Synap Pistol
Also called a Ghandi Gun due to it’s non-lethal nature, the Synap Pistol is standard issue to all New Angeles Police Department officers. The weapon fires a burst of electromagnetic energy designed to disrupt an organic target’s nervous system, causing temporary paralysis and unconsciousness. As the charge also interferes with electrical systems, freezing some and forcing others to shut down, it is an effective weapon against robots and bioroids as well.
It is neither a subtle nor a long distance weapon, however. The bright blue bolts of electricity only have an effective range of ten meters, less if the effect is dispersed by rain or fog. Each shot is accompanied by a high decibel shrilling, affectionately referred to as a “banshee scream” by many officers. There is no way to fire a Synap Pistol and not alert everyone in the area to your presence. But that one shot should take down any target, organic or otherwise, unless its fully encased in an electromagnetically shielded suit of powered armor.
Synap Pistol
close, loud, ignore armor, non-lethal
When you’re hit with a Synap Pistol, roll+Meat. On a 10+, you’re unconscious and paralyzed for a few seconds. On a 7-9, you’ll come to in about a minute.
Does this roll replace the harm move for s-harm weapons? Have you replaced s-harm weapons or do these work in parallel.
Have you used this yet? If so, have you found that it changes the way players choose mix it up options? Are they less likely to choose “harm as established” when the established harm will always take them out for a few seconds at best?
I’ve not tried this yet and I’m not sure if it will replace s-harm or not Hamish Cameron.
In the fiction this is taken from, a hit from a Ghandi Gun knocks anyone unconscious long enough so the NAPD can take them into custody. Unless they’re beyond effective range or the effect is dispersed by rain, no one stays on their feet when hit with these things.
If I’m understanding s-harm correctly, the player still makes the Harm move, but they don’t add anything to the roll. That seemed too weak an effect for this weapon, as it left the possibility of the weapon having no effect which I didn’t think felt right.
I considered making a new tag, +non-lethal, which would add the weapon’s harm rating to the Harm roll but wouldn’t fill in any Harm Clock segments. That caused some of the options for the Harm move to notake that much sense though. I don’t see a Synap Pistol frying cyberwear, blowing off a limb, or doing any physical harm. And the 7-9 options all allow the target to retain consciousness.
An easier move might be to just say anyone hit by a Ghandi Gun is down for the count. No roll allowed.
I’m thinking this weapon is “balanced” by its short range and very loud discharge. Cops aren’t going to use this thing when the criminals are staying out of range and shooting leathal weapons back. Still, if the PCs know all NAPD officers are armed with these things, I imagine that would affect their choices if they do Mix It Up with police.
That sounds reasonable. If the guns are that friendly in ANR, then I definitely see why you wouldn’t want to use the harm move. (If the options did work for you, you could just append a number to the “s”, e.g. 4s-harm. But since the options are a problem, a new move is the way to go.)
I might rephrase the start of the move to emphasize what’s going on and make the 10+ look less like a failure. “When you are hit by a Synap gun, you go down. When your unconscious body tries to shake off the effects, roll Meat…”
(On first read I thought it was a backwards roll like harm, because the 10+ seemed so bad.)
As written, that 10+ clause does look like a failure because it’s pretty bad. Until you read the 7-9 clause. 😉
I don’t expect my PCs to encounter these things, but who knows. They’re bound to run afoul of the NAPD sooner or later, right?
I’m really interested in the idea of replacing the harm move for less-lethal weapons. I’m a fan of the idea of expanding the non-lethal weapons list to include things like “sick sticks” and having more interesting and varied outcomes to their use.
As Hamish Cameronsaid above, you could combine s-harm with a value. Like 4s-harm, for example. That allows you to make non-lethal weapons more or less harder to resist. But that only works if the options for the Harm move still make sense for the effects of the weapon.