. While some supplements are out ofprint, many are still available. Check atyour local hobby store.
Autoduel QuarterlyAutoduel Quarterly is the official Car
Wars magazine. It appears four times ayear, with new rules and variants, scenarios,background information, fiction, and otherCar Wars material. If you can't get it at yourhobby store, write Steve Jackson Games forsubscription information. Our address isBox 18957, Austin, Texas 78760-8957.
The llluminati BBSFor computer users, SJ Games runs a
multi-line bulletin board with an active CarWars discussion area. The number is 512-447-4449; you can log in at 300, 1200, or2400 baud, 24 hours a day. This is anothergood place to get news about new releases.
Errata SupportErrata sheets for Car Wars products arc
available free from Steve Jackson Games;please enclose a long stamped self-ad-dressed envelope with your request. If youlocate new errata, please let us know!
Jlillllk
The AADAThe American Autoduel Association is
an international network of official CarWars clubs. Check Autoduel Quarterly fora list of existing chapters you can join, andinformation on starting one of your own.The AADA has two yearly World Champi-onship events: duelling, with the finals atOrigins, and racing, with the finals at Gen-Con. Any AADA member can enter.
There are other benefits open only toAADA chapters, so write us for more infor-mation.
4 Introduction
1. Getting StartedIn order to play Car Wars, you will need
this set; several 6-sidcd dice; pencil andpaper; and a table big enough to play on.
The game can be played solo, but ismore fun with an opponent. It is probablybest with 4 to 6 players. A game with over8 players can take a very long time.
DiceCar Wars uses 6-sided dice only. These
rules use abbreviations to indicate what diceare to be rolled. For instance, "2d" means"2 dice." "2d-l" means "roll 2 dice andsubtract 1 from the result." "3d+2" means"roll 3 dice and add 2." And so on.
Some weapons do "Vid" of damage, ora ' 'half-die.'' This means to roll one die anddivide the result by 2, rounding up.
Game SetupTo start playing Car Wars:(a) Decide what sort of scenario you
want to play (see p. 62). Spread out one ofthe maps — we recommend that you tape itdown — or draw up a map of your own.
(b) Select vehicles. Make a record sheetfor each car. Pick a counter (or a miniatureor model) for it. Set beginning speed andhandling status for each vehicle. Mark themon the record sheet or a piece of paper.
(c) Roll for each driver's reflexes (seeHandling Class, p. 9). Reflexes of charac-ters other than drivers do not count.
(d) Place all vehicles in starting position— and go!
The Game MapsThis set includes two different maps, de-
scribed below. Players can create their ownmaps. See Scenarios, p. 62, for more infor-mation.
Arena MapThis arena has six gates. The heavy
black areas are concrete walls. Cars can'tcross them, and pedestrians can't climbthem. They have 80 DP (damage points —see pp. 28 and 36) which means that noth-
ing can shoot through them and almostnothing can crash through.
The black squares marked with a B arepedestrian bunkers. Any pedestrian whocan enter the white "notch" on the side isautomatically safe (but out of the event).
The white areas represent low walls.Vehicles may shoot over these walls butmay not cross them (treat as a regular wallin case of a collision). A pedestrian maycross a low wall without stopping. A pedes-trian who lies down behind a low wall can-not be hit by shots fired from the other side.
To change the arena, treat the low wallsas regular walls — or the regular walls aslow walls — or both.
Racetrack MapThe racetrack map can be used for sce-
narios in which cars have to follow a certainpath or complete a certain number of laps.The winner is the first one to complete thepath, regardless of what condition he's inwhen he finishes! Before the game starts,decide whether the track will be used in"oval" or "figure-8" configuration.
The boundaries of the racetrack areheavy walls with 80 DP. Cars cannot see orshoot through them. The dashed lines at in-tersections are merely lines on the road, anddon't affect movement or combat.
The black dots at the road-forks repre-sent crash barriers. If a car hits one of these,it takes only half damage.
Highway ChasesThe racetrack map may also be used for
highway scenarios. Most such scenarios in-volve pursuit. When the lead car in a pur-suit comes to a fork in the road, ignore it ifthe angle is more than 90 degrees, and takethe straightcr path. If it is less than 90 de-grees, roll one die. On a 1-2, the leadertakes the right path. On a 3-4, the leadertakes the left path. On a 5-6, the leader canchoose which he wants. Other cars mustfollow or be lost.
When a fork appears and a 6 is rolled,the pursuing player can take 6 debris mark-
Getting Started
ers and drop them in front of the lead carfrom a foot over the map. Any that landscloser to 6" from the lead car is droppedagain, to give him a chance to avoid it!
The gray Vi" areas at the edge of theroad are shoulders in a highway game. Atthe players' option, the shoulders may haveno effect. . . or they may give +D1 to anymaneuver . . . or worse. A car that leavesthe shoulder is "off-road" — see p. 23.
Vehicle SelectionThe "stock car shopping list" (see Chap-
ter 8, Sample Vehicles) gives several vehi-cles designed according to the constructionrules (see Chapter 5, Vehicle Design). Youwill want to use "stock" cars the first fewtimes you play. A sample car description:
Hotshot: Luxury, x-hvy. chassis, hvy.suspension, super power plant, 4 puncture-resistant tires, driver, 2 MGs linked front, 2FTs linked back, 1 FT right, 1 FT left,Armor F20, RIO, L10, B20, T10, U10.Fire ext. Accel. 5, top speed 100, HC 3;6,600, $14,600.
Options: Remove any or all flamethrow-ers and replace with MGs. Each FT replacedby an MG saves enough weight to allow anextra 30 points of armor. For each FT re-placed by an MG and 30 points of armor, thecost goes up by $ 1,350. One rear FT may bereplaced by a minedropper and 30 points ofarmor, at an extra cost of $850.
Explanation: Car size is given first; thenchassis, suspension, power plant and tires.The number of people the car can hold isgiven. Weapons are listed, with the positionin which each is mounted. Next is the num-ber of armor points on each of the vehicle'ssix sides: Front, Right, Left, Back, Top andUnderbody. Accessories are listed last. Ac-celeration and handling class are explainedin Chapter 2. Weight is a vehicle's totalweight with all seats filled and a full load ofammunition. Price is the vehicle's "stickercost," and includes a full load of ammo.
Options are quick changes a player canmake in a car; they've already beenchecked. If no price differential is given, anoption does not change a car's cost. Notethat some changes (e.g., computers, differ-ent suspensions) affect only a car's price —not its weight or available space.
After a car is selected, make up a recordsheet for it as shown. This will show anymodifications, options, ammo remaining,damage taken, etc., in a pictorial fashion.
The sample record sheet below shows aHotshot (stock, no options) after a briefcombat. All the armor on the right side hasbeen destroyed, and the right FT has taken1 hit of damage. The right front tire hastaken 3 hits, and the front armor has taken 4hits. There is no other damage. The frontMGs have fired three times each, and theright FT has fired twice (shown by tallymarks). The driver has no body armor, sohe can take only 3 hits — therefore he isshown with only three damage boxes.
The RefereeA referee is never necessary. However,
especially in a multi-player game, it can begood to have an arbiter and Game Master.The referee has three functions:
(1) He is the final arbiter of the rules. Hemay also double-check players' records,and has the final say one what bonuses thecharacters get while firing, etc.
(2) He keeps the movement chart, tellingeach player when to move his vehicle(s).
(3) In an arena scenario, he can serve asmaster of the arena, determining the sce-nario and setting prizes.
Refereeing can be as much fun as play-ing. Likewise, a big scenario moves faster,and is more fun, with a good ref to providesports commentary and arbitration.
Getting Started
2. MovemenThe road sections and maps used in Car
Wars are marked with a square grid to con-trol movement. The scale is Kiso; one inchequals 15 feet. The heavy lines are 1" (15feet) apart. The light lines are VA" (3.75 feet)apart. Each turn represents one second.Each turn is divided into five "phases" of1/5 second each.
A vehicle's speed determines both howmany times it will move each turn and whenit will move, as shown on the MovementChart below. There arc five "phases" dur-ing each turn. During each phase, vehiclesof certain speeds may move. For instance,vehicles going 30 mph will move 1" during
phases 1, 3 and 5, as shown by the " l " s onthe chart.
If a car is moving at an "even" speed(10, 20, 30 mph, etc.) below 60 mph, thenall its moves will be "ordinary" 1" movesduring which it may maneuver. These areshown by a " 1" on the chart.
If a vehicle is moving at an "odd" speed(5, 15, 25 mph, etc.), then one of its moveseach turn will be a "half-move." The vehiclemust move straight ahead Yi", and cannotmaneuver. {Exception: See Pivot, p. 14.)
Vehicles traveling more than 50 mphwill move more than 1" in some phases. Inthe phases marked by a " 2 " on the Move-
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7
ment Chart, a vehicle must move 2" . Avehicle traveling at an "odd" speed greaterthan 50 (55, 65, 75 mph, etc.) must make ahalf-move during the phase indicated by a" Vi," in addition to its other movement dur-ing that phase.
Straight-Line MovementThe basic move in Car Wars is a straight
line — usually 1". Since the maps aregridded, it is easiest to figure movementwhen the cars travel in straight N-S or E-Wlines. However, a vehicle's straight-linemovement can be calculated precisely, evenif it is moving at an angle to the grid lines.This is because each car counter is exactly1" long (the distance normally moved inone phase), while each cycle counter is Vi"long. By setting one counter in front of an-other, you can determine where each vehi-cle will go on a straight course — even if thevehicle isn't following N-S or E-W lines. Aruler, or the Turning Key (see p. 11), canalso be used to keep a car going straight.
Maneuvers and Speed ChangesA vehicle may only make one maneuver
per phase. A maneuver (see p. 11) replaces1" of ordinary forward movement. If a ve-hicle is moving at more than 1" per phase,the owner determines during which 1"move (if any) it will take its maneuver.
Once per turn, at the beginning of aphase, a vehicle may either accelerate ordecelerate any amount up to its maximum.This is done before any movement is made;the speed change is immediate. Any controlrolls are made before movement as well; allCrash Table results are handled in thisphase.
Using the Movement ChartThe referee should have a copy of the
Movement Chart and a control marker rep-resenting each vehicle. This control markeris placed along the edge of the MovementChart, at the number representing thevehicle's speed, and moved whenever thevehicle changes speeds. A marker is thenplaced at the top of the chart at Phase 1 andmoved along. When a mark appears in therow for a vehicle's speed, that vehicle
moves in that phase. The referee keepstrack of this, calling out the moves; i.e.,"Phase3. Car 12 moves, then6, then 10."
If a vehicle is moving at an uneven speed(e.g., 12.5 mph), its control marker is putbetween the bracketing speeds. It moves onthe line below it, but goes only 1/4" in thehalf-move phase.
Often, vehicles of different speeds willmove during the same phase. For instance,all cars traveling 45 mph or faster will movein Phase 4. When vehicles move during thesame phase, the faster one moves first. Forvehicles traveling the same speed, the onewhose driver has the faster reflexes (seeHandling Class, p. 9) may choose when hewants to move.
When vehicles are moving at highspeeds in close quarters, it may be desirableto move the cars in alternating 1" incre-ments during each phase, until that phase'smovement is done. Keep in mind that eachvehicle is still limited to one maneuver perphase.
A vehicle must move when the Move-ment Chart tells it to, and may never moveat any other time.
Accelerationand
DecelerationAt the beginning of each phase, any ve-
hicle that has not accelerated or deceleratedduring previous phases of the turn maychange speeds. A vehicle may only changespeeds once per turn.
Acceleration: A vehicle's maximum ac-celeration is determined when it is built; seep. 51.
Deceleration: Any vehicle can deceler-ate up to 10 mph each turn without danger.Greater deceleration is possible, but risky(an Antilock Braking System, p. 59, helps).If control of a vehicle is lost due to rapiddeceleration, roll on Crash Table 1 to deter-mine effects.
Deceleration of 15 mph: Difficulty 1(Dl) maneuver (see Maneuvers, p. 11).
Deceleration of 20 mph: D2 maneuver.Deceleration of 25 mph: D3 maneuver.Deceleration of 30 mph: D5 maneuver.
8 Movement
Deceleration of 35 mph: D7 maneuver,and each tire takes 2 hits of damage (seeRecording Damage, p. 28).
Deceleration of 40 mph: D9 maneuver,and each tire takes Id damage.
Deceleration of 45 mph: Dl 1 maneuver,and each tire takes ld+3 damage.
Deceleration of more than 45 mph inone turn is impossible without special de-vices. Continue the pattern for progressionof difficulty ratings.
Handling
Each vehicle has a handling class (HC)which determines how maneuverable it is.The higher the handling class, the easier itis for the driver to keep control. A vehicle'sbasic handling class is determined by itssuspension (see p. 49). Some tires and ac-cessories can change HC.
Handling class is modified as follows:Reflexes: Any vehicle driven by a char-
acter with very good reflexes will have animproved handling class. At the beginningof each combat, every driver of a vehiclerolls 1 die. This is called a reflex roll. A 5or a 6 indicates exceptional reflexes. On a5, the HC of the vehicle is raised by 1 forthe duration of the combat; on a 6 (orhigher), the HC goes up by 2.
Skill: The reflex roll can be modified bythe skill of the character driving the vehicle(see Driver, p. 40). A Driver +2, for exam-ple, would get to add 2 to the die roll. TheCyclist skill is used when driving a motor-cycle.
Attempting to drive a vehicle without theproper skill results in a penalty to the han-dling class (see specific skill descriptions).
Lost tires or wheeb: Not only is losing atire a hazard (see below), but it affects thevehicle's handling class permanently. Alldamage done to tires by maneuvers, debris,obstacles, spikes, mines, enemy gunfire,etc., is assessed against the damage pointsof the tire. If the final damage that destroysthe tire comes from mines, grenades orenemy gunfire, then the entire wheel is con-sidered lost.
A vehicle that loses all its wheels in oneposition (usually just one wheel, but 6-
wheeled vehicles can have paired rearwheels) has its HC reduced by 3 perma-nently, starting on the next turn. If only thetirefs) are lost, HC drops by only 2. Thisloss will affect the number of points of han-dling status recovered each turn; see below.
Any vehicle that loses wheels on twocorners (or any trike or cycle that loses onewheel) goes to Crash Table 1. It can nolonger steer, accelerate or brake. It mustdecelerate by 30 mph each turn.
Handling
Each vehicle record sheet includes aHandling Class chart, with a line for eachgame-turn. Mark on this chart (or keeptrack on a separate piece of paper) to showthe vehicle's current handling status. Thisis a measure of how "in control" the vehi-cle is at that moment.
Each vehicle starts with a handling sta-tus equal to its handling class, as modifiedby the driver's reflexes. Each maneuver orhazard reduces handling status — for in-stance, a D3 hazard reduces status by 3.And each time handling status goes down,the player must roll on the Control Table (p.10) to see if he loses control. If he losescontrol, he will have to roll on one of theCrash Tables (see pp. 17-18).
Thus, frequent maneuvers, as much asextreme ones, lead to danger.
Regaining Handling StatusEach vehicle's handling status is ad-
justed upward at the end of each turn — thatis, once per second. This simulates thedriver's ability to regain control of a vehicleover time. Increase handling status by anumber equal to the vehicle's modifiedHandling Class (given by suspension type— see p. 49) plus the bonuses or penaltiesabove. Thus, a vehicle with Handling Class2 and a Driver +1 would regain 3 points ofhandling status at the end of each turn.
Each vehicle will always recover at least1 point of handling status at the end of eachturn. However, a vehicle's handling statuscan never be adjusted above its startingHandling Class, as modified for the driver'sskill and reflexes.
Movement
The Control TableSpeed5-1015-2025-3035-4045-5055-6065-7075-8085-90
95-100105-110115-120125-130135-140145-150155-160165-170175-180185-190195-200205-210215-220225-230235-240245-250255-260265-270275-280285-290295-300
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Modifier-3-2-10
+ 1+ 1+2+2+2+3+3+3+ 4+ 4+4+5+5+5+ 6+ 6+ 6+7+7+7+ 8+ 8+ 8+9+ 9+9
Whenever a vehicle makes a maneuveror undergoes a hazard that moves its han-dling status downward, a control roll maybe necessary. Refer to the Control Table,above. Cross-index the handling status ofyour vehicle with its current speed. Han-dling status cannot get worse than -6, but avehicle at -6 must still roll on the ControlTable for each new maneuver or hazard.
The table will give one of three results:"Safe," "XX," or a number.
' 'Safe'' means the vehicle is still safe; noroll is necessary.
"XX" means a loss of control is un-avoidable. Go directly to the appropriateCrash Table. Crash Table 1 is used for ma-neuvers; Crash Table 2 is for hazards.
If the table shows a number, it means thatthe driver may be able to keep control. Roll1 die; this is called a control roll. If you roll
the number shown or higher, you keep con-trol of the car. If you roll lower, you losecontrol; go to the appropriate Crash Table.
Crash Modifier: The last column on theControl Table is the "modifier" column. Ifyou lose control of a vehicle for any reason,and go to the Crash Table, refer to this col-umn to get the Crash Modifier for yourspeed. The Crash Modifier will be added toyour Crash Table roll. Low speeds have anegative Crash Modifier; high speeds aremuch more dangerous and have a positiveCrash Modifier.
Example: During one turn, a car travel-ing 60 mph attempts three maneuvers. Itshandling class is 2, and it started the turnwith a handling status of 2. The first maneu-ver is a "drift" (Difficulty 1, or Dl). Sub-tract 1 from handling status, reducinghandling status to 1. Cross-indexing 60 mph
10 Movement
and status 1, we see that no roll is requiredfor control.
The second maneuver is a "steep drift,"which is D3. Subtracting 3 from handlingstatus moves it to -2. The table shows that acontrol roll is required; tlie player must rolla 2 or better.
The third maneuver is another drift —Dl again. Subtract one more from handlingstatus and roll again; this time a roll of 3 orbetter is needed.
ManeuversAny change of vehicle direction is called
a maneuver. Each maneuver has a DifficultyClass, expressed as Dl for Difficulty 1, andso on. The more difficult a maneuver, tliemore it will reduce the veliicle's handling sta-tus, and the more likely the vehicle will skid,flip, etc. Maneuvers at low speed are easy.As speed goes up, the danger increases.
Any time vehicle weapons arc fired onthe same phase as a maneuver, tlie D valueof the maneuver is subtracted from tlie to-hitroll. For example, a vehicle fires a machinegun (7 to hit) in the same phase it docs asteep drift (D3). The player rolls a 9, thensubtracts 3 for a to-hit roll of 6 — a miss!
Figures 1 through 8 show basic maneu-vers. Where no separate cycle diagram isshown, use the same diagrams, with tliesquare cycle counter in place of tlie fronthalf of the car.
BendThe vehicle moves 1" forward, and then
angles to one side, keeping one rear corner
Figure 2 —Turning Key
All maneuvers and Crash Table re-sults can use the turning key shownhere. To make a maneuver, place thekey next to the counter at tlie point thatcorresponds to the desired maneuver.Then move the vehicle along the edgeof the turning key. Pictorial examplesof all maneuvers and Crash Table re-sults are shown below.
The turning key makes it possible toplay on a gridless map, allowing play inany scale (toy cars, Vin scale models,100% scale, etc.). All you need is aproperly scaled turning key.
Movement 11
in the same place. Figure 1 shows bendsfrom 15° to 75°. A 90° bend, of course, isa right-angle turn.
Bends are a Dl maneuver for every 15°of the bend, as shown below. See Figures2b and 2c for examples of bends performedwith a Turning Key.
Difficulty RangesUp to 15° — Dl16 to 30° - D231 to 45° — D346 to 60° — D461 to 75° — D576 to 90° — D6
DriftThe vehicle moves 1" forward and Vi"
(or less) to either side, while facing thesame direction. This is a Dl maneuver. Avehicle can also do a Sleep Drift, moving1" forward and between Vt," and Vi" to oneside. This is a D3 maneuver. See Figure 3.
Figure 2a shows a drift performed witha Turning Key.
Figure 3 — Drifts
Drift (Dl)
1//
/
O! ^
si
/
~i
Steep Drift (D3)
/
1
Ri°i
R!o
1
I
//
SwerveThe swerve is a Hi" drift, followed by an
angle turn as for a bend, all in tlie samephase. The bend must be in the opposite di-rection from the drift. A swerve has the dif-ficulty of the equivalent bend, plus 1. Thedrift must be performed before the bend.
Figure 4 shows a swerve made up of adrift to the right followed by a 30° bend tothe left.
~ I rFigure A —Swerve
" This swerve ismade up of a driftto the right (dottedoutline) followedby a 30° bend,without further for-ward movement, tothe left.
Controlled SkidTo perform a controlled skid, make any
bend or swerve in the regular manner, andthen immediately declare how far you wishto skid. Assess the difficulty of the com-bined maneuver (see below) and make acontrol roll if necessary.
If control is maintained, perform tlieskid on your next move. Start by "skid-ding" for tlie chosen distance: withoutchanging tlie direction in which tlie car isgoing, move it in tlie direction it was travel-ing before the original maneuver. If the skidwas less than 1", move the rest of the inchstraight ahead. For example, on a VA" skid,you would skid for J V , then move VV'straight ahead. See Figure 5, p. 13.
Deliberate skids increase the difficultyof the bend or swerve that begins the skid.They also cause weapons-fire modifiers,slow down the vehicle and can damage itstires.
1/4" skid — Adds +D1 to tlie difficultyof tlie bend or swerve, -1 to aimed weaponsfire, no deceleration, no tire damage.
Vi" skid — +D2 difficulty, -3 to aimedweapons fire, -5 mph deceleration, no tiredamage.
Vt" skid f-D3 difficulty, -6 to aimedweapons fire, -5 mph deceleration, 1 pointdamage to each tire.
1" skid — +D4 difficulty, aimed weap-ons fire prohibited for the rest of tlie turn,-10 mph deceleration, 2 points damage toeach tire.
12 Movement
The tire damage is ap-plied immediately afterthe skid. Handling statusis reduced and a controlroll is made (if necessary)after the maneuver butbefore the skid. Any de-celeration is applied atthe beginning of" the nextphase.
The weapons-firemodifiers are lower onthis chart because this is acontrolled (instead of un-controlled) skid.
Bootlegger ReverseThis is a special ma-
neuver — the old moon-shiner's trick of using acontrolled skid to reversedirection. Police depart-ments call it the "J-turn."It works, but it's dangerous.
To attempt a bootlegger reverse, a vehi-cle must start the turn at between 20 and 35mph. It can't slow to 35 and then try areverse, all in one turn.
Figure 6 shows the bootlegger reverse.On the phase that a vehicle starts the re-verse, it skids from A to B. This is a D7maneuver, and does 1 point of damage toeach tire. If the vehicle makes its ControlRoll, it will automatically go to C on its nextmovement phase, and stop (speed goes to0), facing the way it came. Properly exe-cuted on a road, the J-turn leaves you in thecorrect lane for your new direction!
If it goes out of control and/or loses atire, it will roll or skid sideways next phase,in the direction shown by the heavy arrow,and will lose speed only as dictated by theroll or skid result.
Figure 5 -Bend and
ControlledSkid
I > I I IFrom the original position -
(A), the car executes a 45° bendto reach B. The driver announcesthat he wants to make a W con-trolled skid; if necessary, hemakes a control roll. This endsthe first phase of movement.
On his next phase, assumingthe control roll succeeded, he skids W toC. He is moving in his original direction,while keeping the car pointed in his new di- |-rection. After the skid ends, he moves hisremaining 1/4" straight ahead to D.
- F i r f
-— — -
1iB
I
HM4-4-
Rn
- ^
n n
'n'
ap -
—
Once a vehicle begins a J-turn, it cannotfire aimed weapons until it stops moving(the occupants are too busy). Weapons onautomatic (see Automatic Fire, p. 31) willstill fire. Cycles and oversized vehicles can-not try this maneuver. No other maneuvers(skids, swerves, etc.) can be combined witha bootlegger.
T-StopThis is an extreme maneuver used for
emergency deceleration. It consists of rotat-ing your car 90° to either side and movingforward one inch — identical to beginning aroll. See Figure 7. The car then continuesskidding sideways until it slows to a halt.
The vehicle decelerates 20 mph per inchof movement. Each tire will take 1 point ofdamage for every full 20 mph of speed lost,immediately after each movement phase.
The difficulty of this ma-neuver is a DI for every10 mph of deceleration,and the control roll ismade when the maneuveris begun.
If the control roll ismissed, add 1 to the CrashTable roll for every 20mph (or fraction thereof)of deceleration — in addi-
Movement 13
Fi( JUI- e 7
•BOB-—
T - S t o p
.*t
B
o ©!
tion to the regular speed modifier (based onthe vehicle's original speed) on the ControlTable.
Once a vehicle starts a T-Stop, it can'tfire aimed weapons. Only vehicles whichstart the turn between 20 and 35 mph canperform a T-Stop.
