TEXT: Armour
  45
  Bone Armour
  Chainmail Shirt: Heavy but protective, a chainmail 
  shirt hangs from the shoulders to just below the groin, 
  covering the chest, arms and abdomen. Some wearers 
  belt the overlapping chainmail with a heavy leather 
  strap to keep it from swinging too much while in 
  motion. A chainmail shirt is lined with soft leather, 
  especially up around the shoulders, where the weight 
  tends to cause abrasions, bruising and eternally sore 
  muscles.
  Chainmail Skirt: A chainmail skirt hangs to 
  the knees and allows for maximum freedom 
  of movement without sacriﬁ cing protection 
  for the lower body.
  Chainmail Trews: Essentially a pair of 
  pants crafted from chainmail, these trews 
  offer the same protection as a chainmail skirt 
  but are slightly more cumbersome to wear 
  for extended periods of time. 
  Crabclaw Gauntlet: A specialised tool for 
  one-handed duellists, the crabclaw gauntlet 
  is a thick metal ‘glove’ that extends halfway 
  up the arm, just like any other. The part of 
  this gauntlet that is exceptional is the single 
  folded plate that houses the ﬁ rst two ﬁ ngers 
  of the wearer’s hand. At the end of this thick 
  ﬁ nger-cuff is a latching mechanism that 
  clasps the cuff to a socket at the base of the 
  thumb plating – creating a sort of claw that 
  holds any one-handed weapon ﬁ rmly in its 
  grip. Unless the gauntlet is actually broken, 
  the wielder will continue to grasp the 
  weapon or item within. A crabclaw gauntlet 
  adds +50% to any tests used to resist being 
  disarmed or having the clutched item taken 
  from the gauntlet. It takes 2 Combat Actions 
  to unlatch the glove.
  Duellists Half-Cape: This is a length of 
  ﬂ exible cloth that is often cut into a draped 
  cape of sorts that hangs over the chest and 
  unused arm during a swordﬁ ght. A number 
  of stiff leather strips are sewn into the cape 
  here and there, giving additional protection 
  to the areas they cover. The half-cape’s 
  construction allows it to be twirled over one 
  arm or the other as a Combat Reaction. This 
  adds the cape’s Armour Points to the covered 
  arm if desired. Also, if taken from around the chest 
  and held in one hand, the half-cape can be used like 
  a buckler – offering no AP protection, but allowing a 
  +10% bonus to Parry skill tests.
  Enamelled Breastplate: Cast from either leather or 
  tin before being painted repeatedly with stiff resins 
  and alchemical agents, enamelled armour is beautiful 
  and resilient without being too heavy. Due to its 
  
  72
  Beasts and Cohorts
  Riding Lizard
  Riding Lizard Hit Locations
  D20
  Hit Location
  AP/HP
  1-2
  Tail
  3/6
  3-4
  Right Hind Leg
  3/7
  5-6
  Left Hind Leg
  3/7
  7-9
  Hindquarters
  3/8
  10-13
  Forequarters
  3/8
  14-15
  Right Front Leg
  3/7
  16-17
  Left Front Leg
  3/7
  18-20
  Head
  3/7
  Weapons
  Type 
   
  Weapon skill 
  Damage / AP
  Claw  
  45% 
   
  2D6 / 4 
  Bite 
   
  40% 
   
  1D8+1D6
  Special Rules
  Combat Actions: 2
  Strike Rank:  
   +7
  Movement: 
   6m
  Traits:   
   Formidable Natural Weapons
  Skills:   
   Athletics 35%, Stealth 25%, Track 
  30%
  Typical Armour: Scales (AP 3, no Skill Penalty)
  Mammoth: These beasts are immense herbivores 
  that are the ancestors of common elephants. See the 
  Mammoth entry in RuneQuest Monsters, page 90 for 
  details.
  Mule: The infertile offspring of a male horse or pony 
  and a female donkey, the mule was originally one of 
  nature’s little accidents that created a new tool for the 
  world to use. Mules are domesticated extremely easily, 
  and are good pack animals for those who cannot afford 
  
