As I get older or because of all the Pathfinder I have been playing, I feel the need to stay away from minis. I love painting them and I'm fine using them in games like Pathfinder where they are required, but I feel it actual limits the player's sense of imagination. I have discussed this before.
Star Wars Saga did something I thought was pretty neat. It didn't list weapon ranges for each weapon (in yards). They simplified the range of the weapons. In most rpgs, pistols might have slightly different ranges but there isn't enough difference to come up in game that often.
I intend to simplify ranges even further by figuring that distance, not weapon, is the deciding factor in how hard it is to hit a target. It may not be realistic, but it's plausible and it will allow me to make a simplistic "Theater of the Mind" range system.
So here are the ranges and their modifiers.
Range Modifier Distance
Point Blank 0 <25 yards
Short 0 <50 yards
Medium -2 <100 yards
Long -4 <200 yards
Extreme -6 <600 yards
Pistols have a Max Range of Medium
Shotguns have a Max Range of Medium
Rifles have a Max Range of Long
Sniper Rifles or Heavy Weapons have a Max Range of Extreme
A weapon cannot fire beyond its Max Range, unless they use a scope which will extend the range of a weapon by 1 increment while Aiming.
So now when we are playing, I can simply describe the villains at "Short Range" without getting into details about how many yards that is and what range is it for which gun. All modifiers are flat, based on distance to the target.
I'm incorporating this into my sci-fi setting. I like the Sci-Fi Companion but I feel that it is adding a lot of book keeping and specialty rules. I'm going to lean heavier on Daring Tales of the Space Lanes with its "K.I.S.S." mentality.