PivotThis maneuver can be made only by a
vehicle moving at 5 mph. To pivot, a vehi-cle (a) moves 14" in a straight line, and (b)keeps one rear corner fixed at the samepoint, while pivoting about that corner anyamount in any direction. This isa DO maneuver, due to the lowspeed. A vehicle traveling 5mph may choose between thismaneuver and the normal Vi"half-move in a straight line.
DecelerationRapid deceleration counts as
a maneuver. Handling status isadjusted at the beginning of thephase — when the deceleration isannounced — and the control rollis made at the original speed. Allthis must happen before the vehi-cle can move or fire on thatphase.
Evening-OutAfter coming out of a ma-
neuver parallel to the grid lines,a counter may be moved a frac-tion of a square in any direction(owner's choice) to get it ex-actly on the grid lines. This doesnot affect speed or handling,and is a DO maneuver.
Reverse MovementAny vehicle except a
cycle may move in re-verse at up to Vs of itstop speed. A vehiclecannot go from forwardto backward speed (orvice versa) withoutstopping for one turn.Acceleration rules arethe same as for forward
movement. Any maneuver may be made inreverse; the difficulty class is one higher.
A cycle may be pushed backwards bythe cyclist at 2.5 mph.
FishtailA fishtail cannot be chosen as a deliber-
ate maneuver, for two reasons. One is thata fishtail combined with a bend is very sim-ilar to a tighter bend, and is virtually identi-cal to a swerve. The second is that a 90°bend combined with a major fishtail can re-sult in a controlled 120° turn — not very
14 Movement
reasonable. Thus, the only fishtails areCrash Table results.
To perform a fishtail on the square grid,hold one front corner still, and move theopposite rear corner 14" or Vi", as appropri-ate, on the opposite direction. See Figure 8a.
To perform a fishtail using the turningkey, line the vehicle up with the 15° bend(for a V4- fishtail) or the 30° bend (for a Vi"fishtail. Keeping the front corner motion-less next to the key, pivot the vehicle so itlines up with the next angle of the turningkey. See Figure 8b; position A is the origi-nal location of the car, and position B is itslocation after the fishtail, lined up with theturning key along the dotted line.
Hazardsand RoadConditions
Hazards are outside events (enemy fire,for instance) that can affect vehicles. Theyare treated like maneuvers — each one hasa difficulty rating.
Each enemy attack produces a separatehazard. If a vehicle is struck by three weap-ons in one turn, each attack would move thehandling marker down and require a sepa-rate die roll on the Control Table. Mines are"enemy fire." Spikes, debris, obstacles,etc., are not.
Road conditions (like oil, ice or rain)present no danger in themselves but add tothe difficulty of any hazard or maneuver thevehicle undergoes. A few road conditions(such as banked curves) can reduce the dif-ficulty of maneuvers.
HazardsHitting curb, obstacle or pedestrian: D3.Hitting loose debris: Dl.Enemy fire does 1 to 5 hits of damage: Dl.Enemy fire docs 6 to 9 hits of damage: D2.Enemy fire does 10+ hits of damage: D3.Driver injured or killed: D2.
Tire BlowoutsLosing the first wheel or tire of a pair is
a D2 hazard. If a vehicle has more than onewheel at that corner, all wheels must be
intact (though tires may be damaged orlost), or handling class is reduced by 3.
Losing the last wheel or tire on a cornerdrops the vehicle's handling status to -6 im-mediately. Handling class drops by 2 ifonly the tire(s) are lost, or by 3 if the wholewheel was lost.
Any vehicle that loses wheels on twocorners (or any trike or cycle that loses onewheel) goes to Crash Table 1. It can nolonger steer, accelerate or brake. It mustdecelerate by 30 mph each turn.
Road ConditionsOff-road: adds Dl to any maneuver.Light rain: adds Dl to any hazard or
maneuver.Heavy rain: adds D2 to any hazard or
maneuver.Gravel on road: adds Dl to any hazard or
maneuver. Note that many roads havegravel on the shoulder.
Oil on road: adds D2 to any hazard ormaneuver.
Light snow: adds D2 to any hazard ormaneuver.
Heavy snow: adds D3 to any hazard ormaneuver.
Ice or packed snow: adds D4 to any hazardor maneuver.
Banked CurvesMany racetracks and arenas include
turns that are specially banked to ease driv-ing around them. Such slopes reduce thedifficulty of any bend or swerve made to-wards the inside edge of the turn by -Dl;bends or swerves made towards the outsideedge are increased by +D1. Drifting out-ward is at a -Dl, while drifting inward is ata +D1. Very steep curves reduce inwardmaneuvers by -D2, but increase outwardmaneuvers by +D2.
Jumping andFalling
With a good takeoff angle (20° to 40°),a vehicle will fly 15 feet for every 10 mphof takeoff speed over 20 (30 mph yields 15feet of flight, 40 mph results in a 30-footflight, etc.). A flatter or steeper angle (15°
Movement 15
to 19° or 41° to 45°) will cut the distancetraveled in half. Inclines flatter than 15 °, orsteeper than 45°, cannot be used to launcha jump.
Landing is a Dl hazard; +D1 for everyfull 30 feet of flight. Thus, a 15-foot jump isa Dl hazard, a 30- to 59-foot jump is a D2hazard, a 60- to 89-foot jump is a D3 haz-ard, and so on. Subtract 1 from the hazardif you land on a downward slope (becauseall your wheels will hit at about the sametime). Add 1 to the hazard if you land on anupward slope. On landing from a jump, roll1 die for each tire except solids. On a 1, 2or 3, that tire takes 1 point of damage.
FallingWhenever a vehicle drives off a cliff,
curb or crevasse, it will begin to fall. If thevehicle drove off an upward slope, it willjump, rather than fall, as per the jumpingrules above; if, at the end of the jump, thevehicle has not contacted solid ground, itfalls anyway. A falling vehicle hits theground after a certain length of time, as perthe following table. Obviously, vehiclescannot accelerate, decelerate, maneuver orjump while in flight. Weapon fire is al-lowed, at -2.
HeightVA"
VI"
YA"
1"1 1/4"1 WIVA"
2"2V4"
3 "3K4"3Vz"3Vt"4"
Time2 phases3 phases4 phases
1 turn1 turn, 1 phase1 turn, 1 phase1 turn, 2 phases1 turn, 2 phases1 turn, 2 phases1 turn, 3 phases1 turn, 3 phases1 turn, 3 phases1 turn, 4 phases1 turn, 4 phases1 turn, 4 phases
2 turns
Damageld-2ld-1ld-1IdIdIdIdIdIdId2d2d2d3d3d3d
Height is the height from which the vehi-cle began the fall. Time is the elapsed timeafter which the vehicle will land. This timeis counted beginning with the phase inwhich the last portion of the vehicle left theground; the vehicle takes damage at the be-
ginning of the first movement phase after itlands.
Example: A 1" fall takes 1 second. If avehicle moving 20 mph ends Phase 3 at theedge of a 1" cliff, it will drive completelyoff the cliff on Phase 4. It will hit the groundbelow, after 2 " of forward movement, atthe beginning of its move in Phase 4 of thenext turn. Finally, Damage is the collisiondamage assessed to the vehicle.
Dropping one corner over an edge hasthe same effect as losing all tires on thatcorner, except that all penalties are removedas soon as the corner is back on the ground.
If a vehicle skids, fishtails or drifts sothat both corners of one side (not the frontor back) are unsupported, a Control Roll isrequired. On a successful roll, the vehicletakes collision damage to the underbody butdoesn't fall over the edge! It decelerates at30 mph per turn. Under most circum-stances, the services of a wrecker will berequired to get it onto flat ground again.
On a failed control roll, the vehicle willroll over the edge! It continues at its originalspeed, rolling one side per movementphase. When it lands, assess the damage tothat side (or to each tire if it lands on itswheels). Reduce handling status to -6, andmake a control roll at the vehicle's originalspeed. If control is regained, the vehiclestops. If the vehicle stays out of control, itcontinues its roll normally. On a roll of 4 to6 on 1 die, it also catches fire.
If a vehicle drops its two front or backcorners off an edge, it continues at its orig-inal speed, flipping one facing per phase (itprogresses from underbody to front to topto back to underbody). Once it lands, assessdamage to the proper side. If the vehiclelanded on its front, the very next phase itwill fall forward, landing on its top (andtaking Id damage to that location). If on itsback, it will fall onto its tires, taking Id toeach. The vehicle then continues on in astraight line, driving normally if on itswheels or decelerating 30 mph per turn ifon its roof.
For these rules, a motorcycle has two"corners," one each at the midpoint of thefront and back sides. A trike has three, onein the middle of the front (back for a re-versed trike) and one at each side on theopposite end.
16 Movement
The CrashTables
If a vehicle rolls on the Control Table andmisses its roll, it has gone out of control.The Crash Tables show the different things(all bad) that can happen. A Crash Table rollis made on 2 dice. The higher the roll, theworse the result. Results may range frommild (a light skid) to disastrous (vehicle rollsand burns).
If a car or cycle loses control during amaneuver, it uses Crash Table 1. If it losescontrol because of a hazard, it uses CrashTable 2.
If during the course of resolving a CrashTable result a vehicle is again required toroll on the tables, he only suffers the worstresult rolled.
Example: Wildman Al starts to spin outdue to an encounter with a flamethrower,and is hit by enemy fire. He rolls for controland fails; he now rolls a Minor Skid on theCrash Table. All Al does is keep spinning.
Crash Table ModifiersSkill bonus: The driver's Driver skill
bonus (or Cyclist, if appropriate) is sub-tracted from all Crash Table rolls.
Difficulty of maneuver or hazard: Thedifficulty of the maneuver (or hazard) thatcaused the loss of control plays an impor-tant part in determining a crash result. Takethe modified Difficulty rating of the hazardor maneuver, subtract 3, and add the result(negative or positive) to the Crash Tableroll. Thus, a D4 maneuver gives a +1 tothe roll, while a Dl maneuver gives a -2.
Speed: Loss of control at high speed ismore dangerous. When you go to the CrashTables for any reason, add or subtract thenumber in the Control Table "modifier"column from your speed — i.e., at 20 mph,you would subtract 2 from your roll oneither Crash Table.
Crash Table ResultsThe result of a Crash Table roll is applied
at the beginning of the next phase in which avehicle moves. A vehicle that fishtails maymove normally after it fishtails. A vehiclethat skids must move straight ahead for the
rest of that phase — i.e., if it skids VA", itmust move VA" forward (the direction itsnose is pointing) after the skid. If a vehicle ison its half-move, it cannot skid more than Vi"
A vehicle that encounters a hazard whileskidding or fishtailing must make anothercontrol roll, and may lose control again,affecting it on the next phase it moves. Novehicle may skid more than once per phase.
A vehicle that loses control will suffer apenalty on any aimed weapon fire for therest of the turn, as shown by the asterisks onthe Crash Table entries:
* Any further aimed weapon fire fromthis vehicle on this turn will be at a-3 to hit.
** Any further aimed weapon fire fromthis vehicle on this turn will be -6 to hit.
*** No further aimed weapon fire per-mitted from this vehicle this turn.
Crash Table 1Skids & Rolls
2 or less — Trivial skid. The vehiclekeeps the same orientation, but moves VA"in the direction it was going before the ma-neuver in which it lost control. Therefore, itmay skid in a direction other than the one itis pointing — see Figure 5, p. 13. *
3, 4 — Minor skid. As above, but thevehicle skids Vi". Speed is reduced by -5mph. **
5,6 — Moderate skid. As above, but thevehicle skids VA", and each tire takes 1point of damage. Speed is reduced by 10mph. It then performs a trivial skid on itsnext move. **
7, 8 — Severe skid. As above, but carskids 1" and each tire takes 2 points dam-age. Speed is reduced by 20 mph. On itsnext move, it performs a minor skid. ***
9,10 — Spinout. Vehicle spins, rotating90° and moving 1" in the direction it waspreviously traveling (before the maneuveror hazard which caused the spinout) perphase of movement required. All rotationsmust be in the same direction. If the vehiclefishtailed into the spinout, the rotations arein the same direction the fishtail took; other-wise, roll randomly. Each tire takes Id ofdamage at the start of the spinout. The vehi-cle decelerates 20 mph/turn, and the spinstops when the vehicle comes to a halt. A
Movement 17
driver may try to recover from a spinout.To do so, roll for control at HC -6. If theroll is successful the spinout stops. If theroll is missed the spinout continues nor-mally. If control is regained, and the vehicleis facing the direction it is moving, move-ment continues on as usual. If the car isfacing sideways it must perform an immedi-ate T-stop. It may discontinue a T-stop byturning "into" the direction of the skid andthen continue the turn. If the vehicle is fac-ing backwards and is traveling faster thanits reverse top speed, it must slow down byat least 5 mph per turn until it is under itsnormal top speed for reverse.
11, 12 — Car turns sideways (as in aT-stop; see Figure 7, p. 14) and rolls. Thedriver is no longer in control. The car decel-erates at 20 mph per turn. Each phase itmoves, it goes 1" in the direction it wastraveling and rolls V* of a complete roll —e.g., in the first phase it moves 1", turnssideways, and rolls onto its side; the nextphase it moves, it goes 1" and rolls onto itstop, etc. It takes Id damage to the side (top,etc.) rolled onto each phase. When the bot-tom hits, each tire takes Id damage. After alltires are gone, the bottom takes damagewhen it hits. Occupants may jump out at anytime, or stay inside and hope that no damagereaches the interior. A car or trike may bedriven after it stops rolling if it is right sideup and has tires on at least three corners. Acycle won't be drivable after a roll.***
13,14 — As above, but vehicle is burn-ing on a roll of 4, 5, or 6 on 1 die. (For moreinformation on burning vehicles, see Fireand Explosion, pp. 30.)
15 or more — The vehicle vaults intothe air by the side (or front) tires, the tiresdoing the vaulting taking 3d of damage. Thevehicle will then fly through the air for 1 to6 inches (roll 1 die) in the direction the ve-hicle was traveling before the crash result,revolving two sides for every inch traveled.When it lands, the side that hits takes colli-sion damage at the vehicle's initial speed. Ifthe attempted maneuver was a tight bend ora hard swerve, the vehicle will flip end overend. Upon landing, the vehicle will con-tinue to roll as per result 11 on this table.All occupants take 1 point of damage auto-matically. Body armor does not protectagainst this damage.
Crash Table 2Fishtails
1-4 — Minor fishtail. Roll randomly tosee if fishtail will be left or right. If, forinstance, it is left, keep vehicle's right frontcorner in the same square, and move the leftrear corner 1 square left. Reverse for aright fishtail. *
5-8 — Major fishtail. As above, but rearcorner moves 2 squares. **
9,10 — Execute a minor fishtail and rollagain on Crash Table 1. ***
11-14 — Execute a major fishtail androll again on Crash Table 1. ***
15 or more — Execute a major and aminor fishtail (for a total of 3 squares move-ment in one direction) and roll again onCrash Table 1. ***
CollisionsWhen a vehicle counter touches a fixed
object or another counter, a collision hasoccurred. Even though all Car Wars vehi-cle counters are a minimum Vi" wide (IVifeet in game scale), the referee should usecommon sense when determining whether acollision has occurred. A motorcycle cansqueeze into tighter spots than a truck, eventhough the counters are the same width. If aplayer wants to take his motorcycle down afour-foot-wide alley, let him. The driver ofa van can't do it.
Collision damage is based on the type ofcollision, the weight of the vehicles in-volved, and their relative speeds. To findthe result of a collision, determine the typeof collision (T-Bone, Head-On, Rear-Endor Sideswipe) from the collision diagramsin Figure 9. Every collision can be classi-fied as one of these four types. When a ve-hicle is driving in reverse, rolling over,etc., designations of "front," "side," etc.,are sometimes inappropriate. A rolling carcan have a "head-on" collision in which aside strikes first, for example. If a car isdoing a bootlegger, consider the leadingside as its "front," moving at 15 mph. Ingeneral, use common sense in determiningthe type of collision. Then follow the in-structions for that type, and the steps below,
18 Movement
to find damage, final speed, and final posi-tion for both vehicles.
1) From the Collision Damage Table(below), find the Damage Modifier (DM)corresponding to your vehicle's weight. AShogun 100 (800 lbs.) has a DM of Vs. AKiller Kart (2,300 lbs.) has a DM of Vs. AHotshot (6,600 lbs.) has a DM of 1. (Figureweight at the beginning of a trip; don'tbother recalculating every time you expenda shell.) A pedestrian has a DM of Vs.
2) When a collision occurs, determinethe collision speed according to the formulagiven under each type of collision. Thenumber of dice of damage a collision of thatspeed will cause can be found in the farright column of the Movement Chart (see p.7), under the heading "Ram." Multiply the"ram" damage rolled on the dice by your
Collision Damage Table
Vehicle Weight0-2,000
2,001-4,0004,001-8,000
8,001-12,00012,001-16,00016,001-20,00020,001-24,000
Damage ModifierV3Vs12345
Figure 9 — Collisions
9a:HEAD-ON
9b:REAR-END
9c:T-BONE
9d: SIDESWIPE(same direction)
DM increases by 1 for every additional4,000 lbs.
Collision TypesA Head-On collision occurs any time
one vehicle collides with another from with-in the 90° shaded arc of Figure 9a.
A Rear End collision (Figure 9b) is sim-ilar to a Head-On, exceptthat the two vehicles areheading in roughly thesame direction.
A T-Bone collision oc-curs when one vehiclecollides with another fromwithin the 90° shaded arcof Figure 9c.
There are two types ofSideswipe. In one case,the vehicles are travelingin the same direction,nearly parallel to eachother (i.e., within the 45 °shaded arc of Figure 9d).The second type is sim-ilar, except that the vehi-cles are going in oppositedirections, but still nearlyparallel to one another(see Figure 9e). Fishtailsare a major cause of bothtypes of Sideswipe.
9e: SIDESWIPE(opposite direction)
vehicle's DM. That is the damage youcause to your opponent. The damage yousustain is the product of his DM multipliedby the same base damage rolled.
Example: A Killer Kart (DM Vs) collideswith a Hotshot (DM 1) at a net speed of 40mph. A 40-mph collision results in 3d dam-age, and a 14 is rolled. The Kart gives theHotshot (14 X Vs) = 9 points of damage(rounding down). The Hotshot gives theKart (14 X 1) = 14 points of damage.
"Conforming" MovementWhen one vehicle pushes another one
out of the way, the second vehicle is"conforming" to the first. A vehicle con-forms to another by pivoting on one corneruntil, through regular movement, the twovehicles are no longer in contact. The driverof the conforming vehicle selects an appro-priate pivot corner from the choices shownin Figure 10. In each case, V2 is "con-
Movement 19
forming" to VI. During its own movementphase, V2 does not pivot; it moves normallyas its driver maneuvers it (or as required bythe Crash Table, if it is out of control).
If a collision occurs and it is on the bor-der of two types of collisions, the defenderdecides what type of collision it is. For ex-ample, if Car A is hit by Car B on the linebetween a Rear-End and a T-Bone, Car Agets to decide which of the two it will be.
Note that subsequent phases in whichthe vehicles are still in contact are not newcollisions. Do not assess additional damageor adjust speed again unless a vehicle hitssomething else. For example, a car mightsideswipe a trailer, slide along its side(accumulating no new damage) and thencollide with the tractor, which had turnedinto the car's path (a new collision). Or acar might sideswipe a building and thenhave a new collision with a projecting wingof that same building.
CollisionProcedure
Head-On Collisions (Figure 9a)1) A Head-On collision affects the front
armor of both vehicles.2) Collision speed is that of VI plus V2;
apply ram damage at this speed, as modi-fied by each vehicle's DM.
3) (a) Compute the "Temporary Speed"for VI and V2 from the Temporary SpeedTable (TST) on p. 21.
(b) Subtract the speed of the slower ve-hicle from the speed of the faster vehicle.The faster vehicle is now moving at thisnew speed; the slower has speed 0.
(c) Adjust the markers on the MovementChart.
(d) If the phasing vehicle is still moving,complete this movement phase.
Figure 1O — Conforming Movement
V2\
VI
V2
VI
(e) The slower vehicle (now at 0 mph)"conforms" itself to the faster one.
4) Check for concussion (see p. 21).5) Reduce the handling status of each
vehicle by 1 for every 10-mph change inspeed (rounding up) and make a control rollfor each one at its original speed. Apply atleast a Dl hazard to each one, even if it lostno speed.
Rear-End Collisions (Figure 9b)1) A Rear-End collision affects Vl 's
front armor and V2's back armor.2) Collision speed is that of VI minus
V2; apply ram damage at this speed, asmodified by each vehicle's DM.
3) (a) Compute "Temporary Speed" ofVI and V2 from the TST.
(b) Add these two speeds together. BothVI and V2 are now moving at this speed.
(c) Adjust the markers on the MovementChart.
(d) If Vl's DM is higher than V2's DM,complete its movement for this phase. Oth-erwise, do not complete its movement.
4) Check for concussion effects (see p.21).
5) Reduce the handling status of eachvehicle and make a control roll for each asdescribed for Head-On collisions.
T-Bone Collisions (Figure 9c)1) A T-Bone collision affects Vl's front
armor and V2's side armor.2) Collision speed is that of VI; apply
ram damage at this speed, as modified byeach vehicle's DM.
3) (a) Compute V l ' s "TemporarySpeed" from the TST. This becomes itsactual speed after the collision; adjust itsmarker on the Movement Chart. V2 doesnot change speed as a result of this collision,even though its direction may be shifted byVI 's subsequent movement.
(b) If Vl ' s newspeed is above 0, andit was making itsmove when the colli-sion took place, itcompletes this phase'smovement, and V2"conforms" to Vl'smovement. If V2 wasVI
20 Movement
making its move when the collision tookplace, and if V2's DM is higher than Vl'sDM, complete V2's movement for thisphase. Otherwise do not complete V2'smovement.
4) Check for concussion effects (seebelow).
5) Reduce handling status for both vehi-cles and make a control roll for each vehicleas described for a Head-On collision.
Sideswipes (figures 9d and 9e)1) A Sideswipe affects the side armor of
both vehicles.2) (a) Determine the net speed of the
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collision. If both vehicles are going in thesame direction (Figure 9d) subtract thelower speed from the higher. If they aregoing in opposite directions (Figure 9e),add the two speeds.
(b) Divide net speed by 4, rounding upto the nearest 5 mph. This is the collision's"Swipe-Speed."
3) Apply ram damage at the "Swipe-Speed," as modified by each vehicle's DM.
4) If the phasing vehicle's DM is lowerthan the other vehicle's DM, it finishes itsmovement by sliding along the other vehi-cle.
5) Reduce the handling status of eachvehicle by 1 for each10 mph of "Swipe-Speed," and make acontrol roll for each.
6) If either vehi-cle fishtails as a re-sult of this controlroll, the fishtail willbe in the directionaway from the colli-sion which just oc-curred.
7) A Sideswipedoes not affect theactual speed of ei-ther vehicle.
Concussionfrom Rams(Optional)
When any vehi-cle is involved in acollision, all occu-pants must roll forconcussion effectsfrom the ram. Takethe speed changethat resulted fromthat ram (in T-Bonecollisions, take thespeed change of theramming vehicleand apply it to bothvehicles), dividethat speed by 10(thus, a 35-mphspeed change from a70-mph T-Bone
Movement 21
would yield a 4) and roll 2 dice for eachcrew member involved. If the roll is equalto or higher than that number, the crewmanis unaffected. If the roll is lower, that crew-man is stunned (unable to do any firing ac-tions or operate any vehicle controls) for asmany phases as he missed the roll by (atleast to the end of the turn). Safety seats add+1 to the roll, as do Impact Armor and RollCages. Stunning a driver adds a D2 to thetotal collision hazard.
fixed ObjectsA fixed object will cause exactly as
much damage as it takes, up to the point atwhich the fixed object breaks. All fixed ob-jects have a DP rating, which is the numberof Damage Points they can take before theyare destroyed.
Example: A 20-point tree gets in the wayof a luxury car going 40 mph. The "ram"damage at 40 mph is 3d, and a luxury car'sDM is usually 1. A 12 is rolled on 3 dice,and multiplied by 1 for a result of 12. That'show much damage the car does to the tree,and it's also how much damage the treedoes to the car.
Now, let's send the same car into thesame tree at 80 mph. The "ram" damage atthat speed is l id , and this time the total is41. The tree only has 20 DP, so it is de-stroyed. But the car also only takes 20points of damage.
For each collision, determine the colli-sion type — Head-On or Sideswipe — andapply damage, speed change, concussionsand hazards accordingly. Of course, in aHead-On, if the obstacle is not destroyed orbreached, the vehicle stops. If the obstacleis destroyed, the vehicle's "TemporarySpeed" becomes its new speed. If a Side-swipe does not destroy it, the vehiclefinishes the phase by sliding along theobstacle.
Note: A building breach is generally Hi"wide (see Buildings, p. 36). A vehicle ram-ming a building or wall must create twobreaches in order to break through. Thus,when ramming a 6 DP building, a vehiclemust do 12 points of damage to create adouble breach and continue through. In ad-dition, each Vi" section of wall will returndamage, up to its full DP value.
