Trench gun (Action)

This is a weapon data page for Action.

Heroic Action Role-Play

Trench Gun

Two-handed combustion ranged weapon

Hands: 2H
Size: Medium
Tech: Combustion
Type: Ranged
Range: Medium
Damage: +6 Piercing
Properties: Loud, scatter

A box fed, short-barreled shotgun for use in trench warfare in WWI. It is not truly capable of full-automatic fire, but the combination of pump action and shot at short range gives a similar result. The Germans accused the U.S. of war crimes for using these weapons; being captured with one could get you shot. It still remains popular but infamous for city fighting. Police generally call it the Riot Gun. It is complicated to improvise one of these, as a regular pump-action shotgun cannot be sawed off because it destroys the tube magazine. Shotguns are weapons firing bursts of shot, smaller projectiles that come out together and slowly spread out in a cone. Depending on the choke of the weapon and the length of the barrel, this cone can be wide and short or long and narrow. Shotguns are smoothbore, which makes them easy to make, but limits their range. An advantage of this is that there is no barrel signature for forensics to analyze; shot and even slugs cannot be linked to any one particular weapon. Another advantage is that it is easy to make custom ammunition. Shotguns can fire slugs (a single large mass) instead of pellets, this replaces Scatter and Armor Exploiting with Armor Defeating. They are also suitable for firing nonlethal loads, such as salt or rubber loads, replacing Scatter with Stun. High-tech shotguns might fire flechettes or explosive rounds instead of shot with no change in rules.