The Scribblings of Samuel Baughn

I recently read Danny Vendramini’s Them and Us and Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, both of which feature scary neanderthals. Them and Us is pretty much entirely pseudoscience, but does raise some interesting points about how we probably underestimate the differences between humans and neanderthals. I’m fairly convinced they were a lot hairier and less human-looking than typical reconstructions show them. Evidence for casual cannibalism, with the bones being tossed into the same waste pile as those of other prey species suggests a certain degree of inhuman disregard for the dead. Unfortunately, Vendramini doesn’t stop there, but starts with wild speculation about them being nocturnal, with slit pupils, and ape-like noses, then goes on to complete crank theory about human race memories. Eaters of the Dead is a work of fiction, written well before Vendramini’s work, but the ‘wendel’ are basically similar to his neandethals, if vaguely described. Both are covered in black hair, ...

Trailblazer Lifecard, .22 WMR (USA, 2019-) A single-shot derringer, which can be folded into a rectangular block roughly the length and width of a credit card (Holdout +0). It cannot be cocked or fired while folded (or folded while cocked) and has no extractor. A groove in the top surface serves as a rudimentary sight. A small compartment in the grip holds three spare rounds of ammunition (weight of these not included in the listed weights on the table). A version in .22 LR is also available, and the grip compartment can hold four of the smaller rounds. A barrel to convert between the two is $70. GUNS (SPECIALITY) (DX-4 or most other Guns at -2) Weapon Damage Acc Range Weight RoF Shots ST Bulk Rcl Trailblazer Lifecard, .22 WMR 1d+1 pi− 0 100/1,300 0.45/0.012 1 1(3) 6 −1 2 Trailblazer Lifecard, .22 LR 1d pi− 0 80/1,100 ...

A more unusual gun this time, ideal for an After the End game. Information about this weapon is hard to find, so more guesswork than usual went into the numbers. Don't try to build one of these things yourself; they are not only illegal almost everywhere, but also probably unsafe to both build and shoot. Luty 9mm SMG, 9×19mm (UK, 1998-) Philip Luty designed this extremely simple weapon as an act of protest against restrictive gun laws in the UK. Unsurprisingly, the protest resulted in him spending much of the rest of his life in prison, but the instruction manual he wrote for constructing it was published and distributed widely enough that copies have been made around the world, mostly by criminal groups. The design was intended to be built from commonly available materials with only an angle grinder, blowtorch, electric drill, and some hand tools. It is a straight blowback operated smoothbore weapon, firing from an open bolt, with neither sights or stock, so accuracy is ...

Kel-Tec SU16, 5.56×45mm NATO (USA, 2003-) The original Sport Utility rifle (later named SU16A) uses an AR-15 ( GURPS High-Tech , p. 117) derived upper (with an 18.5″ barrel and piston mechanism) on a ‘take-down’ lower, allowing it to be folded into a compact package (about 2′ long; −3 Holdout) and quickly turned back into a functional rifle by folding it out again. It can not be fired or loaded while folded, as the trigger goes into the magazine well. The hand-guard can be folded out into a bipod ( GURPS High-Tech , p. 160), the upper receiver has a Picatinny accessory rail ( GURPS High-Tech , p. 161), and the stock can hold two of the standard 10 round magazines or one metal 20 or 30 round AR-15 style one (polymer magazines are too wide to fit). It can use any AR-15 style STANAG magazine, but the magazines it comes with will not work in other AR-15 style weapons. The SU16B is similar, but has a light-weight 16″ barrel. Treat it as ‘unreliable’ for ...

