This article is intended primarily for those players who are interested in simulation and realism (whatever that means). The objective of this article is to develop an accurate, but easily playable alternative to the RuneQuest archery rules. I use the word archery fairly broadly here to include crossbows and even other missile weapons. While the rules are intended to be generally applicable to all missile weapons, I will concentrate primarily on the rules for bows because I know something about them and can apply real-world knowledge to the problem.
With a modern high-power tournament bow with adjustable sights and stabilizers, a good archer can regularly hit the gold at 100 metres. This impressive performance is greatly aided by the very high elastic efficiency of the modern composite materials used in the limbs of the bow and the ultra-light hollow aluminium, or even carbon fibre arrows which combine to give a very high speed and therefore low trajectory flight.
This contrasts sharply with the traditional longbow which is becoming increasingly popular among archers today. The wooden limbs of the longbow operate much more slowly and wooden arrows are bigger and heavier than their modern counterparts. Thus the arrow from a longbow travels more slowly and in a higher trajectory. This makes hitting the target much harder, so much so, that in longbow tournaments the winner is determined by the highest number of arrows which hit the target and the actual score is only used to break ties.
This poor performance contrasts sharply with the RuneQuest archery rules where a master bowman (a title I cannot claim) can hit a man sized target at up to 100 yards (90 metres) with 9 out of 10 shots! This is far too good, especially when one considers that a passable archer with only 12 weeks training (50%) can land half his arrows on the target at the same range. When evaluating these performances, remember that an archery target is about 4 feet across twice as big as a man (say SIZE 25+). As for the half chance of hitting a man-sized target at up to 275 metres for a longbow, this is ridiculous. The 275 metre maximum range is plausible for a 70 lb longbow using a flight or target arrow, but it would take an amazingly good (or very lucky) archer to hit anything.
The following sections outline the basic assumptions that will be used here. The model for missile weapon simulation will be developed from these, together with other assumptions and information to provide calibration.
The chance to hit a stationary target should fall off with the square of the range, if a flat trajectory missile weapon is used without any wind. To keep things relatively simple, reduce the chance of hitting the target in proportion to the range. This is not accurate but is playable.
Obviously the bigger the target, the easier it is to hit. To reflect this add the target's size (SIZ) to the chance to hit.
Assume that a 50% archer has an approximately 50% chance of hitting an archery target at 50 metres. This will obviously vary with the bow, wind strength and a host of other factors, but these can be dealt with later as modifiers.
Given the assumption that the chance to hit is increased by the target's SIZ (+25 %), this means that the hitting chance must be reduced by 25% at a range of 50 metres. If a linear relationship between range and reduction in hitting chances is assumed, this means that the hitting chance is reduced by 1% for every 2 metres range or 5% per 10 metres.
Using this formula we can see that the archer at 100 metres is at 50% due to range, but + 25% due to target size. On a calm day without wind our average archer could get a quarter of his arrows to hit the target, but note that if he was firing at a man sized target he would only hit with one arrow in eight (much more reasonable). This gives the basic formula for a typical bow as:
Bow Skill% + Target SIZ 12 × Range
The rate of fire for RQ bows is the maximum rate of fire that a bowman can achieve, this normally used to fire volleys of arrows at massed formations. When firing at an individual target most archers would spend a short time aiming in order to improve their chances of hitting.
The time spent aiming is limited due to the arms of the archer getting tired and the limbs of the bow loosing their elasticity. An archer can only aim to the end of the round (after that any bonuses to hit are cancelled by deductions due to tiredness and loss of power in the bow). Each strike rank spent aiming either adds 3% to the chance to hit or the archery may adjust the hit location dice by one. Crossbows and blowpipes may aim for up to 10 SR, other missile weapons do not receive bonuses for aiming.
As much as possible, I intend to avoid changing the game balance so the different effective ranges of missile weapons must be reflected in this system. Short bows and long bows have an effective range of 90 metres (100 yards) in the RuneQuest system, and under the above proposal would be at 45% at effective range. Composite bows propel arrows faster (and therefore more accurately) and have an effective range of 120 metres under the RQ system. Thus, I propose to multiply the range by one third to find the adjustment, which would result in them being 40% at effective range.
These special bows cost 10% more than a normal one per point of strength they are adjusted for. Remember, a character trying to use a bow that is too powerful is at minus 5% per point of strength under that required (as per standard RuneQuest rules).
Strength adjusted bows are more accurate and increase the range divider by 1 for every 8 points of STR over the minimum for that type of bow.
