A couple questions about the Battlebabe

[Ernesto Pavan]

Hi everyone! Last Monday I made up my Battlebabe, but something about the gear doesn't sound right to me:

1) Why is the rifle inferior to the shotgun? It does 1 less harm and is loud instead of messy (a limitation).
2) Why is "semiautomatic" the only way to get rid of Reload? Did bolt-actions meet the same end of second names in the Apocalypse World?
3) Why is the rifle's range "far" and not "close/far"? Is there any reason for which a rifle shouldn't be effective when you can see someone's eyes? And why is "3-round burst" the only way to add "close"?

This should be everything for now.

[Evan Torner]

Well, the cool thing about the Battlebabe is you can upgrade your guns from there...

1) Why is the rifle inferior to the shotgun? It does 1 less harm and is loud instead of messy (a limitation).

Because (3-harm far) is too badass for words, and loud means you either have to silence that rifle (a fair proposition) and it isn't messy like a shotgun. I could go into the pseudo-physics but basically ask yourself: "Which gun would I rather be shot with?"  One that makes a lot of shreddy wounds, or one high-impact wound?

2) Why is "semiautomatic" the only way to get rid of Reload? Did bolt-actions meet the same end of second names in the Apocalypse World?

Think of the modifiers less as attributes of real weaponry and more like traits about your weapon that can be used against you by the MC if they so choose.  Remember that it's 50 years after the apocalypse, so guns are unreliable by default, and you have to work your way into reliability.

3) Why is the rifle's range "far" and not "close/far"? Is there any reason for which a rifle shouldn't be effective when you can see someone's eyes? And why is "3-round burst" the only way to add "close"?

I kinda agree with you there.  But it depends on the kind of fictional rifle you're talking about.  Usually people take SWAT-style sniper rifles and are looking at weapons that do major harm at long distances with some set-up action.  I mean, if someone's at close range with you, you've got about 5 seconds to take one good-placed shot before they really are too close to use your rifle.  Unless as a club.

[Tim Ralphs]

Doesn't Messy automatically include Loud?

[Chroma]

Doesn't Messy automatically include Loud?

Yes it does, page 240.

Also, I believe it pays to consider that the "use" of a weapon is not necessarily making a single "shot" with it... a two hour running gun battle could be resolved with a single seize by force roll.  Using your rifle in that battle may have, story-wise, represented many, many shots with it; not a single shot and a reload.  What it means is that, after the fight, the character needs to do something that specifically involves reloading the weapon, narratively, before they can use it again.

Additionally, the MC can use the "reload" tag when making a hard move, "Looks like those shotgun shells were filled with ash instead of gunpowder, you're going to have to reload..."

The tags and descriptors are narrative, not technical, representations of the weapons in Apocalypse World... looking at them that way solves a lot of issues.

EDIT - Oh, and welcome to the forums, Ernesto!

[rusted barrel]

its just a weird thing with his mechanics and dramatics, but its really awesome, actually.  I've got a rule in me head called the 'Aggro Exception', meaning you can bluff ranges when a character is going aggro, cause its one sided.  But when you're seizing their whatsits by force, in an alley fight, in a stairwell, the first floor of a ruined parkade, the handgun comes to bear faster and more accurately than the rifle.  Dramatically.  But the vice versa of course is true, Sarajevo Joe will pick you off with his rifle, and you won't have a chance to draw your six shooter and make much good of your threats, until you make it up the stairs that is, and then of course ...

it keeps different choices valid, plus it makes the MG, one of the gunlugger's specials, and the battlebabe's mod which you were referring to, well it keeps them special.  Otherwise there would be inflation from everyone getting that kind of range, and then the gunlugger would need an even bigger board with an even bigger nail in it.

i personally added hand range to derringers and sawed-off shotguns, to keep them ugly and surprising and in your face.  Also added intimate to knives, cause you can stab someone in bed, but you can't swing a golf club or machete without them noticing, citing, of course, my previously stated Aggro Exception.

i kinda had a hard time with the naming of some of those mods myself, like why auto and semi-auto do such different things, so just rename them, call them extended clips or bullpup conversions or stock and barrel mods or whatever, it won't change the function, just the flavour.  So long as your MC is cool with it.