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• Sep 28, 2025

  Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Psurlon

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  The Lore

  A long time ago, in a world far, far away, there was a civilization whose mastery of psionics was so complete they decided to merge their entire population into a single collective god-mind. They failed, and the backlash destroyed their planet.

  The survivors managed to escape to the Astral Sea, but only as disembodied consciences. There, they came upon another world that radiated vast amounts of psychic energy, comparable to their old home. The survivors were drawn to it like moths to a flame, piercing the barriers that surrounded this new world and taking over a species of worm that turned out to be particularly receptive to their minds.

  Over the following generations, these planar refugees would shape their hosts to be more useful to their mysterious purposes, and would come to prefer their new bodies over their old humanoid forms. And this is how the psurlons came to be, though no one in Athas really knows the whole story.

  Some psurlons reside in the Gray, amid the graves of the gods. Many others live in Athas itself, where they often take human form to infiltrate and spy on the city-states of the sorcerer-kings, working towards some mysterious goal of their own. Psurlons are an old people with long memories and extremely advanced psionic skills, so sometimes they’ll be sought out by powerful psychics, spellcasters, and historians willing to risk their lives to bargain for knowledge.

  The Numbers

  Psurlons are Medium Aberrant Magical Beasts. They have resistance to psychic damage, a burrow speed, and Tremorsense, though the exact values on these traits vary per stat block. Their signature ability is Armored Mind, a passive trait that lets them roll saves against domination both at the start and end of their turns, even if the condition doesn’t normally end with a save.

  Psurlon Dustworm

  Dustworms are specialized infiltrators, disguising themselves as humanoids to spy on the city-states and on the comings and goings of the sorcerer-kings. They’re Level 17 Skirmishers with 164 HP. Their ground and burrow speeds are 8, and they have 5 psychic resistance and Tremorsense 10.

  The dustworm can Change Shape as a minor action to appear as a humanoid. Others need to pass a DC 36 Insight check to detect the deception. Most dustworms encountered by PCs will start out disguised, and will do their best to maintain cover until there is no other alternative. Then, they take their natural shapes and fight, likely attempting to escape.

  In addition to Armored Mind, they also project a Psychic Deadpool (aura 5), which inflicts -2 on enemy saves against ongoing psychic damage. They can attack in melee with their Claws, which damage and deal ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends). At range, they fling Mindknives which deal psychic damage and forbid the target from making opportunity attacks for a turn.

  Both of these attacks can be boosted by Psionic Augment, which triggers after one of them hits and lets them deal an extra 2d6 psychic damage. This recharges when the dustworm takes psychic damage.

  They can use a Burrowing Attack to burrow half their speed, attack someone with a claw, and then burrow the other half of their speed. This is strangely precise phrasing compared to the other “moving attack” skills we have seen so far.

  Psurlon Warworm

  Warworms cannot change shape, possibly because they’re Huge instead of Medium. They defend psurlon settlements and stay hidden underground near infiltrators, waiting to burst out when things go pear-shaped. They’re Level 18 Elite Brutes with 424 HP. Their ground and burrow speeds are 6, their Tremorsense is 20, and their psychic resistance is 15.

  Their bite deals heavy damage and inflicts ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends), and Double Attack lets them bite twice per action. Once per encounter, they can let out a Mind Scream that attacks enemies in a Close Burst 2. A hit deals heavy psychic damage and stuns for a turn. Nasty! A miss deals half damage.

  Psurlon Mindworm

  Mindworms are powerful seers, able to see many futures at once. They guide their fellow psurlons to the ones most favorable to their secret objectives. Mindworms are Level 19 Controllers with 181 HP. Their movement speed is 6, they have 10 Psychic resistance, and Tremorsense 10.

  Their additional passive is a Whispering Meme aura (5) that lets the mindworm slide enemies that start their turns within 1 square. I guess the mysterious whispers of “this is fine” and “always has been” drive enemies to distraction.

  A mindworm will probably start the fight at range and attempt to use Ego Control (recharge 5+) on a PC. This deals a sizable chunk of psychic damage and dominates on a hit (save ends). Then they’ll close in to melee range and alternate between Referred Pain and their Psychic Claws. The first power is a Close Burst 2 that deals psychic damage and slows for a turn; the other is a basic attack that deals a mix of psychic and physical damage and inflicts -2 to AC for a turn.