The next thing that players will ask if strength adjusted bows are available is, whether they can do more damage. Unfortunately(In my personal opinion) this is logical as a faster heavier arrow is definitely more lethal. I would suggest + 1 damage per 5 points of strength above the minimum, or more interestingly, raise the dice size by one (ie d8 becomes d10 and d10 becomes 2d6). This adjustment is in line with the increase in damage bonus by d6 for every 16 points and even ties in with the bow damage for Grotarons,While on the subject of Grotarons note the miss-prints in the Gloranthan Bestiary; all their strike ranks are wrong. The Great Bow should be fired on SRs 1, 5 and 9 due to their very high DEX SR. The maul's SR should be 2 and the SR for the shield attack should be 4 One additional note, when using the missile system presented here, Grotarons should divide the range by 5 not 2 (or 3) to find the range modifier and their maximum range is 475 metres (calculated from strength adjusted longbow). as a longbow strength adjusted to 36 STR will do 3d6+1 damage!
English/Welsh Longbow
The famous English or Welsh longbows are in fact normal RuneQuest longbows, strength adjusted to STR 16 This gives them a normal damage of d10+1 and a maximum range of 300 metres. The custom of archery practice built up the shoulder muscles of the archers to such an extent that they could manage these very powerful bows. As for hitting the target, remember that a group of 100 mounted knights in close formation will have a SIZ in excess of 1000! Note that the RuneQuest rules were never designed to cope with massed missile fire at bodies of troops.
Keep the maximum range unaltered from that given in the RuneQuest rule book, except for the longbow where it should be lowered to 225 metres. This is an experimentally determined figure for a bodkin arrow fired from a 110 lb longbow. The figure of 275 metres is for a flight arrow. The only thing to note is that even a master archer (90%) will be hard put to hit anything at over 200 metres (100% due to range) unless he is firing at a really large target like a giant or a large group.
It is reasonable to increase the maximum range of strength adjusted bows by 10 metres per point of strength adjustment (this is in line with experimentally determined figures in Longbow by Robert Hardy ISBN 0-9511747.00-3), but this has been shown above to be largely academic as hitting the target can be a problem.
The traditional archer had a variety of arrow types available, each type was optimized for a specialized role. Part of the skill of archery was knowing when to use each type. The main types available are war arrows, broad heads and armour piercing arrows. There are also specialist arrows for target shooting, flight(long range), rope cutting, whistling and other exotic applications.
The following sections detail various kinds of arrow. These rules increase the complexity of the game considerably and games masters should consider their introduction very carefully.
Also known as willow leaf these are the standard weapons detailed in RuneQuest. Their design is a compromise between penetration of armour and inflicting damage.
These arrows known as bowel rakers in the far east were designed to inflict terrible wounds on the target, unfortunately their wide heads were not very good at penetrating armour and thus had limited application in warfare. Twice the protective value of any armour is subtracted from the damage caused by a broadhead arrow, but any damage which penetrates the armour is doubled (so beware criticals with a broadhead).
These heavier arrows may only be used with the longbow and the large oriental composite bow.
Often called bodkins these arrows have a long thin sharp point to penetrate thick armour. This shape however does not cause as much damage to the target. Halve the protective value of armour but also halve any damage which penetrates armour (round up).
Target or flight arrows are thin and light, designed for range and accuracy rather than inflicting damage. They fly faster than war arrows, increasing the range divider by one and a 50% increase in maximum range; unfortunately any damage which penetrates armour is halved.
These arrows have a sickle or v-shaped bladed head which is used to trap and cut a rope. They are less aerodynamic than conventional, arrows dividing the range by one to find the chance to hit (and remember ropes are SIZ 0) and halving the normal maximum range. If used in combat the target's armour is doubled due to their large area of impact, but any damage which penetrates this is doubled.
These arrows are however capable of dealing grievous wounds (such as cutting off limbs) and the Lunars use crescent arrows against mounted foes These weapons have been found to be completely useless against the Rhino Riders of Prax., especially the nomads of Pent and Prax. They believe that these arrows were invented by Yara Aranis.
Used for signalling these arrows emit a high pitched whistle when in flight. This increases the drag and reduces maximum range by 25% and they do half damage.
The strength of the wind should be subtracted from the hitting chances of all bows (including crossbows), regardless of the direction in which it is blowing. The wind strength may also alter the maximum range of bows by its strength in metres, either adding or subtracting depending on its direction. Other missile weapons are less affected and it is left to the GM to adjudicate in these cases.
It is suggested that fumbles are determined using the character's actual archery skill, but that critical and special chances are determined from the modified chances to hit after range and wind strength has been taken into account.
The above rules allow easy simulation of archery competitions. Allow the players to shoot from various ranges (I suggest 50 and 100 metres) at the target which is divided into 5 concentric rings (10 on modern targets). The target is SIZ 25, if a character hits roll d20 to find which ring the arrow hit and adjust by any time spent aiming.
