It doesn't officially state anything under personal combat about ranges of weapons and firing beyond the listed range. Our group finds it silly that the bolt of energy just dissipates at a certain point as the rules seem to imply.

Anyone allowing weapons to fire beyond the listed range? What penalties are you applying? Upgraded difficulty dice, adding set back dice?

Thanks

not allowed per RAW...AND there is a talent in one of the tress that allows a character to fire one range band further than the listed range, so I personally do not allow it without the talent

There's also an attachment - available for some weapons - that can increase range. Making a similar attachment for other weapons shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

If I altered that, I'd drastically lower damage (halve it maybe).

Because of the narrative nature of the game and the squishy lengths of range bands the weapon ranges are limited to whats listed EXCEPT if you have a special ability or device that allows you to add a range band.

Our group finds it silly that the bolt of energy just dissipates at a certain point as the rules seem to imply.

Where do all the bullets in action movies go? They can't simply evaporate. BUT, they move beyond the scope of the scene and we don't worry too much about falling bullets (or debris) killing innocent bystanders a mile or so away. That would be the GURPS version of an action movie.

So, in FFG's dN system you have a similar scenario. It's not that the blaster bolts vanish with a sucking pop sound. You are setting a general hand-wavey distance for each range band anyway. Beyond a particular weapon's maximum range they are ineffectual for trying to snap off a hipshot to take down a space-pigeon on the wing in the particular scene or encounter you are roleplaying in.

The "attachment" in question is actually a mod for the Advanced Targeting Array attachment for starships, and the TL;DR of that is that the way you get to increase the range band is because it grants Innate Talent (Sniper Shot).

Nope, look at the marksman barrel in the attachments section for weapons. It's for rifles sure, but its a good template for some homebrewed long barrelled sniper pistol thingy

Where do all the bullets in action movies go? They can't simply evaporate.

"I shoot at the Commie Mutant Traitor...*roll*...and I miss."

"You hit Alpha Complex. Roll damage."

"..."

Where do all the bullets in action movies go? They can't simply evaporate.

"I shoot at the Commie Mutant Traitor...*roll*...and I miss."

"You hit Alpha Complex. Roll damage."

"..."

The rest of the group points at the player. "He shot at Alpha Complex. HE'S A COMMIE MUTANT TRAITOR TOO!!" KILL HIM IN THE NAME OF THE COMPUTER!"

Ahh... the memories

It doesn't officially state anything under personal combat about ranges of weapons and firing beyond the listed range. Our group finds it silly that the bolt of energy just dissipates at a certain point as the rules seem to imply.

Anyone allowing weapons to fire beyond the listed range? What penalties are you applying? Upgraded difficulty dice, adding set back dice?

Thanks

The way I and my players have looked at is that you don't want lasers that miss to fly for miles and accidentally take someone out. So energy weapons are built with technical fail safes to cause just what you state. The bolt dissipates at the end of the range just like a lightsaber just stops at a defined length. It is more difficult to reason out with slug throwers but I don't feel it is enough of a problem to house rule so we play it straight.

Our group finds it silly that the bolt of energy just dissipates at a certain point as the rules seem to imply.

It doesn't have to dissipate (although it very well could) it's just ineffective in a far a the rules go. Unless you have a special ability or attachment you can't take a shot with a pistol at long range and have any appreciable chance of hitting or doing damage. You have to draw a line somewhere and this is it.

So no, I don't have any rules to extend ranges except whats already in the RAW.

In the real world, just because bullets eventually do keep going after you shoot them, it doesn't mean that snipers try to take out targets with a pistol instead of a rifle.

Effective range of a weapon is a real thing, and these narrative rules take that into consideration.

In a normal scenario, a missed shot simply has not quantifiable effect on the game.

• It hits the wall behind the target.
• It hits the railing in front of the target.
• It sails off into the clear blue sky before dissipating harmlessly somewhere out past where you lose sight of it.
• Etc.

On the other hand, Despair gives the GM the possibility to have that missed shot do something genuinely despair-worthy, if he feels it's appropriate to the game:

• The shot misses, and sails out through the broken window. You hear screams from the foot traffic outside, followed by a loud crash. {The shot killed a taxi driver, who plowed through a group of pedestrians waiting to cross the street.} (And that's a *friendly* turn of events compared to some.)
• Your shot looks to be exactly on target, but the hostage flinches in just the wrong way at just the wrong time...
• Etc.

Now these won't always be appropriate (and will lose effectiveness if you overdo it), but Despair does give an explicit avenue for those missed shots to come back and haunt the players.

In the real world, just because bullets eventually do keep going after you shoot them, it doesn't mean that snipers try to take out targets with a pistol instead of a rifle.

Effective range of a weapon is a real thing, and these narrative rules take that into consideration.

Precisely. Range limits have been a long-standing element of RPGs since the earliest days of D&D, which used purely tactile ammo such as arrows, crossbow bolts, and thrown daggers.

As Rikoshi noted, many of weapons in the real world have an "effective range," which is pretty much "the maximum range at which a competent user can expect to hit their target." Obviously, closer is better, but sometimes (like with snipers), that's not an option. The shot doesn't disappear, it just simply becomes subjected to enough external environmental factors that accuracy past that point is more a matter of dumb luck than anything else.

So if a player wants to be able to reliably attack a target past the default "effective range" of their weapon, there's talents (Sniper Shot for most ranged attacks, Strong Arm for thrown weapons such as grenades) and weapon attachments that allow them to do so within the rules, reflecting specialized training or specialized gear, or even both.

That said, most combats I've seen don't take place beyond Medium Range (which caps out at several dozen meters, which is roughly the length of your standard American Football field) all that often, and most ranged attacks already have a range limit of Medium (slugthrower pistols, hold-out blasters, and grenades are the three main exceptions that come to mind).