Notes: Commonly used by irregular forces as assassination weapons, the improvised pen gun can take a variety of forms. They are generally made of thick steel (they tend to be overbuilt, as thicker steel is actually easier to work on these crude weapons), and are usually simple tubes with simple "slam-fire" firing mechanisms – if they have triggers, they are also quite simple in function, being little more than a spring-loaded firing pin with a catch on it. Some can be found with equally-simple "silencers" which can be attached – not very effective, and usually little more than steel tubes with internal leather or rubber washers functioning as bullet wipes. (They will not be effective for very long, in any case.) Caliber will generally be rounds which have as little chamber pressure as possible, such as the various standard .22 rimfire rounds, .25 ACP, or .32 ACP. Few, if any, will have any sort of rifling in them. Barrels will generally be quite short, in the 1 to 2-inch range.

Paint Pistol/Capsaicin Paint Pellets

*Damage varies according to the ammunition. Normal paint pellets will not cause damage other than a welt or possibly an injured eye if they strike there. The effects of capsaicin-laced pellets are described above.

"Pen" Gun

Notes: This is a representative of a large variety of emergency firearms made in the shape of a pen, such as the US SS-1 Stinger distributed by the OSS during WWII and the CIA during the Vietnam War. Similar weapons have also been made in the shape of cigarettes, cigars, penlights, cigarette packs, etc. Though some can be readily reloaded, others must be disassembled to be reloaded. Some of these weapons can actually be used as a pen, and a few can be fitted within a silencer. '"Pen" guns are typically airdropped to resistance forces in cases containing hundreds. They are also popular within special forces. "Pen" guns are very inaccurate, but always a great surprise.

*Damage is special and is described above.

**This is also the maximum range, limited by the length of the wire.

Super Shock Taser (Stun Gun)

Notes: A pistol-sized weapon used to stun rather than kill, the stun gun fires two small darts and two lengths of light wire into the target, then administers a heavy electric shock (100,000 volts). With a successful hit anywhere on the target, that character immediately losses three Initiative levels and must roll versus 1/2 his Constitution to stay conscious. Failure means the target loses consciousness for eight phases (40 seconds). Reloading the Super Shock Taser consists of removing the expended dart package and loading a new one. The dart package contains a charged battery, darts, four meters of fine wire and a compressed gas cylinder to propel the darts.

*Damage is special and is described above.

**This is also the maximum range, limited by the length of the wire.

Tranquilizer Gun

Notes: A specially made weapon designed to fire hypodermic darts containing a tranquilizer or other drug by means of compressed CO2 cartridges. These were designed originally for administering drugs to dangerous animals, but the merc industry soon adopted them for its own purposes.

A hit in any part of the body will be effective eventually, but some areas give faster results than others. Head hits result in instant unconsciousness. Chest and abdomen hits result in unconsciousness after 1D6+2 phases (five to 15 seconds). An arm hit requires the target to roll his Constitution or less on 1D10 to stay awake each phase. The drug will take effect even if the dart is removed immediately. Animals such as guard dogs will be rendered instantly unconscious from any hit (since their smaller body weight allows the drug to take effect faster). Tranquilizer guns count as medical equipment for contact assistance.

*Damage is special and is described above.

Notes: Perhaps one of the more unusual ad hoc weapons was pioneered by the IRA – a small derringer-type pistol made from a well-constructed toy gun. The toy pistol is reinforced with a either a new barrel, a barrel thickened for a different round, or iron bands around the barrel and "chamber." As these toy pistols generally have only a rudimentary hammer (for popping caps) or no hammer, a hammer is generally added by sawing off the end of a nail and soldering it to the hammer. A loading lever is also added to further reinforce the "chamber." These pistols are generally constructed for low-pressure commercial rounds, such as .22 Short, .22 Long, and .22 Long Rifle. Rifled versions are so rare that they will not be covered here; if you (as GM) decide to have a rifled version, multiply ranges by 1.5. Barrels are usually limited to 1 or 2 inches at the most, and often less than even an inch, for purposes of the tables below, a 1.5-inch barrel is used.

Tranquilizer Pistol

Notes: The tranquilizer pistol uses the same 15mm dart cartridges as the tranquilizer gun. It is quite silent, making less noise than a bow.

Animals larger than people are less affected by man-sized drug loads. An animal two to four times the mass of a human suffers only a -1 to Initiative for 1D6 minutes from a normal drug load if it succeeds at an Average: Constitution roll; otherwise, it takes 1D6 combat phases (five to 30 seconds) to go unconscious. Larger animals (over 400 kilograms) suffer the -1 Initiative for 1D6 minutes if they fail at an Average: Constitution roll.

*Damage is special and is described above.