Ammunition and reloading

Weapons that shoot spend their ammunition from your character sheet as you attack: this page covers boxes of ammunition, loading and Reload, what a shot spends, and the charges and uses other gear spends.

For: Game Masters and players · 12 minutes

You don't count arrows or rounds on paper: the sheet does it. Ammunition comes in boxes, items on your sheet such as Arrows (20) or Pistol Rounds (20), each holding a number of rounds. Some weapons shoot straight from a box, the way a bow takes an arrow from the quiver. Others must be loaded first: a crossbow holds one bolt, a gun holds a magazine of rounds, and Reload fills it from a box. This works the same way in every game system that has ammunition, D&D 5e and 5.5e included; this page uses D&D's bows and crossbows and Ninefold's guns, the near-future system's, as the examples. To write weapons that use ammunition, or a press that costs something, see Mods and upgrades and Weapons and armour in the homebrew pages.

Two kinds of weapon

Kind Examples What a shot does
Shoots from a box D&D's bows and slings Takes a round straight from a box on your sheet. There's nothing to reload.
Loads first D&D's crossbows and blowgun, 5.5e's musket and pistol, Ninefold's guns Fires what's loaded. When it's empty, it won't fire until you reload it from a box.

A weapon that loads first starts loaded.

What a shot spends

Open the weapon by clicking its row, then press its attack. Every press of the attack is a shot, and spends its round: from the box, or from what's loaded. Fire again by pressing the attack again; the weapon stays open. Most weapons spend one round a shot; Ninefold's Machine Pistol fires a burst of three. Damage never spends a round. A thrown weapon's Throw spends the weapon itself, one on every press. The Canvas view's weapon rows count shots the same way.

A press that's refused, such as one that says Reload first (below), or that you cancel before the dice roll, spends nothing and isn't counted: your next press of the attack is the shot. In Ninefold an attack opens the pool builder first, where you add Edge dice: the round is spent when you press Roll, and Cancel spends nothing.

The chat line for the shot says what's left, such as "(Service Pistol magazine: 11)".

To shoot without spending anything, when the Game Master (GM) allows a free shot, tick Don't consume resource in the opened weapon before you press the attack. It stays ticked for every shot until you untick it or close the weapon.

When a box runs dry

Your weapon draws from one box at a time: the first box with rounds in it, then the same box until it's empty. When that box runs dry, or you get rid of it, the weapon moves on by itself to the next box of the same ammunition (the first one in your inventory) and keeps drawing from that one. A bow with three boxes of arrows shoots all sixty before it stops.

An empty box stays on your sheet, at 0, until you delete it.

When the last box is empty, the shot is refused: a bow says it's out of that box and asks you to add more ammunition to your inventory. With no box at all on the sheet it says Not enough Arrows (0 available, 1 needed), with your system's word for the ammunition.

Reload first

A weapon that loads first won't fire with too little loaded. The attack is refused with a message that starts Reload first, such as Reload first: Service Pistol magazine is empty., or Reload first: Machine Pistol magazine has 2 left and this needs 3. Nothing is spent and nothing is rolled. Press Reload, then attack again: that attack is the shot.

Reload

Reload is on a weapon that loads first, in its opened row in the Form View (see Form and Canvas views), right under its attack buttons. It's there on a phone and in in-game mode's Form tab too.

Part What it shows
What's loaded The magazine or chamber by its name, such as Magazine, Tube or Bolt (loaded), with how many are loaded, such as 4 of 12: a pip for each round when it holds 12 or fewer, else a bar.
Empty: reload before you fire Shows when nothing is loaded.
The box The box Reload will draw from and what's left in it, such as Pistol Rounds, 8 left, or Nothing to reload from when the sheet holds no box of this weapon's ammunition with rounds in it.
Reload Loads from that box. It stands out when the weapon is empty or down to a quarter or less. When it's full the button says Loaded and is greyed out. With nothing to reload from it's greyed out too: hover over it to see Nothing to reload the and the weapon's name, such as Nothing to reload the Service Pistol from. Add a box to your inventory and it comes back.
The answer What happened, such as Service Pistol reloaded: Service Pistol magazine 12/12, Pistol Rounds (20) 8 left., or why it didn't work.
On the Gear tab, the Holdout Pistol open with 6 of 6 loaded and Pistol Rounds, 2 left: each Attack, then Roll in the pool builder, empties one pip, six shots without closing the card, until Empty: reload before you fire; one more Attack and Roll shows the Reload first line, rolls nothing and spends nothing; Reload loads the box's last 2, and the box line moves on to the spare box, Pistol Rounds, 20 left

Reload a weapon

  1. Click the weapon's row to open it.
  2. Click Reload.

RollQuest moves rounds from the box into the weapon: as many as the weapon takes, or what's left in the box if that's fewer. A crossbow loads one bolt; a Ninefold gun fills its magazine. Chat says who reloaded and from what, such as "Wren reloaded Service Pistol (Service Pistol magazine: 12/12) from Pistol Rounds (20) (8 left)".

If the box runs out part way, press Reload again: it moves on to the next box. A box that's already empty when you reload is skipped the same way.

RollQuest doesn't spend your turn on a reload: how long it takes is your system's rule, or the GM's.

Reload in the Items panel

The Items panel (in beta, so it may not be on your account yet) has R on each weapon row that loads first, which does the same as Reload. Hover over it to see what it would load, such as Reload the Service Pistol: up to 12 from Pistol Rounds, 12 left. With nothing to reload from it's greyed out, and says so, such as Nothing to reload the Service Pistol from. A bow, which shoots straight from its box, has no R: there's nothing to load.