Debris and
A "road debris" counter may representany sort of junk on the road. Debris can bepart of a scenario (appearing already drawnonto the road) or it can appear as a result ofcombat.
A debris counter is Vi" X 1/4". It mayshow debris in two squares or in only one.Place it on the board so its squares alignwith those on the road, showing exactlywhich map squares contain debris.
Hitting DebrisA vehicle hits debris the first time any
part of the vehicle counter touches a debrissquare. Debris can be hit only once perphase, regardless of how many debrissquares are entered. If a vehicle starts thephase on top of debris, that debris does notaffect it; it has already been hit.
Debris affects all of a vehicle's tires.Roll 1 die for each tire, and subtract 3 fromthe result, to find the damage to that tire.Thus, on a roll of 1 to 3, the tire is undam-aged. Hitting debris is a Dl hazard.
Producing DebrisWhen a car takes 10 or more points of
damage during one phase, pick one debriscounter randomly. Place it next to the car,at the point hit. (A car is not affected by itsown debris unless it drives back through it.)Debris for top/bottom damage goes behindthe vehicle. If a car explodes, choose fiverandom debris counters, and drop themonto the board from a height of one footover the explosion site. (If one misses theboard, or hits any other counter, drop itagain.) Align counters with the road grid asclosely as possible at the point where theyfall. Debris and other obstacles (below) re-main until the game ends.
22 Movement
Hitting ObstaclesAn obstacle counter represents a pot-
hole, loose wheel or other larger item. Strik-ing an obstacle is a D3 hazard. Determiningwhether or not an obstacle is struck is donein the same way as for debris. An obstacledoes the same damage to each tire as debrisdoes. A vehicle may hit more than one ob-stacle in a phase, and must roll for each.
Producing and Moving ObstaclesIf a car loses a wheel (not just a tire) or
takes 20 or more hits during one phase, orloses one or more points of metal armor, anobstacle is placed as described above fordebris. In some scenarios, debris or obsta-cles may be thrown from buildings, vehi-cles, etc. Note that an obstacle is bulky,equivalent to one space in size, and no vehi-cle will be able to carry very many.
A pedestrian may move any obstaclethat can be moved; potholes, for example,can't be moved. It takes one turn to pick anobstacle up and a pedestrian may move onesquare per turn while carrying it. A pedes-trian cannot use a weapon while carrying anobstacle. It takes one turn to drop an obsta-cle. A typical obstacle will weigh between50 and 100 lbs.
Off-RoadDuelling
Many of the most demanding combat sit-uations take place away from roads and are-nas. A beach battle, with cycles and buggiesflying over the dunes . . . a cat-and-mousehunt in a Louisiana swamp . . . a Badlandsraid, with pickups swooping down from thehills to intercept a convoy . . . all of theseare possible in off-road duelling.
AH maneuvers (but not hazards) off-roadare at an additional Dl difficulty. All Crash
Table rolls are at a -3 , due to the vehicles'tendency to slide and skid while off-road.
Off-Road HazardsOff-road suspension (see p. 49) is avail-
able for 4- and 6-wheeled vehicles, to liftthe underbody off the ground and cushion itfrom shocks.
Any vehicle can go off-road withoutmodifications — but the handling class of anunmodified vehicle is reduced:
Motorcycle (with or without sidecar):-2HC
Trike: -1 HCCar (4 or 6 wheels): -3 HC
The handling bonus for radial tires doesnot apply while off-road. Special off-road(OR) tires are available (see p. 50).
In addition, most vehicles are subject todamage when going off-road. At the begin-ning of every turn a standard car, pickup orvan is off-road and traveling faster than 10mph, roll 2 dice. On a 2 or 3, the underbodytakes 1 point of damage. On a 4 or 5, onetire (roll randomly to see which one) takes 1point of damage. If the vehicle is going over30 mph, roll twice per turn; over 50 mph,roll 3 times; and so on. Once the underbodyis gone, the internal components take nodamage.
Exceptions: solid and off-road tires takeno damage.
Vehicles with Off-Road suspensions, aswell as all cycles and trikes, are built higheroff the ground and do not take underbodydamage.
Off-Road TerrainOff-road should not be taken to mean the
dirt on the edge of the road; the shoulder isusually no great hazard. "Off-road" meansopen country — fields, desert or park.
Grass and open fields: This is the stan-dard off-road terrain. No extra penaltiesapply —just the normal +D1 difficulty foroff-road travel.
Trees: Small ones are a D2 or D3 haz-ard. Larger ones would be fixed barriersand could have 8 to 20 DP, or even more.
Boulders: Small ones (about a footacross) should be treated as obstacles. Those1 to 2 feet across are fixed barriers with up
Movement 23
to 25 DP. Boulders are usually knocked outof the way (rather than destroyed) if theytake more than their DP value from a colli-sion. Larger boulders would have evengreater DP values — a four-foot boulderwould be worth at least 50 DP.
Ditches and GulliesSmall ditches (less than 2 feet across)
are a D3 hazard at 20 mph or less, but onlya Dl hazard at greater speeds — vehiclesfly right over them. Ditches between 2 and4 feet across are impassable at less than 20mph — if a vehicle tries to cross one, it willfall in and collide with the far wall at fullspeed, taking full damage for its speed. At25 to 40 mph, such a ditch is a D3 hazard.At 45 mph or greater, it is a Dl hazardagain; you fly right over. Wider ditchesshould not be jumped without a ramp (seeabove). Very wide gullies, unless they arefull of water, can be crossed by drivingdown one side and up the other.
WaterVehicles without off-road (OR) suspen-
sion cannot cross water deeper than lvifeet. Vehicles with OR suspension can takeon water up to 3 feet deep. Vehicles indeeper water drown out and stop working— the effect is the same as if the power planthad been destroyed. The plant takes no ac-tual damage, though — once the vehicle isout of the water (how you get it out is yourproblem), it will dry out and be usable againin Id hours.
Hitting standing water deeper than Vifoot is a D2 hazard. Traveling in water de-celerates a vehicle by 5 mph per turn perVi foot of water — you must accelerate by 5mph just to stay at the same speed. Vehicleswith OR suspensions decelerate 5 mph perturn per Yi foot of water over 1 Vi feet deep.
Radical maneuvers are impossible inwater — no maneuver with an original, un-modified difficulty over D3 can be per-formed. There is no additional penalty forthose maneuvers which can be performed.
Dropped weapons may be used in water,to mixed effect. Oil will not be effective;flaming oil will ignite, but it will also dis-perse and be ineffective; spikes and mineswill be hidden under the water. Every timea dropped weapon is used in water, roll 1die. On a 1 or 2, water backs up into thesystem while the port is open, and theweapon takes ld-3 points of damage.
Tires cannot be targeted in over a foot ofwater; they are at an additional -2 to hitwhen in over 6" of water.
Jumping Out of VehiclesAnyone jumping out of a vehicle, or off
a cycle, when off-road will take reduceddamage. Figure the damage as though thedriver has been hit by a sideswipe from acar traveling 30 mph slower than the speedat which he actually hit the ground.
RollingWhen a vehicle rolls in an off-road situ-
ation, each side that hits the ground takesld-2 damage, instead of Id of damage.Tires, likewise, take ld-2 damage in an off-road roll. It is quite possible to roll a vehicleon soft ground and drive it away afterward— if you can get it upright.
MovementPedestrians move at 1 square per phase;
they can move every phase. Pedestrianmovement is covered on p. 43.
24 Movement
3.Combat may occur during any phase,
after movement. To attack, a player simplyannounces that he is firing, and names theweapon being fired and its target.
Results of all attacks during a phase areapplied simultaneously. The referee maywish to have players declare fire secretly,by writing their fire/no fire order down on aslip of paper and handing it to him, or bysome other method.
A given weapon may never fire morethan once per turn. A given character maynever fire more than once per turn, unlesshe does so by triggering linked weapons.
Rate of FireUsually, the above restrictions mean
that each vehicle will only fire once perturn. Exceptions occur when (a) a weaponis on "automatic," (b) a vehicle has addi-tional occupants, such as gunners, who mayalso fire, or (c) linked weapons are used.
General Combat ProcedureBriefly, the procedure for resolving a
normal weapon attack is (a) make sure thatthere is a line-of-fire from the weapon to thetarget; (b) roll 2 dice to see if the weaponhits (see Determining Hits, below); (c) if theweapon hits, determine damage locationand amount (see Damage, p. 28); (d) alterthe vehicle's handling status and/or placedebris or obstacle counters if required.Dropped weapons are an exception to theabove and are discussed on pp. 32-34. Alldamage for the phase is resolved simulta-neously at the end of the phase.
Line of FireTo fire at a given target, there must be a
line of fire (LOF) from the firing counter'scenter (for a turret weapon) or middle of theside where the weapon is located (for otherweapons) to some part of the counter repre-senting the target. Buildings, vehicles, pe-destrians, etc., block LOF; debris andobstacles do not. Smoke and paint reduce
chances of hitting but do not block LOFexcept for lasers.
Furthermore, the LOF must be tracedwithin the arc of fire for that weapon posi-tion. Arcs of fire for vehicle weapons areshown in the diagram below. Pedestriansand turret weapons have a 360-degree arc offire. Hand weapons fired from a car, truckor sidecar have a right or left arc of fire,depending on which side they're fired from;hand weapons fired by a cycle driver have a360-degree arc of fire.
Right Weapons Only
FrontWeapons
Only
RearWeapons
Only
Left Weapons Only
Car TargetingTargeting is choosing what you're going
to shoot at — whether it's the side of a vehi-cle or a specific part, like a tire.
A car has front, back, right, left, top andunderbody "sides." When you fire at a ve-hicle, you can only hit a side that is facingyou. Unless the target car is lined up ex-actly perpendicular to you, you will be ableto choose between two sides. However,only if you are in a particular side's arc offire may you attack that side with no pen-alty. If the firing vehicle is on the dividingline between two of a target vehicle's arcsof fire, it may target either side without pen-alty. If you target a side on which you haveline of fire without being in the target side'sarc of fire, you suffer a penalty of-2 to yourto-hit roll. You may choose which side youwish to target. If you score a hit, any dam-age you do will be taken by that part of thevehicle (see Damage Location, p. 28).
You can never target a vehicle's under-body with normal weapons (note: under-body is a relative term — if a car has rolled
Combat 25
and is sitting on its left side, that side is nowthe "underbody")- The underbody is auto-matically the target of a mine.
A vehicle's tires may be targeted. Eachtire is a separate target; subtract 3 from theto-hit roll when shooting at tires.
A vehicle's turret may be targeted. Alltop armor protects weapons in the turret. Ifa vehicle has no turret, the top can only behit if something is dropped (or fired) fromabove or if the vehicle rolls. Targeting aturret is at a-2.
Cycle TargetingCompared to a car, a cycle is a small
target, but every part is exposed. Therefore,after firing on and hitting a cycle, roll on thetable below. Only one component of a cyclecan be hit in each attack — the rest of thedamage passes through the cycle and has noeffect, unless it has a sidecar on the oppositeside. In this case, roll 1 die. If the numberrolled is equal to, or less than the number ofspaces the sidecar has, it is hit. Otherwisethe damage passes out harmlessly.
Attacking from front or rear — Roll 2dice. On 2 to 10, you hit armor (if the armoris gone, roll again on the "side" tablebelow for remaining damage). On an 11 or12, you hit the exposed wheel.
Attacking from the side — Roll 2 dice. On2 to 5, you hit the driver; 6 or 7, the powerplant; 8 to 10, a weapon. Roll randomly ifthe cycle has more than one weapon; rollagain if there are none. On 11 or 12, you hita tire — roll randomly to see which one.
Sidecar targeting — A sidecar can onlybe hit from the side on which it is mounted.Imagine a line running lengthwise down thecenter of the cycle counter — if you're onthe same side of the line the sidecar is on (oron the line), you can shoot at it. If you'renot, you can't. Targeting a sidecar carries a-2 penalty to your to-hit roll. If you're justshooting at the cycle as a whole and you areon the sidecar side, roll 1 die. On a 1 to 4,the cycle was hit; use the tables above. Ona 5 or 6, the sidecar was hit. Treat a sidecaras a tiny automobile, with armor in front,back, underbody, and both sides. It has onewheel (plus some small coaster-type wheelsfor stability if it ever rolls free), maybe oneor two weapons, and possibly a rider. Oncearmor on part of the sidecar is lost, any fire
hitting the exposed area has an equal chanceof hitting each of the interior components.
Trike TargetingBecause trikes are low to the ground,
their tops can be fired upon. Any attackercan choose to fire at the top of a trike if hehas a line of sight on the front or either side.(A trike's top cannot be hit from behind, butits turret can be targeted.) Because the top issteeply sloped, any attack at the top is at anadditional -2 to hit. Thus, for example, ashot at the top of a light trike (see table, p.27) from the front would be at a -5, plus orminus any other modifiers that may be ineffect. However, if a trike has a turret, anysuccessful hit on the top armor strikes theturret automatically with no further penalty.
When a trike is struck in the front byweapon fire, roll 2 dice. On an 11 or 12, thefront wheel is hit. Any remaining damage islost. On a 2-10, the front armor is hit. Anyremaining damage after the armor is de-stroyed will affect internal components inthe same way as cars are affected (see Dam-age Location, p. 28).
For reversed trikes, all the above holdstrue — just reverse "front" and "back."The only exception is that an attacker stillcannot hit the top of a reversed trike frombehind, as the back is still the highest part ofthe trike.
Rolling to Hit:When a normal weapon (anything but a
dropped or gas weapon) is fired, the attack-ing player rolls 2 dice to see if he hit histarget. He must make the to-hit roll, or bet-ter, for that weapon (see Chapter 6, or theWeapon Table on the insert sheet). Thus, tohit with a machine gun, a player must roll a7 or better on 2 dice. The lower a weapon'sto-hit roll, the more accurate it is.
Targeting ModifiersAccuracy is affected by a number of fac-
tors, including the skill of the firer, range,weather, and size and speed of the target.Consult the following list, and add all thefactors that apply to the to-hit roll. All mod-ifiers are cumulative.
For example, a machine gun has a base
26 Combat
to-hit roll of 7. If the firer was using a tar-geting computer ( + 1) at point-blank range(+4) and was trying to hit the tire (-3) of acycle (-2) at night (-3), there would be atotal modifier of-3; the firer now has to rolla 10 or higher. No matter what the rollneeded, a roll of 2 on the dice is an auto-matic miss. A roll of 12 is not an automatichit. If, after all modifiers, a player needs a13 or higher to hit, he cannot hit the target,but may still fire for sustained fire bonuses.
If a driver has made a maneuver or suf-fered a hazard in the phase he fires aweapon, the difficulty of the maneuver orhazard is subtracted from his to-hit roll.
When trying to hit a vehicle with aweapon's burst effect, or trying to place aburst of fire in front of a vehicle, the at-tacker gets the bonus for targeting theground, plus all applicable speed modifiersfor both vehicles. Use common sense; thereferee has the final say. If the to-hit roll ismissed while attempting a shot at theground or wall near an enemy, use the gre-nade scatter rules (p. 34) to determinewhere the shot actually hit.
TargetingModifiers
RangePoint Blank (less than 1" away):Long Range: -1 for every full 4 "
4 " to 7.99" is -18" to 11.99" is-212" to 15.99" is-3, and so or
Movement
+4
l
Firer is in Target is in Hrer'sTarget's Front arc
Kront arc Vi TargetSpeed
Back arc Vl (T SpeedF Speed)
Side arc TargetSpeed
Back arc
Vl (T SpeedF Speed)
- Vl TargetSpeed
TargetSpeed
Side arc
- Vl TargetSpeed
Vl TargetSpeed
T Speed -F Speed*
* If cars arc moving towards each other, themodifier is the target speed. If a vehicleis in more than one arc, rule in thedefenders' favor.
Target is not moving: +1Firer is not moving: +1Firing pedestrian is braced against solid ob-
ject: + 1
Target is moving 30 to 37.5 mph: -1Target is moving 40 to 47.5 mph: -2Target is moving 50 to 57.5 mph: -3Target is moving 60 to 67.5 mph: -4Target is moving 70 to 77.5 mph: -5Target is moving 80 mph or faster: -6
Vehicle TargetsCompact or Subcompact: -1Car: -1 from front or rearMotorcycle or Sidecar: -2 from side, -3
from front or rearTrike (any size): -2 from topLight Trike: -3 from front/back, -2 from
sideMedium Trike: -2 from front/back, -1 from
sideHeavy Trike: -1 from front/back, -1 from
sideX-Hcavy Trike: -1 from front/back, no pen-
alty from side
Specific TargetPedestrian: -3, or -4 if prone.
A pedestrian cannot be hit if he is proneand fully behind solid cover. If he isfully behind solid cover but has his headup to fire, the penalty is -6. If he is firingout a door or window, see p. 37.
Vehicle Tire: -3Turret: -2Motorcycle Rider (from side only): -3Lamppost: -6Building: +10Searchlight: -3Ground: +4
VisibilityFiring through smoke or paint: -2 per
counterRain: -2Heavy rain, fog or night: -3Target in rubble area (see p. 37): -4Firer blinded by searchlight: -10
MiscellaneousTargeting Computer used: +1Hi-Res Computer used: +2
Combat 27
Cyberlink used: +3Gunner Skill: equal to skill level bonusHandgunner Skill: equal to skill level bonusFiring while on Oil, Gravel or Bad Road: -1Sustained Fire: second consecutive shot in
as many turns at same target with sameweapon: + 1 ; third and subsequentshots: +2
Attacking vehicle does a Trivial Skid orMinor Fishtail: -3 for the remainder ofthe turn
Attacking vehicle does a Minor or Moder-ate Skid or Major Fishtail: -6 for the re-mainder of the turn
Attacker not in arc of fire of target side: -2Hazard or maneuver in same phase: penalty
equal to D rating
DamageWhen a weapon hits, calculate the
amount of damage by rolling the number ofdice shown on the Weapon List (insertsheet). The result is the number of hitstaken by the target.
Burst EffectWeapons that do additional burst-effect
damage are identified on the Weapon List.Any weapon with a "radius" shown in theEffects column is a burst effect weapon.
In addition to the listed damage to what-ever is hit, burst-effect weapons do Id dam-age to any pedestrian in the weapon's burstradius. Pedestrians under cover (behind anintact wall or vehicle) are not affected.
A grenade does full damage to any pe-destrian within its 2 " burst radius, and halfdamage to vehicle components (armor,tires, etc.) in a Vi" radius. No other burst-effect weapon will affect walls or vehicles(including tires) with its burst effect. Rea-son: The other burst-effect weapons areshaped charges, exploding upwards (in thecase of a mine) or into the target (in the caseof other weapons), and the burst effect ismerely a bonus, not strong enough to harmarmored vehicles or vehicular components.
Area EffectWeapons which may be used against pe-
destrians in an area effect are identified onthe Weapon List. These are weapons that
can sweep an area. When using such aweapon against several pedestrians within1" of one another, the firer may attempt tohit several at once. He must make as manyto-hit rolls as there are intended victims.This determines how many he hits, but notwho — that is determined by the defender,who must pick pedestrians who are standingnext to each other. If the potential victimsbelong to more than one player, they mustagree which ones are hit. If they cannotagree, the attacker chooses the victims!
Those who are hit take half the damagerolled for the weapon (round up). Excep-tion: Flamethrowers do full damage againstall targets!
Example: Four pedestrians are standingin a line 1" long; as people this dim shouldbe removed from the gene pool, an intrepidduellist decides to deep-fry them with hislaser. He fires, and rolls two hits and twomisses. The player controlling the pedestri-ans designates the two on the right. Theduellist rolls a 13 on 3 dice, so each victimreceives 7 points of damage (half of 13,rounded up) and is torched.
Recording DamageEach vehicle component can take a cer-
tain amount of damage, shown as "DP"(damage points) on the Weapon List,Accessories List, and vehicle design charts.Armor is lost a point at a time; if you startwith 12 points of armor on the front of yourcar, and it takes 7 hits, you have 5 pointsleft. Other components work at full effi-ciency until they take their full amount ofDP — then they're gone. A machine gun(3DP) can take 2 hits and still work, but thehits are recorded in the boxes on the Vehi-cle Record. When that gun takes a third hit,it is destroyed. You can repair damageyourself, using the Mechanic skill (seepp. 41-42), or you can pay for repairs (seep. 52).
Damage LocationThe location of weapon damage is con-
trolled by the part of the vehicle that washit. Damage is taken by the components inthat part of the target, outermost first.Armor is destroyed first. When all armor isgone, the next component inward is hit, and
28 Combat
so on. Components in each area of a car ortruck, in the order they are hit by an attackfrom that side, are:
Front: Front armor; (front-firing weap-ons); front motor; (driver or gunner); cargo;back motor; (back-firing weapons); backarmor.
Back: As above, but in reverse order:Back armor first, etc.
Right: Right armor; (right-firing weap-ons); (gunner, driver, cargo or motor);(left-firing weapons); left armor.
Left: As above, but in reverse order:Left armor, etc.
Uiiderbody: Underbody armor; (motor,driver, gunner or cargo); turret weapons;top armor. Tires may also take damage.
Top: As above, but in reverse order.Turret: Top armor, then turret weapons.
If the turret was targeted from the side,"leftover" damage will pass above the car,hitting nothing else.
Tires: Targeted tire/wheel only. "Left-over" hits have no effect.
Many vehicles will not have every com-ponent listed. If a component is not present,just skip it! Few cars will have both frontand rear power plants (motors); many willhave no gunner, turret or cargo. Passengerscount as cargo. For a more complete guide,refer to the Vehicle Record Sheet exampleon p. 6, which has components in most ofthe possible locations. In case of a dispute,the referee's decision is final.
After going through armor and weaponsmounted to the appropriate side, there arethree (and only three) possible internal loca-tions. These are crew compartment, powerplant, and cargo. Power plant is your pri-mary power plant. Crew compartment is anydriver, gunner or passenger — any humanbeing in the car. Cargo is everything else.These three locations may be placed in anyorder from front to back (not side by side).The locations of drivers, gunners and pas-sengers must still be stated for determiningtheir firing arcs.
When a weapon penetrates from thefront or back, the damage goes to each in-ternal location in order. Only one actualitem in each location can be damaged by asingle shot. When a weapon penetratesfrom the side, roll randomly to see which ofthe three locations is hit. Re-roll for any
nonexistent location. A location that is de-stroyed (such as a destroyed PP) is still alocation which damage can hit and passthrough. A car with unused space does havea cargo location, even if it doesn't have anyactual cargo.
Note that some weapons cannot be hit bycertain attacks. There is no way, for exam-ple, to damage a front-firing weapon by anattack from the right — though you can hitit from behind by shooting through the car.
Where two or three components arelisted in parentheses, only one will be hit byeach attack. Roll randomly for each sepa-rate attack to see which one is hit.
Example: A mine explosion that pene-trated the underbody armor would affect ei-ther the motor, driver, gunner or cargo —but only one. If that component tookenough hits to destroy it completely, furtherdamage from that explosion would godirectly to the turret weapon or, if there wasno turret, the top armor. A subsequent mineexplosion might get a previously-unhit tar-get, or hit in the same place, bypassing theother internal targets, and hit the turret ortop again.
Similarly, if a vehicle takes "front-weapon" damage and has two or more frontweapons, roll randomly for each attack tosee which of the weapons is hit. If there aretwo or more front weapons, each attack willhit only one. Leftover damage from thatattack goes "inward," not "sideways" toother front weapons.
Collision DamageDamage from a collision is handled dif-
ferently. It is divided evenly among all ex-posed (i.e., "outside") components on theaffected side. For instance, if a car with twofront MGs had no front armor left, and took3 points of damage from enemy fire, youwould roll randomly to see which MG tookthe 3 hits. However, if that same car took 3points of collision damage to the front, itwould be divided evenly between the ex-posed systems (the weapons) — 2 hits on oneand 1 on the other. Thus, collision damagecannot penetrate to the interior of a vehicleuntil all armor on that side, and all compo-nents "outside" the one to be affected, havebeen completely destroyed.
Combat 29
Metal armor is 3 times more effectivethan its listed value against collision dam-age; 1 point of armor is lost for every 3points of damage absorbed (rounded up),and the most points the armor can lose onthat side is half the total on the side involvedin the wreck (rounded up).
Example: A vehicle with 8 points offront metal armor hits a brick wall at apretty good clip, and 7d of damage arerolled, yielding 29. The front armor willstop up to 3 times its value, which is 24 (3X 8). The remaining 5 points of damage goto the interior of the vehicle and are distrib-uted in the normal way for collisions. If thecar survives, it will still have 4 points (halfthe original value) of armor on the front.
In a collision from the front or the back,all damage is divided by the number of indi-vidual items in that internal location (powerplant, crew or cargo) and applied sepa-rately. Any remaining damage goes on tothe next location. In a side collision, thedamage is first divided by the number ofinternal locations and then is dividedequally among the items in each location.Empty cargo space (or a previously de-stroyed location) still counts as a location —all of its damage just passes through to theopposite side.
