High-Tech Weapons

Back in 2012, I played a tabletop game called Mechaton (now called Mobile Frame: Zero).  Mechaton, in short, is a miniatures wargame about mechs, but the mechs are built out of LEGO bricks.  It was the first tabletop wargame I'd ever played, and I was able to merge LEGO into my tabletop gaming.

Aside from the visceral pleasure of building fighting robots with LEGO pieces, the thing I enjoyed most was coming up with descriptions for the various pieces of equipment with which I outfitted my LEGO robots.

It could be the abundance of complex adjectives (I'm an English major), or it could be that I never got into gritty science fiction.  Whatever the cause, phrases like "85mm Anti-Materiel Rifle" and "Broad-Spectrum Frequency Disruptors" really sparked my imagination

I don't usually run sci-fi or modern games, but on the few occasions that I have, working these kind of weapons into the game has given my players the same kind of light in their eyes that I had.

If you're running a sci-fi game, you might find these weapons (a mix of near-future and space opera) interesting for either your players or your NPCs.

High-Tech Weapons

1. Reversible Ion Projector ("Ripper") 2. Collapsible high-carbon-steel sword 3. Pneumatic brass knuckles 4. Laser-channeled plasma pulse rifle 5. Full-auto chain-fed magnum pistols with armor-piercing tracer rounds 6. Compact, heavy-draw crossbow with thermite-tipped bolts 7. Tesla whip 8. Particle-grenade launcher 9. Automatic 12-gage three-barreled shotgun with dragonsbreath slugs 10. High-spectrum contained-projection blade

And if you're running a modern or near-future game, you can still include these kind of weapons without too much discomfort. Just give out one and call it a military prototype. For extra fun, give the project that developed the prototype weapon a cool name.

Secret Military Project Code Name

1. Black Dragon, Mk II 2. Operation FENIX 3. Hyperion project 4. Gupta-Smith device