Firearms in Realm of Strife refers to any hand held ranged weapon that uses advanced technologies to fire a projectile or other form of energy at its target. While the technology may be similar to that used by larger scale weapons such as siege equipment or ship-mounted weapons, a fire arm is defined as being wielded by an individual.
The use of firearms as weapon type Realm of Strife is optional. GMs are free to imagine their version of the Realm of Strife to not include this technology, and stick with more conventional medieval style fantasy weapons. They could also be used in a limited capacity as an outlandish weapon developed by gnomes or dwarven inventors, and used only sparingly by other races (as is the case in the canonical version of the Realm of Strife’s two main continents of Norlanin and Gant). They could also work well with a pirate themed campaign.
Misfires
If choosing to include firearms, they should be used with the prescribed misfire chances, as this acts as a counter balance to their overall high damage output. Each firearm has a listed Misfire chance that is check when rolling to hit. This is a separate effect from a critical miss, however becuase critical miss chances likely always lower than the misfire chance, a critical miss is ALSO a misfire, but not vice versa.
Example: If using a firearm with a 25% misfire chance and a 5% critical a miss chance, rolling a 4 on your d100 hit roll would result in both a critical miss and a misfire. However, if rolling a 14, it would only be a misfire, but not a critical miss.
Stress
In addition to the base misfire chance of a firearm, each weapon will also list an amount of Stress (i.e. Stress +5%). Stress is a stacking effect applied each time a firearm is used, which ads its total amount to the misfire chance of the firearm. The only way for stacks of Stress to be removed is for the weapon to be properly cleaned and maintained outside of combat.
Example: A firearms with a 25% base misfire chance and stress of +10% is fired successfully. This adds 1 stack of stress, therefore the next time it is fired the misfire chance is 25%+10%=35%.
Misfire Table
Any time a firearm misfires roll 1d10 and consult the table below for the associated effects:
| roll 1d10 | Misfire Effect |
| 1 | minor build-up of stress, fires as normal but adds 2 stacks of stress instead of 1 |
| 2 | major build-up of stress, fires as normal but adds 3 stacks of stress instead of 1 |
| 3 | minor firing delay, nothing happens this turn but the weapon fires at the start of the users next turn instead (does not count towards their turn) |
| 4 | major firing delay, nothing happens this turn but an instant must be consumed on the users next turn to make a quick adjustment and then fire the weapon again as an action or else the firearm suffers a minor explosion (see misfire 9) |
| 5 | minor malfunction, firearm doesn’t shoot and action is wasted |
| 6 | major malfunction, firearm doesn’t shoot and is now broken |
| 7 | minor back blast, weapon fires but damage is split in half between the user and the target, if failing a Resolve test the firearm is dropped |
| 8 | major back blast leak, weapon fires but damage is split in half between the user and the target, after which the firearm is broken |
| 9 | minor explosion, firearm is broken , the blast inflicts 1x regular damage in a 2″ radius |
| 10 | major explosion, firearm is destroyed with shrapnel and splintered wood inflicting its 2x regular damage in a 3″ radius |
Note: When a firearm is “Broken” it can still be used, however its misfire chance is doubled.
Firearm Types
Blackpowder
Black powder firearms are the simplest and most basic form of firearm. Blackpowder is loaded into the muzzle of a metallic gun barrel, tamped down and then typically loaded with Lead Shot. The black powder is ignited through a variety of methods resulting in the Lead Shot firing out of the barrel with deadly effect. Due to the cumbersome reloading techniques required, Blackpowder Firearms are considered a Reload-Ranged weapon.
Most Black powder firearms are capable firing at long range, however they tend to be very inaccurate. At shorter ranges they excel at armor piercing, often offsetting their inaccuracy. When they do successfully hit their target black powder firearms inflict significant damage, but there is a high chance of misfire involved. Every consecutive shot fired heats up the barrel and adds a build up of soot and ash. This stress has a compounding effect that increases the misfire chances considerably if the time is not spent outside of combat for proper cleaning and maintenance of the firearm.
All black powder weapons are considered to be loud when firing. This makes them ill suited for classes that wish to use stealth to avoid detection by their enemies.
Other Types
Currently the only firearms available in Realm of Strife are conventional black powder weapons. Firearms based on other technology types such as magic, steam and clockworks are under development, however there is no specific timeline for their release at this point.
Firearm Weapon List
This is the complete list of firearms available in Realm of Strife. More may be added in the future.