DP9-101
Back Cover Blurb
A Hunter races past you, its rapid-fire 20mm autocannon spitting metal death. As you watch in horror, your commanding officer’s Black Mamba erupts into a ball of raging flame, composite armor and fuel ablaze in a bright fireball.
“Fall back! Fall back!” Hastily, you have taken command. Your cadre pulls back behind a rocky outcropping and regroups. Tracers streak by your temporary shelter like angry hornets — you all know you can’t stay here forever.
Your crouch low and burst out of the rock’s shadow, zipping, zooming and ducking on powered wheels like an oversized armored skater. A hail of shells explode on the ground around your Gear, but you sidestep every one of them.
Unleashing the full power of your V-engine, you head back into the fire fight, emptying your shoulder-mounted 71mm rocket pod on an enemy heavy tank.
And they told you this was just a routine patrol…
Step into a whole universe, with Heavy Gear, the new generation of giant robot game. This book
contains everything you need to play the roleplaying, the tactical and the miniatures game. Highlights include:
• The simple and elegant Silhouette game engine, a highly acclaimed system that uses the classic
6-sided dice. It is the heart of both the tactical and the roleplaying games.
• Complete roleplaying rules, a detailed world background, and a rich setting: the socially explosive Badlands city of Peace River, home of Paxton Arms, the planet’s largest weapons manufacturer. Extensive guidelines for campaigning on Terra Nova are included as well as scenario generators that can be used to jumpstart any campaign.
• Complete tactical rules and guidelines for campaigns, and scenario generators for quick pickup games.
• Rules to use the tactical system as a hexless miniature tabletop system.
• The tactical rules cover all aspect of the modern battlefield, from infantry to the giant striders
that dominate the battlefield, and including tanks, Gears and artillery.
• 20 illustrated archetypes, to help fire Players’ and Gamemasters’ imagination.
• Fully illustrated, detailed descriptions and game stats for 8 Gears and 2 striders.
Heavy Gear, definitively not your father’s giant robot game.
It’s a whole world.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.0 QUESTIONS OF HONOR 1.1 TWO GAMES IN ONE 1.1.1 THE STORYLINE 1.2 INTRODUCTION TO TERRA NOVA 1.2.1LEAGUES OF TERRA NOVA 1.2.2 THE BADLANDS 1.2.3 THE WAR OF THE ALLIANCE 1.3 WHAT HAS COME BEFORE 1.3.1 A NEW AGE OF DISCOVERY 1.3.2 THE COLONIZATION EFFORT 1.3.3 THE AGE OF ALLIANCES 1.3.4 ST. VINCENT’S WAR 1.3.5 THE WAR OF THE ALLIANCE CHAPTER 2: WORLD OF