  Mindworms can also Change Shape and use Psionic Augment, both of which work just like the dustworm’s, but with higher numbers.

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  There’s a lot here that reminds me of mind flayers, but I think I actually like psurlons better. With mind flayers, you know they want to eat your brain, and most PCs will start drawing their weapons as soon as they spot one.

  Psurlons have a much more mysterious goal, so they can more easily fill the “mysterious but dangerous stranger” role instead of always being overtly hostile. Heck, PCs might want to ally with them against a sorcerer-king.

  That said, they do employ a lot of the same tactics as flayers, including keeping large groups of dominated thralls around to help compose mixed encounter groups.

• Sep 26, 2025

  Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Nightmare Beast

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  The Lore

  Nightmare Beasts are among the most feared horrors to walk the surface of Athas, second only to the Dragon of Tyr itself. The mere presence of a nightmare beast poisons the surrounding land and contaminates its water. This seems to be a continuous defiling effect - and the beasts can defile further to fuel their powers. The description also makes me think they might be radioactive, if you want to inject some science fantasy into your campaign.

  Sages can only speculate as to their origin. The leading theory is that they were summoned from the Gray by powerful defilers during an age in the distant past where war raged all over the world. Fully grown beasts are solitary, but smaller versions can be seen hanging out in packs with each other or with other predatory animals. Those same sages theorize these are young beasts, born through natural reproduction.

  Everything about the preceding paragraph is wrong, however. Nightmare beasts form when one of the many natural predators of Athas consumes too much prey from areas tainted by the Gray or marked by heavy defiling. The creature begins to slowly mutate. It acquires intelligence, power, and a hatred for all living things, becoming a nightmare beast when the metamorphosis is complete. The “spawn” are merely beasts whose transformation is still ongoing. Fully transformed beasts are solitary. Partially-mutated spawn still display behaviors reminiscent of their previous form, which is why they can be found in packs.

  Nightmare beast lairs tend to be pretty obvious and imposing landmarks at the center of a horribly corrupted region.

  The Numbers

  Nightmare Beasts are Shadow Magical Beasts with Darkvision. We get stat blocks for both spawn and fully transformed specimens. Both can invade people’s dreams and use magical black lightning as a weapon, in addition to having very large and sharp tusks, but the effects of all of these vary per stat block. We’ll see them from weaker to stronger.

  At the GM’s option, beasts poison the area around them when they die. The area within 10 squares of a full beast’s corpse become Defiled Terrain (a hazard described at the end of the book). Spawn also do this, but the area is only 5 squares in radius.

  Nightmare Beast Spawn

  As mentioned above, “spawn” is a misleading name. This Large creature was formerly a more mundane Athasian predator who is currently in the process of mutating into a nightmare beast. It will kinda resemble the animal it once was, but is already clearly unnatural. Spawn are Level 16 Elite Artillery with 244 HP. Their ground speed is 8 and they also have Burrow and Climb speeds of 4. Maybe this was a megapede?

  The creature’s basic melee attack uses its Tusks (Melee 2), which damage and slide the target 2 squares on a hit. Its favorite tactic, however, is to hang back and rain Black Lightning (Ranged 20) upon its foes. This attack vs. Reflex targets one or two victims. On a hit it deals “lightning and necrotic” damage, and ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends). This worsens to 10 ongoing on the first failed save, and to unconsciousness (save ends) on the second.

  The spawn can further torment its unconscious victims with Horrid Nightmares (minor action, recharge 6+, Ranged 10), which deal psychic damage and prevent the target from rolling saves for a turn on a hit. Yeah the spawn can potentially lock a PC down once they’re unconscious from Black Lightning. This also works if they manage to sneak up on their victims while they sleep, though the spawn might not yet be clever enough to think of this.

  If a target steps into the spawn’s melee reach, it can use its Barbed Tongue (Melee 3) as a reaction. This attack vs Fortitude deals necrotic damage on a hit and prevents the target from regaining HP for a turn.