Under the name of a weapon that loads first, a line names the box Reload draws from and the rounds left in it, such as Ammo: Pistol Rounds (12/20) (hover over it: Reload draws from this box, then the next box of the same ammunition.), or Nothing to reload from.

Its Edit for a weapon has Ammo from inventory, which picks the box the weapon draws from. It lists every box of ammunition on the sheet, Ninefold's included, and ordinary gear with uses, such as D&D's arrows and bolts. When that box runs dry the weapon still moves on to the next one, and Ammo from inventory then shows the new box. See Inventory and money.

In a D&D 5e or 5.5e game

  • Bows and slings shoot from your box of Arrows (20) or sling bullets, a round a shot, with nothing to reload. When one box is empty, the next shot comes from your next box.
  • Crossbows and the blowgun, and in 5.5e the Musket and Pistol, hold one shot: their Loading property. The opened weapon shows one pip, named for what it holds, such as Bolt (loaded) in 5.5e or Crossbow bolts (loaded) in 5e, and the box it reloads from, such as Bolts, 20 left.
  • Fire, then reload. After a shot the chamber is empty, and the next attack says Reload first with the chamber's name, such as Reload first: Bolt (loaded) is empty. Press Reload in the opened weapon to load one bolt from your box, then attack.
  • Boxes in turn. When your box of bolts is empty, Reload takes the next box by itself.

A crossbow used to go on firing straight from its box once it had been reloaded. Now it asks you to reload after every shot, as its Loading property says.

In the Docs 5.5e ammo game, Sera Ironmarch, a ready-made 5.5e Fighter given a Light Crossbow and a box of Bolts, opens the Light Crossbow on the Main tab: one pip for the loaded bolt and Bolts, 20 left; Attack, then Attack again in the same open card for the Reload first line, which says the loaded bolt is empty; Reload, and Bolts, 19 left

In a Ninefold game

Every Ninefold gun but the Taser fires from a magazine (the Pump Shotgun's is a tube) and reloads from a box of its rounds. A Trade's starting kit with a gun carries one box for it.

Gun Holds Spends a shot Reloads from
Holdout Pistol 6 1 Pistol Rounds
Service Pistol 12 1 Pistol Rounds
Heavy Pistol 8 1 Pistol Rounds
Printed Pistol 6 1 Pistol Rounds
Machine Pistol 30 3 Pistol Rounds
Pump Shotgun 6 1 Shells
Carbine 30 1 Rifle Rounds
Smart Rifle 20 1 Rifle Rounds
Rail Rifle 5 1, and 2 Heat Rail Slugs

The boxes are Pistol Rounds (20), Rifle Rounds (20), Shells (10) and Rail Slugs (5). Buy them with Cred, or build them in the Workshop: everyone can handload pistol and rifle rounds and pack shells, and Rail Slugs come with the Rail Coils research. Ammunition never comes back on Cool Down or Downtime.

The Uses and Ammo block on the Main tab shows each magazine, under Ammunition. Its − and + change a magazine's count by hand, without touching a box.

A shot that costs something more

An attack can cost more than ammunition: some mark a number on your sheet each time you fire. Ninefold's Rail Rifle marks 2 Heat a shot, the Hardcase's Piston Fist 1 Heat a punch, and the Hot Loads upgrade 1 Heat a shot on any gun it's attached to (see Mods and upgrades).

  • The cost is paid with every shot, with the rounds it spends, whether you press the weapon's own attack or aim it with Target and Resolve. The chat line for the shot adds it, such as Rail Rifle: +2 Heat.
  • A shot that's refused, such as one that says Reload first, costs nothing, and so does one you cancel before the dice roll, or a shot with Don't consume resource ticked.
  • The cost is an ordinary change to that number: in Ninefold, Heat past your maximum burns you out, as it would by hand.
Kit Okafor's sheet over the board, Heat 0, the Rail Rifle open on the Gear tab, loaded off camera from a box of Rail Slugs: Attack, Roll in the pool builder, and on the Main tab Heat ticks two of its five boxes; back on Gear, with the Rail Rifle opened again, a second Attack and Roll ticks two more, Heat 4; with the sheet closed, chat shows each shot's line ending Rail Rifle: +2 Heat

Charges and uses

Gear that isn't a gun can be counted too.

  • Uses: an item with a number of uses, such as Ninefold's Taser (two cartridges) or a drone (a battery of three), spends one each time you use it (in the Form View, its first press each time you open it) and shows what's left on its row, such as 2/3. When it's out, a press says the item is out of uses. Uses come back when the system says: in Ninefold, once-a-scene uses at Cool Down and Downtime, once-a-job uses at Downtime only. In D&D, a rest or the dawn: see Hit points and rests.
  • Charges and single-use items: some items are used up. Ninefold's charges, stims, Coolant Shot and Zero-Day are one use each, and a Patch Kit holds three; each press spends one, and the item leaves your sheet when its last use is spent. Chat says "used up" and how many are left in the stack.

When a shot or a reload says no

Message What it means
Reload first: and what's loaded The weapon is empty, or holds too little for this shot. Press Reload.
A box's name with Out of, asking you to add more to your inventory Every box for this weapon is empty.
Not enough and the ammunition, with how many there are and how many it needs There's no box for this weapon on the sheet.
The weapon's name and is already loaded It's full.
No and the ammunition to reload from., such as No Pistol rounds to reload from. or, in 5.5e, No Bolts to reload from. There's no box to reload from. Reload is greyed out when the sheet can tell, so you see this only when a box went in another window.
The item's name and is out of uses Its uses are spent until they come back.
Access denied You can't change this sheet. See Who can see and change a sheet.

Inventory and money · Mods and upgrades · The Workshop · Playing Ninefold