"He's an outlaw loose and running" Came the whisper from each lip "And he's here to do some business, with the big iron on his hip" Marty Robbins Big Iron Continuing the theme of impractically large pistols. Smith & Wesson Model 500, .500 Magnum (USA, 2003-) Apparently built just so that S&W could once again claim to produce ‘the most powerful handgun in the world’, this huge SA/DA revolver has rubber grips and a built-in compensator ( GURPS Gun-Fu , p. 41) to try and tame the ridiculous recoil of the .500 Magnum round. It also shoots the slightly less crazy .500 Special (Dmg 3d+2 pi+, Rcl 4). A long-barrel performance center version with a muzzle brake, accessory rail for mounting a scope, and swing swivels is also available (with .500 Special; Dmg. 4d−1 pi+, Rcl 3). The Model 500ES (2003-2009) is an ‘emergency survival’ version with orange grips and a 2.75″ barrel (with .500 Special; Dmg 3d−1 pi+, Rcl 4). GUNS (PISTOL)...

Here's another set of hand-cannons. Auto Mag Model 180, .44 AMP (USA, 1971-1972) The original Auto Mag Pistol is an over-engineered beauty, mostly cast from stainless steel. It is single action and uses a rotating-bolt short-recoil mechanism to manage the power of its unique cartridge. The barrel has a large rib running along the top, which combined with the guide rods running along the sides and an elegantly curved trigger-guard, gives the pistol a very distinctive appearance. With a cost of manufacture well below the retail price, the Auto Mag Corporation was only able to build around 3,000 before declaring bankruptcy, six months after shipping the first one. Owner Harry Sanford went on to produce it under several different brands (TDE, OMC, Thomas Oil Company, High Standard, and AMT) between 1973 and 1984, raising the price to $6,000 to actually turn a profit. Despite the cost, he managed to sell around 6,000 more guns. Since 2018 AutoMag Ltd. has sold a copy for $2,5...

As you may have guessed from recent posts, I've been statting up some guns for GURPS. I've also switched theme, so hopefully large tables should display reasonably well on most devices. Here's the first one: Ruger Blackhawk, .44 Magnum (USA, 1956-1962) Thanks to some corporate espionage (the apocryphal story says a Ruger employee found a spent case in a dumpster) Sturm, Ruger & Co. were able to bring a version of their popular single-action Blackhawk revolver chambered in the new .44 Magnum round to market at almost the same time as the Smith & Wesson Model 29 ( GURPS High-Tech , p. 96) for two-thirds the price. The Blackhawk was essentially a modernized version of the Colt M1873 Single-Action Army ( GURPS High-Tech , p. 95) and suffered similar safety issues to early revolvers when the hammer was left over a loaded chamber (See "Unsafe" Revolvers, GURPS High-Tech , p. 93). The original Blackhawk (1955-1973) is chambered in .357 Magnum. From 196...

When writing up rules for unusual firearms in GURPS, I often find that it is really difficult to get a good estimate of how much the ammunition weighs. For some reason, although people love to post numbers related to guns on the internet, they very rarely include the weight of the cartridges they fire. Obviously different loadings vary quite a bit; the bullet is often two-thirds of the weight of a round, and the heaviest bullets might weigh twice what the lightest ones do. GURPS simplifies that into a single WPS, which leaves a bit of 'wiggle room', which is fortunate because any simple formula is only going to give a crude approximation, given the massive number of variables. Anyway, here's the math: A = B + ( ( C ^ (5/6) ) / 100 ) Where A is the weight of a complete round of ammunition in lbs. (i.e. WPS in GURPS), B is the weight of the bullet, also in lbs. (divide weight in grains by 7,000, or weight in grams by 454), and C is the case capacity in ...

Warrior-Wizard 250 points You have the magical power of a wizard, but you split your studies between spells and weapon training. You can use a variety of methods to either improve your attacks or hinder your enemies, but even without magic you are a deadly fighter. Unfortunately, studying the two disciplines leaves little time for anything else, but you’re confident that most problems can be solved with either magic or violence (or a combination of the two). Attributes: ST 11 [10]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 14 [80]; HT 11 [10]. Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d−1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs.; HP 11 [0]; Will 14 [0]; Per 14 [0]; FP 11 [0]; Basic Speed 6.00 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]. Advantages: Magery 3 [35]. • 30 points chosen from among ST +1 to +3 [10/level], DX +1 [20], HT +1 to +3 [10/level], FP +1 to +10 [3/level], Ambidexterity [5], Combat Reflexes [15], Danger Sense [15], High Pain Threshold [10], Languages [2-6/language], Luck [15], or Magery 4, 5, or 6 [10, 20, or 30]. One of ...

