Hello,

There is seems to be a conflict in the rulebook about what happens when you role a despair symbol during combat while firing blasters.

Pg. 16, table 2-2 says:

"The character's rageweapon immediately runs out of ammunition and may not be used for the remainder of the encounter."

Pg. 30, in the side bar "Ammo," it says:

"…a weapon may still 'run out' of ammo when a Despair smbol is rolled during combat." it goes on to say "… and the character needs to perform a maneuver to slap a new energy cell into the weapon before it can be fired again."

Pg. 31, under "Heavy Blaster Pistol" it says:

"Their only drawback is that they carry less shots than either, a trade-of for the increased power. Game Masters can spend one Despair to have a heavy blaster pistol run out of ammo (see Table 2-2: spending Threat and Despair in Combat on page 16)"

So, I am a bit confused. Should I assume that rolling a despare on every blaster except for the Heavy Blaster Pistol" means that ammo has run out (and a maneuver is needed to realoade), but for a "Heavy Blaster Pistol," the weapon can not be fired for the rest of the encounter?

No idea what is supposed to happen, but I might suggest trying to make it more team based/co-op, and say that if a character runs out of ammo, ANOTHER character has to spend an action to hand them more.

(Classically, the character calls out 'Sith! I'm out!', and another responds 'Here!' and chucks him a fresh power cell)

Well, that would be a manuever on both of their parts.

But the thing I am confused about is that there are three sources in the book that kind of conflict with each other (mostly that chart on 16 and the ammo comment on page 30).

• There is the main Threat & Despair chart that claims you can take out that weapon for the rest of the encounter (which countradicts what the note on Ammo says on page 30).

• Then there is the note about ammo in the equipment section that says a despair just simply means you are out of energy and need to slap in a new cell (by spending a manuever). It says you do that for all blasters.

• Then there is the heavy blaster note claiming that it uses more power and to refer to that chart on page 16 (the chart that claims with a despair symbol, you can take out the weapon for the rest of the encounter, which makes sense for a weapon claiming to use up more power).

With a majority of weqpons only a despair can be used to have it run out of ammo. You then need to have an extra ammo to use a maneuver to reload it. Weapons like the heavy blaster pistols can also run out of ammo if you spend threats (3 I think) so they have more potential to run out of ammo. I believe the taking out for the reast of the encounter is only if you have no more ammo. I think the extra ammo is the exception for that.

mouthymerc said:

So, Heavy Blaster Pistol runs out of power with 3 Threats? I like that!

Thanks!

Now this advice is more about GMing strategy than how the rules are written. And it's focused on a narrative interpretation of the rules, rather than a simulationist interpretation (which I believe is how most of the rules have been written). As you noted, the rules are not clear on this point.

Personally I consider losing a round of combat to be be a pretty minor for a full on despair. As a GM if all it meant was a character lost a round of shooting I would never spend the despair on running out of ammo, and would instead use it for big encounter changing events (the blast door closes, reinforcements arrive, something blows up knocking you and your friends to the ground, etc.).

In my mind threats are best spent on minor effects like "ran out of ammo. Reload." A full on despair causes the "you're out of ammo for that weapon for the encounter." Reloading is not despair inducing, it's a disadvantage (threat). It matches up better with the other things a despair/triumph can be spent on e.g. big, encounter changing events.

That does make sense. And the chart in the rules booklet does say that the baster is out for the rest of the conflict.

Thanks for that.

I'd say that if it were a blaster, it's out of ammo for till the end of encounter (at which point it recharges) unless a maneuver is used to slap in a new energy cell.

If it were a limited ammo type weapon, it's out of ammo until you add more ammo, so if you don't have any extra ammo, you don't get to use that weapon, even after that encounter.

Also, with limited ammo type weapon, the GM may want to spend threats on running out of ammo more often than a blaster.

If you consider all that, the book makes sense.

I'd use multiple Threats to have the weapon run out of ammunition, thus requiring Maneuvers to reload. As a slight hindrance, this suits the role of Threats within the game.

However, with a Despair, I would say that the weapon not only runs out of ammunition, but likely jams or is rendered otherwise unusable until the PC has sufficient time to remove the blockage/contend with the jam. Obviously, this isn't something they could really do in a combat environment - not unless they're willing to spend the required time and attention to do so.

If it were a limited ammo type weapon, it's out of ammo until you add more ammo, so if you don't have any extra ammo, you don't get to use that weapon, even after that encounter.

Also, with limited ammo type weapon, the GM may want to spend threats on running out of ammo more often than a blaster.

Weapons with Limited Ammo track ammunition "old school". You have a set amount of shots based on the Limited Ammo rating before you must reload using a Maneuver. If you don't have the extra ammo on hand, then you of course wouldn't be able to reload. This is used for such things as a missile launcher or bow where you need to reload after each shot (Limited Ammo 1) or some other weapon that only has a couple shots on board. I personally wouldn't use Despairs to make Limited Ammo run out since it would get very hinky - "Wait, I've got a weapon with Limited Ammo 3..I've taken only 1 shot and rolled a Despair and you are telling me I'm out of ammo?...where did my other 2 shots go?" Limited Ammo is the exception of NOT using the usual narrative system that is being used for all other weapons (narrative Despair = out-of-ammo).

Weapons without the Limited Ammo quality can run out of ammo on a Despair. If you happen to have extra reloads, then a Maneuver gets you going again. There is no set amount of shots to keep track of. This narrative approach makes it simpler to track weapons that may have a very large amount of shots on board (you don't have weapons in RAW with Limited Ammo 30, for example) without lots of note taking on number of rounds fired, number of magazines carried, number of shots per magazine, repeat for your backup blaster, etc, etc.

The Heavy Blaster Pistol may also run out of ammo on 3 Threats (not just a Despair). To simplify things I've house ruled a new "Ammo Hog" quality that does this and have used it for the Heavy Blaster Pistol and some other weapons such as a full-auto slugthrower.