CombatResults
Injury to DriversHumans have 3 DP; they are wounded
by the first hit, knocked unconscious by thesecond, and killed by the third. Standardbody armor, when worn, also has 3 DP.Body armor takes damage first, effectivelydoubling a character's hit points. Hits takenby a driver's body armor are no hazard, butif a vehicle's driver is wounded or killed, itis a D2 hazard. A wounded crew member'sskills are at -2. When a vehicle's driver isunconscious, dead or stunned, all Driverskill and reflex bonuses are lost until thedriver recovers (if possible).
Uncontrolled VehiclesIf a motorcycle's driver is killed or
knocked unconscious, the cycle goes to
Crash Table 1 immediately, adding 4 to itsroll. Any passengers must jump or sufferthe consequences of the roll. Any otherground vehicle (including a cycle with asidecar) will continue in a straight line if thedriver is incapacitated. It decelerates 5 mpheach turn, moving in a straight line until itstops or hits something.
Substitute DriversIf a cycle's driver is incapacitated, a
sidecar passenger can steer the cycle, butcannot use the brakes or accelerator. Hecan fire any weapon, but not on any turnthat he steers the cycle.
If a larger vehicle's driver is incapaci-tated, a front-seat gunner or passenger mayattempt to take control. (Note: No vehiclemay have more than two seats in front.) Hemay operate all vehicle controls, or theweapons, but not both in the same turn.Each maneuver he makes has an extra D2of difficulty.
If a driverless vehicle can be stopped, itwill take 5 turns (5 seconds) to push the latedriver out or off and move any other occu-pant of the vehicle in as a new driver. Onthe 6th turn, the new driver may start toaccelerate and/or fire.
Fire and ExplosionA vehicle which crashes may catch fire
(see Crash Tables, Chapter 2). A vehicle hitin combat may also catch fire from certainweapons (see below), or on a 2 in 6 chanceon any turn that the vehicle's power plant,flamethrowers or flaming oil jets arc hit byenemy fire; a 4 in 6 chance if those itemstake damage from laser, flamethrower, orflaming oil jet fire.
If a vehicle has a fire extinguisher, thereis a 3 in 6 chance the fire will go out at theend of each turn (4 in 6 if the vehicle has animproved fire extinguisher). If the fire is notput out at the end of the turn, the fire docsone hit of damage to each occupant (bodyarmor will take damage first), each vehiclecomponent (including tires), and the armoron each part of the car.
A burning vehicle may explode if it con-tains any type of flamethrower, flaming oiljet, any type of rocket or missile weapon, orAT gun. If the fire is not extinguished, roll
30 Combat
1 die at the end of each turn. On a roll of 1,the vehicle explodes, scattering debris. Alloccupants are killed. Pedestrians or vehi-cles within 2 " take Id damage to the ex-posed side (if there are two exposed sides,the owner picks which side takes the dam-age).
If a vehicle's tire catches on fire, but thevehicle has FP armor, the car will not catchon fire. The tire will continue to burn, how-ever, and fire extinguishers (except a PFE)have the normal chance of putting it out.
The sequence of rolls is as follows. If thevehicle has taken damage that could cause afire, roll at the end of the turn to see if firebreaks out. If fire breaks out, and the vehi-cle has a fire extinguisher, then roll to see ifthe fire extinguisher puts out the fire. If thefire extinguisher succeeds at this point, nodamage is taken from fire. If it fails (or thetarget didn't have one), each vehicle com-ponent takes one hit of damage as outlinedabove. If the fire is still burning after theroll, then make one more roll for possibleexplosion as outlined above.
Starting FiresEvery weapon that has a chance to set a
vehicle on fire is rated on the Vehicular FireTable (above) for two factors: "Fire Modi-fier" and "Burn Duration." Fire Modifieris the number the attacker must roll (or rollunder) to set the target vehicle on fire. BurnDuration is the number of turns after theinitial hit the Fire Modifier is in effect. AllFire Modifiers are cumulative.
Example: On turn 1, our intrepid duellistgets hit by a single flamethrower shot. TheFT has a fire modifier of 4, so the attackerneeds a 4 or less on 2 dice to set the targetvehicle on fire. He rolls an 11, which isn'teven close. The next turn, the flamethrowermisses, but our hero gets hit by a laser. Thelaser has a fire modifier of 1, but this is alsothe first turn of the flamethrower's 3-turnburn duration — that's 4 more for a total of5. The attacker, needing a 5 or less to starta fire, rolls a 6 — tough luck.
On the third turn, the flamethrowermisses again, but the laser hits for the sec-ond time, and our hero drives through someflaming oil. The fire modifiers are 1 (for thelaser) plus 3 (for the flaming oil) plus 4 (forthe second turn of the FT's burn duration),
VehicularTable
Weapon FireModifier
Flamethrower 4Flaming Oil Jet 3Light Laser 0Medium Laser 1Laser 1Heavy Laser 2Thermite Grenade 2White Phosphorus
Grenade 2
Fire
BurnDuration
3200001
1
for a total of 8. The attacker, needing onlyto roll an 8 or less, comes up with a 7. Ourhero's on fire — let's hope he has a fireextinguisher.
Fireproof armor remains just that —fireproof — under these rules. If fireproofarmor is breached and damage is taken by apower plant, flaming oil jet, or flame-thrower takes damage, determine thechance of fire as above.
Odds & EndsAutomatic fire
If a weapon is placed on "automatic," itwill fire each turn until it runs out of ammoor is taken off automatic. Putting a weaponon automatic is a firing action, as is taking itoff automatic. Letting it fire during the in-tervening turns is not a firing action. If youhave a weapon on automatic, you may firean additional weapon that turn.
This advantage, however, is offset bythe inaccuracy of automatic fire. A weaponon automatic is not being aimed by thedriver or anything else. It fires straightahead (or behind, or to the side, dependingon where it's mounted). A weapon in a tur-ret cannot be put on automatic. A weaponon automatic cannot target an opposingvehicle's tire, turret or any other specifictarget, nor does it benefit from targetingcomputers. Putting a weapon on automaticbreaks sustained fire, and subsequent auto-matic-fire shots do not get a sustained firebonus.
Combat 31
When a vehicle lays down automaticfire, calculate the attack from that weaponat the end of all movement for that turn.Draw an imaginary line straight out fromthe middle of the side the automatic weaponis on. If a target (vehicle, pedestrian, build-ing) crosses that line, figure all the standardmodifiers and roll the dice. Putting aweapon on automatic is very effective fordoing property damage and dealing withlarge groups of opponents; if you're duel-ling with just one or two other vehicles, au-tomatic fire is probably a waste of ammo.Dropped and gas weapons are very usefulas automatic fire (see below).
Dropped WeaponsMinedroppers, Spikedroppers, Oil Jets,
and Flaming Oil Jets are dropped weapons.Dropped weapons do not require to-hitrolls. If a car is moving and fires a droppedweapon, the counter is aligned with the car.Where the front of the counter is placeddepends on where the weapon is mounted.
Front: Centered, aligned with the frontof the car.
Uiiderbody: Centered, with the counterfront in the center of the car.
Top: Same as underbody.Side: As underbody, but Vi" off to the
side.Back: Centered, aligned with die rear of
car.If the car is moving in reverse, reverse
the "front" and "back" designations above.If the car is stationary, rear-mounted
weapons remain the same, side-mountedweapons are placed straight out from the sideof the car, front weapons are placed straightout from the front of the car, and top/under-body weapons are centered on the car.
If the weapon is in a turret, the countermay be placed as if it were mounted in anyof the above locations.
The smoke cloud from the flamethroweris always aligned along the line of fire.
If a dropped weapon is put on automatic,a counter of the appropriate type is placedbehind the vehicle every phase the vehiclemoves. It will continue to do this until it runsout of ammo or is taken off automatic. If avehicle is not moving, a dropped weapon onautomatic will fire once per turn.
The counters for mines and spikes showapproximately where they are. If a vehiclecrosses a tire-spike counter, roll 1 die. On aroll of 1 to 4, each tire takes Id damage. If avehicle crosses any square adjacent to thecounter (see diagram below), roll 1 die; on a1 or 2, the tire takes Id damage. Spikes willstay on the road indefinitely. Solid and plas-ticore tires take half damage from spikes.
Mine counters work the same way, ex-cept that if any wheel of a vehicle crosses thecounter, the mines will go off on a roll of 1to 4. If the vehicle only crosses an adjacentsquare, the mines explode on a 1 or 2. Eachtire within 1" of any edge of the minecounter takes Id damage, and the underbodyof the vehicle that set the mines off takes 2ddamage. The Spear 1000 mine works thesame way, except that tires only take ld-3points of damage, while the underbody takes2d+3! After a particular set of mines hasbeen set off, the counter is removed.
Mines may also be remote controlled,either by radio or by cable. Setting offmines in this way counts as a firing action,but the mines go off when you want them to.If you want mines that will go off either byremote control or when they're run over,double the cost.
An oil slick is defined by the edge of thecounter. When any part of a vehicle crossesan oil slick counter, it adds D2 to the diffi-culty of any maneuver attempted; it alsoadds D2 to the severity of any hazard en-countered (such as enemy fire). It is not ahazard in itself. Flaming oil slicks are a Dlwhen driven over and add a D2 to any ma-neuver or hazard and also cause damage tothe underbody and tires, as described in theindividual weapon descriptions. Oil slickslast indefinitely, but flaming oil disappearsafter five turns.
Each vehicle checks only once for eachcounter — on the phase it first runs over thecounter, or (if it's just going to touch theadjacent square area) the first phase it enters
32 Combat
an adjacent square. Of course, if the vehiclereturns to the counter's location, it will haveto roll again.
For dropped liquids and dropped gasesthat do damage to a vehicle, roll for damageto the vehicle every five phases that the ve-hicle remains in contact with the damagingsubstance.
Paint and SmokePaint and smoke may be produced by
rear-mounted or side-mounted weapons(see diagrams above). Do not try to line upa cloud with the grid lines. Orient it accord-ing to the vehicle's position. Smokescreensand paint clouds remain stationary. The lifeof a smoke cloud is one minute (longer thanmost battles will take). The life of a paintspray is one second. Remove it at the end ofthe turn after the one in which it is fired.
Any vehicle trying to trace a line of firethrough paint or smoke must subtract 1from its to-hit roll for each Vi" of cloud inthe way. Lasers cannot fire through smokeor paint at all.
When a smokescreen or paint spray isplaced on automatic, it fires once everyphase the vehicle moves. This produces acontinuous line of paint or smoke counters.It will continue to do so until it runs out ofammo or is taken off automatic. If the vehi-cle is not moving, a smokescreen or paintspray on automatic fires once per turn.
Tear gas can be loaded in a smokescreen(CPS 50, WPS 1). Tear gas affects targetingthe same way regular smoke does, as wellas having serious effects on any unpro-tected pedestrians (for a full description oftear gas, see the grenade rules on p. 36).
Any vehicle which comes into contactwith a paint cloud gets paint on its windows.The vehicle will make all to-hit rolls at a -2for the rest of that turn and the next threeturns; after that, the windshield washerswill have cleaned it off. Both paint andsmoke are available in just about any color.
Linked WeaponsAnother way to get more firepower per
turn out of your vehicle is to link weapons.A weapons link costs $50, and has no spaceor weight requirements. Two or more iden-tical weapons firing from the same side (orin a turret) may be linked, aimed and fired
together. It is not necessaryfor linked weapons to befired together — a link is es-sentially a third button, in
S addition to the first two, thatfires both weapons simulta-neously. You can still pressone of the first two buttons tofire a single weapon, if youwant.
When linked weapons are fired, make aseparate to-hit roll for each linked weapon.All modifiers — negative or positive — thataffect one linked weapon affect them all,including targeting computers, gunner skilland range.
Links can themselves be linked, pro-vided all the weapons are identical. Fourheavy rockets, linked in pairs that are alsolinked, gives the firer a number of options— fire any one, fire either of two pairs, orfire them all — at any time. Only identicalweapons may be linked and aimed together.
Weapons that are not identical can belinked, but only one can be aimed. Theother weapon(s) are treated as if they are onautomatic (except they fire when the buttonis pushed, and not at the end of the turn).The firer can pick which weapon he wishesto aim, and which one will be treated asautomatic (see above for rules on automaticfire). If two identical weapons are linkedwith a third, different, weapon, then the twoidentical weapons may be aimed togetherand the third is treated as if it were on auto-matic. Weapons with a turret cannot belinked and aimed with weapons in the mainbody of the vehicle, or in another turret,unless the weapons are smart-linked($500). Any type of dropped weapon orpaint/smoke weapon can be linked withanything with no penalty, since they do notrequire to-hit rolls. A common tactic is tolink a number of minedroppers andsmokescreens together and fire them to-gether to discourage pursuit.
Combat 33
Any number of weapons can be linkedtogether with one link. For example, a pairof rear-mounted minedroppers can belinked to a pair of spikedroppers mountedon the sides, all to fire at the same time asthe turreted machine gun. This is one link;when it is triggered, all five weapons mustfire. If you just want the two spikedroppersto fire, that requires another link. The sameis true for the two minedroppers.
HandWeapons
Any character (driver, gunner, passen-ger or pedestrian) may use a hand weaponany turn he or she does not fire a vehicleweapon. For game purposes, hand weaponstake up no weight or space. However, nocharacter may carry more than six grenadesor grenade-equivalents of equipment. A pis-tol counts as a grenade-equivalent; a rifle,shotgun or SMG counts as two. As cargo, abox of 12 grenades weighs 50 pounds andtakes up one space (it takes 1 turn to get agrenade from cargo space). For completestats on hand weapons, see p. 47.
Hand weapons do not get bonuses forcomputer aiming, but all other modifica-tions for vehicular weapons apply. Hand-gunner skill is used with hand weapons,instead of the Gunner skill.
Hand weapons have full effect on tires.Most will not affect other vehicle compo-nents except at point-blank range (see Haiid-to-Hand Combat on p. 45). A few handweapons will work (either half effect or fulleffect) against vehicles; seep. 47.
RangeA grenade may be thrown up to 5" (see
below for more on grenades). Other handweapons have a maximum range of 20" forgame purposes.
Firing Penalties and BonusesThe driver of a moving vehicle must
subtract 3 from his to-hit roll with any handweapon. Gunners or passengers subtract 1.Pedestrians or stationary characters fire atthe listed values. In certain situations,pedestrians may get bonuses for firing from
a non-moving position. Firing from inside amoving vehicle is not considered station-ary, but firing from a stopped vehicle is.
GrenadesGrenades come in a number of types,
but all share some similarities. They have asimple time-delay switch (1 to 5 seconds),and an activation switch. Setting the time-delay takes 1 second, but they can be setahead of time. Changing the time delay alsotakes 1 second. The timer may be replacedwith an impact fuse, which sets the grenadeoff the instant it lands.
To throw a grenade, simply start thetimer by pressing the activation switch, andthrow it. The grenade will go off at the endof the turn in which the timer stops. If youset the timer at 1, it will go off at the end ofthe turn after the turn in which you press theswitch. Grenades fired from launchers areautomatically activated upon firing.
Thrown and launched grenades take ex-actly 1 second to reach or impact their tar-get; if you fire a grenade launcher in turn 1on phase 3, it will hit the ground on phase 3of turn 2. The to-hit roll is not made untilthe grenade touches down.
The to-hit roll for a thrown grenade is 9or better on 2 dice. But that's misleading,because even a successful roll will not putthe grenade in the exact square you wereaiming for, unless you roll a natural 12. Ona 12, the grenade lands in the exact vV'square you were aiming for. Any other dieroll is a miss of one degree or another.
Any grenade toss that is less than thebest possible (a 12), will deviate from theintended target. This deviation has twocomponents — Direction and Distance. Or,to put it another way, which way did it go,and how badly did you miss?
Grenade Direction TableRoll 1 die, and consult the following:
1 —Off to the right.2 — Off to the left.3 — On line, but short.4 — On line, but long.5 — Off to the right, and long or short
(roll randomly).6 — Off to the left and long or short (roll
randomly).
34 Combat
Grenade Distance TableHow far the grenade lands from the in-
tended spot depends on how badly youmissed your to-hit roll. If your grenade wasboth offline and long/ short, roll separatelyfor each distance.
Made your roll or higher but rolled lessthan 12 — ld-3 VA" squares in each di-rection called for by the direction roll.
Missed by 1 — ld-1 (treat a 0 result as 1)squares in each direction called for.
Missed by 2 — ld+1 squares in each direc-tion called for.
Missed by 3 — 2d-2 (treat a 0 result as 1)squares in each direction called for.
Missed by 4 or 5 — 2d+3 squares in eachdirection called for.
Missed by 6 or more — 3d squares (8squares minimum) in each directioncalled for.
If the line of flight for the grenade isdiagonal to the grid lines, just rememberthat each square is vi", and use a ruler todetermine the final location of the grenade.
Example: George thinks an enemy vehi-cle is about to slip out a side alley, so hewants to toss a grenade into the open areawhere the alley intersects the street. Georgepicks a target square and rolls the dice. Heneeds a 9 or better to hit, but rolls an 8. Notbad, but a miss. Next George rolls on theDirection Table, and gets a 5 — off to theright, and either short or long. He assigns"evens" to long, and rolls another 5 — in-dicating the grenade came up short, too.
Next, George consults the Grenade Dis-tance Table — "missed by 1" means thegrenade is off by ld-1 squares in each di-rection called for by the first set of rolls,rolled separately. George's grenade is bothto the right and short of his intended spot.George rolls a 2, then a 3 — so the grenadeends up one square (2-1) to the right, andtwo squares (3-1) short of the intended tar-get.
If a grenade hits a large solid object —like a building or a car — while in flight, itwill bounce ld-1 squares and stop. The di-rection it bounces is determined by the angleat which the grenade hits the solid object. Ifthe grenade hits the object squarely, itbounces straight back toward the thrower. Ifit strikes at an angle, it will bounce off at the
same angle, away from the thrower. Gre-nades with impact fuses will not bounce;they will blow up at the point of impact.
The maximum range for a thrown gre-nade is 5" , and standard range penaltiesapply — that is, if your intended spot is 4 "to 5" away, there is a -1 penalty to hit, andif your intended spot is less than 1" away,there is a +4 bonus. If your intended spot isless than 1" away, you cannot miss bymore than two squares in any direction. Inno case can a grenade end up behind thethrower— if the distance "short" is greaterthan the distance first attempted, place thegrenade at the thrower's feet. A throwermay place a grenade in his own or any adja-cent square without having to roll at all.
A grenade may be thrown from a mov-ing vehicle at -2. There is no "automatichit" for adjacent squares, but the +4 point-blank bonus would apply. A grenadedropped or thrown from a vehicle could goin any direction. A roll of 2 or 3 indicatesdisaster — the grenade is dropped inside thevehicle and rolls under the seat — or some-thing equally nasty.
Grenade TypesA wide variety of grenades are available
for the discriminating duellist. When car-ried, they are all 1 GE each.
Concussion Grenade — $40. Does 1point of damage to all pedestrians and ex-posed cyclists in a 1" burst effect radius,but has an additional effect on people withina 2" radius. Roll 1 die:
1,2 — Victim unconscious for 10 min-utes.
3 — Victim unconscious for 1 minuteand stunned (unable to operate vehicle orweapon controls) for 2 more minutes.
4 — Victim unconscious for 10 secondsand stunned for 2 more minutes.
5 — Victim stunned for 30 seconds.6 — Victim stunned for 10 seconds.7 or more — No effect.Characters inside a vehicle with intact
armor between them and the blast are safefrom the effects. Characters with a build-ing, wall or other solid object between themand the blast add 5. Characters in a door-way or window, or in a vehicle which hasbreached armor between them and theblast, add 3 to their roll.
Combat 35
Explosive Grenade — $25. Does Iddamage to all vehicles within a vi" burstradius. Does Id damage to pedestrians in a2 " burst radius.
Fake Grenade — $5. Looks real, but isonly plastic.
Flechelte Grenade — $20. Does Iddamage to all pedestrians and exposed cy-clists in a 2 " burst radius. No damage totires or vehicular components.
Flaming Oil Grenade — $75. Creates avi" X vi" slick of oil which ignites after 1phase, just like a standard FOJ slick.
Flash Grenade — $150. Any personwithin 2 " of a flash grenade when it deto-nates (night only) is blinded for 1 second.Effects are doubled if the victim is wearingLI goggles. Naturally, if a character cannottrace line-of-sight to the grenade, he is im-mune to its effects. For this purpose, smokeand paint block line of sight.
Foam Grenade— $30. If this grenade isthrown within vi" of a fire, it puts out allfire in a 1" square area on a roll of 1 on 1die. If it goes off successfully when inside acar, it puts out all fire in that car, but only inthat car. The foam grenade can also be usedoffensively, because it blocks visibility likepaint when used on a target vehicle.
Impact Fuse — $50 per grenade. Thisreplaces the timer and causes the grenade toexplode on impact.
Paint Grenade — $20. Creates a 1" X1" paint cloud that is standard in everyother way. Also available in colors.
Smoke Grenade— $20. Creates a 1" X1" smoke cloud that is standard in everyother way. Available in a variety of colors.
Tear Gas Grenade — $30. Creates a 1"X 1" cloud that lasts one minute. Effectson weapon and laser fire are the same as forsmoke. Unprotected pedestrians and cycl-ists must roll once each turn they are in acloud. Multiple rolls don't produce cumula-tive results — just apply the worst resultrolled so far:
1 — Victim is unconscious for 5 minutes.2-4 — For 1 minute, victim is -6 to hit
with any weapon, and can only crawl at 3squares per turn.
5-6 — Victim is -2 to hit with any weaponfor this turn and 3 more turns.
Thermite Grenade — $100. Does Iddamage to all targets (including vehicles)
within a vi" radius; has a burn modifier of2/1.
While Phosphorus Grenade — $75.Does Id damage to pedestrians, half dam-age to vehicles, within vi" of the blast. Itcreates a 1" x 1" smoke cloud on detona-tion; fire modifier 2; burn duration 1.
BuildingsBreaches and Collapsing Buildings
A building is targeted at +10 to hit. It'sbig and doesn't move (so the +10 takes the"stationary" bonus into account). Eachbuilding has a DP value indicating thestrength of its walls. Any weapon doing atleast this much damage will produce a"breach." Lesser damage has no effect.
Example: A building has 10 DP. Aweapon result of 10 points damage or morewill produce a breach at the affected spot.However, any number of smaller hits mayaccumulate without causing harm — there isno need to keep track of building damagethat does not create a breach. A breach,once created, is identical to a door or win-dow for game purposes.
When a building accumulates breachesequal to its DP value, it will collapse. (A DP4 building falls after four breaches. The DP10 building mentioned above will take tenbreaches before it collapses.) It does notmatter where the breaches are. When abuilding falls, it creates rubble (see below).The fall of a building does not affect nearbybuildings — even those with which it sharesa wall. However, a breach in a commonwall will affect both buildings.
Everyone and everything inside a fallingbuilding suffers as many dice of damage asthe building has DP. For example, a 6 DPbuilding will do 6d damage to anyone andanything inside.
Cars will take this damage to their toparmor. If any top armor is left after the col-lapse, people inside the car will be safe —trapped, but safe. They won't be able to getout for as many turns as the building had DP.They'll still have to deal with the rubble aspedestrians after they escape from the car.
Some buildings will have two differentDP numbers, with the second one in paren-theses. The first number will be the number
36 Combat
of damage points required to create abreach, and the second will be the numberof breaches needed to collapse the building.For many buildings, this will be the samenumber — and only one number will beused. But for some buildings, it's not logi-cal. An example is a barn — only a fewdamage points will create a single breach,but it will take lots of breaches to collapseit. A barn like this will be described as hav-ing 4(15) DP — it only takes 4 damagepoints to create a breach, but the barn won'tcollapse until 15 breaches are made. Whena building with two DP numbers collapses,use the first to determine the amount ofdamage it does, etc. (see above).
When a building collapses, it becomesrubble. No vehicles may enter rubble. Pe-destrians may move through rubble at onesquare per second — moving only on Phase1 of a turn. Rubble takes up the samesquares that the building did.
Rubble continues to block line-of-sightbetween roads, just as if the building werestill there. If the firer or the target is in anelevated position, rubble can be sightedover, however. A pedestrian in rubble canfire as though the rubble was not there; heis considered "braced" and gets the +1bonus to hit. A pedestrian in rubble may befired on, but the attack is at -4.
Collapse of a building will also scatterdebris. When something collapses, take adozen debris counters and drop them overthe disaster site from a height of one foot,redropping any that fail to land on the street.
CoverA line of sight may be traced through any
door, window or breach. Therefore, a pe-destrian may stand inside a building and fireout. He must, however, be adjacent to thedoor or window for this LOS to be traced.
A pedestrian leaning around an edge ofa door or window presents a very small tar-get. Therefore, although he may be fired at,he has the protection of the wall. He is notlikely to be hit unless the wall is breached.