These don’t provide a perfect fit for published weapon stats, but they are fairly close in most cases and probably good enough for gaming. The damage is a better fit than the range, which is fortunate because in GURPS damage often matters more than range, with few engagements happening beyond half damage range. You will need to know the projectile diameter (or ‘caliber’, which we will call c , measured in millimeters), the projectile mass (bullet weight, in kilograms, m ), and muzzle velocity (in meters per second, v ). You will also need to know the kinetic energy (in Joules, k ) of the projectile at its muzzle velocity, but you can calculate that from m and v: k = m × (v^2) × 0.5 Damage (in dice, d) can then be calculated with: d = ( (k^(1/2)) / (c^(1/3)) ) × 0.23 ½ D Range (in yards, h) is: h = (m^(1/2)) × (v^(3/2)) × 2.5 / c Finally, Max Range (in yards, r) is: r = ( (h^(1/2)) × 120 ) + h To make things easier, here's a Google Docs spr...

For most of human history, it was impossible to distinguish between disease, poisoning, and supernatural threats. All of them were considered to be mysterious dangers which might affect anyone without an obvious cause. Naturally, this led to a great deal of paranoia (see Poisoning Phobias, GURPS Horror, p. 59). The ancient Mesopotamians and Hebrews blamed illnesses on witches who put unclean material into food or water. From them, the belief seems to have spread to the Greeks and Romans, and hence throughout Europe by the medieval period.  Veneficium 9 Points Prerequisites: None. Veneficium is a secret folk style which uses standard prerequisites. Most practitioners are simply malicious, using it to terrorize anyone who offends them, although some use it for more practical means, such as assassination or extortion. Either way, stylists often have to worry about being poisoned by each other, so they learn some methods to defend against such threats. As well ...

Smaller swords tend to be rather less effective than larger ones in GURPS (and, indeed, in almost all roleplaying games). This is probably realistic, since despite the additional expense and inconvenience of long blades, people seem to have preferred them right up until the invention of the smallsword. However, shorter weapons do have some advantages which I think might be worth representing, in order to make them more attractive to PCs and increase the variety of weapons available without deliberately hindering your ability to fight. Add the following note to the thrust attack (only) of the baton, dusack, shortsword, and small falchion: Reduce the penalty for attacking in close combat by -2. Add the following note to the thrust attack (only) of the cutlass, falchion, jutte, large katar, large quadrens, macuahuilzoctli, sai, and smallsword: Reduce the penalty for attacking in close combat by -1.

While most GURPS players don’t want their characters to be randomly generated, there are bound to be some who do and GMs may want to create random NPCs. Unfortunately, many aspects of character creation are setting-specific. However, attributes tend to be fairly universal, and are well suited to randomization. The first version of the third edition Basic Set suggested simply rolling 3d for attributes, but that gives absurd results, especially with fourth edition rules. To generate a random attribute value, roll 3d and consult the following table: 3d Attribute 3 7 4-5 8 6-8 9 9-12 10 13-15 11 16-17 12 18 13 This should result in 'realistic' values if you assume that each level of a GURPS attribute is about one standard deviation from the norm, which 'feels' about right. Many professions will not have the same distribution of compete...