HEAVY GEAR 2.0 NEW IN TOWN 2.1 THE NORTH 2.1.1 NORTHERN LIFE 2.1.2 NORTHERN LIGHTS CONFEDERACY 2.1.3 UNITED MERCANTILE FEDERATION 2.1.4 WESTERN FRONTIER PROTECTORATE 2.2 THE SOUTH 2.2.1 SOUTHERN LIFE 2.2.2 SOUTHERN REPUBLIC 2.2.3 MEKONG DOMINION 2.2.4 EASTERN SUN EMIRATES 2.2.5 HUMANIST ALLIANCE 2.3 THE BADLANDS 2.3.1 DESERT LIFE 2.3.2 PORT ARTHUR & NUCOAL 2.3.3 KHAYR AD-DIN CHAPTER 3: PEACE RIVER SOURCEBOOK 3.0 LIFE GOES ON 3.1 OVERVIEW 3.1.1 HISTORY 3.1.2 SOCIETY 3.2 CITY TOUR 3.2.1 EXECUTIVE TOWER 3.2.2 HABITAT CORE 3.2.3 INDUSTRIAL SECTOR 3.3 PAXTON SECURITY (PAXSEC) 3.4 BADLANDS REVOLUTIONARY FRONT CHAPTER 4: SILHOUETTE BASICS 4.0 SILHOUETTE BASICS 4.1 DICE AND DIE ROLLING 4.2 ACTION TEST 4.2.1 OPPOSEC ACTION TESTS 4.3 RATINGS, SKILLS & SKILL TESTS 4.3.1 RATINGS CHAPTER 5: CHARACTER CREATION 5.1 THE CHARACTER SHEET 5.1.1 QUICK CHARACTER OVERVIEW 5.2 CHARACTER DESIGN PROCESS 5.3 ATTRIBUTE AND TRAIT DESCRIPTION 5.3.1 ATTRIBUTES 5.3.2 SECONDARY TRAITS 5.3.3 PHYSICAL STATUS 5.3.4 SYSTEM SHOCK RATING 5.4 SKILL DESCRIPTIONS 5.4.1 AGILITY SKILLS 5.4.2 APPEARANCE SKILLS 5.4.3 BUILD SKILLS 5.4.4 CREATIVITY SKILLS 5.4.5 FITNESS SKILLS 5.4.6 INFLUENCE SKILLS 5.4.7 KNOWLEDGE SKILLS 5.4.8 PERCEPTION SKILLS 5.4.9 PSYCHE SKILLS 5.5 EQUIPMENT 5.5.1 CLOTHES AND PROTECTIVE SUITS 5.5.2 COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT 5.5.3 ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT 5.5.4 HEADGEAR 5.5.5 MEDICAL EQUIPMENT 5.5.6 SURVEILLANCE & INFILTRATION EQUIP. 5.5.7 SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT 5.5.8 TOOLS 5.6 PERSONAL WEAPONS & ARMOR 5.6.1 MELEE WEAPONS 5.6.2 RANGED PERSONAL WEAPONS 5.6.3 GRENADES 5.6.4 HEAVY WEAPONS 5.6.5 PERSONAL ARMOR 5.6.6 UNIFORMS 5.7 THE CHESSPIECE SYSTEM 5.7.1 HISTORICAL FIGURES 5.7.2 RESTRICTED CHARACTERS 5.7.3 VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE 5.7.4 SOCIAL ENCOUNTERS 5.7.5 EXPENDABLES 5.7.6 ARCHETYPES CHAPTER 6: ROLEPLAYING RULES 6.1 ACTIONS 6.1.1 RUNNING ACTION TESTS 6.1.2 SKILL TESTS 6.1.3 ATTRIBUTE TESTS 6.1.4 CHANCE TESTS 6.2 COMBAT 6.2.1 INITIATIVE 6.2.2 ACTIONS 6.2.3 MOVEMENT 6.2.4 RANGED COMBAT 6.2.5 CLOSE COMBAT 6.2.6 SURPRISE ATTACKS 6.2.7 ATTACKER MODIFIERS 6.2.8 DEFENDER MODIFIERS 6.2.9 ALL-OUT DODGING 6.2.10 BURST FIRE 6.2.11 GRENADE ATTACKS 6.2.12 INJURIES 6.2.13 UNTREATED INJURIES 6.2.14 STABILIZING INJURIES 6.2.15 DEATH 6.2.16 RECOVERY FROM INJURIES 6.2.17 PERMANENT INJURIES 6.3 HAZARDS 6.3.1 DRUGS AND TOXINS 6.3.2 DISEASE 6.3.3 FALLS 6.3.4 FIRE 6.3.5 ELECTRICITY 6.4 CHARACTER IMPROVEMENT 6.4.1 EARNING XPS 6.4.2 SPENDING XPS 6.4.3 TUTORS 6.5 OPTIONAL RPG RULES 6.5.1 ABSTRACT VEHICLE RULES 