  Nightmare Beast

  The fully mutated beast is size Huge, and a Level 25 Solo Controller with 928 HP. In other words, it’s a kaiju. This specimen is stronger than the spawn in every way, from physical weapons all the way to psychic and magical powers. Its ground speed is just 6, though, with no other movement modes. It likes to use its magic to torment its victims, but once it gets injured it will drop the mind games and get physical.

  The beast has no less than three basic attacks, all Melee 3 and each with a different rider: Claws that slide 3 squares, Tusks that knock prone, and a Bite that grabs the target if the beast hasn’t grabbed anyone yet. Each of those of course also does respectable damage. Double Attack lets the beast pick any two of those to use on the same action.

  Bloodied Fury (recharge 4+) becomes available while the beast is bloodied. It lets the creature move its speed and use a claw/claw/tusk/bite combo at any point along the movement, using up to two attacks against each target.

  While the beast is not bloodied, it can instead use its Black Lightning (recharge 4+). This version targets 1 or 2 creatures in a Close Burst 5, and on a hit inflicts ongoing 30 lightning and necrotic damage (save ends). Each creature adjacent to one of the targets takes 20 lightning and necrotic damage when the target is hit, as well. The targets fall unconscious right on the first failed saving throw.

  If the beast misses a target while using Black Lightning, it can use its Hideous Defiling to attack every enemy in a Close Burst 2, dealing a chunk of necrotic damage on a hit. A hit also allows it to reroll the missed Black Lightning attacks.

  Whether bloodied or not, the beast can inflict Horrid Nightmares on unsconscious targets just like its less-developed counterpart, with better damage. It can also use Dream Step at will, teleporting 15 squares to a space adjacent to an unconscious creature!

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  Full beasts will usually be found alone, as they kill anything else they can perceive. A GM who wishes to add more spice to this solo encounter could add powerful undead minions. The beast might tolerate their presence since they aren’t living creatures.

  Spawn could be found in groups, either with each other or still hanging around their packs as the transformation proceeds. Eventually the day comes when they complete the transformation and slay their packmates.

• Sep 25, 2025

  Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Mul

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  The text for this entry sounds really fucking racist. It can’t decide whether to talk about muls as if they were non-sapient animals or whether to stick to the old “stupid and brutal savage” cliches. Therefore, I’ll paraphrase and summarize it more aggressively than I do most other entries, and also pull stuff from the much more even-handed text in the Campaign Guide.

  The Lore

  Muls are half-dwarves, born from the union of a human and a dwarf. They’re taller than humans on average, and combine dwarven strength and endurance with human physical and mental agility. Most muls are born into slavery, as they were originally a sorcerer-king eugenics project.

  Muls resent slavery just as much as anyone else, and their strong wills and bodies usually often put them in a position to do something about it. They often rebel and turn on their oppressors, and you can find communities of free muls making a life out in the wastes and organizing to strike back at the sorcerer-kings.

  Despite their aptitude for resistance, muls are popular as gladiators, which means a lot of them receive combat training from their enslavers. Most muls the PCs encounter will have some degree of skill at fighting, and free individuals often go on to work as mercenaries and bodyguards because of this.

  The Numbers

  Muls are Medium Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 6. Their signature trait is the same Incredible Toughness mul PCs get. Once per encounter, at the start of their turns, they can automatically end a ongoing damage effect or the dazed, slowed, stunned, or weakened conditions. This applies both to (save ends) effects, and to those that would last until the end of the turn, which makes this ability really useful.

  Mul Gladiator

  Trained and forced to fight in the arena, the mul gladiator is head and shoulders above his human rivals both literally and in terms of skill. He’s a Level 4 Elite Soldier with 112 HP. He wields a warhammer and can use a Double Sweep maneuver to attack twice in the same action, knocking the target prone if both attacks hit. If an adjacent prone enemy stands up, the gladiator can use a Pursuing Shove to attack their Fortitude. On a hit, he pushes the target 3 squares and shifts 3 squares to follow.

  Mul Chainfighter

  This could represent a more experienced gladiator or bodyguard, or a free agent like a mercenary. It’s a Level 8 Brute with 106 HP.