  The Rare and Wondrous
  85
  THE RARE & 
  WONDROUS
  T
  his chapter covers a handful of rare items, 
  weapons and such that require special rules 
  or circumstances (and overall, Games Master 
  permission) to even be included in RuneQuest games. 
  Each section covers a different category of wondrous 
  equipment and explains how it works, what it does and 
  how it affects a game.
  Black Powder Weapons
  Often discovered by accident when an alchemist 
  combines sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre, black powder 
  is a leap into warfare that changes worlds. Extremely 
  volatile and ﬂ ammable, the substance is a grainy grey-
  black concoction that burns rapidly when set to spark 
  or ﬂ ame, or explodes violently when packed tightly 
  and lit somehow.
  The following weapons and devices can be invented, 
  crafted and used by characters with access to the black 
  powder. With the exception of the thrown weaponry, 
  all of the following weapons require a special Ranged 
  Combat Weapon Skill – Black Powder – in order to 
  operate successfully. Also, any weapon with a Load 
  time listed additionally requires an unmodiﬁ ed Craft 
  (Gunsmithing) or Mechanisms skill test with the listed 
  bonus/penalty.
  Arquebus: A smaller version of the musket with a 
  shorter stock and an easier barrel to swab and re-pack, 
  the arquebus is a powerful, two-handed riﬂ e that can 
  rip into armoured targets with ease. It is best used as 
  a one-shot weapon due to its lengthy reload time, and 
  many who use it attach a dagger or shortsword to its 
  end to serve as a bayonet for when the enemy closes 
  – should he survive the shot from the weapon.
  Blunderbuss: This is one of the simplest forms of 
  a black powder ﬁ rearm, where a packing cup of 
  powder is burned in order to propel  small pebbles, 
  shot and other scrap from the weapon’s wide-barrel. 
  The resulting explosion hurls the loose shot into a 
  cloud of deadly projectiles. While these projectiles 
  may not have much in the way of penetration, they 
  are very difﬁ cult to avoid and spread their damage out 
  over multiple sections of a target. Anyone targeted 
  by a blunderbuss not only has a –10% to their Dodge 
  skill against the attack, but the damage rolled will be 
  divided evenly (round fractions up) amongst 1D4+1 
  hit locations. 
  Bomb, Hand: A simple clay shell or metal sphere 
  packed with black powder and fragments of shrapnel, 
  a fuse, and capped in wax, the hand bomb is a deadly 
  and dangerous device. After lighting the fuse the hand 
  bomb then has 1D3 turns (rolled secretly by the Games 
  Master) before it will explode on the same Strike Rank 
  as it was lit, inﬂ icting its damage to all targets within 
  5m. This damage is divided evenly between all body 
  locations of a target (or body locations within the area 
  of effect in the case of larger targets), deducting the 
  AP from damage to each location. Should the user 
  Critically Fumble his Throwing skill test, he drops the 
  bomb at his feet where it explodes normally after the 
  fuse burns its allotted time.
  Bomb, Projectile: A larger version of the hand bomb, 
  a projectile bomb is too heavy to be thrown (without 
  a STR of 25 or more) and must be launched from a 
  catapult, trebuchet or other propulsion device. It has 
  all the same rules as a hand bomb, save for the fact that 
  its fuse is designed to burn very slowly – but will ignite 
  the bomb automatically upon impact with anything 
  harder than soft soil. Otherwise, the fuse will detonate 
  the bomb in 2D6 turns after it is lit. Otherwise, treat a 
  projectile bomb exactly the same as a hand bomb (see 
  above).
  Decksweeper: A short-barrelled riﬂ e with nearly no 
  stock, the decksweeper is named for its frequent use 
  on ships and boats. Packed like a blunderbuss, but 
  loaded with a series of three slugs instead of shot, 
  a decksweeper does not have the range of a riﬂ e or 
  the cloud-effect of a blunderbuss. Instead it has 
  the ability to strike a target up to three times with 
  deadly ricocheting slugs. When a target is ‘hit’ by a 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/D100 [multi]/Runequest and Glorantha/Runequest (Mongoose) 1st Edition/Other Downloads/rqarms.pdf