Example: A pedestrian is leaning out awindow, looking for a good shot, when aduellist with a laser tries to take him out.The duellist needs an 8 to hit, and gets it.The wall has 6 DP. The duellist rolls 10points of damage with his laser. The wall
takes 6 points (breaching it); the other 4 goto the pedestrian. If the wall had not beenbreached (if it had 12 DP, for example), thepedestrian would have been unhurt.
However, a very good shot can go rightthrough a door or window. If the roll to hitis at least 2 better than needed (in the aboveexample, if the duellist had rolled a 10),then both the pedestrian and the wall takefull damage.
Height ModificationsSituations may arise where duellists in
cars want to shoot at pedestrians on roof-tops; or a pedestrian gun battle may involveexchanging shots across a street into build-ings. Firing at any target that is on a higherlevel than you is at a -1 for every ten feet ofheight difference. Firing downward is at nopenalty, but throwing things (like grenades)is at -1 for every ten feet of height differ-ence. Each level of a multi-story building isassumed to be ten feet high. Some heights —a third-story rooftop, and fourth floor orhigher — cannot be hit by regular vehicularweapons on street level, unless the firing ve-hicle is farther away from the target than thetarget is high. Universal turrets and handweapons are the only way to fire on them.
Missed ShotsIn most cases, a missed shot rockets off
into the stratosphere, never to be seen again.In a scenario involving buildings, this isclearly inappropriate. A missed shot firedhorizontally goes in a straight line until itleaves the map or hits an obstacle, like abuilding. If another vehicle or pedestrian isin the exact line of fire, you can roll to hit,taking into account any additional rangepenalties and another -2 because youweren't aiming at him. When a "miss" doeshit something, it does standard damage.
For shots fired upward, roll 1 die. On a 1or 2, the shot hits one story higher than in-tended; on a 3 or 4, it hits two stories higher;on a 5 or 6, it misses the building entirely.
For shots fired downward, a miss willovershoot the target by 1 to 6 inches.
If you try to put a grenade through awindow and miss, the grenade lands at thebase of the building below the window youwere aiming at.
Combat 37
4. CharactersCar Wars characters are identical in
many ways. They all take up 2 spaces asvehicle crew members, and they all have 3damage points and weigh 150 pounds.Characters can be differentiated in threecategories: skills, prestige and wealth.
SkillsMany different skills are available for
characters. Some of these skills (Driver,Gunner, Cyclist, and so on) are useful in anyCar Wars game. Others (Fast-Talk, Street-wise, etc.) will be important only in cam-paigns with a heavy roleplaying element.
When a player wants to try somethingthat isn't covered by any of the skills in usein that campaign, the GM should fall backon "roll 2 dice and pray." In other words:Require the player to roll 2 dice. The higherthe roll, the better the result.
A character with a skill at the base levelcan use it with no penalties or bonuses. Mostskills can be attempted, at a penalty, even bythose with no training; see below.
With extra training and experience, acharacter with a skill at base level (for exam-ple, "Driver") can improve it to "Driver+ 1 , " and eventually "Driver + 2 , ""Driver + 3 , " and so on. In the course ofadventures, a character will gain "skillpoints." Some skill points can only be spenton particular skills, while others can bespent on any skill.
Beginning SkillsWhen first creating a character, you get
a few base skills automatically. Each char-acter starts with base-level skills in Run-ning, Climbing, and Area Knowledge forhis home town.
Each character also gets a total of 30skill points to spend as you wish. Each baselevel skill acquired during character cre-ation costs 10 skill points. Each additionalskill level costs 10 points up to Skill +3.Higher levels aren't possible with the be-ginning 30 points.
You can spend the 30 beginning skillpoints to acquire three base level skills, oryou can get one skill at base level and asecond at + 1 . You could even sink all 30points into buying one skill at +2, but yourcharacter would be pretty one-dimensional.You can also use some of your initial skillpoints to improve your Running skill.
Earning Skill PointsEvery time a character drives a vehicle
into combat and survives, one skill point isearned toward increasing the ability for thatvehicle — Driver, Cyclist, etc. (Combat isdefined as an incident in which a vehicleexchanges fire with foes.) The driver of avehicle that scores a "kill" in combat getsan additional point toward that vehicle skill.
A "kill" is scored when an enemy vehi-cle can no longer move or fire, either be-cause of a direct attack, a crash duringcombat, surrender of the occupants, orother circumstance. The occupants do nothave to die. Killing a pedestrian does notcount as a kill. (A bully hiding behindarmor should get no credit for zapping arelatively harmless pedestrian with a laser!)If a vehicle can no longer move, but still hasoperable weapons, it is not a kill unless anduntil it is forced to surrender.
If the crew abandons a vehicle or surren-ders, that counts as a kill. If a damagedvehicle escapes to safety, that docs not.
Entering combat as a pedestrian is wortha general skill point (sec below). If a pedes-trian kills another pedestrian (or knockshim out), he earns a point for the skill usedin the combat; scoring a kill against a vehi-cle is worth 5 points! If you are firing handweapons from a vehicle, no skill points areawarded except, possibly, as a refereeaward for heroic or miraculous shots!
Use of other skills, as per the skill de-scriptions, can earn points toward improv-ing those skills. If no specific rules arcgiven for a skill, the referee should simplyaward a point whenever it is used success-fully in a combat or stress situation.
38 Characters
General Skill PointsIn addition to the specific points
awarded for skill use, the referee shouldaward general skill points at the end of anadventure. These points may be applied forany skill, or saved to acquire a new skill atbase level. Some suggestions for generalskill point awards:
Winning an arena event: +3Surviving an arena event: +1Conspicuous bravery: +2Risking your life to save a teammate or
friend: +2Using an unusual tactic: +1Escaping an ambush alive: +1Successfully knocking out a vehicle so it
can be salvaged: +1Winning a highway duel: +1Winning a highway duel when you're out-
numbered: +2Completing a mission or adventure: De-
pends on the length and complexity ofthe task, but anywhere from +5 to +15would be appropriate.
This list is far from complete. Spectacu-lar escapes against overwhelming odds,brilliant tactics, or just plain lucky breakscould be situations worth extra skill points.While the players and even spectators arewelcome to offer suggestions on how manypoints should be awarded, the referee's de-cision is final.
Spending Points to Improve SkillsTo increase an existing skill up to Skill
+3 , spend 10 points; this improves the skillby one level. Higher skill levels cost 20points each up to Skill +6, 30 points eachup to Skill +9, etc.
To acquire a brand-new skill at baselevel, you must spend 10 points and pay$1,000 — and take 3 months off (in gametime) for training. The only exception is theMechanic skill (see below).
Using SkillsFrom time to time, the referee may call
for a skill roll to see if a character can suc-ceed at some feat. If you have a skill at baselevel, you succeed on a roll of 7 or more;otherwise, you fail. The effect of success orfailure will depend on the situation.
The higher your skill, the easier it is tomake a skill roll. Add your skill bonus toyour die roll. Thus, if you have Mechanic+ 1 , you would succeed on a natural roll of6, because 6+1 = 7 . However, a natural 2always fails.
A character who does not even have askill at base level (that is, did not spend atleast 10 points on it) gets a -4 on any skillroll. He will not succeed except on an 11 or12.
Depending on the relative ease or diffi-culty of a task, the referee may requiresome rolls to be made at a penalty or abonus.
Vehicle skills (Driver, Cyclist, etc.) arehandled differently. In most cases, your ve-hicle skill simply affects any control rollsyou must make. Occasionally, when a con-trol roll does not seem appropriate (espe-cially in a roleplaying situation), the refereemay require you to roll against a vehicleskill. In this case, your vehicle's handlingclass affects your skill. If you have a HC 2(average) vehicle, roll normally. If its HC islower than 2, subtract the difference fromyour skill. If it is above 2, add the differ-ence to your skill.
So a HC 3 vehicle, for instance, givesyou a +1 to your skill. A HC 2 vehiclegives no bonus or penalty; a HC 1 vehiclegives you a -1 to skill, and so on.
Contests of SkillWhen two characters compete in some
way, the referee may call for a Contest ofSkilk. Each character makes a skill roll asabove, adding any modifiers the refereefeels are appropriate. If both players makeor fail their rolls, then the contest is incon-clusive and may continue if the situation orcommon sense warrants. If both playersmake their rolls, but one makes it by 5 morethan the other, he wins. Obviously, if oneplayer makes the roll and the other doesn't,the player who made his roll wins.
Some situations may call for a quick con-test of skills. In a quick contest, each playeronly rolls once, adding all appropriate mod-ifiers. The player with the higher scorewins. If they tie, the contest is inconclusive.
Example: Two duellists, after a long andprotracted road combat, sail into the protec-tion of a ghost town. Larry (Driver +2),
Characters 39
unwilling to give up the fight, spins throughtown attempting to find Curly's (Driver+1) car. Rather than play it out in a compli-cated double-blind fashion, the referee callsfor a Contest of Driver Skills. Curly hasbeen through this town before (AreaKnowledge +1), so the referee gives him a+ 1 on his roll. Both players roll two dice.Larry gets a 9 (7, +2 for his Driver skillbonus), poor Curly gets a 5 (3, +1 for hisDriver skill bonus, +1 for his Area Knowl-edge). Thus, Larry wins the contest, andgets the drop on Curly. The referee setsCurly's vehicle out in the open, travelling ata reasonable urban speed, and Larry is freeto place his car anywhere nearby, movingat any speed.
General skill points may be used to im-prove these skills; so can any points earnedby particularly successful or imaginativeuses of the skill itself.
SkillDescriptionsArea Knowledge — Used to get around
in a particular city, state, duel circuit orpatch of untamed wilderness. A successfulArea Knowledge roll means the charactercan answer detailed questions about thearea known; where to find someone orsomething, where to best set an ambush,etc. The amount of detail will decrease asthe size of the area increases. Better rollsallow better use of the information.
All characters are assumed to have thisat base level for their hometown. Improve-ments to the skill add other areas or moredetail about a known area, at the referee'soption.
Climbing — Like Running, everyonegets this skill at base level. Climbing skill isused to climb trees (at -1 to skill), fences(-2), some buildings (-3 to -5), etc.
Computer Tech — Most computer sys-tems in the Car Wars world are very easy touse, and no roll is required. Computer Techis the computer equivalent of Mechanic, andis used to program a system, break througha computer's defenses (a Contest of Skill be-tween the hacker and the computer's defen-sive programming), etc.
Cyclist — This is the ability to drive anysize motorcycle or trike. Anyone withoutthis skill is at -3 on the handling class of anycycle he tries to ride. The skill is otherwiselike Driver (below).
Driver — This is the ability to drive astandard car, pickup, van, etc. — anythingwith four or six wheels — or a reversedtrike. Someone without this skill may at-tempt to drive such a vehicle, but alwayssubtracts 2 from his handling class. At thebase level, the character is an averagedriver. Each additional plus adds to his re-flex roll. At the beginning of each combat,every driver makes a reflex roll: On a 5, theHC of the vehicle is raised by one for theduration of the combat; on a 6, the HC goesup by 2. A Driver +2, for example, wouldget to add 2 to the die roll. Each additionalplus is also added to the base HC of a vehi-cle to determine how many points are re-covered on the Vehicle Record Sheet at thebeginning of each turn.
A good driver is better at keeping hisvehicle under control. Whenever a vehicleis forced to roll on a Crash Table, subtractthe driver's Driver skill bonus from the roll.
Fast-Talk — The skill of weaselingone's way out of a situation by gettingsomeone else to make a snap decision inone's favor. To fast-talk a potential sucker,a character rolls against his Fast-Talk skill,adding any modifiers the referee feels ap-propriate (an enemy in a firefight will bemore resistant to a pitch). Fast-Talk mayalso be used to resist someone else's at-tempt to Fast-Talk, in which case a quickcontest of skills is required.
Gunner — This is the ability to use thetargeting system common to all vehicles,and to fire any vehicular or tripod weapon.A character without this skill has a -3 to hitwith any vehicular weapon, -2 with a tripodweapon. Each plus adds 1 to the gunner'sto-hit roll: a character with Gunner +3 adds3 to any to-hit rolls he makes. Entering acombat while in control of a weapon is wortlia Gunner skill point; each kill scored is alsoworth 1. Note that if the driver of a vehiclealso pulls the trigger of the weapon thatscores a kill, he gets two skill points — onein Gunner and one in Driver — for the kill.
Handgunner — The ability to use handweapons and grenades. Anyone without
40 Characters
this ability has -2 to hit with all aimed handweapons, but may throw grenades withoutpenalty. Each plus gives a +1 to hit with allhand weapons and grenades.
Luck — Each level of Luck adds 1 infavor of the catch-all "roll 2 dice and pray"method for handling odd situations. Luckwill not help if there is another skill that cando the job.
Martial Arts — This is the ability to fightmore effectively in hand-to-hand combat(see p. 45). Characters with the base skillmay attack twice per turn hand-to-hand. At+ 1 , they get +1 to their to-hit roll; at +2,they get an additional point of damage. Thecycle repeats beyond that: at +3 , the char-acter gets an additional attack per turn; at+4, he gets an additional +1 on the to-hitroll; at +5, he gets an additional damagepoint; and so on.
Mechanic — This is the ability to repairvehicles and components. The time it takesto repair something (if it can be repaired atall) is a function of the character's Me-chanic skill, as well as the difficulty of thejob and the tools that are available.
Repair ChartLevel Trivial Easy Medium Hard Very
HardNo skill 2 11 x xxMechanic 1 9 11 12 xMech. + 1 1 7 9 11 14Mech. +2 1 5 7 9 11Mech. +3 1 3 5 7 11
To perform a given repair job, a Me-chanic must roll 2 dice, and get the numbershown on the chart (or higher). He may tryonce per hour (every 30 minutes for a Me-chanic +3). An " x " means the job is im-possible at that skill level. These numbersassume the mechanic has a basic tool kit. Ifhe is working with improvised tools (pocketknife, chewing gum, baling wire), subtract2 from all rolls. If he has only a mini-me-chanic (p. 46), subtract 1. If he has a porta-ble shop (see p. 59), add 1. If he is workingin a regular garage, add 2. A successful rollrepairs 1 point of damage on the item inquestion (3 points if armor is being re-paired), or successfully installs/dismounts/salvages the item in question.
Any number of mechanics can work onthe same vehicle, but no more than three
can work on the same item at once. Eachone rolls separately for success.
Difficulty of Repair JobsImpossible (cannot be attempted): Repair
damaged tires, repair computer.Very Hard: Jury-rig rocket or laser.Hard: Jury-rig other components; repair
laser, rocket, radio or power plant.Medium: Repair any weapon other than
laser or rocket; reweld or patch armor;salvage radio, power plant, or computerfrom a wreck.
Easy: Replace weapon link; salvage otheritems from a wreck.
Trivial (even someone with no Mechanicskill can do this): Reload ammunition;replace or salvage tire; salvage sparemagazines and unused ammunition froma wreck.
Repair is the process of fixing a dam-aged part. Each time a successful roll ismade, one DP is restored to the item (or 3points in the case of armor). If a componentis totally destroyed, it cannot be repaired —only jury-rigged.
Jury-Rigging is a temporary repair job.If the proper roll is made, the jury-riggedcomponent regains 1 DP, putting it back inservice. A jury-rigged component cannever be properly repaired, and if it is dam-aged again, it cannot be jury-rigged a sec-ond time. Some items will be destroyed sototally that they cannot even be jury-rigged— like what's left of a cycle after a head-oncollision with an 18-wheeler.
Salvage is the removal of a part from awreck. A mechanic must make the appro-priate repair roll to salvage any given part.
Installation is the opposite of salvage —putting a new part in to replace a destroyedone. The old part must first be "salvaged"(that is, removed), even if it was totally de-stroyed. The roll to install any part is thesame as the roll to repair it — see the chartabove. When the roll is successfully made,the part is installed.
Learning the Mechanic SkillThe only way to learn or improve this
skill is to spend game time as a full-timemechanic at a duel arena, truck stop or
Characters 41
garage. Since this is not especially thrilling,most high-level mechanics will be thereferee's characters, or player charactersthat started by taking Mechanic +1 or +2.
If a character decides to drop out ofduelling to become a mechanic, it takes ayear (during which he also earns $6,000above living expenses) to get the basic skill.It takes 2 more years (clearing $8,000 ayear) to get to + 1 , 3 more years (clearing$10,000 a year) to get to +2, and 5 moreyears (clearing $15,000 a year) to get to+3 . A Mechanic +3 has a fairly safe lifeand earns $20,000 a year above livingexpenses. Mechanics may rise no higherthan +3 .
Paramedic — This skill helps save in-jured victims.
If a character is at 0 DP but not below,and the medic can get to him within 20 turnsof the fatal injury, a successful roll will savethe character's life. He will remain at 0 DP,but will be alive. DP are healed at the rateof one every 2 weeks of game time. If avictim is below 0 DP, or the medic doesn'tget there in time, or fails his roll (only onechance), the victim is dead. Every success-ful use of the Paramedic skill is worth 2 skillpoints toward improvement of that skill.
If a victim has 1 DP left (that is, he'sunconscious), a successful Paramedic rollwill revive him for a few minutes (longenough to get some important information,for example).
Running — Everyone starts with thisskill at its base level. Each plus adds 2.5mph to a character's speed — with Running+3, you move at 20 mph and Sprint at 25mph! No character may move faster than 25mph (even while Sprinting). There is noway to earn points specifically in Running,but general skill points may be spent to im-prove the skill.
Security — The knowledge of securitysystems — techniques and methods of con-struction, and ways to disarm or fool them.
Streetwise — This skill allows a charac-ter to get around in the underworld, get apiece of the action and make the contacts heneeds. Successful use of Streetwise lets youfind out where any sort of illegal activity isgoing on, who can (or must) be bribed, andso on.
This is a character's status among otherautoduellists and the millions of TV autoduelfans. Prestige increases a character's possi-ble arena winnings and decreases his expen-ditures for new cars, parts, repairs, etc.
Each character starts with 0 prestige.Arena combat always counts for prestige;road combat sometimes affects prestige.There is a 2 in 6 chance that any road com-bat will have been witnessed or filmed byhelicopter TV crews, in which case itscores normal prestige. Otherwise, you'rean unsung hero for that fight — no prestige.In some situations (inside a city, in an areawith competing TV stations that devotemore time to autoduelling, etc.), the chanceof a witnessing TV crew may be higher.That decision is up to the referee.
An ace is a character who has partici-pated in five confirmed kills — that is, arenakills or road kills that were witnessed. Adouble ace is a character with ten confirmedkills.
ScoringPrestige is scored as follows:
For entering combat: +1Winning an event: +2For each kill your vehicle scores: +2Your vehicle "killed" but you survive un-
hurt: -1Your vehicle "killed" but you survive with
injury: -2You leave your vehicle while it can both
move and fire: -1You leave the arena in a vehicle that can
both move and fire: -1You attack with hand weapons while out-
side a vehicle: +1You kill a vehicle occupied by a character
with prestige of 15-20: +1You kill a vehicle occupied by a character
with prestige over 20: +2You become an ace: +5You become a double ace: +10
A character may earn up to 3 extra pres-tige points per game for excellent play,lucky shots, or survival against bad odds.These points are awarded by majority voteof the players and onlookers during thatgame. The referee breaks ties.
42 Characters
Being killed lowers prestige: -1 for a he-roic death, -2 for an ordinary combat death,-3 for a mundane death, -5 for a cowardlydeath.
Advantages of PrestigeIn any arena combat where cash prizes
are offered, a character with prestige of 10or better earns a percentage bonus equal tohis prestige; that is, a prestige of 17 earns a17% bonus. In addition, a character withprestige of 15 or better gets a 25% discounton all new car purchases and repairs (for hisown use only); prestige of 25 or better earnsa 50% discount. This is in return for thechampion's sponsorship of various brandsof ammunition, autos, weapons, etc.
WealthEach character begins with 0 wealth. He
can get started in a number of ways. Hecould enter an "Amateur Night" arena sce-nario (p. 62) in which the network suppliesvehicles for aspiring drivers, or he could behired as a mercenary for a highway convoy.However a character gets started, there areseveral ways he can earn money:
Selling cars: A car may be sold for sal-vage after it has been used. Most arena con-tests give a survivor the right to salvage hiskills, too.
Arena prizes: This is the big money. Thereferee for a continuing arena campaignmay set cash prizes. A typical purse wouldbe from Vi to 1 Vi times the total value of thevehicles competing.
Road salvage: You can earn money theway the cycle gangs do: pick a fight on theroad, and strip your kill for salvage.
Perform missions: Many adventures in-volve doing something hazardous (deliveran item or person to another city, protect aperson, steal an item) for pay. These can bevery profitable, but the risk is high and thecharacters should be well-equipped and ex-perienced. This is not for beginners.
Transactions with other players: Carsales, used equipment, side bets, and what-ever else you think of.
Other than repairs and ammo purchases,the only expense a continuing character hasis $150 per week for food, a place to stay
and power plant recharges. A character withno money must sell something or starve. Acharacter with no money and no car is obvi-ously afraid to enter the arena, so his pres-tige drops to zero and he's out of the game.
Not everyone has a car. Vehicles mayface challenges from enemies on foot — or adriver may leave a wrecked vehicle andsprint for safety. A pedestrian is representedby a counter that is Vi" X V*". The pedes-trian is considered to be in just the front halfof the counter — a single V4" square. Thelarger counter is provided for ease of han-dling. Anyone firing on a pedestrian musttrace a line of fire to the particular square thepedestrian is in, not just any part of the entirecounter. Pedestrian counters should alwaysbe lined up with the map grid.
Pedestrian MovementMost pedestrians move at 12.5 mph; that
is, they move VA" on every phase. Pedestri-ans may move into any adjacent square, in-cluding those which are diagonally adjacent,in their move. They can change directionany time without bothering with control rollsor handling class (though tilings like oil andspikes can hamper movement).
You may elect to go slower, and thereare ways of going faster (see below). Todetermine the phases in which you move,multiply your speed by 4 and read the ap-propriate line on the Movement Chart, p. 7.Move VA" in each phase the chart indicates.For example, someone moving 17.5 mphwould move VA" in each phase indicated onthe chart for 70 mph. Pedestrians go beforecars moving at the same speed.
Going FasterSpending points to increase your Run-
ning ability will increase your base speed.For short periods of time, you may also optto Sprint. A Sprinting character increaseshis speed by 5 mph for up to 10 seconds.After the 10 seconds, he can continue torun, but only at his base speed, and only fora maximum of 10 more seconds. Then hemust stop and rest. After Sprinting, a char-acter must stop and rest for 1 second for
Characters 43
every 2 seconds spent Sprinting; if heSprinted for 6 seconds, he must rest for 3,for example. A character who is resting cando nothing except catch his breath. Youcannot Sprint up a flight of stairs, and youcannot fire a weapon while Sprinting — butif you need to get under cover fast, the extraspeed could save your life.
There is no limit to the number of dir-ection changes a pedestrian can make —don't bother with handling classes, controlrolls or Crash Table rolls.
StairsStairways are marked on Car Wars maps
as a series of squares, with every othersquare marked with a floor number. When apedestrian reaches the numbered squarecorresponding to the floor he is on, he muststop. On phase 1 of the next turn, he maymove one square up or down. On phase 1 ofthe turn after that, he may move again. Thiscontinues until he reaches the floor hewants. On the turn after reaching the num-bered square for any floor, the pedestrianmay move on that floor normally. The up-permost box of many staircases is marked"R," and represents a hatch to the roof ofthe building. It takes one turn to move fromthe "R" square to any adjacent square —then movement continues normally.
The Running skill helps a pedestrianwhen climbing stairs. For each level ofRunning the character has above base levelhe can climb one additional square per turn,up to a maximum of 5. If a Runner +2 wasclimbing a set of stairs, he would climb onesquare on phase 1 of the turn, then anotheron phase 2, one on phase 3, and then againon phase 1 of the next turn.
Dropping Prone, Crawling and HidingA pedestrian can drop prone instantly —
this takes no time. A prone pedestrian canbe in the open (an extra -1 to hit), com-pletely safe (behind a wall, for instance), orcovered but not completely safe (if he isprone in rubble, he is at a -5 to be hit). Apedestrian can fire from prone position.Being immobile gives him a +1 to hit. Apedestrian who is in safe cover (such asbehind a wall) but sticks his head out to fireis at a -2 for cover.
A prone pedestrian can crawl, movingin phases 2 and 4 only. He cannot fire whilecrawling.
It requires a full second to stand up froma prone or crawling position.
Spikes, Oil and MinesPedestrians can run afoul of the nasty
surprises dropped on city streets and in-tended for vehicles. When a pedestrian en-ters a square covered by a spike counter(not the adjacent area, but the counter it-self), he must roll 2 dice. On a 2 or 3, thepedestrian takes ld-4 points of damage.
