Copyright © 1998 Andy Slack. All Rights Reserved.
Greg Porter's Guns! Guns! Guns! (aka 3G3) is a weapon design system for any RPG, available from Hyperbooks or from the publishers, BTRC. These guidelines allow you to design weapons in 3G3 and then rate them for use in 2300 AD. Note that you can't design real world weapons, or those from the 2300 AD Adventurer's Guide, using 3G3 and match the numbers exactly, although you can get close to the actual statistics.
2300 AD does not have a strongly defined set of Technological levels, but these are needed in weapon design. The 3G3 Tech Level of the weapon can be up to 14, and is typically in the range 12-14, as shown in the table below.
| 3G3 Tech Level | 2300 AD Technology | Examples | ||
| 14 | New Military | Current service rifles, FDLMS lasers | ||
| 13 | Old Military / New Civil | Surplus service rifles, LMS lasers | ||
| 12 | Old Civil | Civilian and hunting weapons |
Note that when designing lasers, 2300 AD's flywheel-pumped HPGs should be treated as 3G3 superconductor loops. Capacitors are just too heavy.
This is the common name of the weapon, e.g. "SK-19 (Sturmkarabiner-19)".
This is a general description of the weapon, e.g. "9mm binary propellant assault rifle with integral 30mm grenade launcher".
This is the weapon's country of origin, e.g. "Germany" or "Generic".
This is the empty weight of the weapon in kg, and is whatever the final 3G3 empty weight comes out as. Round to the nearest 0.1 kg.
This is the weapon's length in cm, and is whatever the 3G3 design says it should be. Round to the nearest whole centimetre.
Bulk is the weapon's length in feet, rounded down; e.g., the SK-19 is 75 cm long, or 2.461 feet, giving it a bulk of 2. This can be approximated as half the 3G3 bulk, rounded down. Note that:
This only applies to ranged weapons, and will always be one of the following:
This only applies to ranged weapons, and is whatever the designer has chosen for the weapon, e.g. "9x12mm APHE".
This only applies to ranged weapons, and is whatever the 3G3 calculations produce. It is quoted in metres per second, e.g "700 mps (area fire 400 mps)". Round to the nearest whole metre per second.
Where applicable, this is the type and capacity of the magazine, e.g. "50 round box magazine with integral propellant gas bottle; separately loaded internal catalyst gas bottle with charge for 600 aimed shots or 200 bursts" or "60 round box magazine".
Note that for standard 2300 AD lasers, batteries are 3G3 'external magazines'.
Where applicable, this is usually whatever the 3G3 calculations produce. Note however that FDLMS and LMS batteries in 2300 AD are much lighter than their 3G3 equivalents, and their weights should be divided by five.
Round to the nearest 0.1 kg.
Where applicable, this is the weapon's Rate Of Fire in aimed shots (or bursts) per 30 second combat turn, not per action. It depends on the weapon's 3G3 Action:
Where applicable, this is derived from the weapon's 3G3 Damage Range Class:
| Damage RC | Typical For | Aimed Fire Range (Metres) | ||
| 1 | Snub-nosed pistols | 100 | ||
| 2 | Pistols | 200 | ||
| 3 | Carbines | 400 | ||
| 4 | Rifles | 800 | ||
| 5 | Light cannon | 1,500 | ||
| 6 | Medium cannon | 3,500 | ||
| 7 | Heavy cannon | 6,500 | ||
| 8 | Superheavy cannon | 14,000 |
Modifiers: Shotgun pellets or flechettes, -85%; pistols, -80%.
Where applicable, this is the number of rounds fired in a burst.
Where applicable, this is one-tenth of the weapon's Area Fire Burst, rounded off to the nearest 0.25. Example: A semi-automatic with an Area Fire Burst of 3 rounds would have an Area Fire Value of 0.25.
This is 50% of the Aimed Fire Range for pistols, and 75% of the Aimed Fire Range for longarms.
This is derived from the weapon's 3G3 Damage Value as follows:
DPV = 0.008 * DV1.12
Example: A weapon with DV 15 would have DPV 0.2.
DPVs are rounded off to the nearest significant figure - for example, a weapon with a DV of 40 has a DPV of 0.4982, which is rounded to 0.5; one with a DV of 260 has a DPV of 4.0538, which is rounded to 4.0.
A really rough and ready approximation of DPV can be made for slugthrowers by taking DPV as one-tenth of calibre in mm for longarms, or one-thirtieth of calibre in mm for pistols, and rounding off to the nearest 0.1. This will almost always be within 0.1 of the DPV calculated using the above equation. For example, a pistol firing 9mm Parabellum will have a DPV of roughly 0.3; a rifle firing 5.56mm NATO will have a DPV of roughly 0.6.
A hit from a shotgun firing pellets, or a continuous beam laser, indicates that 1D10 rounds have struck the target; roll for hit location and damage separately for each one.
This is one-third the calculated 3G3 price, to allow for one Livre being roughly equal to three 1980s dollars. Note that:
This only applies to melee weapons, and depends on weapon length. If a weapon is 40 cm long or less, its Melee Range is Short. If it is more than 40 cm long, its Melee Range is Long.
This only applies to melee weapons, and is equal to 1.5 plus half the weapon's 3G3 Initiative value, rounded off to the nearest whole number.
This only applies to explosives and plasma guns.