  The chainfighter wields a Cahulaks as their main weapon. This is a Dark Sun weapon introduced in the Campaign Guide: a length of chain with barbed grappling hooks on either end. Its attacks have Reach 2, or Reach 1 if the chainfighter has a creature grabbed.

  Grabs happen via the Ensnaring Tines maneuver, a Reach 2 attack that pulls the target 1 square and grabs them if they end up adjacent to the mul, who can grab at most one victim at a time in this way.

  If the grabbed victim attempts to escape and fails, the chainfighter can use Wicked Ensnarement (vs. Fortitude) as a reaction. On a hit, this deals a bit of damage and knocks the target prone.

  Mul Savage

  This unfortunately-named stat block is meant to represent a free mul that is used to surviving in the wastes. It’s a Level 9 Brute with 120 HP and the Leader tag.

  The tag is justified by the Furious Inspiration aura (5) projected by the mul. Whenever an ally inside the aura becomes bloodied they can make a melee basic attack as a free action.

  This warrior fights with a Bone-Studded Greatclub, whose attacks damage and knock prone on a hit. When first bloodied, his Bloodied Fury lets him make the same attack against every enemy in a Close Burst 1, additionally pushing them 2 squares on a hit.

  Mul Champion

  A prominent figure in the rebel movements against the sorcerer-king, champions inspire others to take up the fight through their deeds. Like the chainfighter, the champion wields cahulaks, but they’re a lot more skilled with the weapon. Champions are Level 17 Soldiers with 167 HP.

  Their basic Cahulaks attack works exactly like the chainfighter’s, with better numbers. Their Snagging Tines maneuver is Reach 2 and grabs on a hit, but it doesn’t pull: the champion can maintain a grab at up to Reach 2. Swinging Hook (Encounter) lets them slide a grabbed target 4 squares as an effect, maintaining the grab if the target is within 2 squares of the champion at the end of the movement. At the end of the movement the champion makes an attack both against the grabbed target and an enemy adjacent to that target, damaging and knocking them prone on a hit.

  As a minor action, the Champion’s Gaze marks every enemy in a Close Burst 2 for a turn. If a marked enemy makes an attack that doesn’t target the champion, they open themselves to a Wicked Parry, a reach 2 interrupt that damages and inflicts a -2 penalty to the triggering attack.

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  The book completes its collection of fantasy racism cliches by stating that neither humans nor dwarves like muls very much. Nevertheless, they can be found in Mixed Groups of People as bodyguards, enforcers, and so on.

  I liked the stat blocks because they’re relatively simple and each has One Neat Trick. Shame about the fluff, but as you saw it’s relatively easy to fix.

• Sep 24, 2025

  Let's Read the 4e Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Mekillot

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  The Lore

  These hill-sized cutie pies are a kind of drake, but they differ enough from their elementally aligned relatives that they deserve their own entry. In the wild, these giant armored beasts roam the wastes in small herds, eating plants and the occasional small animal and laying their eggs near oases.

  Mekillots are not voracious predators other drakes, but they’re still aggressive and stubborn in the same way a real-life large herbivore like a rhino or hippo can be. While their size and armor makes them prime beasts of burden and war, they need to either be trained for these roles from birth or be kept under tight psychic control at all times.

  Some sorcerer-kings and other defilers think the mekillot’s natural size and aggressiveness isn’t lethal enough, and perform bioengineering rituals on their unhatched eggs to make the resulting creature even bigger and stronger.

  The Numbers

  Mekillots are Natural Beasts with the Reptile and Mount tags. They have no special senses or vulnerabilities. Everything else varies per stat block, and we get two here.

  Mekillot

  The typical member of the species is Huge, and has a ground speed of 7. It’s a Level 10 Soldier with 108 HP. Its basic attack is a Reach 1 bite that deals extra damage to grabbed targets. It can grab them with a Reach 3 Tongue Lash, which attacks Fortitude. On a hit it pulls the target 2 squares, damages and grabs them. The mekillot can only have one target grabbed like this, but it can keep biting them for increased damage as described above while the grab lasts.

  Mekillots used as mounts are trained to perform a Checking Charge. This lets them perform a charge that can go through enemy spaces, and each time they do so they automatically push the enemy 1 square and knock them prone. At the end of the charge, in addition to the usual attack from the mekillot, its rider can also make a melee basic attack as a free action. This is an excellent fight opener, since the push-and-knock-prone effect doesn’t require an attack. It lets the mekillot and its rider go straight to the PC squishies in the back line.

