Aramanthus wrote:Thunderbunny? That sounds pretty cool! Can't wait to see it!
Paladin Steel New Colt ‘Thunderbunny’ MegaRevolver
(aka ‘God-Gun’)
“Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy and use a heavy missile launcher?”
“Cheaper, yes, but not as much fun.”
---’Dragon-Gunner’, mercenary, replying to a comrade
Paladin Steel has been better known for mass production slightly-above-average weapons with tougher-than-usual construction and high reliability, as well as a standardized system of modular customization, but it has also gained a reputation for producing limited numbers of flamboyant ‘what the hell, why not?’ items with snob appeal. The twenty-millimeter ‘Black Thunder’ revolver is one example, the eighty-millimeter ‘Pulverizer’ superheavy shotgun was another. When PS engineers start to play, gunplayas start to pray.
Soon after relaunching their company as a subsidiary of Paladin Steel, the engineers of New Colt Firearms decided that in addition to going the low-key comfortable route of producing cheap, reliable, conventional firearms for the GNE and mass market, that they would try to regain the elitist gun-collector market that was once theirs with a variety of new specially designed firearms. Their first challenge to themselves was to build the meanest, nastiest, most powerful sidearm they could conceive of, embracing all that they had learned from PS and its allies in the process. The result was the PS NCF-R100 ‘Thunderbunny’, a combination TW gun-and-projectile system that showcases the extremes of weapons technology, as well as arguably one of the biggest, meanest, handguns around.
For one thing, the gun is built around a 7.62 mm barrel, a caliber normally reserved for assault rifles. Though there are bigger calibers out there, the 7.62mm makes the Thunderbunny barely carriable by normal human beings, making it nominally still a ‘hand gun....Still, the 7.62mm is powerful enough to blow somebody’s arm off...However, make no mistake, the pain is just about to begin.....
The Thunderbunny is designed with several TW features to enhance the effects of the weapon as a showpiece. Both the gun and the bullet work in concert to synergistic effect; the incorporation of Mystic Marksmanship steadies the gunhand and calms the gunner for maximum accuracy, making the weapon usable by even novice gunmen. In addition, the Thunderbunny can chamber TW rounds for added joy.
For added effect, the TW matrix on the Thunderbunny can be set, at a small extra PPE drain, to set off a low level Blinding Flash and Thunderclap coinciding with the firing of the gun. This is for people who really want that one shot to impress a lot of people.
But wait...
That’s just the gun portion of the Thunderbunny system...
The pistol is just the window-dressing for the REST of the Thunderbunny.
The OTHER part, typically referred to as simply ‘the Rig’, of the Thunderbunny system is the size of a small van, and consists of an auto-reloading magazine with automated shell handling gear, that holds a supply of eight-inch rocket-propelled shells and a magic teleporter locus, tied into the pistol. The Thunderbunny revolver acts as the target designator and focus of the magic teleporter system....when the user activates the teleporter with the pistol, a signal is sent to the autoloader, a shell is robohandled into position, a teleport gate is openned, and the shell shoved through. Microseconds later, the shell reappears inches in front of the gun muzzle, already moving forward. Moments later, the shell’s short-range rocket propulsion lights off, sending it spinning(for stabilization) and screaming onto the target(a temporary forcefield around the Thunderbunny shields the gunner from the backblast). The result? It looks like a handgun just laid down a strike from a battleship gun(indeed, the original plan was to use sixteen-inch shells, but in one of the few concessions to reason made in the development of this weapon, the plan was turned down).
The snob appeal of this gun continues beyond its power and cost. The weapon is constructed with polished black walnut wood enlay on the grip, ruggerized with surface engraving for a better grip, and enchanted to megadamage hardness. The internal powerstone, hidden inside the grip, actually protrudes on either side, disguised as engraved cameos, for direct hand-to-mana battery contact. For extra dinero(chump change, really, compared to the rest of the weapon and rig), the revolver can be engraved, chromed, gilded, or whatever other decorative embellishments added.
The Thunderbunny is arguably the most expensive handgun(and some dispute that designation) ever made by a terrestrial nation. Aside from the sheer complexity of the system, its specialized ammunition, and the encumberance of lugging the rest of the rig around behind oneself, the Thunderbunny is STILL getting orders from the rich/insane, with a dozen sales made already. The most common installation is housing the Rig in a hidden room at a home or business; as was demonstrated most effectively by a Paladin Steel executive and gun afficionado who once obliterated a demonic assassin that attempted to slay him in his office, after barging through all the security(the exec originally wanted to install the system at his home, but his wife refused to allow it, owing to the presence of their child).
The Thunderbunny is pure expensive vanity...But it’s deadly malicious vanity.
Weight:(Pistol) 12 lbs
(Heavy Shell Rig) 18 tons+weight of ammo(8-inch shells each weigh 200 lbs)
Range:(7.62 Conventional) 800 ft
(8-inch Shell)1,200 ft
Damage:(7.62 Conventional) 6d6+2 SDC
(8-inch Shell)(High Explosive) 4d6x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
Note: A special fuze delay prevents the shell from going off until it travels more than 80 ft from the gun, to prevent point-blank ‘friendly fire’ detonations and self-immolation. If ‘cold fired’, the 8 inch shell does 6d6 MD will knock its target back 3d4x10 ft, after which it MIGHT explode...
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 5 shot cylinder
An 8-inch ‘God Shot’ takes up 30 PPE(+5 for the thermal blast field)
The power stone in the grip has 180 PPE capacity, and can be recharged with the infusion f the appropriate amount of PPE/ISP, recharged at a leyline, nexus, or dimensional pyramid, or replaced altogether.
The Rig has a carousel with six shells ready to be fired , but depending on the size of the carrying vehicle(and additional attendant loading crew/mechanisms), additional ammunition can be carried and loaded.
Bonuses:
Special Features:
*Double Action
*Optional Underbarrel Laser Spot Sight(230 ft, +1 to strike)
*Optional Top Sight Rail(can be fitted with a scope)
*Iron Wood Handgrip
*Megadamage Stainles Steel Construction(available ruggerized, chromed, gilded, or enlaid)
Has the following TW features:
*Blinding Flash( 1 PPE)
*Thunderclap( 4 PPE)
*Impervious to Fire(5 PPE)---This engages when the God Sjot mode is enabled and renders the gun holder temporarily impervious to the effects of the rockets’ backblast(does 3d6 SDC scorching otherwise), Effects last 1 minute.
*Mystic Marksmanship(5 PPE, and lasts one melee)
*Starburst(12 PPE)---Rather than fire a bullet, the Thunderbunny can fire off a straight Starburst spell that does 3d6 MD, range 120 ft, and can cause temporary blindness.
Notes:
*The Rig must be within 3 miles of the gun to be operative.
Cost: 3 million credits for the complete system. Replacement pistols cost 3,000 credits, plus a 3,000 credit charge for re-synching them to an existing Rig.
*8-inch shells cost roughly 400,000 credits apiece