A pedestrian on oil is more likely to re-semble a Keystone Kop than Clint East-wood. When a pedestrian enters a squarewith oil on it, he rolls 2 dice. He must roll a5 or better to stay on his feet. If he movesimmediately to another square with oil, hemust roll a 7; then a 9, and then an 11 foreach subsequent square. If a pedestrianfalls, he can either spend an entire second tostand up — which also requires a roll of 7 orbetter on 2 dice to accomplish — or crawl,moving only during Phases 2 and 4.
Flaming oil has the same effect as regu-lar oil, and pedestrians also take 1 point ofdamage at the end of every turn they're init. Body armor docs protect against damagefrom flaming oil.
The weight of a pedestrian will not setoff vehicle-type mines.
Equipment and EncumbrancePedestrians may carry up to six gre-
nades, or six grenade-equivalents (GEs)worth of equipment; see the list on pp. 45-47. This does not affect their movement.Carrying a heavier load, except with a packor similar item, is prohibited.
CombatPedestrians can use hand weapons only
(see list, p. 47). A pedestrian can only fireonce a turn. Once a pedestrian fires, he can-not move for the rest of the turn. A sprintingor crawling pedestrian cannot fire.
Pedestrians have 3 Damage Points — thefirst hit wounds, the second knocks uncon-scious, and the third kills. They can wearbody armor, which adds DP.
44 Characters
If a vehicle collides with a pedestrian,use the collision system in Chapter 2. Re-member, pedestrians have a damage modi-fier of VS. The collision system can also beused if pedestrians run into each other.
Hand-to-Hand CombatFor one pedestrian to strike another, he
must be in a square adjacent to his intendedvictim. He must roll a 2 or higher to hit, butall targeting modifiers (except for the point-blank range bonus) are in effect, includingthe -3 for targeting a pedestrian, so the neteffect is that — most of the time — he willneed a 5 or better on 2 dice. A human fistdoes ld-5 damage. If the attacker has some-thing heavy in his hand — a pistol, an un-used grenade, or a rock (any debris markerwill yield something appropriate), the dam-age roll is ld-4.
If a pedestrian has moved more than halfhis movement allowance in a given turn, hecannot attack hand-to-hand this turn.
A pedestrian may also make a "hand-to-hand" attack against an adjacent vehicle.He must have something to hit it with — abare-handed attack against vehicle armor ispointless. A pedestrian with a rock or otherobject may strike a vehicle once per turn(no to-hit roll is needed). He does ld-5damage . . . that is, on a roll of 6, he does 1hit. A hand weapon used in this fashion willno longer be useful as anything but a club.
A hand weapon may also do damage toa vehicle in a more conventional way. Anyhand weapon fired from point-blank rangeat a stationary vehicle hits automatically,doing 1 point of damage. Any hand weaponthat would ordinarily do more than 1 pointof damage against a vehicle (such as theSMG), gets the higher damage.
Hand weapons take one turn to reload;this replaces one magazine. Nothing elsecan be done while reloading a weapon.When a pedestrian is hit by a weapon, hewill always take a minimum of 1 point ofdamage from that weapon.
Pedestrians and VehiclesA pedestrian must stand beside a cycle
for one full turn (one second) to get on. Thenext turn, he is astride it. He must remainmotionless for 3 seconds, this being aboutthe time necessary to get a cycle running.
After the 3 seconds, he can move normally.A driver getting off a cycle (or out of avehicle) must spend a full turn beside it aftercoming to a complete stop (time to dis-mount) and then may run normally.
A driver or passenger may jump from amoving vehicle. Roll for damage as if thejumper were hit by a vehicle (with a damagemodifier of 1) going 10 mph slower than thevehicle was going. The jumper lands in anyadjacent square, and may move and/or firebeginning the next turn.
It would take about 30 seconds to pickup and restart a fallen cycle of any size.Most combats won't last that long.
To enter a larger vehicle, a pedestrianmust stand beside it for one turn (openingthe door). On the next turn, he may enter.The next turn he may close the door; if theside of the vehicle is hit while the door isopen, half of all damage from area effectweapons is taken to the armor, and the restis applied internally. For other weapons,there is a 3 in 6 change that all damage willbypass the armor and be applied internally.
It takes 3 seconds to start a vehicle. Itcannot move until the fourth turn — but itmay begin firing weapons immediately.
Pedestrian EquipmentAmmo clips — $50 + cost of a full load
of ammo for that weapon, Vi GE each formost weapons, 1 GE for SMGs and GLs.Extended Ammo Clips are available for pis-tols, SMGs, and rifles. $80 + cost ofammo, holds twice as much ammunition asa standard clip. Extended ammo clips takeup 1 GE for most weapons and 2 GEs forSMGs and GLs.
Backpack — $40, no GEs. The packcarries 5 GEs' worth of hand weapons thatdo not count toward the 6 GE limit. It takesa firing action to remove or don a backpack,and items may be added to or removed onlyfrom a laid-down pack. It takes Id secondsto add something to or remove somethingfrom the pack. If the pack is carried ratherthan worn, it counts as 5 GEs.
Battle Vest — $75, 3 GEs. Holds onepistol, two grenades of any type, two hand-weapon magazines of any type, and oneBowie knife. Fits over body armor, butmust be worn to gain benefits; if carried,counts as 6 GEs. Putting on or removing a
Characters 45
vest counts as a firing action, but addingsomething to or retrieving it from the vestdoes not. An armored version is availablefor $225, which gives the wearer an addi-tional 3 DP, but only works on a 1 to 4 on 1die. The armored battle vest cannot be wornover IBA or impact armor.
Body Armor — $250. Gives the wearer3 extra damage points, but does not protectfrom falling or collision damage.
Improved Body Armor — $1,500.Works like regular body armor, except thatit has 6 DP instead of 3. If the wearer is in aburning vehicle, roll 1 die each turn. On a 1to 3, the wearer takes no damage. On a 4 to6 the wearer takes the normal point of dam-age. Anyone wearing improved body armormust subtract 1 from his reflex roll becauseof the bulk, and pedestrians in IBA havetheir speed reduced by 5 mph (2squares/turn). The IBA also includes abuilt-in gas mask, and reduces the amount aperson can carry to 5 GEs.
Impact Armor — $2,000. Impact armorgives the wearer 6 additional DP and is fullyeffective against falls and collisions. Fur-thermore, any fall or collision damage ishalved before applying it to the armor's DP.Naturally, once the armor is destroyed (bycollision or weapons fire), these benefitsare lost. Impact armor has the same effectson carrying capacity, reflex rolls and run-ning speed as IBA, but it doesn't give pro-tection from fire or gas. This item cannot becombined with any other form of bodyarmor except for a fireproof suit.
Blended Body Armor — $750 and up.Gives the wearer 3 extra DP, just like regu-lar body armor, but is indistinguishablefrom street clothes. Custom tailoring maycost more. Regular body armor of any typecannot be worn with this item, and a fire-proof suit will be obvious if worn. Im-proved Body Armor is also available in ablended version for $5,000 and up, but itdoes not offer protection from fire or gas(though its penalties still apply). Impactarmor is not available in a blended version.
Spiked Body Armor — adds $100 to costof any kind of body armor. Spiked armorinflicts an extra point of damage in hand-to-hand combat, through the use of spikedknuckles, knees, etc.
Fireproof Suit — $500, no weight orspace. Worn under body armor, the suitwill protect the wearer completely from ve-hicular fires for 30 turns — after that, thewearer takes 1 point of damage for everyten more seconds exposed. The suit pro-tects the same way against flaming oil andbuilding fires. If the wearer is hit by anytype of flamethrower fire, damage is halved(round down). The suit offers no protectionfrom other weapons.
Gas Mask — $30, 1 GE. Gas masks pro-tect against tear gas and other irritants. Ifexposed to paint, wearer has -2 to his to-hitrolls until the mask is removed.
Light Intensifier Goggles — $300, 1GE. Reduces the penalty "to hit" for nightcombat from -3 to -1 . A LIG/Gas maskcombination costs $400, but is still only 1GE. Paint not only adds a -2 penalty, butalso negates the goggles' bonus at night.
Medikit — $1,000. Counts as a pedes-trian's full load when carried. As cargo, ittakes up 2 spaces and 50 lbs., and has 3 DP.Gives a +2 bonus to all Paramedic rolls.
Portable Medikit - $750, 3 GEs. Wornlike a backpack (5 GEs if carried by hand),takes 2 seconds to put on or take off. Givesa +1 to Paramedic rolls; this cannot be com-bined with the bonus for a Medikit. If thewearer is hit, roll 1 die: on a 1, the Medikitis hit first, taking damage to its 2 DP.
Mini-Mechanic — $50, 1 GE. Whenusing this item for any repair job, the penaltyfor using improvised tools is at -1 instead of-2. Will fit like a grenade in a battle vest.
Portable Fire Extinguisher — $150, 20lbs., Vi space carried as cargo, 3 GEs whencarried. Puts out a vehicular fire on 1 to 2on 1 die (or a 1 for a gas burner). Can be"fired" 20 times before it must be refilled— which costs $20 and can be done at manytruck stops, armories and hardware stores.
Tool Kit — $600, 6 GEs. Includesenough tools and spare parts to allow a me-chanic to work in the field at no penalty.Has 2 DP; the first point of damage hurtsthe case, and the second point breaks thecase and destroys or scatters the contents.
Tripod Weapons — Adds 10% to theweapon's cost, 5 GEs. May mount up to 2spaces' worth of any vehicular weapon (orlinked weapons). Extra magazines may bepurchased, and do not count toward the
46 Characters
tripod's "spaces" — they are placed on theground next to the weapon. Each extramagazine is 2 GEs. Weapons that requirepower (e.g., lasers) will require a battery.
A tripod gunshield can be added, adding1 GE to the weapon, at $10 and 4 lbs. perpoint of armor (max. weight 40 lbs.). Theshield acts like a wheelguard: On a 1 to 4,the gunshield takes damage before the tar-get. Gunshield armor is considered to be a
vehicular component, and thus takes half orno damage from many hand weapons.
Tripod weapons cannot be used by anormal passenger in a vehicle. A passengerwho wishes to use a tripod weapon takes upan additional space (i.e., a gunner wouldtake up 3 spaces). Tripod weapons take up2 spaces as cargo.
Walkie-Talkie - $250, 1 GE. It workslike a vehicular CB and has a 3-mile range.
Hand Weapon List;WeaponSubmachine GunRifleAnti-Vehicular RifleHeavy AV Rifle
Assault RifleLaser RifleGauss RifleShotgun
Double-BarreledShotgun
Heavy PistolLight Pistol
Machine PistolGauss PistolGrenade Launcher
Light Anti-TankWeapon
Very Light
Abbrev.SMG
—AVR
HAVR
ARLRGRStG
DStG
HPLPMPGPGL
LAW
VLAWAnti-Tank Weapon
BazookaBowie Knife/BayonetGrenades
—G
GE223432223
11112
2
1
411
DamageId
3 hitsId
ld+3
ld+1IdId
2 hits2/4 hits
2 hitslhit
ld-2ld-2—
2d
Id
3dld-2var.
To-Hit678876666
787678
8
889
Cost$250$120$600$800
$400$4,500$1,500$120$200
$100$75
$250$500$300
$500
$200
$1,500$50var.
Shots10201010
102
2010
10/5
886205
1
1
1—1
CPS121510
15—1511
11
125——
—
50—
var.
L$$370$140$650$900
$550$4,500$1,800$130
$210
$108$83$322$600
—
$500
$200
$1,550—
Notesa
dd
ab,da,b
g
abcd
d
d, efc
Abbreviations: GE — Grenade Equiva-lent, a measure of bulk and weight that de-termines a pedestrian's carrying capacity.Pedestrians can normally carry 6 GEs ofequipment. CPS — cost per shot. L S —loaded cost.
Notesa. Does half damage to vehicles.b. This weapon requires a power pack
($1,000,3 GEs) to function effectively. Thelaser rifle only gets two shots without it, butwill get 20 more with the pack. The Gaussrifle gets 60 shots' worth of power from thepower pack, and the Gauss pistol gets 100
shots' worth of power from it. Note that theGauss weapons still require ammunition.
c. See pp. 34-36 for grenades.d. Does full damage to vehicles.e. Spare bazooka shells are 1 GE each,
and take 2 seconds to reload (1 second fortwo people). Characters reloading a ba-zooka cannot perform any other actionswhile reloading.
/ . Only usable in hand-to-hand combat.When attached to the end of a rifle, it addsno GEs.
g. A double-barreled shotgun holds tenshells. One or two barrels can be fired eachturn. It uses normal shotgun ammo.
Characters 47
5. Vehicle Design
Building a new car is complicated —justask Detroit. When you first design a newvehicle, don't be surprised if it takes a littlewhile. You must work within several con-straints: Space available in the body sizeyou pick, weight that chassis can carry, andmoney available. You have to make sure thecar has enough power for decent accelera-tion. Within all these limits, you wantenough armor and weapons to give you achance to survive. And remember to allowmoney and weight for ammunition! Whenyou come up with a good vehicle design,save it for later reference, or add it to thestock car list for your local arena.
Body TypesThere are nine types of cars available to
duellists, from tiny subcompacts to vans.
TypeSubcompactCompactMid-sizedSedanLuxuryStation wagonPickupCamperVan
Price$300$400$600$700$800$800$900
$1,400$1,000
Weight1,0001,3001,6001,7001,8001,8002,1002,3002,000
Max.load2,3003,7004,8005,1005,5005,5006,5006,5006,000
Spaces710131619
14(+7)13(+11)17(+7)24(+6)
ArmorCost/Wt.
11/513/616/818/9
20/1020/1022/1130/1430/14
Price is the dollar cost of the body with-out armor, but with headlights, trim, seats,doors, instruments, basic targeting system,head-up windshield visual display, etc.Weight is the weight of the body and frame— it counts toward the total weight of thevehicle. Maximum load is the total weight(including the body and frame) the vehicle isallowed. Maximum load can be altered —see Chassis, p. 49. Spaces are the number ofspaces available in the vehicle for equip-ment, weapons and people. Those vehicleswith additional spaces listed in parentheseshave cargo areas that can carry that numberof spaces. Cargo areas cannot be used forvehicle components.
Armor TypesArmor cost/weight is the cost and weight
of a single point of ablative plastic armor.Cars carry armor in six positions: front,back, left, right, top and underbody. Youcan put different amounts of armor in differ-ent locations, but the cost per point is thesame, no matter the location. The cost andweight per point of armor does vary accord-ing to the size of the vehicle, however.There are also a few special types of armoravailable to duellists.
Fireproof Armor (FP) costs twice asmuch as normal armor, but weighs thesame. As the name indicates, fireproofarmor cannot be set on fire. It takes damagenormally from all weapons, including flame-throwers and lasers, but if the armor is allthat is damaged, you do not roll for the pos-sibility of fire — it can't happen. If the armor
is breached and internal com-ponents are damaged, regularfire rules apply to the inside.FP armor cannot be mixedwith regular armor — the vehi-cle must be all fireproof or allregular. Repairing FP armor isat triple normal cost (see Re-pair and Salvage, p. 52).
Laser-Reflective Armor(LR) takes damage normal-ly from all weapons exceptlasers. All types of lasers do
half damage (round down) to reflectivearmor. Furthermore, laser-reflective armorwill not take fire modifiers from lasers(though it will take them from flamethrow-ers and other fire weapons). Once thearmor has been breached, internal compo-nents are vulnerable to normal chances offire. Reflective armor costs and weighs10% more than regular armor, and coststwice as much to repair as regular armor.Reflective armor cannot be mixed with reg-ular armor.
Laser-Reflective Fireproof Armor(LRFP) combines the features of both types.It takes half damage from lasers (rounded
48 Vehicle Design
down), and cannot be set on fire. It is 2Vitimes normal armor cost, weighs 10% morethan normal armor, and costs four times asmuch to repair. It cannot be mixed withother armor types.
Metal Armor costs iVi times as much asnormal plastic armor, and weighs 5 times asmuch. Normal armor is ablative — that is,it loses strength as it takes damage. Metalarmor is only slightly ablative — any dam-age in excess of the armor value passesthrough to the interior of a vehicle, and thearmor remains (more or less) intact.
If the damage rolled is greater than thevalue of metal armor at the location hit, dam-age in excess of the armor value penetratesthe armor to affect internal components. Inaddition, every 6 rolled on a damage diereduces the value of the armor by 1 point.Burst-effect weapons reduce the DP by 1point for every 5 or 6 rolled on a damagedie. The loss of metal armor is taken afterany damage has penetrated the armor. Metalarmor is fireproof. Metal armor can be pol-ished and treated for a laser-reflective finish;this adds an extra 10% to the cost of thearmor, but adds no weight.
The chassis can be strengthened (orweakened) to allow a vehicle to carry more(or less) weight.
StrengthLightStandardHeavyExtra Heavy
Weight Modifier-10%none+ 10%+20%
Price-20%none+50%
+ 100%
The price modifier is a percentage of theoriginal body price. For example, putting aHeavy chassis on a mid-sized car would in-crease the maximum load 10% — from4,800 to 5,280 (that's 4,800 + 480) — butwould cost 50% of die original body price— another $300. Chassis strength isnot a factor in vehicle weight or inte-rior space.
Any car larger than a compact mayhave a six-wheeled chassis. It costs anextra $100, plus the cost of the extratires. Pickups and vans with Extra-Heavy chassis must have six wheels.
SuspensionSuspension determines a vehicle's be-
ginning Handling Class (see HandlingClass, p. 9).
Suspension
LightImprovedHeavyOff-road
Price
no extra100% of body cost150% of body cost500% of body cost
HC1232
VanHC0121
SubHC2343
Light suspension is standard. Better sus-pensions cost in relation to the original bodycost of the vehicle — a Heavy suspensionfor a Luxury car would cost $1,200 (150%of $800). Suspension adds no weight andtakes no interior space. The HC of a van (orof a pickup over 5,500 lbs.) is 1 less thanthat of a lighter vehicle with the same sus-pension. On the other hand, the HC of asubcompact is 1 higher than that of a largervehicle with the same suspension. Off-roadsuspensions negate the handling-class pen-alty for driving off-road.
Power PlantsThere are two kinds of engine available
in 2040: gas and electric. With gasoline un-available in many areas of the world, multi-ple-fuel-cell electric power plants are farmore common than the old-style internal-combustion engines. These electrical"power plants" are the only type discussedin this book. Power plants take up space andweight inside a vehicle.
DP are "damage points," the number ofhits required to destroy the power plant.When the power plant is lost, a vehicle can nolonger fire lasers or accelerate, but all othersystems still work. The vehicle decelerates 5mph per turn (more if you put on the brakes).Power Factors are used to compute accelera-tion and top speed, which are more fully de-tailed later in this section. Cost, Weight andSpaces should be self-explanatory.
Plant
SmallMediumLargeSuperSportThundercat
Cost
$500$1,000$2,000$3,000$6,000
$12,000
Weight
500700900
1,1001,0002,000
Spaces
345668
DP
5810121215
PowerFactors
8001,4002,0002,6003,0006,700
Vehicle Design 49
Range with Electric Power PlantsThe subject of vehicle range has very
little importance in the city or in the arena.But on the long stretches of highway be-tween oases of civilization, running out ofpower is like signing your own death war-rant.
Car and truck power plants have a pow-er capacity equal to their spaces times 50;cycle power plants have a power capacityequal to their DP times 25. These "powerunits" will last longer at lower speeds, andget eaten up quickly at higher ones. Powerunits (PU) are consumed at varying ratesper mile, given by the formula (PU X Cur-rent speed)/(Maximum speed X 100).
On average, a vehicle will have enoughpower to travel 200 miles at its "cruisingspeed," which will be 60% of its top speed.At its top speed, it will have enough chargeto travel 100 miles.
Speeds beyond the derived maximumfor a given plant drain power even faster.Every turn spent over the maximum costsone power unit per full 10 mph over thelimit. If a plant has a maximum speed of 90mph, there is no additional penalty at 95,but it costs one power unit for each turn at100 or 105, two power units for each turn at110 or 115, and so on.
Laser fire also drains power plants.Every time you fire a light laser, it costs youone power unit. A shot from a medium orregular laser costs two power units, and ashot from a heavy laser costs three powerunits.
Power plant recharges are readily avail-able in towns, but on the highways they areusually available only at truck stops. Apower plant recharge takes around ten min-utes (most facilities can take two vehicles ata time) and costs $1 per five PUs.
TiresTo keep the bookkeeping as simple as
possible, the weight of tires does countagainst the maximum load of the vehicle. Acar's front tires must both be the same type,and the rear tires must be the same type (buttires needn't match front to rear). Handlingclass drops by 1 if this rule is broken.
TireStandardHeavy-DutyPuncture-ResistantSolid
Price$50
$100$200$500
Weight30405075
DP46912
Spare tires carried as cargo take up onespace. Though they all have the same costand weight, a luxury's tire (for example) willnot fit on a subcompact. In most cases, youcannot mix tires from different size vehicles.There are two exceptions. Luxury cars andstation wagons use the same tires, as dovans, campers and pickups.
Tires may be modified:Steelbelting increases the cost and weight
of any tire by 50%, and adds 25% to its DP(round down).
Radial Tires — Any car, cycle or trikewith radial tires on all its wheels has its HCraised by 1. Adds 150% to cost, 20% toweight, and subtracts 1 DP. Radial modifi-cations are applied after steelbelting.
Off-Road (OR) Tires — Any car, cycle ortrike with off-road tires on all its wheels hasits HC raised by 1 when off-road, and willnot take damage from normal off-road ter-rain. OR tires confer no benefits on the high-way. This modification adds 20% to costand 5 lbs. to weight. Off-road benefits arcapplied after steelbelting. No tire may beboth off-road and radial.
Fireproofing doubles the cost of any tire(after any other modifications), with noextra weight.
WeaponsWeapons are usually mounted on the
front, back, right or left. Technically, theycan also be mounted on the top or bottom,but they're not nearly as useful in thosepositions. Weapons may also go in turrets.
No more than 1/3 of the spaces in a ve-hicle may be devoted to weapons pointingin any one direction. For complete informa-tion on weapons, see Chapter 3.
The HumanElement
For game purposes, all humans are as-sumed to weigh 150 pounds. A human takesup one space. However, vehicle and weap-
50 Vehicle Design
on controls (and the freedom of movementto use them) also take one space. Therefore,two spaces must be allotted for each driveror gunner. For more on people, see Chapter4, Characters.
Each vehicle can have only one driver,who sits on either the right or left side (theplayer specifies at the time the car is built).The driver can fire any of the vehicle'sweapons; he can also use hand weapons. Agunner can also fire any of the vehicle'sweapons, or hand weapons. There can bemore than one gunner. The driver and gun-ner cannot share a targeting computer; eachmust have his own if both are to get anaiming bonus.
A vehicle can carry passengers either incargo space or regular space. A passengerscat (with or without passenger) takes nospace and adds no weight — the passenger,of course, weighs 150 lbs. and takes up onespace. Passengers can use hand weapons butcannot fire vehicle weapons. A single pas-senger can ride behind a cycle's driver; hetakes up no extra space but adds weight, anduses hand weapons only. Unless otherwisestated, a passenger is located in cargo space.
CargoLikely cargo includes spare tires and am-
munition (for yourself, or salvaged from akill). In a campaign game, consult your ref-eree about other "cargo" you want to pickup. Note that any vehicle can carry cargo ifit has unused space, but pickups, vans andstation wagons have a specific "cargo area"that can be used for nothing else. This meansthat no vehicular component can be placedin it except as cargo or salvage!
Acceleration& Top Speed
Once you have determined what will gointo your vehicle, you must compute its ac-celeration. This will be 5, 10 or 15 mph.
If the number of power factors in avehicle's power plant is less than v6 thevehicle's weight, it is underpowered andwill not move. Throw something out, or geta bigger power plant.
If the power factors are Vi the weight butless than Vi, the acceleration is 5 mph.
If the power factors are Vi the weight butless than the weight itself, the accelerationis 10 mph.
If the power factors are equal to orgreater than the weight, then the accelera-tion is 15 mph.
Example: A luxury car weighing 5,500pounds has a Medium power plant (whichhas 1,400 power factors). Since 1,400 isless than 1/3 of 5,500, the car won't move!So we decide to get a bigger power plant, aLarge (with 2,000 power factors). Ofcourse, the larger power plant took up morespace, weight and money than the old one,so some other tilings had to go to keep thecost the same — but that's the way things gowhen you're building a car. Because 2,000is between 1/3 and Vi of 5,500, the car cannow move with an acceleration of 5 mphper turn. If we could find some way to cutthe weight down to 4,000 pounds (or get aplant with at least 2,750 power factors), theacceleration would go up to 10 mph per turn(since 2,000 is Vi of 4,000), but a luxury carthat weighed only 4,000 pounds would beso stripped down it would be nearly useless.So it goes. . .
Every car will also have a top speed,based on the following formula: 360 Xpower factors / (power factors + weight) forelectric power plants, rounded down to amultiple of 2.5 mph. hi the example above,the 5,500 lb. luxury car with a Large powerplant (2,000 power factors) would have a topspeed of 360 X 2,000 / (2,000 + 5,500) =96, which rounds down to 95 mph.