  Mekillot Dirk

  This is probably a mekillot mutated by defiling magic to be even bigger. It’s Gargantuan in size, a little slower at Speed 6, and a Level 22 Elite Soldier with 418 HP.

  The dirk is big enough to have Threatening Reach 2, as well as a Wide Body that lets other creatures enter and end their move in its space. This means they’re standing on its back – and that the slope is gentle enough to not require climbing checks.

  The dirk’s bite works just like that of the standard mekillot, though its numbers are of course bigger. It can also attack with Reach 2 Claws, which target 1 or 2 creatures. On a hit they deal damage, pull the target 1 square, and knock it prone. Its Tongue Lash has been upgraded to a Reach 4 Tongue Chomp, which works identically but also allows the creature to make a free bite attack against the target after pulling it to an adjacent square. This effectively makes this maneuver a double attack. The text says the tongue only pulls the victim 1 square, but I think that’s an error: it should be 3.

  Checking Charge upgrades to Trample, which doesn’t require a rider. This lets the mekillot shift twice its speed, enter enemy spaces during the move, and make free claw attacks against any enemy whose space it enters in this way. So it’s not guaranteed to knock the whole PC party prone any more, but those it does knock prone will be worse off.

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  You’re either going to meet a small herd of wild mekillot, 2-3 of them being used as war mounts by humanoid soliers or brutes, or a mekillot dirk being used as an armored personal carrier by epic-level artillery and controller villains.

  Their mechanics are workable enough, but what really endears mekillots to me is this illustration. They look like marketable plushies even though they’re likely to trample you to death.

• Sep 17, 2025

  The Guns of Wolfenstein, Part 03: The New Order

  In Part 2 of this series, we took a look at the guns that appear on Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, whose timeline I named “Wolfenstein-2” for ease of reference. The timeline from the 2001 game, whose guns I talked about [here][2], was Wolfenstein-1.

  Here, we will take a look at the weapons that appear in Wolfenstein: The New Order, a game that was published before The Old Blood (2014) but whose stories starts right when The Old Blood ends. We’ll also make some mentions to the last game in the trilogy, The New Colossus (from 2017) but the weapons that make their debut in that game will be presented in a future post.

  The New Order Plot Overview (Contains Spoilers)

  Though this game was launched a year earlier, its story starts off right after The Old Blood ends, in 1946. After B. J. Blaskowicz returns to the Allies with the location of General Deathshead’s secret hideout, they mount a massive attack on that island fortress. This is a higher-budget version of the final chapters of the 2001 game, which ended with Deathshead’s defeat, but things don’t that well here.

  The attack is a disaster. Deathshead kills most of B.J.’s unit and leaves the rest of them to die in a deathtrap. The survivors manage to escape just as the room they’re in explodes, but the explosion buries a large piece of shrapnel in Blazko’s brain. He washes ashore somewhere in Poland, catatonic, and since no one knows who he is, gets sent to an asylum. He spends the next 14 years there slowly recovering, with nearly no motor function, slipping in and out of comas.

  A Nazi attack on the asylum in 1960 gives him the impulse he needs to complete his recovery, and the first actual level of the game is escaping that situation with a nurse named Anna, the other survivor of the place. They reach Anna’s grandparents, where Blazko learns that the Nazis won the war in 1948, and that as far as everyone knows the last members of the resistance had been captured and sent to an “inescapable” prison in Berlin.

  The rest of the game is about freeing these prisoners, rebuilding the resistance, and striking back at Deathshead through a series of daring heists. These start with the rescue of good-guy super-scientist Seth Roth¹, and proceed with the the capture of a giant enemy submarine, the recovery of its nuclear launch codes from a Nazi base on the Moon, and finally an attack on Deathshead’s fortress.

  Blazko manages to kill Deathshead during the second attack on his fortress, though the asshole manages to detonate a grenade as he dies. The game ends as B. J., too wounded to evacuate, gives his allies the all-clear to launch the nuke that will destroy this fortress for good.

