The Conclave

As with many table top war gamers who dabble in sci-fi settings, I often accessorise my industrial-type terrain with numerous barrels.

After all, barrels are easy (and fairly cheap) to make in large numbers, provide much needed cover for sneaking around and fire-fights, and are a simple way to add interesting detail to any industial and/or sci-fi environment.

However, I found it a little boring that the only effect they can have on a game is as the same kind of cover yeilded by any other piece of scenery.

To this end, and inspired by the (almost inveriably) highly explosive barrels in retro computer games, I have come up with the 'Random Barrel Chart' to add some industrial-container based mayhem to the table top!

So, without further ado:-



Roll a D10 & consult the following chart whenever a barrel is destroyed:-


1-2.) EXPLOSIVE:- In a typical display of Hollywood-type pyrotechnics, the barrel goes up in a ball of flame. The barrel explodes as a Frag grenade as described in the Inquisitor rule book.



3.) FLAMABLE:- The barrel splits apart and disgorges a deluge of flame onto those around it. The barrel explodes as an incendiary grenade as described in the revised armoury.



4-5.) TOXIC:- The barrel's contents are dangerously poisonous, as those in the splash area soon discover. Randomly generate a poison from the 'Gas, Viral and Toxin Effects' section of the rule book; all characters within D3+3 yards of the barrel are hit with that toxin, applying poison resistances as normal.



6.) COROSIVE:- The contents of the barrel are beyond toxic, physically melting flesh and dissolving armour. All characters within D3+3 yards are hit as with the 'Spit Acid' attack (as described in the 'Exotic Abilities' section of the rule book) in D3 random locations.



7.) LUBRICANT:- whether oil, coolant or just miscellaneous goo, the mess disgorged from the ruined barrel makes finding one's footing somewhat difficult. Mark an area D3+3 yards centred on where the barrel used to be; any character whishing to move into, out of, around in or through this area must pass an initiative test, modified by + 5 difficulty for walking, +10 for running, +20 for sprinting and +30 for evading. Characters who are sneaking take an unmodified test; crawling characters take no test at all.

If the character fails, he falls prone and slides D3 yards in the direction he was heading.

Characters who wish to stand up from a prone position in the area of effect must pass an initiative test to be able to do so. Failure means that they remain prone.

Any characters in close combat in the area of effect must take an initiative test at the beginning of each close combat phase (theirs and their opponent's) or fall prone.

Characters with the 'Acrobatic' skill may not use their acrobatic leaping talents in the area of effect, but are otherwise unaffected by the lubricant (i.e. they don't have to pass an initiative test or move or fight in it).



8-10.) INERT:- The barrel was either empty, contained nothing malign or else its contents have long since dried to harmless dust. The barrel is simply removed from the battle field with no further effect.






Please let me know what you think.

Who else immediately thought of a Slaaneshi cult's base, with hundreds of barrels of lubricant in it?

I will probably start using this. It is very effective and easy to consult.

I would probably have a 10 result be different though:

10.) DRUGS The barrel ruptures, showering anyone in the area with liquid medical supplies or drugs. All characters in the area roll again on the second table:

1-2) apply one dose of 'slaught (inhaler)
3-4) apply one dose of spur (inhaler)
5-6) apply one dose of psychon (inhaler)
7-9) character may make a free injury recovery action on a random injured location.
10 ) character may make a free injury recovery action on D3 random injured locations.

This is just a quick table without my rulebook at hand so I'm not sure if there are better options but you get the idea.

anyway - thanks heaps for the chart - will definitely be using it


MrMasochist

Obviously not your aim but I would suggest rather more inerts. The majority of barrels in an industrial setting will be relatively inert, solvents like acetone for example, although flammable, will not go up like napalm...
Many barrels are likely to be empty, many of the chemicals stored in others will not be sufficiently dangerous to cause harm on a scale which would be visible in an Inquisitor game (or even campaign)...
Barrels full of 40 weight engine oil aren't likely to leak sufficient volumes, quickly enough, from a single bullet hole, to cause hazard to movement much beyond a foot or so in the time you're normally considering - and the scene from Transporter isn't a particularly good example of how much of a hazard it would be.

