[Tsuarok]

So in Running Wild they more or less say that pixie's can't use firearms.  Which does make some sense, but considering the importance of firearms to shadowrunning, I'd think they'd have mentioned it in RC. 

So I'm curious.  Do you allow pixies to use guns in your games, or do you play a pixie gunslinger?

[Mirikon]

Unless they're shapeshifted into a form that can use them, I probably wouldn't let them use anything larger than a light pistol, and it would have to be modified to fit. Of course, when I make a pixie they're usually a Mage or Adept, so they have other options.

[_Pax_]

What I might do (if the Pixie in my campaign weren't a mage, and thus had even the tiniest interest in guns) is first, set up a new Metahuman Optimizatin category for Pixies.  2 slots & 2,000 nuyen, plus the gun has to have Electronic Firing (as pixies would need ARM muscles to move a normal trigger).

Then, I'd redefine the skills Pixies use.  Holdouts and Light Pistols are Longarms.  Heavy pistols and Machine Pistols are Heavy Weapons.  All else is forbidden.

Basically, for a Pixie, an Ares Predator might as well be an Assault Cannon.  Smaller pistols are large-caliber rifles.  And machine pistols would be like miniguns (except, without the multiple-barrel thing going on).

[lurkeroutthere]

I just don't allow pixies period.

[Mirikon]

Hmm. Perhaps it is time to stat up a pixie size bow/crossbow? Pixie bow with injection arrows filled with slab.

[KarmaInferno]

Remember that everything human sized is about four times as large to a pixie.

So a pistol that's 6 inches long is about 24 "inches" to a pixie. Or about the size of an SMG. It would, of course, need modification to the grip and trigger for a pixie to hold it with any level of stability.

Of greater concern I think would be recoil. A pixie simply doesn't have the mass to keep a powerful firearm on target. So they'd probably stick to light pistols and other weapons that use similar power ammo.

Or they could do what my pixie does. Rigging an anthroform drone and have THAT wield the firearms.





-k

[Blue_Lion]

I realy don't see pistols as a relistic weapon for a pixie. Even if you stuck on a pixie sized grip system the magazine whould be acwardly bulky and in the way. The weapon whould be to much for there size. If a weapon is to heavy you will not be able to hold it up for to long. And how does recoil affect them in the air. As some one mention earler bows with drug dosed arrows whould be a more effective route. Maybe that is why in most fantasy games they use sleep arrows that cause no real damage.

[_Pax_]

Hence, Blue, why I said that Holdouts and Light pistols would be "longarms" for a Pixie: the whole mechanism is remounted as a RIFLE, rather than a pistol.  Pixie-sized grip and trigger, pixie-sized stock, pixie-sized foregrip or barrel shroud.

A Heavy pistol, or god help us a Machine pistol?  Wuld probably be somethign the pixie would put on a pixie-sized Gyromount.  Hence why I say, for them ... Heavy Weapons skill.

Anything else is vehicle-mounted, really.  For a Pixie, anyway.

[TheNarrator]

And how does recoil affect them in the air.

Yeah, recoil on an airborne pixie would be brutal, because they would lack any stability from their feet being planted on the ground. Their lack of mass means that they would be subject to far more acceleration from the force of the recoil than a full-sized person, and without friction between their feet and the ground to hold them still, they'd be even more likely to be sent backwards. Yes, they could try to resist it by providing forward acceleration with their tiny little wings, but they're not exactly possessed of a lot of thrust, and even if they were they would still be more stable if they planted their feet and used their wings.

And that's not even getting into the issues that would result from the length of most handguns being almost half of their height (a Beretta 92 is 21.7 cm long compared to their heigh of 45 cm, and even a subcompact Glock 26 or 33 is 16 cm), even before any sort of stock was attached, and the grip (which can't really be made smaller because it contains the magazine) would be far bigger than their tiny hands could wrap around.

They'd either have to build their own tiny guns (with comparatively tiny ammo, most likely) or attach new grips and stocks in their own size to the tiniest of hold-outs to produce some sort of bulky, awkward quasi-rifle. Either way it wouldn't have much power, because at one-quarter the height of a human (and thus something like 1/64th the mass) they wouldn't be able to handle anything powerful.

Good thing they're all Awakened.

[Charasanya]

If they were allowed in our games and if they wanted to use some sort of firearm, I would suggest either a Taser, of some sort (extremely little recoil), or perhaps a custom-made Gyrojet, that is wielded, like a human uses a rocket launcher.

I would generally advise some sort of specialty weapon, like a super squirt, or sonic weapon, as they are generally more flexible in their forms and can be adapted more easily. Also, I just can't imagine them wielding a regular gun. That would just look weird IMHO.

[Lethe]

Too much recoil?

[JustADude]

And how does recoil affect them in the air.

Yeah, recoil on an airborne pixie would be brutal, because they would lack any stability from their feet being planted on the ground. Their lack of mass means that they would be subject to far more acceleration from the force of the recoil than a full-sized person, and without friction between their feet and the ground to hold them still, they'd be even more likely to be sent backwards. Yes, they could try to resist it by providing forward acceleration with their tiny little wings, but they're not exactly possessed of a lot of thrust, and even if they were they would still be more stable if they planted their feet and used their wings.

Actually, IIRC, the books say Pixies fly using innate magic, and the wings are mostly for control and maneuvering... so they might be able to pull it off.

Plus, remember, they can easily buy their way to Strength 3 and Body 3, which makes them as strong and tough as a typical decently-conditioned human, and their average is a 2, at least as tough as a typical couch potato. They're not nearly as fragile as you might think.

Also, the book says all their gear costs 150% normal... which I would think accounts for the extensive refitting they'd need to use it, if the GM doesn't just rule it's too big to be used at all.

[Tsuarok]

Well, the exact quote from RW (p. 45) was

Ditto with guns for pixies; the
little buggers are too small to use conventional firearms, and miniaturized
guns don’t pack enough of a punch to do much damage.

Which does suggest that miniature guns might just have their DVs slashed.  Even so, it would be a nightmare to actually have to use them...

"Yeah, we've got 6 corpses packed full of tiny bullets... musta been a pixie.  Well, there's only 4 pixies in the sprawl, and 3 of them are wageslaves... put out an APB for Mighty Mouse."

[Thrass]

what about tasers they virtually have no recoil

or just go with a laser weapon?

[_Pax_]

.... Laser weapons.  Mighty_Mouse should have got him some "heat vision", eh?