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[James McMurray]

Anybody got house rules that take the accounting out of ammunition management? I'm thinking something along the lines of "pay X and you'll have a lifetime supply of that ammunition type" coupled with a limit to how much ammo people can carry on them.

[Ascalaphus]

On the "for" side, there'd be convenience. Big plus.

Three "againsts":

• Are you still tracking how many bullets left in the gun? Because "time until reload" makes some guns better than others.
• It makes special ammo less precious. This can be avoided by only allowing an "ammostyle" for ordinary ammo of course.
• You might enjoy the occasional adventure where it's just a few PCs, waaaaaay too many enemies (say, bugs) and not nearly enough bullets to feel comfy.

On the whole, I generally can't be bothered to track minutiae like ammo. If I wanted to track it, I'd give the players some skittles or M&Ms to represent ammo - eat when used. That at least makes it less of an abstract bookkeeping thing.

[K1ll5w1tch]

On the "for" side, there'd be convenience. Big plus.

Three "againsts":

• Are you still tracking how many bullets left in the gun? Because "time until reload" makes some guns better than others.
• It makes special ammo less precious. This can be avoided by only allowing an "ammostyle" for ordinary ammo of course.
• You might enjoy the occasional adventure where it's just a few PCs, waaaaaay too many enemies (say, bugs) and not nearly enough bullets to feel comfy.

On the whole, I generally can't be bothered to track minutiae like ammo. If I wanted to track it, I'd give the players some skittles or M&Ms to represent ammo - eat when used. That at least makes it less of an abstract bookkeeping thing.

Yeah I don't spend too much time book keeping that myself. It can distract from the game play. However if you feel inclined I have used a mission restock fee to account for used ammo repairing damaged armor and other such minutia. It works fairly well but you'll need to adjust it depending on the difficulty of the mission and how much combat went on. However Mages don't tend to spend much here. 100 to 500 nuyen depending on the lenght of the mission and difficulty of the combat seems reasonable. All that does is keep your ammo stocked and your armor in good condition. You can also add it to lifestyle to keep it even more simple.

[CanRay]

Maybe make it part of the Lifestyle Cost? Just a suggestion.

[Thanee]

Anybody got house rules that take the accounting out of ammunition management? I'm thinking something along the lines of "pay X and you'll have a lifetime supply of that ammunition type" coupled with a limit to how much ammo people can carry on them.

Regular Ammo is 2¥ per shot and Availability a non-issue, so just skip the whole process, deduct #rounds_used_up x2 in ¥ to refill your magazines.

Special Ammo should be bought normally, though.

Bye
Thanee

[TheOOB]

Special ammo can get expensive, especially if you start using autofire. Narcojet rounds cost 63 nuyen...per shot, and that long burst you just fired cost you 378. It's easy to keep track of ammo. The first thing I do is track my ammo in two ways, what ammo I'm taking with me(usually in clips), and what spare ammo I have at home(usually loose). During a run I just use scratch paper and tally off shots from each clip, and between runs I just reduce my spare ammo at home by the amount I used and have full clips for the next run.

[phlapjack77]

I would think ammo tracking would also vary between game types.

Pink-mohawk, I would say don't track ammo, at the very most just charge players a standard "ammo" fee before (after?) every run. Characters almost never run out of ammo, unless it makes for a cooler story or makes sense (autofiring for a long time etc)

Black trenchcoat, I think ammo tracking would be very important. Plus things like caseless ammo becomes an issue, using ammo that the character has had a long time is (possibly) magically trackable, shots fired from the same gun are CSI-able, etc.

I'd say, decide which side your campaign veers more towards, and do that.

[CanRay]

I thought Pink Mohawks tracked ammo by the "Clicking" sound their gun makes when it's broken, and it's time to take a new one out of the cold, dead hands of the guy they just killed? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Ascalaphus]

I thought Pink Mohawks tracked ammo by the "Clicking" sound their gun makes when it's broken, and it's time to take a new one out of the cold, dead hands of the guy they just killed? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Yes.

Unless they have a favorite gun of course. In that case they need to learn to loot only ammo.

[sabs]

House Rules I've used:

Medium Lifestyle+ covers regular ammo costs.
High Lifestyle+ covers ex-ex and AP ammo costs.
Luxury Lifestyle covers any ammo costs. (Except Stick and Shock, but that's because I hate SnS ammo and get rid of it in my games)

PCs have a 'load out' of how many clips, and quick recharges they carry. Those that own vehicles with smuggling compartments can have ammo in there. Unless of course, they're on the run, cut off, etc. Then ammo becomes a valuable commodity and they have what they're carrying and must use contacts to get more. (or swing by their house)

[Yerameyahu]

We just track everything. As everyone has said: clip size ('magazine size') is important, reloading is important. I'm fine with regular ammo being 'free', of course, in reasonable situations (lifestyle and access to markets). Special ammo is powerful, illegal/rare, and expensive, and you should have to plan ahead.