VehicleDiagram
Now that you've chosen all your compo-nents and determined that your car hasenough power to accelerate satisfactorily,you can fill out the vehicle diagram. Referback to the example on p. 6. This diagramshows (a) what weapons the car has andwhere they are located; (b) how muchammo is in each weapon; (c) how mucharmor the car has in each location; and (d)what other components the car has, and
Vehicle Design 51
where they are. Note that the power plantcan be either in front or in back.
Weapon location restriction: No morethan 16 of the total spaces in a vehicle can bedevoted to weapons that fire from any oneside (round down). Motorcycles and side-cars are exempt from this restriction.
The vehicle diagram is used to keep trackof ammunition expenditure and damage.Also located on the vehicle diagram is achart to keep track of vehicle speed and han-dling status each turn.
Blank Vehicle Record Sheets are pro-vided on a separate sheet. You may photo-copy them for personal use.
Repair andSalvage
In a continuing campaign, damaged ve-hicles will need repair. Damage to armorcan be repaired at $50 per hit (multiplied bythe armor's cost modifier — e.g., fireproofarmor costs twice as much) — or the vehi-cle's entire armor can be re-placed for its original cost (asper the vehicle building rulesin this chapter) plus 10%. A Light Cyclecomponent that has taken only Med. Cycle1 hit can be repaired for 10% Hvy. Cycleof its original price; 2 hits: Lt- Sidecar30%; 3 hits: 50%; and so on. Hvy. SidecarIt's cheaper to replace a badlydamaged power plant (for instance) than tofix it.
Body armor cannot be repaired. Medicalcare for injured characters is free. (You'reinsured.)
The prices above are for parts and labor.If you do the work yourself, cut Vi off therepair costs. Many repair shops will let youdo your own work in their bays — for $50an hour.
A vehicle or component may be sold forsalvage. Salvage value is (original cost minusrepair cost). Damaged parts may be boughtfor this value, or sold for half this value. Ifyou stop on the road to strip a wreck, you caneasily get tires, extra magazines, unfired am-munition, hand weapons, and cargo. Othercomponents can be salvaged, but it takes timeand requires the Mechanic skill (see pp. 41-42). A burned wreck is worthless.
Frame
Modifying VehiclesNew weapons and accessories can be
added to an existing vehicle between duels,as long as weight and space limits arc ob-served. Old components may be saved orsold. Add 10% to the cost of any parts thatvary from a car's original design — retrofit-ting is expensive.
Exceptions: New tires can be added attheir regular cost, and chassis and suspen-sion cannot be changed from their originaldesign.
If any cost or weight calculations usingthe above instructions result in fractions ofdollars or pounds, round to the nearestwhole number.
CyclesBuilding a motorcycle is very similar to
building a car. A cycle can use almost anyweapon or accessory a car docs. A mediumor heavy cycle can also pull a sidecar — forone passenger, for cargo hauling, or just toget some extra firepower.
Price Weight Max. Spaces Armor
$200$300$400$300$450
250300350200350
load800
1,1001,300
400750
45723
Cost/Wt10/411/512/65/55/6
The weight of the sidecar and contentsdoes not count against the load on the cycleframe. Instead, both the sidecar and thecycle must meet their maximum weight re-quirements separately. The weight is addedtogether, however, when computing accel-eration and top speed (which is done thesame way as for cars). A cycle can only pullone sidecar. Cycle and sidecar chassis can-not be modified to increase weight capacity.
Cycle armor can be placed front andrear only. A sidecar is treated like a littlecar with no top. Sidecars carry armor in allsix normal locations. Cycle and sidecararmor can be made fireproof or metal. Allthe armor on a sidecar or a cycle must bemade of the same type, but an attached side-car can carry a different type of armor froma cycle.
52 Vehicle Design
SuspensionSuspension can be upgraded to improve
the handling class of the cycle or sidecar.To determine the HC of a cycle/sidecarcombination, add the HCs of the two sepa-rate items together.
Suspension Cost HCLight no extra 0Improved 100% of frame cost 1Heavy 200% of frame cost 2OR 300% of frame cost 2
Power PlantsLike car power plants, cycles use electric
fuel cell systems. Like today's engines, theyare more powerful for their size and weightthan auto engines, but cannot be used inlarger vehicles — they would burn up.
Plant Cost Weight Spaces DPSmall Cycle $500 100 1 2Med. Cycle $1,000 150 1 3Large Cycle $1,500 175 2 4Super Cycle $2,000 200 2 5Super Trike $3,000 250 3 6
Cycle acceleration and top speed isdetermined just as for cars (see p. 51).
TiresCycles need two tires; sidecars need
one. The front and rear tires on a cycle mustmatch, and if a sidecar is attached, its tiremust match, too. Cycle tires come in thesame varieties available for cars. Cycletires cost the same and have the same num-ber of DP as car tires, but they weigh onlyhalf as much.
Weapon PlacementWeapons can only be placed on a cycle's
front or rear. They can be mounted to thefront, rear or side of a sidecar. A weaponon a cycle cannot be linked to a weapon ona sidecar, unless both are dropped weap-ons. If the sidecar becomes detached, thelink is broken and must be replaced.
Cycle AccessoriesCycle Wheelguards — $10/2 lbs. per
point of plastic armor, maximum 20 lbs.each. Only one wheelguard is required per
tire. If the tire is targeted and hit, roll 1 die.On a 1 to 5, the wheelguard takes the dam-age. Cycle wheelguards do not lower HC.
Jettison Joining — $300, no weight orspace. The joining's explosive bolts allow adesperate cyclist to ditch a damaged sidecaron the run. Triggering the joining is a firingaction, but once they are fired, the sidecarbecomes a separate vehicle traveling paral-lel to the cycle (place a Vi" X Vi" counternext to the cycle to represent the sidecar). Ifstruck, treat the loose sidecar as an obsta-cle. The sidecar will decelerate 5 mph perturn, but must roll once per turn on CrashTable 1 with the appropriate speed modifi-ers. Vehicular weapons on a detached side-car cannot be fired, although hand-weaponfire is still permitted. Firing the joining is aD2 hazard for the cycle, and the cycle's HC
may be permanently reduced as well,Power but the cycle's acceleration and top
400 speed may improve.600 Cycle Blades — $50, 20 lbs., no800 space. These jagged blades add 2
1,000 points to the damage any pedestriantakes when hit by a cycle. If the cyclejust passes adjacent to a pedestrian,
there is a 50% chance the blades will hit,doing 1 point of damage per 20 mph ofspeed. Doing this successfully is a D2 haz-ard for the cycle. Cycle blades are de-stroyed if the vehicle rolls. Fake blades areavailable, at $20 for the set, no weight orspace. They do no damage, but they'regreat for scaring pedestrians.
1,200
Vehicle Design
TrikesTricycles are designed like any other ve-
hicles. A trike counter is 1" long, like thatof a car. A trike's arcs of fire are differentfrom those of other vehicles (see p. 54); thisshould be taken into account when placingweapons and armor.
ConstructionTrikes most closely resemble motorcy-
cles in construction. They use the same tiresand power plants as cycles, and use thesame acceleration, top speed, and powerconsumption formulae as cars.
A trike can have a Light, Standard,Heavy or Extra-Heavy chassis, at the samecosts as for cars. Suspension works the same
53
way as cycles — Light suspension is freeand results in HC 0; Improved suspensioncosts 100% of the frame cost and results inHC 1; Heavy suspension costs 200% of theframe cost and gives a trike HC 2. Handlingclass for all trikes is based on suspension.
Body
Light TrikeMedium TrikeHeavy TrikeX-Hvy. Trike
Cost
$250$300$400$550
Weight
300500700950
Max.load1,6002,1002,8003,500
Spaces
8101214
ArmorCost/Wt.
11/512/614/716/8
Trikes carry armor like cars — that is,they have six armor positions: Front, back,left, right, top and underbody.
Trikes can use any weapon or accessorya car or cycle can, with a few exceptions.Trikes cannot have ramplates, and theycannot pull sidecars. Light trikes cannotcarry turrets; medium trikes can only useone-space turrets. Larger trikes can carryup to two-space turrets.
Trikes can use wheelguards — carwheelguards on the back two wheels, and acycle whcclguard on the front. Wheelguardsdo not reduce HC on a trike, but will reduceHC by 1 on a reversed trike. Retractablewheelguards can be used on the back of anormal trike, or on the front tires of a re-versed trike. A normal trike can use aspoiler, but not an airdam.
Reversed TrikesThe reversed trike design puts two
wheels in front and one in the center of theback. This configuration provides greaterstability than the traditional trike, but is notas efficient from a space standpoint. Re-versed trikes come in the same body stylesas regular trikes, but have one less spaceand cost an extra 50% for the chassis. HCfor a reversed trike is one higher than for aregular trike (maximum HC is still 3). Re-versed trikes can carry a ramplate, but in allother respects, they are the same as regulartrikes. A reverse trike can use either aspoiler or an airdam, or both.
Trike CombatA tricycle is not just a fat motorcycle or
a three-wheeled car. The successful trikeduellist (or designer) must keep the differ-
ences in mind if he intends to survive.Trikes have some significant advantages,but they have disadvantages as well. Theadvantages include very wide arcs of fireand an off-road ability as good as that of anycycle. The disadvantages include their
small size and the vulnerabil-ity of the turret.
Arcs of FireTrike weapons can be lo-
cated front, back, or to eitherside; they can also be turreted.Front and back weapons have
the same arc of fire a car's weapons do (seediagram below); turreted weapons, ofcourse, have a 360° arc of fire.
REAR [ML F;RONT
Side-mounted trike weapons have agreater arc of fire than a car's side weaponsdo, because of the wedge shape of the trikebody. A trike's side weapons can fire intothe "normal" side arc, plus the front arc offire of a standard vehicle (sec below).
__^
SIDK
\\\
i
Any target in the front arc of fire can behit by weapons mounted on both sides aswell as the front! Right-side and left-sideweapons can be linked together, or linkedwith front weapons, and aimed together forfire at targets in this front arc. The linkedweapons must be of the same type, or onlyone can be aimed, and the rest are treated asif they were on automatic.
54 Vehicle Design
6. WeaponsWeapons in this chapter are arranged
according to the following categories:small-bore projectile, large-bore projectile,rocket, laser, flamethrower, dropped solid,dropped liquid, dropped gas.
When describing your vehicle to otherplayers, only the nature and location of theweapon's firing port must be revealed — theexact weapon remains unknown until fired.Thus, a front-mounted machine gun wouldbe declared as a "small-bore projectilefront," while a back-mounted smokescreen(SS) would be a "dropped gas back." Themulti-fire rocket pod (MFR) is considered asingle rocket for declaration.
For more weapons — many more — seethe Car Wars Compendium or any of UncleAlbert's Catalogs.
Small-Bore Projectile WeaponsAutocannon (AC) — To hit 6, 3d dam-
age, 4 DP, $6,500, 500 lbs., 3 spaces; 10shots ($75 and 10 lbs. each); loaded cost$7,250, loaded weight 600 lbs.; loadedmagazine costs $800 and weighs 115 lbs.Burst effect.
Machine Gun (MG) — To hit 7, Iddamage, 3 DP, $1,000, 150 lbs., 1 space;20 shots ($25 and 2vi lbs. each); loadedcost $1,500, loaded weight 200 lbs.; loadedmagazine costs $550 and weighs 65 lbs.Area effect.
Recoilless Rifle (RR) — To hit 7, 2ddamage, 4 DP, $1,500, 300 lbs., 2 spaces;10 shots ($35 and 5 lbs. each); loaded cost$1,850, loaded weight 350 lbs.; loadedmagazine costs $400 and weighs 65 lbs.Burst effect.
Vulcan Machine Gun (VMG) — To hit6, 2d damage, 3 DP, $2,000, 350 lbs., 2spaces; 20 shots ($35 and 5 lbs. each);loaded cost $2,700, loaded weight 450 lbs.;loaded magazine costs $750 and weighs115 lbs. Area effect.
Large-Bore Projectile WeaponsAnti-Tank Gun (ATG) — To hit 8, 3d
damage, 5 DP, $2,000, 600 lbs., 3 spaces;
10 shots ($50 and 10 lbs. each); loaded cost$2,500, loaded weight 700 lbs.; loadedmagazine costs $550 and weighs 115 lbs.Burst effect.
Grenade Launcher (GL) — To hit 7,damage by grenade type (see p. 35), 2 DP,$1,000, 200 lbs., 2 spaces; holds 10 gre-nades (cost by grenade type, 4 lbs. each);loaded weight 240 lbs.; loaded magazinecosts $50 plus the cost of grenades andweighs 55 lbs. Different grenade types canbe mixed in the magazine, but the player orreferee must keep strict track of the order inwhich they are loaded.
Spike Gun (SG) — To hit 7, Id damage(see below), 2 DP, $750, 150 lbs., 2spaces; 10 shots ($40 and 10 lbs. each);loaded cost $1,150, loaded weight 250 lbs.;loaded magazine costs $450 and weighs115 lbs. Area effect. The spike gun can befired like an oil gun to hit a specific square,leaving a Vi" X Vi" square of spikes thatacts like a single normal spike counter. Thespike gun can also be fired directly at atarget (at a -4 penalty), doing Id damage totires and pedestrians only.
RocketsHeavy Rocket (HR) — To hit 9, 3d dam-
age, 2 DP, $200, 100 lbs., 1 space; 1 shot.Burst effect.
Light Rocket (LtR) — To hit 9, Id dam-age, 1 DP, $75, 25 lbs., Vi space; 1 shot.Burst effect.
Medium Rocket (MR) — To hit 9, 2ddamage, 2 DP, $140, 50 lbs., 1 space; 1shot. Burst effect.
Micromissile Launcher (MML) — Tohit 8, Id damage, 2 DP, $750, 100 lbs., 1space; 10 shots ($20 and 2v5 lbs. each);loaded cost $950, loaded weight 125 lbs.;loaded magazine costs $250 and weighs 40lbs. Burst effect.
Mini Rocket (MNR) — To hit 9, ld-1damage, 1 DP, $50, 20 lbs., 1/3 space; 1shot. Burst effect.
Multi-Fire Rocket Pod (MFR) — To hit9, Id damage per rocket, 3 DP (each point of
Weapons 55
damage destroys two active rockets), $450,150 lbs., 2 spaces. This must be replacedafter firing, just like a heavy rocket. It re-leases six rockets simultaneously — thus itsnickname, "Six-Shooter." Roll separatelyto hit with each rocket. Treat each shot as aseparate attack for building breaches and de-bris purposes, but treat it as one big attackfor making a vehicle's control roll.
Rocket Launcher (RL) — To hit 8, 2ddamage, 2 DP, $1,000, 200 lbs., 2 spaces;10 shots ($35 and 5 lbs. each); loaded cost$1,350, loaded weight 250 lbs.; loadedmagazine costs $400 and weighs 65 lbs.Burst effect.
LasersHeavy Laser (HL) — To hit 6, 4d dam-
age, 2 DP, $12,000, 1,000 lbs., 3 spaces.Area effect. Drains 3 power units per shot.
Laser (L) — To hit 6,3d damage, 2 DP,$8,000, 500 lbs., 2 spaces. Area effect.Drains 2 power units per shot.
Infrared (IR) Lasers — Double the costof any size of normal laser. IR lasers canfire through smoke and paint, but suffer a -1per die of damage for every Vi " of s moke orpaint between die firer and the target.
Light Laser (LL) — To hit 6, Id dam-age, 2 DP, $3,000, 200 lbs., 1 space. Areaeffect. Drains 1 power unit per shot.
Medium Laser (ML) — To hit 6, 2ddamage, 2 DP, $5,500, 350 lbs., 2 spaces.Area effect. Drains 2 power units per shot.
Flamethrowersflamethrower (FT) — To hit 6, Id dam-
age, 2 DP, $500, 450 lbs., 2 spaces; 10shots ($25 and 5 lbs. each); loaded cost$750, loaded weight 500 lbs.; loaded maga-zine costs $300 and weighs 65 lbs. Area ef-fect. Maximum range 10". When fired, anyflamethrower creates a standard 1" X Vi"smoke cloud, aligned along the line of fire.
Dropped GasesPaint Spray (PS) — 2 DP, $400, 25 lbs.,
1 space; 25 shots ($10 and 2 lbs. each);loaded cost $650, loaded weight 75 lbs.;loaded magazine costs $300 and weighs 65lbs. Creates a 1" X Vi" cloud when fired.
Smokescreen (SS) — 4 DP, $250, 25lbs., 1 space; 10 shots ($10 and5 lbs. each);
loaded cost $350, loaded weight 75 lbs.;loaded magazine costs $150 and weighs 65lbs. Produces a 1" X Vi' smoke cloud whenfired.
Dropped Liquidsnaming Oil Jet (fOJ) — 3 DP, $300,
30 lbs., 2 spaces; 25 shots ($35 and 2 lbs.each); loaded cost $ 1,175, loaded weight 80lbs.; loaded magazine costs $925 andweighs 65 lbs. It drops a regular oil slickwhich bursts into flame 1 phase later. Theburning slick is treated like a regular oilslick and does ld-2 damage to the tires andunderbody of vehicles that pass tlirough theburning slick. It burns for 5 turns. Flamingoil acts as a smoke cloud while on fire.Once the FOJ slick has consumed itself, thecounter is replaced by a standard smokecloud of the same size.
Oil Jet (OJ) — 3 DP, $250, 25 lbs., 2spaces; 25 shots ($10 and 2 lbs. each);loaded cost $500, loaded weight 75 lbs.;loaded magazine costs $300 and weighs 65lbs. It creates a 1" X V2" slick when fired.
Dropped SolidsMinedropper (MD) - 2 DP, $500, 150
lbs., 2 spaces; 10 shots ($50 and 5 lbs.each); loaded cost $1,000, loaded weight200 lbs.; loaded magazine costs $550 andweighs 65 lbs. Burst effect. Does 2d dam-age to the underbody, and Id damage toeach tire within 1".
Spear 1000 Minedropper (SMD) — 2DP, $750, 150 lbs., 2 spaces; 5 shots ($100and 10 lbs. each); loaded cost $1,250,loaded weight 200 lbs.; loaded magazinecosts $550 and weighs 65 lbs. Does 2d+3damage to the underbody, and ld-3 damageto each tire within 1".
Spikedropper (SD) — 4 DP, $100, 25lbs., 1 space; 10 shots ($20 and 5 lbs. each);loaded weapon costs $300 and weighs 75lbs.; loaded magazine costs $250 andweighs 65 lbs. See p. 32.
56 Weapons
7. AccessoriesMany accessories are available to cus-
tomize duel vehicles. Some are defensive innature; some are decidedly offensive; othersare just convenient. Restrictions apply to theuse of many of these accessories, so readeach description carefully.
Body Blades — These are like cycleblades (p. 00), but the cost and weight is thesame as 3 points of plastic armor for thatvehicle. They need not match armor type.Fake blades are available for $20 (noweight or space).
Brushcutter— $100, 20 lbs., no space.A front-mounted blade, this can be mountedwith regular armor, but not with bumperspikes. It is destroyed when the front armoris destroyed, and adds 2 hits to damagedone to any pedestrian hit by the front of thecar. It allows the vehicle to mow downsmall trees (normally D2 or D3 hazard)with no ill effects, but has no effect onrocks, other vehicles, etc.
Bumper Spikes — Cost and weightequal to 5 points of armor for that vehicle,and must match that vehicle's armor. Theycan be mounted on the front or back only.Bumper spikes add Id to all damage givenin a collision, modified by the vehicle's DM(double damage to pedestrians). They can-not be mounted in conjunction with a ram-plate or brushcutter. They are destroyedwhen all armor on that side is destroyed.
Cyberlink — $16,000, 100 lbs., 1 space.This computerized helmet links the wearerto one particular weapon, and gives thewearer +3 to hit, with that weapon only.
Extra Magazines — $50, 15 lbs . , 1space, plus the cost and weight of ammuni-tion. An extra magazine for a weapon canhold the same number of shots the weaponitself can. More than one extra magazine canbe attached to a weapon. Each extra maga-zine adds 1 DP to the weapon. Extra maga-zines do not count against the space limita-tions of a weapon in a turret, but do countagainst a vehicle's space and weight limit.
Link — $50, no weight or space. It linksany two or more pieces of equipment, sothat they can both be activated by a singlefiring action. It is normally used on weap-ons, but can be hooked to other equipment.For a more complete discussion of links,see Linked Weapons, p. 33.
Magazine Switch — $250, no weight orspace. A magazine switch allows the firer toselect the source magazine for the shotbeing fired; this takes no time and does notcount as a firing action. Shots in the se-lected magazine are still used top to bottom,so if a magazine has a mixed load, you muststill keep track of the order of shots fired. Itis destroyed when die weapon is destroyed.
Weapons on automatic will fire all shotsfrom one magazine until it's empty, thenswitch to another of the player's choice (as-sumed to be programmed before combat).
Ramplate — Cost and weight are in ad-dition to the front armor of a car, truck,boat or reversed trike. Cost is 1 Vi times thecost of the front armor, and weight is halfthe weight of all the front armor of a vehi-cle. A ramplate can only be mounted on thefront of a vehicle. When in a collision in-volving the ramplate, first determine dam-age the normal way. Then the other vehicletakes twice that amount, and the vehiclewith the ramplate takes /ia/f that amount. Afake ramplate costs and weighs as much as5 points of the vehicle's front armor, in-cluding modifiers for special armor types
Accessories 57
and sloped armor. The fake ramplate can-not be distinguished from the real thingwithout a close inspection. Ramplates, realand fake, are destroyed when the vehicle'sfront armor is destroyed; a fake ramplatehas no effect on collisions.
Smart Link — $500, no weight or space.It acts as a regular link between two or moreweapons. In addition, it allows weapons inone location to be aimed and fired withweapons in a different location (for exam-ple, forward weapons smart-linked to aweapon in a turret). All weapons must beaimed at the same target — and naturally allmust be able to aim at that target. Non-iden-tical weapons still cannot be aimed to-gether. The smart link itself can be linked.
Targeting Computer — $1,000, nospace or weight. It adds +1 to all to-hit rollsfor any single vehicular position (driver orgunner, but not both). It is destroyed whenthe power plant is destroyed. A hi-res (HR)version is available for $4,000; this modelworks the same way, but gives a +2 to-hitbonus.
A single-weapon computer (SWC) mustalso be set on installation to aid a singleweapon type in a single position (VMGfront, RR in turret, for example). Like aregular computer, it can only aid one crewmember, and which crew member benefitsis also set at installation. The standard SWCcosts $500, and adds +1 to the to-hit roll;the hi-res SWC costs $2,500 and gives a+2. Targeting computers cannot be com-bined with each other or with the cyberlinkfor higher bonuses.
Turrets — Turrets take up space in avehicle, but in turn can hold a number ofspaces' worth of weapons that do not countagainst the vehicle's space limit. A pop-upturret hides inside the vehicle, possibly lull-ing an opponent into thinking you're lightlyarmed. Raising or lowering a pop-up turretis a firing action and takes 1 turn.
Subcompacts and light trikes cannotcarry turrets. Compacts and medium trikescan carry only one-space turrets. Mid-sizes,sedans, luxury cars, station wagons, andheavy and x-heavy trikes can carry up to atwo-space turret. Only vans can carry athree-space turret.
One-space Turret: $1,000, 150 lbs., 1space.
One-space Pop-up Turret: $2,000, 300lbs., 3 spaces.
Two-space Turret: $1,500, 200 lbs., 2spaces.
Two-space Pop-up Turret: $2,500, 350lbs., 4 spaces.
Three-space Turret: $2,500, 300 lbs., 2spaces.
Three-space Pop-up Turret: $3,500,450 lbs., 5 spaces.
Universal Turrets — Adds an extra$1,000, no weight or space. Ordinary tur-rets, etc. cannot fire higher than a 45° angle.A universal turret can fire straight up.
Vehicular Computer — $4,000, noweight or space. It is installed in any onecrew position, just like a targeting computer.It gives a +1 to hit with all weapons firedfrom that position. In addition, a wide arrayof non-combat programs are available,stored on holographic data-storage cubes.The details of these are left to the referee, butexamples include bookkeeping, data commu-nications, entertainment and so forth.
DefenseFire Extinguisher - $300, 150 lbs., 1
space. Roll 1 die at the end of each turn avehicle equipped with this item is on fire.On a 1 to 3, the fire is put out. The fireextinguisher is destroyed when the powerplant is destroyed.
Improved Fire Extinguisher — $500,200 lbs., 1 space. It will put out a fire on aroll of 1 to 4 on 1 die. Otherwise, it is iden-tical to the regular fire extinguisher.
Retractable Wheelguards — $250, 50lbs., 1 space per pair, plus the cost andweight of the wheelguard itself (sec p. 53).These perform like normal wheelguards,but do not affect HC when retracted. Rais-ing or lowering is a firing action, and takesone second.