  The following modifiers expand the options in Weapons of Quality ( GURPS Martial Arts p. 59). None of them may be applied to missile weapons. E viscerating*: Reduce the penalty to target vitals to -2 rather than -3. Fencing weapons, knives, and swords: + 3 CF. Other weapons: + 9 CF. L acerating † : +1 damage with cutting attacks against DR 0 targets. Fencing weapons, knives, and swords: +1 CF. Other weapons: +4 CF. Nimble : Reduce the penalty for multiple parries and rapid strike by 1 (before any reduction for Fencing parry, parrying with a two-handed weapon, Trained by a Master, or Weapon Master). +4 CF. May not be combined with balanced or poorly balanced. Puncturing *: Reduce the penalty for targeting chinks in armor by -1. +1 CF. Melee weapons only. Sharp † : +1 damage for any cutting or impaling weapon. Projectiles and impaling-only melee or thrown weapons: +1 CF. Fencing weapons, knives, and swords: +2 CF. Other cutting weapons: +8 CF. Som...

While GURPS has a lot of interesting rules for combat between opponents of very different size, it still has a few obvious scenarios which it doesn’t cover.   Squeezing A bear hug typically needs a two-handed (or legged) grapple, but it seems viable with one hand if your opponent is small enough. Squeezing them between arm and body should be possible if your SM exceeds theirs by 4, while doing it with just your hand is only possible if your SM is 7 higher than theirs. The former requires first grappling an opponent, then getting them into position (treat as Shift Grip, GURPS Martial Arts p. 117), and finally squeezing. The latter simply requires a grapple followed by squeezing as your next attack. In both cases, use half your actual ST in the contest to squeeze.   Chewing and Swallowing If your SM is 9 or more greater than your opponent’s, you can fit them into your mouth! Start with a bite, which establishes a free grapple (see Teeth, GURPS Martial Arts p. 115), fo...

  People have probably been using magic to search for valuables since shortly after the concept of valuables was invented, but Renaissance Europe had an especially rich tradition of magical treasure hunting. Although people in the war-torn early modern period often buried their valuables to avoid having them looted, magical treasure hunting was about more than just finding material goods in mundane hiding places. Treasure was associated with otherworldly beings and monsters, such as demons, fairies, and (most of all) ghosts, and could have magical properties such as being able to move of its own accord. … pieces of good money, of ancient coin; which halving betwixt them, they sold in dish-fulls for dish-fulls of meal to the country people. Very many of undoubted credit saw, and had of the coin to this day. But whither it was a good or bad angel, one of the subterranean people, or the restless soul of him who hid it, that discovered it, and to what end it was done, I l...

  The ‘headless’ are also known as Blemmyes, Epiphagi, Ewaipanoma, or Sternophthalmoi (chest-eyes). First mentioned in the Histories of Herodotus as living in eastern Libya, but later said to live south of Egypt, in Ethiopia, in India, in eastern Asia, on the Andaman islands, in South America, or in western Africa.   Akephalos 34 points Large humanoids, standing eight or nine feet tall, covered in golden-brown hair (short over most of their bodies, but longer on their backs). Their most distinctive feature is that they have no necks, with their facial features appearing on their chests and their brain between their shoulders. Their small ears are located under their armpits and hidden by fur. Although able to fashion weapons such as bows and spears, Akephaloi do not usually wear clothes or armor. Attribute Modifiers: ST +5 (Size, -10%) [45]. Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: SM +1; Basic Move +1 [5]. Advantages: DR 1 (Tough Skin, -40%) [3]; Fur ...

GURPS Magic makes some assumptions about enchanters and their wages which I find questionable, resulting in a rather sudden leap from cheap enchantments to expensive ones. Enchanters are assumed to either be skill-15 journeymen who earn average wages or masters who earn comfortable wages, typically with skill 20. All of them have Recover Energy at 15. While an average wage might be just about reasonable for a journeyman, I find the idea of skill-20 masters only earning a comfortable wage hard to swallow. It seems to me that there would probably be a range of skill levels among masters, providing a range of enchantments at different prices per energy point. After a few hours messing around with spreadsheets, I came up with a few numbers which seem a bit more plausible to me and smooth off the price curve. A skill-16 comfortable master with one (average wealth) assistant, both with Recover Energy-15, can enchant items up to 20 power, for a price per point of 0.0016 times typical monthly ...