Under Base Firearm Frames (CC), it says Light Pistols have a firing mode of SA.

However, under Available Design Options on the next page, it says (SS, BF of SA/BF only)

Does this mean Light Pistols are only capable of SS, BF, or SA/BF only?

Or are those *extra* options in addition to the original SA mode? i.e. a Light Pistol can actually be SS, SA, BF or SA/BF?

Thanks!

It means LPs have the standard mode SA, and you can Optionally get SS, BF or SA/BF. So yes, those are *extra* options.

Danke!

Now I have a firearm question: Why do you need a body of 8 and a strength of 8 minimum to fire an LMG? I've held a SAW, and yeah, it's heavier than a rifle, but not so much that I couldn't fire it (as it uses the same round as the M16). I know 3 people who have fired one without falling over or taking "stun damage". I could see how not everyone could lug around an assault cannon, but an LMG? I mean, the RPK LMG is just an AK-47 with a longer, heavier barrel, a larger magazine, and a different stock. Is it a game balance thing?

Why do you think you need a Body and Strength of 8 to weild an LMG? The Stoner-Ares only weigh 12.5 kilos (in a game where weapon weights are already obscene), which is well within the carrying limit of a Strength 3 individual. And the man-portable launchers are all under that weight, too.

Is there some special rule that I'm unaware of?

Page 99 of Cannon Companion says that any character with a body/strength under 8 has to use gyroscopic stabilization. Even body/strength 8 characters have to make a knockdown and stun resistance test. I just don't think all that is necessary.

Yep, there is. p99 Cannon Companion.

I guess they just wanted to simplify things and grouped all heavy weapons together as one. There's no reason why you'd need Bod and Str 8 to carry or fire an LMG from standing and without a gyro mount, those are far too high.

Page 99? I assume that's in the optional rules section. Feh. Half of those are silly anyway. I tend to ignore them in general in my games anyway.

It's not labeled as optional, but it is in the advanced combat rules section. If you ignore most/all of what's in that, well then I guess you use fairly simple rules! Which isn't always bad in SR.. but there's a lot there that you really might want to consider using.

Hell, more than half the rules in the entire game are absurd. Ditch the crap that's obviously completely psychotic. This'd be a prime example.

Also worth noting that whatever the game considers a kilo is, for sane people who live in reality, a pound. It doesn't fix all of the game's absolutely insane weights, but it does go a long way to making it less horrendously wrong.

Yeah I hear you there. They're neither very simple nor comprehensive, and if you want to make them more comprehensive, of course, they get less simple still!

Ah well. Personally I'd prefer to incorporate all the extra rules, complex though they may be.

Nothing wrong with extra rules. Just don't complain when you need to be an olympian to fire an M249.

One of those things you better just completely ignore... Firing LMGs certainly doesn't take any more strength or mass than firing an AR, except for the extra weight of the weapon (which isn't much in SR). Same for MMGs -- slightly more recoil, but the average grunt can fire them from the shoulder without trouble. Better just read the rule so that you need Gyromount or STR8/BOD8 only for HMGs and miniguns and heavier.