Roll Cage — $150 per armor facing,weighs as much as 1 point of vehicularmetal armor times the number of armor fac-ings the vehicle has; takes 1 space. Thus,for a cycle, a roll cage weighs the same as 2points of metal armor and costs $300; amid-sized car's would be 6 points of metalarmor at $900. It prevents internal compo-nents from taking damage in a roll, and in-ternal components (only) take half damage
58 Accessories
(round up) from rams. Roll cages must beoriginal equipment.
Safety Seat— $500, 25 lbs., no space. Asafety seat can be installed in any vehicleexcept a motorcycle or a sidecar. It is a spe-cially padded, contoured seat which, com-bined with special restraining belts and nets,cuts the damage taken in collisions and rollsin half. For example, after the front armor,weapons and power plant have already beenobliterated in a head-on collision, 12 pointsof damage remain to be divided between thedriver and the gunner. The gunner has aregular seat, so he takes his full 6 points ofdamage. The driver, equipped with a safetyseat, takes half damage — only 3 points (theother 3 are absorbed by the seat). The safetyseat provides no protection from weaponsfire. It takes 5 turns to get into a safety scat,and 3 turns to get out. If you don't engagethe harnesses, it only takes one second to getin or out, but the protection is lost.
Wheelguards — $10 and 4 lbs. per pointof armor. Wheelguards must be bought sep-arately for each tire location, and have amaximum weight of 40 lbs. When a tire istargeted and hit, roll 1 die. On a 1 to 4, thewhcclguard is hit instead. Wheelguards onthe front wheels of a car or reversed trikereduce the HC of that vehicle by 1. Theycan be made fireproof, reflective, both ormetal at the standard increases in cost andweight. Wheelguard armor must be of thesame type as that on the rest of the vehicle.
MiscellaneousActive Suspension — $4,000, 100 lbs.,
no space. Adds 1 to the HC of any car, trikeor cycle. The bonus doesn't apply off-road.If a vehicle loses a wheel, it suffers a D6hazard instead of going directly to HC -6,and its HC drops by 2 instead of 3.
Antilock Braking System (ABS) —$1,000, no weight or space. This systemeliminates tire damage due to rapid decel-eration and reduces hazards due to braking(rain, snow, ice, oil, gravel) by Dl. It can-not be used on oversized vehicles.
Portable Shop — 4 separate cases, each2 DP, $1,000, 75 lbs., 1 space. A mechanicworking in the field with a portable shopadds 1 to effective skill. If some of the shopcases are destroyed or missing, the chance
of the mechanic finding the part he needs isequal to the percentage of cases left. Forexample, if three of the four cases are in-tact, there is a 75 % chance that the neededpart is still available — otherwise, the shopis useless for the particular repair at-tempted.
Searchlight — 1 DP, $200, 50 lbs., 1space. A searchlight used on a moving ob-ject can track that object with a to-hit roll of3 or more (plus all normal modifiers forrange, target size and speed, etc. but notcounting darkness modifiers); a crewman isrequired to operate the light. Any objectthus tracked can be attacked with no penaltyfor darkness.
A searchlight can also be used to blindthe driver and crew of another vehicle.With a to-hit roll of 6 or better (countingmodifiers as above), the gunner can blindhis target, and the target's player must turnaway from the board and describe subse-quent actions based on what he rememberswhile he is blind. He is blinded only as longas the searchlight hits him. A blinded char-acter can still fire, but with a -10 modifier;all maneuvers are at +D3. Searchlights canbe targeted at -3. Searchlights have no ef-fect in daylight, and cannot blind peoplethrough smoke.
Armored Searchlight — 5 DP, $500, 75lbs., 1 space. This searchlight functions justas above.
Spoilers and Airdams — Each costs 25X the cost of 1 point of armor for the vehi-cle it is being put on, and weighs 10 X theweight of 1 point of armor for the vehicle.A vehicle with a spoiler or an airdam adds1 to its HC when traveling above 60 mph. Ifa vehicle has both a spoiler and an airdam,all maneuvers performed at 60 mph orfaster have the difficulty reduced by 1.Spoilcrs/airdams do not have to match thearmor type of the vehicle they are on. Spoil -ers/airdams have the same cost modifica-tions as normal armor (i.e., a metal spoilerwould cost 62l^ X normal armor cost andweigh 50 X normal armor weight of thevehicle). A vehicle that has metal armor andplastic spoilers or airdams has the spoiler/airdam destroyed after 30 cumulative pointsof damage have been done to the front/backof the vehicle; otherwise they are destroyedwhen the armor on that side is destroyed.
Accessories 59
8. SampleVehicles
For your first duels — or whenever youneed a quick opponent — you can use thesepredesigned vehicles. Some have optionalversions listed. Options will only list thechanges in a vehicle. If an item is not listed,that means it did not change.
Some further variations take little or nocalculation:
Rearrange armor. As long as the totalnumber of points of armor remains thesame, you can change the distribution anyway you like and it won't change the cost orweight of the vehicle. However, if a vehiclehas a ramplate, do not move any armorfrom or to the front location of the vehicle.
Change armor type. Making regularplastic armor fireproof is simple — just dou-ble the cost without changing the weight.Converting normal plastic to normal metalis nearly as easy. Five points of plastic con-vert to one point of metal, reducing the costby 50% of the plastic's cost; for FP plasticto metal, reduce the cost by 75%. To con-vert from metal to plastic, multiply armorpoints by 5 and double the cost.
Move the weapons. Take those rear-mounted weapons and put them to the front— it won't affect the weight or cost at all.Just remember that you can't allot morethan Vs of a vehicle's total spaces to weap-ons firing in one direction.
Add electronics. Since most electronicsystems (computers, for example) have noweight and take no space, you can add oneat any time for the price of the system. Youcan also remove them to save money.
Change weapons. Some weapons haveidentical weight and space requirements, sothe only changes you'll need to make arethe cost. For example, you can trade aflamethrower for a laser — it'll cost you$7,250. Or you can save that $7,250 bytrading in a laser for a flamethrower. Othertrades include replacing two HRs with aMD (costs $600 more), replacing a SD witha SS ($50 more), replacing a SD with a PS
($350 more) and replacing a SS with a PS($300 more).
These descriptions use quite a few abbre-viations, which can be found on p. 63. Thearmor descriptions list the armor position andhow much armor is at each location — F5means "five points of armor in the front posi-tion," R8/16 means "eight points of metalarmor over 16 points of plastic armor in theright armor location," etc.
Killer Kart — Subcompact, std. chassis,hvy. suspension, medium power plant, 4HD tires, driver, MG front, Armor: F5,R3, L3, B3, T2, U2. Accel. 10, top speed135, HC 4; 2,300 lbs , $3,848.
Stinger — Subcompact, hvy. chassis,hvy. suspension, small power plant, 4 HDtires, driver, two linked MGs front. Armor:F10, R5, L5, B8, T5, U5. Accel. 5, topspeed 90, HC 4; 2,400 lbs., $5,268.
Option I — Replace MGs with one RR,add 10 points of armor anywhere. $4,178.
Option II — Replace one MG and thelink with one HR, add 20 points of armoranywhere. $4,138.
Option III — Replace MGs with one RL,add 30 points of armor anywhere. $3,898.
Option IV — Replace one MG withsmokescreen or spikedroppcr, add 25points of armor. $4,293 with spikedroppcr,$4,343 with smokescreen.
Yellow Jacket — Subcompact, hvy.chassis, hvy. suspension, small powerplant, 4 HD tires, driver, laser front.Armor: F5, R4, L4, B5, TO, U0. Accel. 5,top speed 90, HC 4; 2,400 lbs., $9,998.
Mini-Sherman — Compact, std. chas-sis, hvy. suspension, large power plant, 4HD tires, driver, two linked MGs front, SSrear. Armor: F35, R20, L20, B23, T10,
60 Sample Vehicles
U10. Accel. 10, top speed 125, HC 3;3,693 lbs., $8,334.
Option — Remove one MG and link andsmokescreen, add one RL and 5 points ofarmor; $7,849.
Capricorn — Compact, x-hvy. chassis,hvy. suspension, large power plant, 4 PR ra-dial tires, driver, RL front, SS back, target-ing computer. Armor: F45, R35, L35, B40,T37, U35, 4 10-pt. wheelguards. Accel. 5,top speed 110, HC 3; 4,437 lbs., $11,451.
Capricorn Plus — Replace RL with RR,replace PR radials with regular solids, re-move wheelguards. $11,551.
Spitfire — Compact, x-hvy. chassis,hvy. suspension, medium power plant, 4PR tires, driver, VMG front, FT back, hi-res targeting computer. FP armor: F35,R25, L25, B35, T15, U15. Accel. 5, topspeed 90, HC 3; 4,200 lbs., $14,550.
Joseph Special — Mid-sized, std. chas-sis, imp. suspension, large power plant, 4HD tires, driver, ATG front, RL rear, PSright side. Armor: F30, R15, L15, B25,T15, U15. Accel. 5, top speed 105, HC 2;4,795 lbs., $10,340.
Joseph Special "T" — Replace AT, RLand PS with two linked MGs in turret, plus4 HRs (two front, two back), add 3 points ofarmor; $11,238.
Mauler — Mid-sized, x-hvy. chassis,hvy. suspension, large power plant, 4 solidradial tires, driver, AC front, FOJ back,spoiler, airdam, 4 10-point wheelguards.Armor: F50, R40, L40, B40, T15, U15.Accel. 5, top speed 92.5, HC 3; 5,760 lbs.,$22,250.
Superzapper option — Remove AC, addturreted laser, remove 13 points of armor.5,756 lbs., $24,292.
Hotshot — Luxury. Sec p. 6.
Bodyguard — Luxury, hvy. chassis,hvy. suspension, large power plant, 4 solidtires, driver, 2 linked MDs (L and R), 3linked OJs (L, R and B), 2 linked PSs (Land R), "panic button" link for all weap-ons. Armor: F20, R45, L45, B50, T20,U20. Accel. 5, top speed 90, HC 3; 5,925lbs., $15,400.
Bodyguard Shadrach — Convert to FParmor, replace OJs with FOJs. Top speed95; 5,440 lbs., $21,425.
Intimidator — Station wagon, std. chas-sis, imp. suspension, super power plant, 4PR tires, driver, laser in turret. Cargo capac-ity: 300 lbs., 11 spaces. Armor: F25, R15,L15, B25, T30, U15. Accel. 10, top speed120 without cargo, Accel. 5 and top speed115 with cargo, HC 2; 5,200 lbs., $17,400.
MG option — Remove turret and laser,add 3 pairs of linked MGs, upgrade chassisto x-hvy. Cargo capacity: 900 lbs., 7spaces. Accel. 5, $17,850.
Ventura — Pickup, x-hvy. chassis, hvy.suspension, super power plant, 6 solidtires, driver, AC front, turreted VMG,spoiler, cargo capacity of 486 lbs. and 11spaces. LRFP armor: F40, R30, L30, B33,T25, U20. Accel. 5, top speed 90, HC 2;7,314 lbs. ,$31,740.
CyclesShogun 100— Light cycle, hvy. suspen-
sion, small cycle power plant, 2 PR tires,cyclist, MG front. Armor: F6, B6. Accel.10, top speed 120, HC 3; 798 lbs., $3,120.
Shogun 200 — Medium cycle, hvy. sus-pension, super cycle power plant, 2 PR tires,cyclist, MG front. Armor: F10, B10. Accel.15, top speed 180, HC 3; 1,000 lbs., $5,020.
TrikesSandcrub — Medium trike, std. chassis,
OR suspension, large cycle power plant, 3OR solid tires, cyclist, VMG front, RLback. Armor: F12, R12, L12, B15, T9,U15. Accel. 5, top speed 97.5, HC 2 (3OR); 2,095 lbs., $9,450.
Blustmastcr — X-hvy. trike, std. chas-sis, hvy. suspension, super trike powerplant, 3 solid tires, cyclist, 2 RLs linkedright, 2 RLs linked left, link connecting all4 RLs, fire extinguisher, targeting com-puter. Armor: F20, R20, L20, B20, T15,U6, 2 8-pt. wheelguards back, 1 7-pt. cyclewheelguard. Accel. 5, top speed 92.5, HC3; 2,794 lbs., $17,430.
Sample Vehicles 61
9. ScenariosOne reason Car Wars is so popular is
that it allows an unlimited variety of games.Players can set up their own car-combatscenarios in any sort of background. A sce-nario can be a "one-shot," with drivers andvehicles created especially for the event —or part of a continuing campaign, wheresurviving characters increase their skills,returning to fight again and again.
To create a scenario, you should answerthe following questions:
General type. Arena or racetrack combat,scoring points in front of the TV cameras? Ahighway chase, with a courier racing to stayahead of a road-pirate gang? An off-roadconfrontation between cycle gangs?
Starting vehicles. Decide what cars orcycles each side will have, or how muchmoney they'll get for custom-built vehicles.
Starting characters. How many charac-ters does each side get? How many skillpoints are allowed to build each character?
Setup positions. Where does each playerstart, and at what speed?
Objectives. How can each side scorepoints? How is the final victory determined?
Amateur NightThis arena scenario is good for learning
the game or for starting new characters.Each player starts with a duel vehicle, pro-vided free by the arena. Usually this is aKiller Kart (p. 60).
The cars all enter at once, at any speedup to 20 mph, from different gates. The lastsurviving car wins. A character may leaveby any gate (driving or running) to save hisskin, but can't re-enter. A car may be shotat until it is entirely out of the arena.
The winner gets to keep all the cars usedin the duel, though most will be good onlyas salvage. After you win three AmateurNights, you're a professional and can nolonger compete as an amateur.
Other Arena EventsMost arena events are limited by value of
the cars (e.g., "Division 20" puts a $20,000
ceiling on cost). In most events, it's "everycar for itself." Team play is also possible.
The last survivor is usually the winner,but a scenario can also give points for kills,ramp jumps, and other feats. This encour-ages exciting play instead of "turtle" tactics.
Road CombatUse the racetrack map, and the "high-
way" rules from p. 5.Road Duel: Two players. Each gets a
fixed budget to pick or build one car. Rollrandomly to see which starts in front. Roll 2dice to determine the number of inches be-tween the cars. Both start out going the samedirection at 60 mph. The survivor wins.
Pack Attack: Multi-player combat. Oneplayer gets $17,000 to build one car. Theotlier players share $25,000 to buy or designat least 5 cycles. The lone car starts with a12" lead; all vehicles start out at 80 mph.The cycles win if they destroy the car. Thecar wins if all the cycles are destroyed, if itcan lose its pursuers at forks in the road, orif it increases its lead to more than 30".
Creating Your Own Game MapsMany different Car Wars maps are avail-
able. For otlier fixed-area scenarios (like are-nas, parking lots or obstacle courses), drawthe whole layout on vV' graph paper and tapeit to the table. Such a layout should show:
Roads, parking lots, etc. Some roads willbe littered with debris, others will be clean.If the road has a high curb (Dl hazard tohit), draw it as a heavy line. A city area willalso have sidewalks, which arc also good fordriving, if you're well enough armed!
Buildings. Show the outside of each build-ing as a heavy line; show interior partitions aslighter lines. Indicate stairs (sec p. 44) whereappropriate. Show the name and DP valuefor each building. Some buildings may haveweapon turrets for defense!
Off-road terrain (shoulders, parks, lampposts, trees, boulders, etc.). This will beimportant when cars leave the road (sec Off-Road Duelling, p. 23).
Scenarios 62
AbbreviationsABS — Antilock Braking
SystemAC — AutocannonAccel. — AccelerationAR — Assault RifleATG — Anti-Tank GunAVR — Anti- Vehicular
RifleB — BackBA — Body ArmorCPS — Cost per Shotd — die (6-sided)D — Difficulty RatingDP — Damage PointsDStG — Double-Barrelcd
ShotgunF — FrontFE — Fire ExtinguisherFOJ — Flaming Oil JetFP — FireproofFT — FlamethrowerGE — Grenade EquivalentGL — Grenade LauncherGP —Gauss PistolGR — Gauss RifleHAVR — Heavy AV RifleHC — Handling ClassHD — Heavy-DutyHL — Heavy Laser
HP — Heavy PistolHR — Heavy RocketHRSWC — Hi-Res Single-
Weapon ComputerIBA — Improved Body
ArmorIFE — Improved Fire
ExtinguisherImp. — ImprovedIR — InfraredL — Left or LaserLAW — Light Anti-tank
WeaponLIG — Light Intensifier
GogglesLL — Light LaserLP — Light PistolLR — Laser Rifle or Laser-
ReflectiveLRFP — Lascr-Rcflective
FireproofLtR — Light RocketMD — MinedropperMFR — Multi-Fire RocketMG — Machine GunML — Medium LaserMML — Micromissile
LauncherMNR — Mini Rocket
MP — Machine PistolMR — Medium RocketOJ — Oil JetOR — Off-RoadPFE — Portable Fire Ext.PR — Puncture ResistantPS — Paint SprayPU — Power UnitsR — Radial (tire) or RightRev. — ReversedRL — Rocket LauncherRP — Rocket PlatformRR — Recoilless RifleSB — SteelbeltedSD — SpikedropperSG — Spike GunSMD — Spear 1000
MinedropperSMG — Submachine GunSS — SmokescreenStG — ShotgunSWC — Single-Weapon
ComputerT —TopU — UndcrbodyVLAW — Very Light Anti-
Tank WeaponVMG - Vulcan MGWPS - Weight per Shot
Ablative armor, 49.Acceleration, 8; computing, 51.Accessories, 57.Ace, 42.Active suspension, 59.Airdani, 59.Amateur Night, 43, 62.American Autoduel Association
(AADA), 3, 4; logo, 4.Ammo clips, 45.Anii-tank gun, 55.Anlilock braking system, 59.Arcs of fire, 25; trike, 54.Area effect weapons, 28.Area Knowledge skill, 40.Armor, 48; ablative, 49; metal, 49.Aulocaimon, 55.Autoduel Quarterly, 4.Automatic fire, 31, 33.Backpack, 45.Banked curves, 15.Battle vest, 45.Bend, 11,13.Body armor, 30, 46; blended, 46; im-
proved, 46; fireproof, 56; spiked, 56.
IndexBody Hades, 57.Body types, 48; cycle, 52; trike, 53.Booilegger, 13.Breach (building), 22, 36-37.Bnishculter, 57.Buildings, 22, 36-37, 62.Bumper spikes, 57.Burn duration, 31.Burst effect, 28; burst radius, 28.Car counter, 8.Car design, 48.Car Wars Compendium, 3.Cargo, 51; cargo space, 30.Chassis, 49.Chronology, 3.Climbing, 40.Collision, 18, 19, 20, 29; Head-On, 20.Combat, 25; combat results, 30.Computer, 58.Computer Tech skill, 40.Concussion, 21.Concussion grenade, 35.Conforming movement, 19.Contests of skill, 39.Control roll, 10.
Control Table, 10.Cover, 37.Crash barriers, 5.Crash modifier, 10.Crash Table, 10, 17, 18.Crawling, 44.Cybsrlink, 57.Cycle, 11, 52; accessories, 53; blades,
53; design, 52; maneuvers, 11; tar-geting, 26; wheelguards, 53; start-ing, 45.
Cyclist, 40.D1.D2, etc., 11.Damage, 28; location, 28; damage modi-
fier, 19.Debris, 22.Deceleration, 8, 14.Design (vehicle), 48.Dice, 5.Difficulty Class, 11.Ditches, 24.Drift, 12.Driver, 40, 51; replacement, 30.Dropped weapons, 32.Encumbrance, 44.
Abbreviations 63
Equipment, 44.Evening-out maneuver, 14.Explosions, 22, 30.Explosive grenade, 35.Extra magazines, 57.Falling, 15, 16.Fast-Talk skill, 40.Fire, 30, 56; fire modifier, 3t.Fire extinguisher, 30, 58.Fireproofing, 50; armor, 31, 48; suit, 46,
tires, 50.Fishtail, 14, 17, 18.Flamethrower, 56.Flaming oil grenade, 36.Flaming oil jet, 32, 56,Flash grenade, 36.Flechette grenade, 36.Foam grenade, 36.Food Riots, 3.Free Oil States, 3.Game setup, 5.Gas mask, 46.General skill points, 39.Grenade launcher, 55.Grenade, 28, 34, 37, 55; thrown. 34;
types, 35.Grenade-equivalents, 44.Gunner, 40.Hand weapons, 25, 34; list, 47.Hand-to-hand combat, 45.Handgunner skill, 40.Handling Class, 9, 49.Handling status, 9-10.Hazards, 15; off-road, 23.Heavy rocket, 55.Height modifications, 37.Hiding, 44.Highway rules, 5.Impact armor, 46.Impact ruse, 34, 36.Improved fire extinguisher, 58.Injury to drivers, 30.Installation, 41.Internal locations, 29.J-tum, 13.Jettison joining, 53.Jumping, 15; jumping from vehicles. 24;
landing, 16.Jury-rigging, 41.Kills (scoring), 38.Laser, 5b; fire, 50; heavy, 56; infrared.
56; light, 56; medium, 56.Laser-reflective armor, 48.Laser-reflective fireproof armor, 48.Light intensifier goggles, 46.Light rocket, 55.Line of fire, 25.Link, 57; linked weapons, 33; smart link,
33, 58.Luck, 41.Machine gun, 55.Magazine switch, 57.Maneuver*, 8, 10, 11; cycle, 11.
Map grid, 7.Maps, 5, 7, 62; arena, 5; racetrack, 5.Martial Arts skill, 41.Mechanic skill, 41, 52.Medildi, 46.Medium rocket, 55.Metal armor, 30, 49.Micromissile launcher, 55.Minedropper, 32, 56.Mines, 15, 44; remote controlled, 32.Mini rocket, 55.Mini-mechanic tool, 46.Modifying vehicles, 52.Movement Chart, 7, 8.Multi-fire rocket pod, 55.Obstacles, 23.Off-road, 23, 50, 62.Oil and oil jet, 32, 44, 56.Paint, 33; grenade, 36; spray, 56.Paramedic skill, 42.Passengers, 51.Pedestrians, 5, 27, 43, 44, 45; bunkers,
5; combat, 44; equipment, 45; movement, 43.
Phases, 7.Pivot, 14.Point Hank, 27.Pop-up turret, 58.PortaHe fire extinguish, 46.Portable medikil, 46.Portable shop, 59.Power pack, 47.Power plants, 49, 50; cycle. 53.Power units, 50.Prestige, 42.Prone, 44.Racetrack, 15, 62.Radial tires, 50.Ram, 19; see also Collision.Ramplate, 57.Range, 34, 50.Rate of fire, 25.Recoilless rifle, 55.Record Sheet, 6.Referee, 6.
Reflexes and reflex roll, 5, 8, 9.Repair Chart, 41.Repair, 41, 52.Retractable wheelguards, 58.Reverse movement, 14.Reversed trikes, 54.Road conditions, 15.Rocket launcher, 56.Roll cage, 58.Rolling to hit, 26.Rolling a vehicle, 17, 18, 24.Rubble, 37.Running skill, 42.Safety seat, 59.Salvage, 41, 52.Scale, 7, 18.Scenarios, 62.
Searchlight, 59; armored, 59.Security, 42.
Sidecar, 26, 52; targeting, 26.Sideswipes, 21.Single-weapon computer, 58.Six-Shooter, 56.Six-wheeled chassis, 49.Skid, 12, 13, 17.Skills, 38; contests of skill, 39; improv-
ing, 39; new, 39; points, 38.Smart link, 33, 58.Smoke, 33; grenade, 36.Smokescreen, 56.Spaces, 48.Spare tires, 50.Spear 1000 minedropper, 56.Speed, 7; changes, 8.Spikes, 44; spike gun, 55.Spiked body armor, 46.Spikedropper, 32, 56.Spinout, 17.Spoilers, 59.Sprinting, 43.Stairs, 44.Steclbclling, 50.Streetwise skill, 42.Substitute drivers, 30.Suspension, 49; cycle, 53.Swerve, 12.T-Bone collision, 20.T-Stop, 13.Targeting computer, 58.Targeting, 25; cycle, 26; modifiers, 16-
27; sidecar, 26; trike, 26.Tear gas, 33; grenade, 36.Thermite grenade, 36.Tires, 50; blowouts, 15; cycle, 53; lost
or damaged, 9; fireproof , 50.Tool kit, 46.Top speed, computing, 51.Trikes, 53; combat, 54; construction, 53;
design, 53; targeting, 26.Tripod giuishield, 47.Tripod weapons, 46.Turns, 7.Turning key, 11.Turrets, 58.TV crews, 42.Uncontrolled vehicles, 30.Universal turrel, 58.Vehicles, 45; design, 48; diagram. 51;
modifying, 60; sam/>le, 60-61; start-ing, 45; stoik. (O.
Veliiculur conipuler, 58.Vehicular Fire Table, 31.Vulcan nuchitte gun, 55.Walkie-talkie, 47.Walls, 5.Water, 24.Wealth, 43.Weapon location, 52.Weapons, 50, 55; placement, 53.Wheel, lost, 9, 23. Sec also Tires.Wheelguards, 59.While phosphorus grenade, 36.