For explosives (e.g. grenades), calculate EP exactly as you would DPV. Any fragments have the DPV appropriate to their DV within the weapon's blast radius, and half that within twice the blast radius. Example: A TL 13 hand grenade has a DV of 66. This equates to a DPV of 1.6, rounded to 2.0; the grenade has EP 2. Its fragments have DV 16, giving a DPV of 0.4 within the blast radius; this is halved to 0.2 within twice the blast radius.
For plasma weapons, again calculate EP as if it were DPV. Plasma weapons have the 'special effect' that their strikes count as tamped explosions. If you were to design particle beam weapons using 3G3, this special effect would not apply to them. Example: A plasma gun with DV 192 has EP 2.6, rounded to 3; its attack is treated as a tamped explosion of EP 3.
Guns in 2300 AD don't normally have a bonus to hit, but 3G3 can design weapons which do. If you want to make use of this option, halve the 3G3 bonus and round down to get a 2300 AD bonus.
Since 2300 AD uses DPV for both armour penetration and damage, the DV of special rounds is the average of the DVs before and after armour penetration. Specifically:
Discarding sabot, multiple projectile, HE, shaped charge, self-forging, fragmentation, and stacked projectile rounds are handled as stated in 3G3. Remember that the majority of conventional guns in 2300 AD use caseless discarding sabot rounds.
The half-dozen examples below are taken from More Guns, BTRC's weapons supplement for 3G3. This provides statistics for over 500 weapons, and the 2300 AD statistics can be quickly converted from the TimeLords section of the supplement. I recommend it, as it will save you hours of design time.
A typical 1980s automatic pistol, standard US issue.
Type: 9mm pistol. Country: Italy. Weight: 1.2 kg. Bulk: 0. Action: Single Shot. Ammunition: 9mm Parabellum. Magazine: 15 round box magazine. Magazine Weight: 0.3 kg. ROF: 3. Aimed Fire Range: 40 metres. Area Fire Burst: 3 rounds (AFV = 0.25). Area Fire Range: 20 metres. DP Value: 0.2. Price: Lv 240.
The standard US Army assault rifle since the 1960s, widely exported and beloved of movie heroes and villains.
Type: 5.56mm assault rifle. Country: USA. Weight: 4.1 kg. Bulk: 3. Action: Single shot or bursts. Ammunition: 5.56mm fixed cartridge ball. Magazine: 30 round box magazine. Magazine Weight: 0.5 kg. ROF: 3. Aimed Fire Range: 400 metres. Area Fire Burst: 10 rounds (AFV = 1.0). Area Fire Range: 300 metres. DP Value: 0.6. Price: Lv 503.
A highly illegal, disposable holdout pistol. Fully sealed until the trigger is first pulled, when the barrel end and ejection port covers blow off, the Screamer delivers a few seconds of low damage autofire at a very high cyclic rate, and is then normally discarded; it cannot be reloaded. The price is normally much higher than the price listed below, which is what the weapon would cost if it could be bought legally.
Type: 2mm automatic pistol. Weight: 0.3 kg. Bulk: 0. Action: Bursts. Ammunition: 2mm Screamer. Magazine: 100 round internal belt. Magazine Weight: 0 kg (subsumed in weapon weight). ROF: 11. Aimed Fire Range: Not applicable. Area Fire Burst: 33 rounds (AFV = 3.25). Area Fire Range: 10 metres. DP Value: 0.2. Price: Lv 48.
A civilian gauss pistol. Professional guns for hire consider it an executive toy, as you can have a Stracher P-11 doing twice the damage for the same money and less weight; its main redeeming feature is the large magazine capacity.
Type: 4mm gauss pistol. Weight: 1.7 kg. Bulk: 1. Action: Single Shot. Ammunition: 4mm gauss needles. Magazine: 100 round box magazine. Magazine Weight: 0.6 kg. ROF: 3. Aimed Fire Range: 40 metres. Area Fire Burst: 3 rounds (AFV = 0.25). Area Fire Range: 20 metres. DP Value: 0.4. Price: Lv 350.
A (barely) man-portable heavy weapon with backpack ammunition cassette; uses an integral laser sight to compensate for the fact that it is always fired from the hip.
Type: 5.56mm gatling gun. Country: America. Weight: 17.9 kg. Bulk: 2. Action: Bursts. Ammunition: 5.56mm fixed cartridge ball. Magazine: 1,000 round backpack cassette. Magazine Weight: 10.1 kg. ROF: 17 Aimed Fire Range: N/A. Area Fire Burst: 50 rounds (AFV = 5... "Nothin' coulda lived."). Area Fire Range: 600 metres. DP Value: 0.6. Price: Lv 1,647.
The traditional Samurai longsword, beloved of players everywhere. The price listed is for a newly-manufactured weapon; one with a history would be worth much more.
Length: 100 cm (Bulk = 3). Weight: 1.3 kg. Melee Range: Long. Melee Skill Modifier: +0. DP Value: 0.2 Price: Lv 587.
3G3 is BTRC's trademark for its universal gun and melee weapon design system; More Guns is BTRC's trademark for its universal gun and melee weapon design system supplement. The use of these trademarks should be construed neither as a challenge to their status, nor as implying sponsorship by BTRC.
Thanks to KevinC and Steve Crutchfield for comments and support.