  The Guns

  The vast majority of the guns here are, again, captured Nazi hardware. And those, in turn, are “new and improved” versions of the guns we saw in The Old Blood.

  Their actual mechanics and list of available weapons changes a bit between this game and its sequel in ways that can be better explained by changes in artistic and gameplay direction than by in-setting developments. The weapons presented here are based partially on a melding of their two versions, and partially on what I’d think would be more interesting for a GURPS Action game.

  This post focuses on the weapons that make their first appearance in The New Order. The next one will present the ones that first appear in The New Colossus, using the same adaptation strategy.

  I’m omitting price information as usual. In a Wolfenstein-inspired game, PCs will be picking these up from the corpses of their enemies. In other games, the GM can figure out a price based on the prices of similar real-world weapons.

  Pistols

  Pistol Model 1960

  A direct descendant of the 1946 model, this one has a more futuristic look, a double-stacked 20-round magazine, and the ability to fire 3-round bursts. It still takes the same cinematic silencer. As before, it adds -1 to Bulk, makes the gun cinematically silent, and also makes it only able to fire in semi-auto mode (RoF 3).

  If using standard GURPS skills, you need Guns (Pistol) to fire in semi-auto mode, and Guns (SMG) to fire bursts. If using the optional skills from Pyramid #3/65, you need Guns (Pistol), with the Burst-Fire technique for firing bursts.

  TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
  8	Pistol 1960	2d+2 pi	2	160/1800	1.4kg/0.5kg	9	20+1(3)	10	-2	2

  Long Arms

  In the standard system, use the Guns skill that corresponds to their description (SMG, Shotgun, Rifle).

  If you’re using the alternate skills from Pyramid #3/65, they all use Guns (Long Arm), of course. The Burst-Fire technique helps fire weapons at a RoF greater than 3 without penalty.

  American Submachine Gun

  This is pretty much a historical Thompson M1A1, described in p. HT122. The Allies mostly didn’t have access to superscience in this timeline and were limited to historical equipment.

  Allied soldiers are armed with this during the 1946 assault on Deathshead’s compound, and the game expects you to use them for the handful of minutes between the start of gameplay and the moment when you first grab an enemy weapon.

  Assault Rifle Model 1960

  An evolution of the 1946 model, it’s lighter and uses a double-stacked 45 round magazine, but still fires the same round. The biggest change here is an underbarrel accessory rail that can take a mini-rocket launcher, which appears as an upgrade midway through the game. This is detailed in the Launchers section.

  Marksman Rifle 1960

  This semi-automatic rifle is about the same length as the AR, but fires a heftier round (likely 7.92x57mm) from a 10-round magazine. It has an integral scope. It’s a relatively rare find both in the hands of enemies and as loot. Clearly the Nazis are bigger fans of the spray-and-pray approach to marksmanship.

  An extended 30-round magazine is available: Shots 30+1(3), Weight becomes 6.2kg/1.05kg. The gun can also fire APHC rounds: Dam 6d+2(2) pi-.

  Shockhammer Model 1960

  Another descendant of the gun from The Old Blood, this one uses a “snail drum” magazine and a single barrel to achieve better performance than its predecessor. The most commonly available shells for the weapon are standard buckshot, and “shrapnel”.

  Shrapnel shells fire red-hot fragments that ricochet off walls in a very video-gamey way, allowing the player to hit enemies behind cover or around corners by bouncing the shrapnel off the wall behind them. The shotgun can only fire in semi-auto mode while using these shells.

  For the GURPS version below, I’m treating shrapnel as Multi-Flechette shells (High-Tech p. 174) with an incendiary effect. Damage becomes 1d+1 pi- inc; Range becomes 100/1200; RoF becomes 3x20. GMs who wish to replicate the ricochet effect can reduce the penalty for firing at targets behind cover when there are suitable surfaces nearby.

  At the GM’s discretion, any special shells listed in High Tech and Ultra-Tech might also be available for this shotgun.

