California Countdown: Weapons

Weapons

Close Combat Weapons

These weapons aid you in hand-to-hand fighting. You begin your adventure armed with a Hunting Knife which, when used in close combat, adds 2 points to your CLOSE COMBAT SKILL. Note this Hunting Knife in the Close Combat Weapons section of your Action Chart.

If you find a close combat weapon during your adventure, you may pick it up and use it. Close combat weapons appear in the text with a close combat skill number: for example, Machete (3). This number indicates how many points this weapon will add to your CLOSE COMBAT SKILL when used in a hand-to-hand fight.

The maximum number of close combat weapons you may carry is two, though you may only wield one at any time.

Missile Weapons

There are four types of missile weapon:

Pistol
Machine Pistol
Shotgun
Rifle

Unless you are carrying over weapons from a previous Freeway Warrior book, you begin your adventure armed with only one of these weapons. Make your choice and then record the weapon you have chosen, together with its calibre and rate of fire details, in the Missile Weapons section of your Action Chart.

In order to be able to use a missile weapon, you must have sufficient ammunition of the correct calibre. The following list shows the calibre of each weapon, the amount that is used every time the weapon is fired, and the number of rounds that you possess at the start of your adventure:

	Calibre	Rate of Fire	Initial No. of Rounds
Pistol	9mm	1	8
Machine Pistol	9mm	6²	30
Shotgun	12-gauge	1	4
Rifle	7.62mm	1	4

The initial number of rounds should be noted in the Ammo Pouch section of your Action Chart. Missile weapons cannot be used if you run out of ammunition or possess only rounds of the wrong calibre. However, the opportunity may arise for you to replenish your supply of ammunition and/or discover a weapon of the correct calibre.

You may carry a maximum of three missile weapons. However, for every missile weapon that you carry (excluding your initial choice), you must reduce your Stealth level by 1 point.

[2] It is reasonably clear that the Machine Pistol should not be used if you have fewer than 6 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

For some readers, however, it may seem counterintuitive to have ammunition left but be unable to use the weapon. We suggest to these readers that when 9mm ammunition falls below 6 rounds, the Machine Pistol can be treated as a Pistol (cf. Section 333 of Highway Holocaust). While this is not a perfect solution, it is a reasonable compromise.