Personally, and assuming it wasn't simply up to the GM, and especially considering the number of barrels you seem to be describing I'd probably have someone roll a D10 when a barrel was hit and only on a roll of '1' go to the "special effects" table. If every barrel is likely to explode then people are expecting it whereas if there's a small chance then people dread it when they roll.

I agree with Heidfield. If there's a 70% chance the barrel they're taking cover behind will do something unpleasant to them when it's destroyed, people will stop taking cover behind barrels and the rules become fairly moot.

If, on the other hand, things only have a small chance of randomly going boom, and explosions are only likely when the GM actually decides it'd be cool if something blew up - perhaps if someone has been dominating the game and could do with taking down a notch - then the rules would have more merit.

Right-ho, you chaps; thanks for the feedback.

Heidfeild & Marco; I think you're right about the need to reduce the chances of barrels going off bang (or squelch, as the case may be). The chart I posted is a modified version of a huge, hidiously complicated D100 barrel chart which my teenage self designed when the game first came out, and included a 50% chance that the barrel would do nothing at all (also a chance that the barrel would rupture and go rocketing around the battlefield, complete with rules for hitting a character and carrying him with it as it whooshed around!).

Obviously I simplified it significantly (eliminating all the sub-charts, for one thing), but reducing it to a D10 chart left little room for an inert barrel.

I do like the idea of rolling to see if the barrel contained anything interesting, though, so how's this:-






Whenever a barrel is destroyed roll a D10, on a roll of a 1 roll a further D10 & consult the following chart:-


1-3.) EXPLOSIVE:- In a typical display of Hollywood-type pyrotechnics, the barrel goes up in a ball of flame. The barrel explodes as a Frag grenade as described in the Inquisitor rule book.



4.) FLAMABLE:- The barrel splits apart and disgorges a deluge of flame onto those around it. The barrel explodes as an incendiary grenade as described in the revised armoury.



5-7.) TOXIC:- The barrel's contents are dangerously poisonous, as those in the splash area soon discover. Randomly generate a poison from the 'Gas, Viral and Toxin Effects' section of the rule book; all characters within D3+3 yards of the barrel are hit with that toxin, applying poison resistances as normal.



8.) COROSIVE:- The contents of the barrel are beyond toxic, physically melting flesh and dissolving armour. All characters within D3+3 yards are hit as with the 'Spit Acid' attack (as described in the 'Exotic Abilities' section of the rule book) in D3 random locations.



9.) LUBRICANT:- whether oil, coolant or just miscellaneous goo, the mess disgorged from the ruined barrel makes finding one's footing somewhat difficult. Mark an area D3+3 yards centred on where the barrel used to be; any character whishing to move into, out of, around in or through this area must pass an initiative test, modified by + 5 difficulty for walking, +10 for running, +20 for sprinting and +30 for evading. Characters who are sneaking take an unmodified test; crawling characters take no test at all.

If the character fails, he falls prone and slides D3 yards in the direction he was heading.

Characters who wish to stand up from a prone position in the area of effect must pass an initiative test to be able to do so. Failure means that they remain prone.

Any characters in close combat in the area of effect must take an initiative test at the beginning of each close combat phase (theirs and their opponent's) or fall prone.

Characters with the 'Acrobatic' skill may not use their acrobatic leaping talents in the area of effect, but are otherwise unaffected by the lubricant (i.e. they don't have to pass an initiative test or move or fight in it).



10.) ADHEASIVE:- As the barrel is smashed apart it showers those in the immediate vicinity with a sticky, gooy mess which begins to set on contact with the air. The barrel explodes as a Web grenade as described in the revised armoury.





I didn't just want to eliminate the 'inert' result, so I replaced it with something else, and adheasives were the first thing that came to mind when I thought of things (other than those I've already used) which might be found lying around in industrial barrels.


So, better? (if anyone feels like a laugh, I might be able to dig up the original Barrel Chart and post it here, so you can all see the kind of fevered lunacy I use to come up with on a regular basis).

I like this idea, nice and simple.
I quite like the idea of modifying the chart depending on the location the barrel is found in. Immediate ideas that spring to mind are contaminated waste and sharps bins in a hospital setting, intoxicants and alcohol in a cellar, and biological unpleasantness derived from an agri-world...