  Long Arms Table

  TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
  7	Thompson M1A1	2d+1 pi+	3	170/1900	6.1kg/0.8kg	11	30+1(3)	10†	-5	2
  7	MP-61	4d pi-	4	170/1900	3.1kg/0.4kg	13	45+1(3)	8†	-4*	2
  8	Assault Rifle	5d pi	5	500/3100	5.5kg/1kg	12	45+1(3)	9†	-5	2
  8	Marksman Rifle	6d+2 pi	5	850/3750	5.5kg/0.35kg	3	10+1(3)	10†	-5	2
  8	Shockhammer	1d+1 pi	3	40/800	7.1kg/1.05kg	6x9	20(5)	11†	-5	1/7

  Energy Weapons

  There is a surprising amount of energy weapons in both games. All of these use Beam Weapons (Rifle) unless noted otherwise.

  Laser weapons in this setting draw power from internal batteries that can’t be removed without disassembling the weapon. The usual method of reloading them is by using one of the highly dangerous industrial power outlets that seem to be everywhere in Nazi-dominated cities and facilities.

  In The New Order, these use short-ranged wireless power transfer. In The New Colossus, they use a thick cable with a plug that resembles a gas station pump. I suggest picking an aesthethic and sticking to it.

  Wireless Charging: The wielder must stay within 2 meters of the outlet during the process, which causes lightning to arc between the outlet and the weapon’s power receptors. Doing anything with the weapon other than holding it steady will interrupt the recharge.

  Wired Charging: The wielder must plug the cable into the weapon (1 Ready Action), and then stay within 1 meter of the outlet. The weapon cannot be used while charging. Once charging is done, it takes another Ready maneuver to unplug it.

  Recharge time is listed for each weapon, and has more to do with the weapon’s ability to absorb incoming power than with the outlet’s ability to provide it! The later seems to be effectively limitless, at least on a personal scale. Yes, these things are extremely unsafe. What happens if you stab someone with the wired plug or intercept them with the arc of the wireless charger is left as an exercise for the GM.

  In some places you can also find portable batteries that can be used to top up a weapon through a similar process. The GM will say how many shots from a weapon an individual battery can recharge.

  Lunar Laser Rifle

  On the Moonbase level of The New Order, everyone carries a laser weapon with the same external appearance as the Marksman Rifle. It lacks a scope, and can fire in full-auto mode. Its performance seems to be about on par with the assault rifle, though it is a lot better at dealing with heavily-armored enemies. Industrial outlets recharge it at 3 shots per second.

  Despite being a laser weapon based on the Marksman Rifle, Nazi soldiers don’t usually use Aim maneuvers with it, so they are no more accurate than usual when wielding it.

  It doesn’t exist in The New Colossus, not even on Venus. Maybe it was a pet project of Deathshead’s for the moon base, and got phased out when he died.

  Marksman Rifle (Combined)

  When you return to Earth after the Moonbase level, B.J.’s Marksman Rifle becomes a combination gadget of sorts, with the scope on a hinged mount. With the mount closed and the scope in place, it fires bullets as before. With the scope folded away, it behaves like the Moonbase laser rifle.

  This design is probably more of a video game quality of life decision than something feasible in setting, but if you want to include it in your campaigns you can treat it as a Combination Gadget per the rules on Ultra-Tech p. 16.

  Under those rules, Weight becomes 8kg/0.35kg (or 8.7/1.05 with the extended mag). Switching modes requires a Ready maneuver, and the weapon uses the Damage, Acc, Range, RoF, Shots and ST of whatever version is the currently active one. Keep track of both ammo counts separately!

  Laserkraftwerk

  This is an experimental laser weapon that B. J. “liberates” from a lab early in The New Order. It’s about carbine-sized, and fires shots that are more powerful than those of the lunar laser rifle.

  The LKW also has an alternate “laser cutter” module that’s useful for quietly severing chains and cutting through chain-link fences and thin metal walls. This does 2d(2) burn and can run continuously for half an hour on a full battery, if it matters.

  Over the course of the game, the player can find several upgrades for the LKW, including a scope, a double-capacity battery, and new internal parts that allow it to fire more often or to fire a more powerful “charged” shot that’s better at dealing with large and heavily armored opponents.

  In the Weapon Table below, you get stats both for the baseline version and the fully-upgraded one.

