I've started a new rule for using flintlocks in Arcanis in my home campaign, and I recommend it for the general game in any rules system. I'd suspected this before and learned for certain about flintlocks in real life at a demo over July 4 weekend.
Unlike a modern gun, you can't walk around with a loaded flintlock. You have to load it right before you use it. You have to hold the blastpowder (gunpowder) in the pan level and horizontal or else it will spill out, and a wind can also blow it or moisture can ruin it. Thus, you need to explicitly load your gun each time before you use it. That means first draw the weapon (2 ticks or as part of a 4-tick Cautious Advance, unless you have the Quick-draw talent), then load it (10 ticks for a pistol or 12 ticks for a rifle), and only then fire it (2 ticks). Then reload if you want to shoot again. Loading is an interruptible action. If you're expecting a fight within a minute or two, you may declare before combat begins that you want to draw and load your weapon, but if no fight happens or you are prevented from keeping your gun level (e.g., you fall down), then you just wasted that shot (which costs 2.5 silver coins each).
Similarly, any time you fall down, get wet, or otherwise would have your loaded shot ruined, you have to lose that shot. In that sort of case, some sort of partial reload in combat seems reasonable, but I'll figure it out when/if it ever matters.
If characters are expecting a fight, I let them load a gun, but they have to explicitly declare it. If it turns out that there is no fight but is one a couple minutes later, then the gun is still loaded, but if there's no fight for half an hour of wandering around, the blastpowder won't have stayed in the pan, and the entire shot will have to be cleaned out and reloaded.
The ARPG rules have a reload time. I explicitly now call that a load time, meaning that the initial loading of a ranged weapon is not free but must be done before the first shot is fired. Sometimes the weapon can be loaded beforehand, depending on circumstances. Oftentimes it's unloaded. The fact that the rules talk about "reloading" rather than "loading"--combined with the fact that one can walk around with a modern gun loaded all the time--is likely what makes everyone act like loading before the first shot is never necessary.
_________________ David Thomas Chappell Sestius Ovidius val'Mehan Comma and Khamat - psion patrician diplomatic legate and his Myrantian tutor Quintus Ovidius val'Mehan - patrician military tribune Amadi val'Abebi - Monk of Althares Talathos - choleric Kelekene dabbler
|