Tired of having to make do with the selection of close combat blades in the Waste World core book? Well, here are some simple ideas to make sure your character gets the weapon they want.

Four Steps to Success

To help your character get the weapon you have in mind, follow the four steps below. These will tell you the statistics, price and availability of what you're asking for. You're not designing a new weapon as such, just working out what it is you're shopping for.

1. Decide what basic shape of weapon you want
2. Pick a material for your weapon to be made of
3. Choose any "power" options you want it to have
4. Polish the design with custom features

You can always use your own story. The different features included here are given names and descriptions, but if you want to use your own cool–sounding names and descriptions to explain the statistical changes, go for it.

1) The Basic Shape

Punching Dagger

A short bladed weapon with the grip mounted at 90 degrees to the blade. This weapon is used to deliver quick jabs rather than swipes.

Dagger

A small (15–30cm) blade, fairly concealable but of limited use in fights against larger weapons.

Gladius (Shortsword)

Blade lengths between 30–60cm. A readily portable weapon.

Longsword

A more impressive weapon, with blades ranging from 60–120cm. The longsword category covers sabres, katanas and a variety of other similarly–sized weapons.

Klaighmore (Greatsword)

A huge two–handed sword, with a blade between 1.2m and, in extreme cases, 2.4m

Handaxe

A small, double–bladed axe with a short handle.

Battleaxe

A scary–looking two–headed axe, designed for one–handed use.

Two–Handed Axe

A larger, heavier weapon, usually built with only one blade.

Poleaxe

The mother of all axes: a huge cutting blade mounted on a long shaft which requires two hands for use.

Razorwheel

A fearsome weapon, consisting of a circular saw mounted in line with a long grip. When the trigger is held down, the wheel spins at incredible speeds, emitting an terrifying screaming noise. These weapons are not subtle, but they are impressive. Because of the power of the wheel, two hands are needed for this weapon.

Your choice of basic layout determines the starting characteristics of the weapon:

 
 

	Damage	Parry	Type	Weight	Min. ST	Cost	Availability
Punching Dagger	1M–1	––	C	1	––	30	8
Dagger	1M–1	––	C	1	––	30	9
Gladius	1M	––	C	2	––	60	9
Longsword	1M+1	––	C	4	0	100	7
Klaighmore	2M	––	C	8	+2	150	5
Handaxe	1M	–1	C	1	––	30	9
Battleaxe	1M+1	–1	C	2	0	60	9
Two–handed Axe	1M+2	–1	C	4	+1	100	7
Poleaxe	2M+1	–1	C	8	+2	150	7
Razorwheel	1M+3	––	C	6	––	500	5

All the values in this table are the same as in the Waste World core book, with the exception of "Parry". This is a negative modifier applied when this weapon is used to block incoming attacks, and reflects the fact that long blades are better than wide blades in defence. Parry modifiers are applied to blocking rolls in combat.

2) Building Material

Wrought Steel / Chitin

This is the default building material––wrought steel in most part of Waste World, chitin in Hydra.

Duralloy

An alloy of various artificially created metals which gives a weapon greater tensile strength and edge–retention than normal wrought steel. It looks like a particularly shiny white gold.

Dense–Fibre Ceramic ("DFC")

A complex polymer which includes duralloy and ceramic (as in ceramic armour) with a natural grain which strengthens the weapon and improves its "biting" quality when it hits a target. DFC appears a dull blue–grey.

Shellak

A very rare material produced from the chitinous shells of a particular beetle which inhabits the wastes. Knowledge of its production is a closely guarded secret, and so far none of the metrozones have discovered it. It is pitch black in colour, and Shellak weapons are highly prized because the texture bites into and disrupts whatever it hits even better than DFC.

The material of a weapon affects its damage, cost and availability:
 

	Damage	Cost	Availability
Steel / Chitin	––	––	––
Duralloy	+1	´ 2	–2
DFC	+2	´ 4	–3
Shellak	+3	´ 8	–6

The price increase includes the cost of a weapon maintenance kit and sheath suitable for the material.

For example, a DFC battle axe would have a damage rating of 1M+3, cost 400 credits and have an availability of 2.

3) Power Options

Self–sharpening

These weapons feature a memory system tied into a constant low–drain current which continually draws the molecules at the edge of the blade back into position for maximum sharpness. This system cannot correct major damage such as nicks and notches or broken blades, but will keep the weapon at absolute sharpness all the time. Shellak weapons cannot be made self–sharpening.

Oscillator

Oscillators blades use a current to keep the molecules of the blade in constant motion, like tiny chainsaw teeth. The weapon will cut into its targets easily. Shellak weapons cannot be made into oscillators.

Chain

Built like a chainsaw: a belt travels the length of the blades, carrying numerous sharp teeth. When the trigger is held down, the belt slices around, giving one of the most fearsome cutting edges known. Chain weapons can be found made of Shellak, although they are staggeringly rare. However, chain razorwheels don't exist because powered teeth is already part of the razorwheel design.

Poweredge

The outside edge of the blade is built as a fibrethermal conductor, which means that it gets very hot indeed when the trigger is held down. This modification does an extra point of damage against living flesh but has no extra effect on armour (including carapace).

Shock

The blade of the weapon is built as conductor for the DPC. When the weapon strikes, a shock is released which can have quite a bad effect on the target. The basic damage rating of the weapon is reduced by 2 (so a shock–handaxe would have a rating of 1M–2) but if the attack hits with 5 or more successes, after accounting for defence and modifiers, the target must make a ST based saving throw or be stunned for one round (no attack or defence).