[Draco18s]

Special ammo can get expensive, especially if you start using autofire. Narcojet rounds cost 63 nuyen...per shot, and that long burst you just fired cost you 378. It's easy to keep track of ammo. The first thing I do is track my ammo in two ways, what ammo I'm taking with me(usually in clips), and what spare ammo I have at home(usually loose). During a run I just use scratch paper and tally off shots from each clip, and between runs I just reduce my spare ammo at home by the amount I used and have full clips for the next run.

Reminds me of a previous character of mine.

I tracked how many bullets were in my gun, and sometime around...session...8 I said, "Hum. I've got 12 bullets left. I should probably reload." And promptly popped the clip, shoved 48 (?) bullets into it, and popped it back in, then added about 12 gel rounds to the other clip in the gun (I love dual clips).

[phlapjack77]

I thought Pink Mohawks tracked ammo by the "Clicking" sound their gun makes when it's broken, and it's time to take a new one out of the cold, dead hands of the guy they just killed? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Pink-mohawk...Characters almost never run out of ammo, unless it makes for a cooler story...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Tanegar]

One that I like, from a previous thread on house rules:

Ammo Faucet assumes that regular rounds are cheap and easy enough to acquire that you only have to keep track of what's in your mag or on your belt - the cost of such rounds is covered in lifestyle or what-have-you. Exotic weapons and heavy weapons don't apply to this rule. Specialty ammo is still under normal rules.

[CanRay]

True enough, I mean, you can probably run down to the Stuffer Shack for some Soy Sloppies, a few Q-Colas, and a box of steel-jacketed Ball rounds...

[KarmaInferno]

Huh. I like that Ammo Faucet idea as a quality. Yoink!





-k

[Tanegar]

Huh. I like that Ammo Faucet idea as a quality. Yoink!

Lolwut? Regular ammo is already dirt cheap; why would anyone spend precious build points to make them effectively free?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Lolwut? Regular ammo is already dirt cheap; why would anyone spend precious build points to make them effectively free?

I'd spend 1 BP for that, but probably not much more...

[Epicedion]

True enough, I mean, you can probably run down to the Stuffer Shack for some Soy Sloppies, a few Q-Colas, and a box of steel-jacketed Ball rounds...

New meaning to the phrase "guns and butter," huh?

Keeping track of ammo isn't really that hard. Every so often a player just needs to buy a few hundred (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) worth of regular ammo, and keep it listed wherever he has his safehouse junk listed. If you buy 500 or 1000 rounds to start, it's probably going to take awhile before you have to buy any more.

[Doc Chase]

Huh. I like that Ammo Faucet idea as a quality. Yoink!





-k

I like Ammo Faucet as a houserule simply because it means it's one less thing for GM's to micromanage. I think we can assume that runners are smart enough to have a constant supply of legal ammo so's they can reload after a 'run.

If you also assume 'runners hit the firing range from time to time in order to keep their skills sharp, then tossing it into the lifestyle maintenance isn't too far of a stretch.

[Yerameyahu]

I agree, Epicedion. That effectively *is* this 'Ammo Faucet', because all that really matters is the special ammo anyway.

[Raven the Tricks...]

Honest question for those who shoot regularly in real life, how much ammo would one go through in a month going to the range regularly? How much in a single extended session?

[Doc Chase]

I'll go through ten mags or so when I go to the range. If I'm going out to the boonies with pals, it'll be twice that in 9mm, about that in .40, 100 12-gauge shells, and around 300 in 5.56.

In a play session I've yet to require swapping out a magazine.

[Epicedion]

Honest question for those who shoot regularly in real life, how much ammo would one go through in a month going to the range regularly? How much in a single extended session?

I generally plan on going through about 100-200 rounds in an hour, depending on how I'm shooting. Ammo's expensive.

In a play session I've yet to require swapping out a magazine.

It's a little bit too easy to hit people in SR, even if you suck. That translates into low ammo expenditure.

[Raven the Tricks...]

Sounds like my ballpark estimate was about right then. I had my character do a couple of intense days between a standard range and an AR shoothouse and figured about 600 rounds a day was what he'd need. Even with regular ammo that gets to be a lot to roll into any lifestyle short of High, and even a lot there really.