A special hits the next smaller ring and a critical success hits 2 rings better. A special already in the gold hits it dead centre and a critical already in the gold might rarely split another arrowFor the Robin Hoods of this world..
| Archery Target | |||
| Colour | SIZ | Roll | Score |
| White | 25 | 1-9 | 1 |
| Black | 16 | 10-14 | 2 |
| Blue | 9 | 15-17 | 3 |
| Red | 4 | 18-19 | 4 |
| Gold | 1 | 20 | 5 |
Have the competitors shoot six arrows at each range (or only three to speed things up). For better competitors remove the 50 metre range and add one at 150 metres or even 200 metres. Note than an archer has to be better than 75% to hit the target at 200 metres.
| Missile Weapons | |||
| Weapon | Range | Reduction | Maximum |
| Modifier | per 10 m | Range | |
| Arballest | × 14[7] | 3% | 425 m |
| Atlatl | × 2 | 15% | STR × 5 m |
| Self Bow | × 12 | 5% | 120 m |
| Long Bow | × 12 | 5% | 225 m |
| Composite Bow | × 13 | 4% | 225 m |
| Heavy Crossbow | × 13 | 4% | 300 m |
| Medium Crossbow | × 13 | 5% | 270 m |
| Light Crossbow | × 12 | 6% | 225 m |
| Repeating Crossbow | × 1 | 7% | 170 m |
| Stone Bow | × 1 | 7% | 200 m |
| Blowgun | × 1 | 10% | 30 m |
| Sling | × 12 | 5% | 100 m |
| Staff Sling | × 12 | 5% | 120 m |
| Bolas | × 3 | 30% | 25 m |
| War Boomerang | × 2 | 15% | 50 m |
| Hunting Boomerang | × 1 | 10% | 50 m |
| Dart | × 2 | 20% | STR × 3 m |
| Javelin | × 2 | 20% | STR × 4 m |
| Shuriken | × 2 | 20% | STR × 3 m |
| Thrown Axe | × 2 | 20% | STR × 2 m |
| Thrown Knife | × 2 | 20% | STR × 2 m |
| Thrown Rock | × 2 | 20% | STR × 2 m |
It is no use having one rule for bows and another for other missile weapons so these archery rules will be extended to other missile weapons. Basic guidelines are that the weapon will be between 40% and 50% to hit at effective range (although I have increased this dramatically in certain cases where appropriate).
Cross Bows have a very poor effective range in the RQ rules. This is not very realistic since a crossbow is at least as easy to hit with as a bow at longer ranges.
This is because all the statistics on crossbows and arballests have been lifted from the Palladium Compendium of Weapons, Armour and Castles. Unfortunately the definition of effective range in this book is the range at which one could reasonably expect to hit the target one has aimed at, whereas the definition of effective range in RQ3 is the point where ones chance to hit is halved.
Therefore, double the effective range of cross bows, with the exception of repeater crossbows which use unflighted arrows. However to compensate for the loss of accuracy allow repeater crossbows to operate at their full rate of fire of up to 12 arrows in 15 seconds. Thus repeater crossbows may fire every DEX SR (there is no need for the 3 SR reload time between each shot).
Crossbows may use any of the special arrow types available for bows. However, except for armour piercing, these are largely unavailable except via dwarves who use a wide variety of specialized crossbow bolts.
Thrown Weapons have a range which may be dependent on the strength of the thrower, this is especially true of heavier weapons such as javelins, darts, axes and rocks. Replace the maximum range of these weapons by STR × 2 metres for axes, knives and rocks, STR × 3 metres for darts and shuriken and STR × 4 metres for javelins Javelins should do D10 damage not D8..
Note that in the table below I have included a column which gives the reduction in hitting chance for every full ten metres the target is from the firer. These percentage chances do not always agree with the fractional reduction as I have gone back to the original data (and also used common sense).
[7] Arballest range modifier is × 13 if used without a proper stand./
Observant readers will notice that lassoes and whips have been left off the table. These weapons have been excluded from the system because their mode of usage is more akin to melee weapons than missile weapons.
This article has attempted a fairly radical revision of the rules for missile weapons. This has resulted in a system with very little increase in complexity (especially if one ignores different types of arrows) and yet a respectable improvement in realism. Whether this perceived realism is accurate is open to debate, but it does however satisfy basic logical principles and moreover feels right. This is of course just my personal point of view and I do not expect everyone (or anyone) to agree with it.
As with all such articles, use the bits you like and ignore the rest. If you don't like it write and say why. I accept that role playing purists will probably dislike this article as it might dilute the actual role playing with additional technical complexity, which it can be argued that RuneQuest has too much of already. For those gamers who, like myself, are unhappy if a system feels wrong and produces illogical results (isn't this one of the reasons why we are playing RuneQuest rather than AD&D anyway), I hope that this article gives some useful ideas for improving these flaws.