  Industrial outlets recharge the weapon at a rate of 1 shot per second with the standard battery, or 2 shots per second with the expanded one. The final upgrade in The New Order is an “ancient supertech” portable reactor that recharges the weapon at a rate of 1 shot per 2 seconds whenever it’s not being fired, regardless of its battery size.

  Energy Weapon Table

  TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
  8+2^	Marskman Rifle (Laser)	5d(2) burn	12	500/1500	5.5kg	5	28*	7†	-5	1
  8+2^	LKW (baseline)	6d(2) burn	12	700/2100	4.5kg	3	10*	7†	-4	1
  8+2^	LKW (fully upgraded)	6d(2) burn sur	12+2	700/2100	5.5kg	5	20*	7†	-4	1
  	charged shot	6dx3(3) burn sur				1	**

  *: See description for recharge time.

  **: Drains power equivalent to 5 shots from the battery.

  Grenades and Launchers

  Enemy soldiers are enthusiastic about using hand grenades in the The New Order, and only a little less so in The New Colossus. Launcher weapons are much rarer.

  In The New Order, enemies use the same Hand Grenade from the previous post in the 1946 prologue. By 1960 they’ve switched to using Tesla grenades exclusively.

  Tesla Grenade

  This looks like a modernized version of the Stick Hand Grenade used back in 1946. Its explosive power is equivalent, but also releases an electromagnetic pulse that can “stun” robotic and cybernetic enemies in a 4-meter radius from the epicenter of the explosion. They must make a HT-8(2) roll or be knocked out of action for seconds equal to their margin of failure. That (2) means that any electromagnetic shielding that would provide a bonus to this roll only works at half effectiveness.

  This also applies to battery-powered weapons of any kind, which usually have HT 12.

  Underbarrel Rocket Launcher

  An accessory compatible with the 1960 Assault Rifle, this launcher fires 40mm anti-armor rockets from a removable cylinder with a 4-round capacity. It’s issued to soldiers that are expected to go against heavily-armored opposition, and who are usually heavily-armored themselves.

  The launcher can only be used if it’s attached to another weapon. By default that’s the assault rifle, which has the rails to receive it, but players might decide to get creative with their jury-rigging. It adds its weight to the overall weight of the other weapon and worsens its Bulk by -1.

  In the standard skill system, this uses the Guns (LAW) skill. In the alternate one, it’s Guns (Long Arm) aided by the Payload Warhead technique.

  Hand Grenade Table

  TL	Weapon	Damage	Weight	Fuse	Bulk
  8+1	Tesla Grenade	7d cr ex	0.7kg	4-5	-3
  	linked	HT-8(2) aff

  Rocket Launcher Table

  TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
  8+1	Underbarrel Rocket Launcher	5dx2(10) cr ex	2	1900	2kg/1kg	1	4(5)	9†	–	2
  	linked	2d cr ex [1d-1]

  Heavy Weapons

  Laser Machine Gun

  The old Venom machine gun from the war has been replaced with this energy weapon in the Sixties. Like its predecessor, the Laser MG is found in fixed mounts, in the hands of cybernetic supersoldiers, and mounted on the many models of giant robot stomping around. It can fire for quite a bit before running dry. This can look like either a sequence of rapid pulses or a continuous beam, but either version uses the same stats. Enemies don’t like to aim with it either, improving the players’ chances of survival when facing it. It’s heavy and bulky enough to be only a “sometimes” gun for the player, used when found and quickly discarded when empty.

  Industrial outlets reload it at a rate of 20 shots per second. When attached to a fixed mount, the weapon’s Acc improves to 18, and it’s recharged as if connected to an outlet when not firing. Attaching or detaching it takes 2 Ready maneuvers. The weapon uses the Gunner (Beams) skill even when detached.

  Heavy Weapon Table

  TL	Weapon	Damage	Acc	Range	Weight	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
  8+2^	Laser MG	6d(2) burn	12	700/2100	25kg	10	200*	15M	-8	1

  *: See description for recharge time.

  1. Seth belongs to the Da’at Yichud, an ancient society of engineers that had been building superscience devices as a form of worship since before the rest of humanity had organized religion. Deathshead’s inventions are all copied from one of their vaults, which he found in the 40s. I’ve seen the concept described as kinda problematic despite the designers’ best intentions. ↩

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