GDW's House Rules
Equipment
Most adventures will require some sort of equipment for their successful completion. This chapter provides an extensive listing of various items of equipment the characters may want to acquire, ranging from simple knives to large aerial flyers. The listed purchase price is based on the item's market value at its point of manufacture or most likely sale point. A revolver, for example, costs the indicated amount on Earth, or in an established human enclave. Revolvers are not generally for sale in remote nomadic villages, and if they would have one, the price might be considerably higher.
In many cases equipment will be obtained by barter rather than purchase, and in this case the prices should guide the referee in determining relative equivalent values.
A Note on British Money: For those unfamiliar with the British system of currency in use in 1889, here is a short discussion.
The basic units are the pound, the shilling and the penny. Twelve pennies make a shilling, 20 shillings (or 240 pennies) make a pound. Pennies are sometimes divided into ha'pennies (half pennies) and farthings (quarter pennies). Prices are written as "pounds shillings/pennies." For example, three pounds, two shillings and six pennies would be written as £3 2/6, read as "three pounds, two-and-six." Shillings alone are written without the £ sign; for example, three shillings is written 3/-. Pennies alone are identified by the abbreviation "d" following the number; for example, sixpence would be written as 6d.
Currency Conversions: In 1889, a pound sterling was worth $5 in American currency. A shilling was worth $.25 and a penny, just over $0.02.
Scientific Equipment and Reference Materials
Travelling Gear
Fuel
Explosives
Black Powder Grenade [1/4]
Dynamite [£5 per case of 100]
Gunpowder [10/- per 3 kg keg]
Nitroglycerine [£1 per case of 20 bottles]
Firearms
Pistols
Heavy Multi-barrel Pistol (Lancaster) £1 Heavy Revolver (Colt Single Action Army) £2 £1 5/- per 100 rounds Light Multi-barrel Pistol (Remington .41-caliber Double Derringer) £1 Light Revolver (Hopkins and Allen .32) 10/- Single-Barrel Pistol (Remington Rolling Block) 8/- Rifles
Bolt-Action Rifle (Lebel) £2 Bolt-Action Rifle (Mannlicher) £2 Bolt-Action Rifle (Mauser) £2 Bolt-Action Carbine £1 6/- Lee-Metford Bolt-Action Rifle £2 Lee-Metford Bolt-Action Carbine £2 6/- Breech-Loading Rifle (Remington Rolling Block) £2 Breech-Loading Rifle (Martini-Henry) £2 15/- per 100 rounds Breech-Loading Carbine £1 18/- Lever-Action Rifle (Spencer Rifle) £2 2/6 13/6 per 100 rounds Lever-Action Rifle (Winchester Model 1873) £2 2/6 £1 5/- per 100 rounds Lever-Action Carbine (Spencer Carbine) £2 13/6 per 100 rounds Muzzle-Loading Rifle (Enfield) 9/- Muzzle-Loading Rifle (Springfield) 9/- Muzzle-Loading Carbine 6/- Smoothbore Musket 8/- Smoothbore Carbine 6/- Long Hunting Rifle (Sharps .50 Long Range Express) £6 Heavy Double Rifle (Holland & Holland .600 Nitro Express) £10 Nordenfelt Light Machinegun £20 Shotguns
Melee Weapons
Armor
Primitive Missile Weapons
Martian Artillery
Martian Artillery pieces are muzzle-loading guns mounted on wooden carriages. They fire round shot or grape shot.
Martian Heavy Gun £1000 Ammunition: £1 10/- per round Martian Light Gun £400 Ammunition: 16/- per round Martian Lob Gun £2000 Ammunition: £2 10/- per round Martian Rod Gun £800 Ammunition: 12/5 per round Martian Rogue Gun £2000 Ammunition: £2 7/9 per round Martian Sweeper £200 Ammunition: 6/6 per round
Exotic Naval Weapons
Barrage Balloon £120 Bomb £10 £50 per rack of 5 Depth Bomb £20 Drogue Torpedo £20 Hale Rocket £5 £50 per 10-round battery Liquid Fire £200 Power Grapnel £200 Smutts Torpedo £500 Spike Dropper £150 Tether Mine £200 Torpedo £50 £200 per tube Torpedo, Whitehead £50 £200 per tube
Machineguns
A machinegun's rate of fire makes it a deadly weapon to use against closely-grouped opponents.
Maxim Gun £150 Ammunition: £1 12/6 per 250-round belt
Modern Breech-Loading Guns
3" (USN 3"/50) £260 Ammunition: £1 8/7 per round 4.7" QF (USN 4.7/50) £1000 Ammunition: £4 15/- per round 6" QF (RN 6" Mk VII) £2500 Ammunition: £7 15/- per round 8" (RN 8" Mk II) £3000 Ammunition: £10 3/9 per round 9" (RN 9.2" Mk IX) £4000 Ammunition: £16 8/9 per round 16" (RN16.25"/30) £24,000 Ammunition: £87 6/8 per round
Old Low-Powered Rifled Guns
12-pdr (3.4") Rifle £240 Ammunition: 15/10 per round 20-pdr (3.67") Parrott Rifle £240 Ammunition: £1 per round 20-pdr (4") Rifle £300 Ammunition: £1 5/10 per round 30-pdr (4.2") Parrott Rifle £300 Ammunition: £1 9/7 per round 50-pdr (5.1") Dahlgren Rifle £700 Ammunition: £2 14/7 per round 60-pdr (5.3") Parrott Rifle £700 Ammunition: £3 1/8 per round 80-pdr (6") Dahlgren Rifle £800 Ammunition: £4 7/6 per round 6.4" Brooke Rifle £800 Ammunition: £5 3/4 per round 100-pdr (6.4") Parrott £800 Ammunition: £5 3/4 per round 7" Brooke Rifle £1000 Ammunition: £7 9/2 per round 7" James Rifle £1000 Ammunition: £7 9/2 per round 150-pdr (8") Parrott £2000 Ammunition: £10 3/9 per round
Smoothbore Guns
15" £6000 11" £3500 10" £2000 68-pdr £1500 9" £1000 32-pdr £1000 24-pdr £800 12-pdr £400 9-pdr £200 6-pdr £100
Quick-Firing Machine Cannon
1" Gatling £70 Ammunition: 1-pdr HRC £160 Ammunition: 2/- per round 1-pdr Pom Pom £250 Ammunition: 2/- per round 3-pdr HRC £180 Ammunition: 6-pdr HRC £220 Ammunition: 7/6 per round
Invented Devices
The Ether
Tesla's Lightning Cannon (£500)
Geology and Metallurgy
Geological and metallurgical inventions can be both useful to one's ζther flyer and literally Earth-shattering to one's opponents.
Cast Stone Chemical
Earthquake Control Device
Rustless Iron
Superhard Steel
Transparent Aluminum
Volcanic Control Device
Woven Steel Combustion
Electricity
Tesla's Lightning Cannon (£500)
Power Production
Biochemistry
Precision Machinery
Transportation
Flight
Inventors have the chance to revolutionize flight almost as much as liftwood did by inventing one of the following devices:
Optics
The field of optics lies wide open for new inventions.
Combination Devices
Transportation, Land
Truculent
Transportation, Water
Aerial Vessels
LZ-5 Kampf Zeppelin [£20,000]
Infernal Devices
Barrage Balloon, Incendiary
Black Powder Grenade [1/4]
Bomb, 50-pound
Drogue Torpedo, 60-pound
Tesla's Lightning Cannon (£500)