Old guns are those that use cased ammunition only. Guns that utilize caseless ammo have their own modifications, with requisite prices.

Image by simonov via FlickrMagazine Extensions: These handy redesigns and aftermarkets allow you to carry double the amount of ammo originally specified for the weapon. $40 each.

Interchangeable Barrel/Receiver Groups: These modern polymer-alloy re-kits allow you to change the weapon to carry different calibers of ammunition. $200 each.

Smart Gun Interlocks: These units replace the mechanical firing pin with an electronic one. Driven by an interlink between your cyber-optics and a detached IR or sonic pulse scope, the gun fires soon as the optimal target has been locked on. $200.

Braces and Stocks: Gyrocompensating stocks and recoil compensators allow greater accuracy, particularly with older heavy caliber weapons. (Add +1 WA) $50.

New Frames: Many new frames exist for old standards, converting these weapons to bullpup or other configurations. The old parts are simply screwed into the new frames, with the various adapters built in. $100 -$300.

Image via Wikipediaan Excerpt from Solo of Fortune Volume 1 Page 41

There are a couple of problems that caseless and cased ammunition do not share. First, since there is no casing, the propellant is exposed to the elements. The oxidizers in the propellant do not combine with the propellant until combustion. However, the oxygen in the atmosphere is free to do so. The rounds are then said to be stale. This can be checked by looking for whitish or light gray deposits on the outside of the round. A stale round will most likely fire, but the more stale it is, the higher percentage of inert substances will be left behind when the bullet leaves, causing fouling and a baked on build up in the chamber. With less propellant available, the performance of the round is also degraded.

A related problem is moisture. While not combining with the propellant, it may affect the binder on some brands of ammo, causing it to become somewhat chalky and crumbly. A remedy for this has been to coat the outside of the round with a thin phenolic lacquer that is considered by combustion (and may aid it). ... Many of these problems can be avoided by using fresh ammunition from factory sealed containers, and keeping it dry after it is broken out.... Cased ammunition has the advantage of being able to be stored for long periods.

Image via WikipediaAfter their last adventure, the characters were in the mall ready to spend their money.as they were walking along the second-level, they noticed several people rushing out of a local cyberdoc shop. After a moment, they saw things shambling out of the shop. These things didn't seem to be alive. It didn't take them long to relate them to the file they had found on the last mission. These clinically dead people obviously were not acting very at all. The players soon decided that being in the mall was not what they needed to do and left quickly, shooting people as they left to provide food other than themselves for the shambling dead things.

They went first to Johnny's place, then to the junkyard, and tried to contact Ed as well. They failed to contact Ed but were able to contact the detective, Tarina Carin. Not surprisingly, Ms. Carin chose to stay in the city. They collected what they felt they needed from Johnny's place and from the junkyard, and then left town. They decided to go to Thane's house out in the country, feeling that that was probably the most defensible place they knew.

While Thane wasn't at home, they didn't think it would be long before he got back and they decided to get food and hardware from the whistle stop nearby. They got food by buying it from the gas station, with money they felt would soon be worthless. They stopped at the hardware store and made a deal with the owner, he and his wife could stay at the house if in exchange they took everything useful from the store. He agreed and they loaded up the vehicles and took everything back to the house.

As they were unloading, shambling dead things began coming out of the woods. They were faster than the characters expected them to be. They for the wave of dead things, christened as zombies, but failed to take further precautionary steps to protect the house. It wasn't long before there were successive waves of zombies.

When Thane returned with a deer he had gotten while hunting nearby, they showed him the corpses. He couldn't believe it and went out into the yard check out what they were. More zombies attacked while he was doing so and while Johnny was short shooting from the roof, GW is shooting from the second floor, Maxwell then on the yard to rescue Thane. They fought off the wave but it wasn't long before they were putting in defenses.

"Ed has hobbies." A gentleman explaining to his lady friend why Ed was sitting upside down in a seat at a local combat handball game.

Based on Ed from Cowboy Bebop, this NPC ally has been of great help to many street teams and a source of humor for several gamer groups :)

Stats: Unknown. Ed excels at INT, TECH and COOL with lower scores in BODY and EMP.

Gear: Whatever Ed wants.

Notes: Ed is easily distracted and often offers the PCs something related to what they want but never the actual item, piece of information, etc. Ed is super-capable at what Ed does and has a reputation to match. Ed is often available but Ed's reliability is... odd. This contact is worth 80 points.

Most recently, the team encountered Ed when hired by Roche Pharmaceuticals.

Image via WikipediaNote: Sorry about the lack of posting for the last 5-6 weeks. We had a bit of a hiatus from gaming to take care of some other things but we're now back! Also, I haven't really written much lately so this log will be very short form.

GW got a phone call from a contact who offered them to get some data. The hire was from Roche Pharmaceuticals, the target was Genentech. The team tried to track down the target and found she tried to get out of town. Took them forever, but they finally checked for accident reports.

The team contacted Tarina Carin but even with her help, they couldn't get to the car, which was totaled in the police impound lot but did find her home and some data there which they then turned in for the cash. They looked over the data before turning it in and learned that the Solanum virus doesn't always cause heart problems but sometimes the clinically dead people don't act very dead....

Notably, they dealt with a contact of GW's named Ed for the first time. Ed has hobbies.

Image via WikipediaThe Charismatic Leadership ability, as written in the Cyberpunk 2020 corebook, does not work well in my games. I rarely have crowds of any size featured as part of the game so there's no incentive to raise it beyond 1. To address this problem, a friend of mine (Eric Haverberg) and I put our heads together and came up with this:

Charismatic Leadership (CL) gives you "friends". A star always has "friends" - some really love him, some are just groupies. And he never, ever knows what they really want of him and probably doesn't care As long as people love him, he's a star.

In the game this translates into 3 levels of contacts. Level 1 is much like a Fixer's contact web but is very limited in numbers: He has a number of very good contacts equal to half his CL score. These people would die for him and more than one is probably a stalker. Use Wildside to detail these people and remember, they are obsessed with the star!

Level 2 is the more usual type of obsessed fan and is equal to his CL x2. He can crash at their place, ask for money or other resources but putting their life in danger will cause them to back off and regroup, possibly to the point of hating the star. He's their idol! An idol would never endanger them!

Level 3 are groupies. He has CL x 10 in groupies. This is the crowd of people who see every concert, can be called on a moment's notice to make an appearance he's at, scream his name in the crowd. They act like the people in the more traditional definition of CL as defined by the CP2020 basic book. Generally, these are the fans who pay his rent.

If the star is in an area that's not his usual venue, even an impromptu performance will generate level 2 & 3 fans but they won't add to the number usually available as they won't change residence to follow the star. Level 1 fans can only be generated when former ones die or the CL level rises.

Stats: Unknown

Gear: Medium Autopistol with AP ammo, Armor Jacket

Notes: A detective with the Night City PD who actually gives a damn. She helped out Thane and the PCs one time. Ms. Carin helped the team out in November as well, leading them to the address they needed to finish a job.