Weird & Wonderful Weapon Hack

Description (more info)

This is a tool to generate simple but interesting weapons/loot for OSR games (although it's so simple that it could probably be applied to other systems as well). Below is the table to manually construct the weapons, and below that are some automatic generators.

This hack takes elements of weapon rules from Cypher System and the Powered by the Apocalypse game Uncharted Worlds. The basic principle is that any kind of simple weapon can be constructed from a base, and a number of qualities. There is a cost associated with those qualities which could be thought of as the weapon level, or converted to a 1point = Xgold system.

Recommendations for how to use this hack (with some suggested alternative implementations)

New character starting weapon

In place of whatever starting weapon your class would start with, you can instead construct a level 0-1 weapon, either randomly or by what would make sense for your character.

For level 0, just pick a base form. For level 1, add one quality with 1 cost.

Despite the fact that this generator is designed so that short-long range has a cost of 1-3 respectively, it would be unreasonable to let a player take short/medium range for free, or long range at cost 1 (or maybe even make that free as well).

Loot / randomly rolled weapon

Decide on a weapon level or randomly roll for level. Depending on how powerful you want the weapon to be, one could recommend something like level 1d4, 1d4+1, 1d6, 1d6+1. If you add too many qualities it might get a bit out of hand. You could potentially also make it relative to the HD of the enemy holding it.

As a new character starting weapon, range could be handled in an alternative way. By default, the random distribution is uniform so the probability of rolling for even just short range is pretty low, and you'd have to randomly roll range 3 times to get long range. Instead, you could roll 1d4, where 1 in 4 is ranged, and an additional 1d4, where 1 = reach quality, 2 = short range quality, etc., prior to rolling other qualities.

For the original post, refer to Weird & Wonderful's blog.

Result

Roll on "Base Qualities"

Roll on "Individual Qualities" d4 times

Subcharts

Base Qualities (d3)

d3 Base Form Base Qualities

1

Light

1d4, +1 AB, One-handed, Concealable as free feature

2

Medium

1d6, One-handed

3

Heavy

1d8, Two-handed

Individual Qualities (d30)

d30 Quality Description Cost

1

Area of effect

Each upgrade increases area of AoE (close, short, medium, long).

2

2

Attached

Attached to gauntlet or armor, leaving hand free.

1

3

Bonded

Weapon only usable by owner, cannot be removed from person without consent.

2

4

Breaking

Can be used to target and break objects at no disadvantage.

1

5

Concealable

Can be hidden from view.

1

6

Concussive

Creates a burst of sound or light on impact to deafen/blind/temporarily stun.

1

7

Deadly

Each upgrade increase attack die (up to d10).

2

8

Elemental: Air

Has properties related to air (e.g. can subtly manipulate winds, harness electricity).

1

9

Elemental: Earth

Has properties related to earth (e.g. benefits to mining).

1

10

Elemental: Fire

Has properties related to fire (e.g. produces heat/light, can cause burning).

1

11

Elemental: Metal

Has properties related to metal (e.g. benefits to blacksmithing).

1

12

Elemental: Water

Has properties related to water (e.g. can extinguish fires).

1

13

Elemental: Wood

Has properties related to wood/plants (e.g. benefits to gardening, nature traversal).

1

14

Flexible

Whip or whip-like; Range (close), AoE (close), Stunning (binding), Unwieldy (-2 AB).

1

15

Focused Area

AoE can be focused in a line, cone, etc. Each upgrade allows a different option.

1

16

Focused Damage

AoE can be focused to only target specific creatures or objects. Each upgrade allows greater flexibility.

1

17

Impacting

Each upgrade increases range of knockback (close, short, medium, long).

1

18

Magical

Has general magical properties.

1

19

Masterwork

Each upgrade +1 AB.

2

20

Penetrating

Ignore armor. With second upgrade, ignore shields. AC otherwise still applies.

2

21

Poisonous

Can cause poisoning.

1

22

Ranged

Each upgrade increases range starting at short (short, medium, long).

1

23

Reach

Can be used at close range or thrown at no disadvantage.

1

24

Rending

Serration or other features cause sustained wounds and mutilation.

1

25

Siege

Can be used to break open structures.

3

26

Silenced

The weapon produces little to no sound on projection or impact.

1

27

Spellbreaking

Can silence spells/spellcasters on successful attack.

2

28

Stunning

Can be used non-lethally to incapacitate at no disadvantage.

1

29

Suppressing

Creates an obstacle to those in weapon range. -2 AB to anyone in range.

1

30

Unique Appearance

May be a well known item or associated with a well-known person or faction.

1