Fireburst

These highly advanced weapons have blades which coat themselves in plasma when in combat. Although it evaporates quickly, it can have a devastating effect on armour and flesh. Against armour (including carapace), damage is calculated normally but if the attack hits with 10 or more successes the AR of the armour is reduced by one. Against flesh, the weapon does an extra d10 damage. Ouch.

Power options can affect the damage, weight, cost and availability of weapons. DPC ratings are not required for these weapons, because a single cell will last for many fights.

 
 

	Damage	Weight	Cost	Availability
Self–sharpening	+1	––	´ 4	–1
Oscillator	+2	––	´ 8	–2
Chain	+3	´ 2	´ 10	–3
Poweredge	+1 vs. flesh, normal vs. armour	––	´ 2	–3
Shock	–2  5 success: ST save or stunned for 1 rnd.	––	´ 4	–4
Fireburst	Vs. armour, 10 success= –1 AR  Vs. flesh, +1d10 damage	––	´ 10	–9

4) Custom Features

Paintwork

Commonly used to make a weapon match its bearer's armour. Custom paintjobs can be done for 50 credits.

Styling

The hilt and grip can make a weapon appear exotic and frightening, and improve the wielder's appearance. Styling costs 50 credits.

Unusual Blades

Add to the mystery of a weapon, although they rarely improve its combat performance. An axe might be made with a "fleur–de–lys" blade, or a sword made in a wide, sweeping teardrop shape. Blades conferring no statistical change cost an extra 10% of the weapon's price. Some unusual blades add 1 to the damage rating while giving the user a –1 penalty on attacks. These double the price of the weapon.

Intelligence

Incorporated in some weapons in the form of AI chips or stolen karmachips. Both are highly illegal in most metrozones. The intelligence may be tied into a voice system and any number of arcane systems, such as lev fields, to improve the owner's chances in combat. This not something which can be shopped for, and should only be found in rare circumstances.

Oversizing

Characters with the Giant special power or Growth at initiate level or better may want weapons which are built larger than normal. These cost ten times as much as normal and double the damage rating. They can only be used by oversized characters.

Supersizing

Weapons of this category should never ever find their way into the hands of PCs. they are monstrous, titanic versions of the normal types and can only be used by similarly enormous NCs. Cost and damage are left to the narrator's imagination, but they should ridiculously huge.

Examples

Here are a few ideas to get you going.

I've just generated a new character, a transformed female Hydran brute who, I have decided, will be ambidextrous and use an axe in each hand. From the list of possibilities, I decide that the battleaxe is about the right size. These are normally only 60 credits each, so I decide that she can afford to improve it a bit. Power features aren't really her style, so an improved building material is called for. DFC makes the cost per axe 240 credits, but makes them nicely devastating, so that's what I go for. Checking with the narrator, he says he's happy for my character to start play with this weapon. She buys two, at a total price of 480 credits. The final stats are:

 
 

	Damage	Parry	Type	Weight	Min. ST	Cost	Availability
DFC Battleaxe	1M+3	–1	C	2	0	240	6

Wearing my narrator's hat, I need to design a weapon to be wielded by the arch–villain at the end of a scenario. He's an ancient golem created by Hydran genesculptors. I picture him holding a flaming two–handed chainsword. I start with the stats for the Klaighmore. I reckon it ought to be made of at least Duralloy, so I factor that in. Next I add chain and fireburst modifications. The total cost multipliers are ´ 2 (duralloy), ´ 10 (chain), ´ 10 (fireburst), so the weapon costs 200 times more than normal––30 megacredits! But it's cool, I'm the narrator and what I say goes. Just to stop any of the players getting their hands on it, I decide that when its owner dies, it will erupt in a ball of flame.
 

	Damage	Parry	Type	Weight	Min. ST	Cost	Availability
Ancient Fiery Chainsword	2M+3  +Special	––	C	16	+2	30M	–9

Note to Narrators

The ideas in this paper can lead to fairly humungous weapons. The idea is to provide scope for characters to wield just the right weapon, in the same way that the character generation rules allow them to have just the right powers and skills. If you think a player is abusing the ideas here, restrict him or her. Remember availability rolls? Most of the really powerful combinations here will have availabilities below zero, meaning that you can't just walk into a shop and pick them up. Make players work for their toys! The Fireburst modification, for example, reduces the availability of any weapon it is applied to by 9, so nowhere can you just walk into a shop and pick one up. If players want their characters to start play with a rare weapon, on the grounds that they have had their entire lives up until the start of the game to try and find one, make them pay extra character points in addition to the points they'll need to convert into cash to pay for it. As a rough guideline, if a weapon has an availability rating of 6 or more, characters should be able to start play with them anyway. For availability ratings 5 down to 1, make them pay an extra 1–5 points. For availability rating of zero or less, make them fork out at least 10 extra points.

Particularly unusual weapons, such as forceblades and neurolashes are not covered here because they constitute special concepts which can't be covered by normal rules. Blunt instruments (hammers, maces etc.) will be covered in a separate paper.

Also, the rules here won't generate the same stats as the official books. They will generate stats which I consider more representative of the weapons in question. For example, the larger weapons are listed in the books as weighing at most 3.5kg, which is about the weight of three large hardback books. I've put this up to 8kg, which is still lower than most real–world close–combat weapons, but more like a realistic value.

Anyway, have fun, and remember…

Waste 'em.

Neil de Carteret

Neil.deC@btinternet.com