6.5.2 INTEGRATION W/TACTICAL SYSTEM 6.6 CREATURES 6.6.1 CREATING CREATURE 6.6.2 SWARMS CHAPTER 7: TACTICAL RULES 7.1 THE BASICS 7.1.1 COMBAT UNITS 7.1.2 MAPBOARDS 7.2 VEHICLE RECORD SHEET 7.2.1 VEHICLE ATTRIBUTES 7.2.2 CREW SKILLS 7.2.3 WEAPONS 7.3 THE COMBAT ROUND 7.3.1 COMMAND POINTS 7.4 NUMBER OF ACTIONS 7.5 MOVEMENT AND TERRAIN 7.5.1 COMBAT SPEED 7.5.2 TOP SPEED 7.5.3 MULTIPLE MOVEMENT SYSTEMS 7.5.4 TERRAIN EFFECTS 7.5.5 TURNING 7.5.6 STACKING 7.6 LINE OF SIGHT & OBSCUREMENT 7.6.1 CONCEALMENT 7.6.2 DETECTION RATING 7.6.3 ACTIVE SENSOR LOS 7.6.4 ECM AND ECCM EFFECTS 7.6.5 STEALTH EFFECTS 7.6.6 FIRING ARCS 7.7 ATTACKS 7.7.1 ATTACKER MODIFIERS 7.7.2 DEFENDER MODIFIERS 7.7.3 PHYSICAL ATTACKS 7.7.4 EVASIVE MANEUVERS 7.7.5 CALLED SHOTS 7.7.6 INDIRECT FIRE 7.7.7 BURST FIRE 7.7.8 AREA EFFECT WEAPONS 7.8 DAMAGE 7.8.1 SYSTEMS DAMAGE 7.8.2 DAMAGE TO ARMOR 7.8.3 DAMAGE TO ARMS 7.8.4 EJECTION AND EVACUATION 7.9 INFANTRY RULES 7.9.1 INFANTRY RECORD SHEET 7.9.2 MOVEMENT 7.9.3 SENSORS 7.9.4 INFANTRY ACTIONS 7.9.5 ATTACKS VERSUS INFANTRY 7.9.6 INFANTRY THREAT VALUE 7.10 THREAT VALUES AND THEIR USE 7.10.1 WHAT IS THE THREAT VALUE? 7.10.2 BALANCING ONE-ON-ONE COMBAT 7.10.3 BALANCING MASS COMBAT 7.11 OPTIONAL TACTICAL RULES 7.11.1 AQUATIC MOVEMENT 7.11.2 BRIDGES, ROADS & URBAN TERRAIN 7.11.3 ELEVATION AS RANGE 7.11.4 CLIFFS 7.11.5 INCENDIARY EFFECTS 7.11.6 MINEFIELDS 7.11.7 MULTIPLE ATTACKER PENALTY 7.11.8 TOWING CAPACITY 7.11.9 WALKERS FALLING 7.11.10 WEATHER CONDITIONS 7.12 SILHOUETTE 3D MINIATURES RULES 7.12.1 MEASURES AND SCALE 7.12.2 MOVEMENT 7.12.3 RANGED COMBAT 7.12.4 PHYSICAL COMBAT 7.12.5 MINIATURES 7.12.6 THE PLAYING FIELD CHAPTER 8: CAMPAIGNING 8.0 CAMPAIGNING 8.1 ROLEPLAYING CAMPAIGNS 8.1.1 MILITIA CAMPAIGNS 8.1.2 CIVILIAN CAMPAIGNS 8.1.3 RANDOM TABLES 8.2 TACTICAL SCENARIO GENERATOR 8.2.1 STEP 1: PREPARING THE SCENARIO 8.2.2 STEP 2: MISSION DESIGN 8.2.3 STEP 3: ASSIGN PRIORITIES 8.2.4 STEP 4: SUBPLOTS 8.3 INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS 8.3.1 ROLEPLAYING-BASED CAMPAIGNS 8.3.2 TACTICALLY BASED CAMPAIGNS CHAPTER 9: FIELD GUIDE 9.0 RUMOR MILL 9.1 TECHNOLOGY AND TACTICS 9.2 HEAVY GEARS 9.3 CONVENTIONAL VEHICLES 9.3.1 GROUND VEHICLES 9.3.2 AIRCRAFT 9.4 STRIDERS 9.5 LANDSHIPS 9.6 THE VEHICLE RECORD SHEET 9.6.1 USING THE RECORD SHEET 9.7 PERKS & FLAWS 9.7.1 PERKS 9.7.2 FLAWS 9.8 VEHICULAR WEAPONS 9.8.1 WEAPON TERMS 9.8.2 SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS 9.8.3 CANNONS, ROCKETS & MISSILES 9.8.4 CLOSE COMBAT WEAPONS 9.8.5 BAZOOKAS 9.8.6 LASER WEAPONRY 9.8.7 MAGNETIC ACCELERATION CANNONS 9.8.8 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS