The Old World: Grim and Perilous

ever a Pierce rating between 1-3 tends to be no different
than simply adding damage to the weapon. We
try to fix this by changing the effect of Pierce quality.
This new effect should make it a bit more beneficial.
Any hits from this weapon ignore a number
of points of soak equal to the weapon’s Pierce
rating. If the weapon has more ranks of Pierce
than the target’s total soak, it completely ignores
the target’s soak. For example; Pierce
against a soak of ignores two points of soak,
but the extra point of Pierce has no further effect.
In addition, if the hit would otherwise be
unable to get past the target's soak, it will inflict
one wound (regardless of the Pierce rating).
Damaging and Repairing
Equipment
Struggling with equipment deficiencies is
a common theme in dark fantasy adventures. To
better reflect it, we decided to introduce a rule
that allows your GM to spend hh generated
on a check involving the use of weapons or tools
to damage the equipment used by one step, and
spend d to damage the equipment by two steps.
Additionally, t generated on a combat check
may be spent to damage one piece of a target's
equipment by one step (two if the weapon has a
Sunder quality).
To repair a broken piece of equipment, characters
follow the general rules presented on page
of the Genesys Core Rulebook, however they use
Crafts or Engineering skill instead of Mechanics.
For ease of tracking the state of your character's
equipment, there are special die shaped boxes
in the Weapons and Personal Gear sections of
the Character's Sheet. Cover one third of the box
to mark minor damage, two thirds for moderate
and full box for major damage of the equipment.
Melee Weapons
Bladed Gloves
Simple leather gloves with razor-sharp blades
or spikes attached, designed to inflict deep
and painful cuts. Originally from Cathay, they
were later adopted by some of the Empire's
torturers and assassins. When using this
weapon, your character can no longer choose
to deal damage to the target's strain threshold
instead of their wound threshold.
Brass Knuckles
Brass knuckles are pieces of metal shaped to
fit around the knuckles. Favored by criminals,
bodyguards and bouncers, they greatly increase
the power of the punch, and are easy to
use and conceal.
Buckler
A buckler is a small round shield. Due to its
size, it offers poor protection, but is very useful
in deflecting the blow of an opponent's weapons.
When held, a buckler's encumbrance is .
Club
Simple, cheap and effective, clubs have proved
their value in numerous conflicts. However,
they tend to break easily. Your Game Master
may spend d or hhh generated on a combat
check using a club to cause major damage to it.
Garrote
This traditional assassin's weapon consists
of a length of cord which is wrapped around
a target's throat that easily chokes out or entirely
suffocates them. The garrote can only be
used against unaware targets (see note on the
Backstab talent on page ). A successful attack
against a target causes them to become suffocated
(see Suffocation, Genesys Core Rulebook,
p. ). Breaking free requires an opposed
Brawl vs Brawl check, with an additional j for
each round they have been caught.
Falchion
A falchion is a heavy, one-handed, single-edged
sword shaped very much like a large meat
cleaver. It's not a subtle weapon, but it's very
effective at dealing deep, grevious wounds.
138 The Old World: Grim and Perilous