Chapter 3: The Armory & Economy

“Lead to stop what’s coming, Salt to keep it down, and Water to live long enough to regret the first two.” — Dust Vulture proverb

The Frontier runs on three currencies: the paper promises of the Consortium (Scrip), the universal necessity of salt, and the brutal finality of lead. This chapter covers the economic systems that keep civilization limping along and orients you to the tools of violence that keep individuals breathing.

The detailed equipment stats — weapons, armor, ammunition, gear — live in the equipment files. This chapter is the economic framing and a guide to choosing what to carry.

The Salt Economy

The Frontier operates on overlapping economies. What has value depends entirely on where you are and who you’re dealing with.

Scrip

Consortium Scrip (§) is paper currency backed by the Consortium’s control of the rails. It works in Consortium-controlled towns, rail stations, and most rim settlements that trade with the East. It is worthless in the deep wastes, in Dust Vulture territory, and in any settlement that has rejected Consortium authority.

A laborer’s daily wage in Rustwater is roughly §3. A revolver costs §50–80. A meal at an inn costs §1–2. A horse costs §250. The price tables in the settlement-services reference file list the canonical rates.

Barter

Outside Consortium reach, trade happens in goods. The canonical barter table (in the barter-rates reference file) lists rough exchange rates for ammunition, salt, water, food, tobacco, and ghost-rock. A box of pistol ammunition is worth roughly a day’s water in the deep Scorchveil — and a day’s water is worth your life there.

Salt holds value everywhere. A pouch of consecrated rock salt costs §20 in town and can be traded for almost anything in the wastes. Smart travelers carry more salt than they think they need.

The Cost Rating

To avoid the table micromanagement of tracking every transaction, The Veil & Lead uses a Cost Rating abstraction. Every item has a Cost Rating from 1 (trivial — a sandwich, a single bullet) to 5 (legendary — a Masterwork firearm, a war-horse, a building). Most starting characters can afford Cost 1–2 items casually; Cost 3 requires saving or a good week’s work; Cost 4 is a major investment; Cost 5 is the work of a season or a major windfall.

The full ladder lives in the cost-rating-scale reference file. Use it for quick-resolution shopping; use Scrip prices for important purchases.

Choosing Your Iron

Your weapon is your rhythm. A pistol with a Base Tempo of 4 fires nearly twice in the same window as a rifle with Base Tempo 6 — but the rifle hits harder and reaches farther. The trade-off between speed and stopping power is one of the core tactical choices of The Veil & Lead combat.

Firearm Categories

The five major firearm categories, by Base Tempo:

• Light Pistols (Tempo 3) — Derringer-style. Concealable, fast, weak. The High-Roller’s friend.
• Medium Pistols (Tempo 4) — Peacemaker, Volcanic. The Gunhand’s standard. Versatile.
• Heavy Pistols (Tempo 5) — Dragoon, LeMat. Hits harder than a medium. Slower draw.
• Shotguns (Tempo 3–5) — Sawed-Off (3), Coach Gun (4), Pump-Action (5). Scatter damage, devastating at Close range.
• Rifles (Tempo 5–6) — Carbines, Repeaters (5), Buffalo Rifle (6). The long-range answer.
• Heavy Weapons (Tempo 7+) — Gatling Guns. Crew-served. The Rail-Jack’s signature.

A starting character typically begins with one primary firearm (matched to their Calling) and possibly a backup. The full stat blocks live in the weapons files; the Tempo-vs-Damage curve lives in the weapon-base-tempos reference table.

Special Ammunition

Most fights are won with ordinary lead. But some enemies require specialty rounds:

• Salt Rounds disrupt Psionics on hit (automatic Disruption, no Focus check). The Redeemer’s signature.
• Iron-Core Rounds ignore the regenerative properties of Veil-Born flesh.
• Ghost-Rock Dust ammunition deals additional damage to entities tethered to the Current.
• Silver Bullets apply to lycanthropic creatures (specific Veil-Born variants).

Special ammunition is expensive and limited. Carry six rounds, not sixty. The ammunition files have the full list.

Melee Weapons

The Frontier is not primarily a melee setting, but knives, hatchets, sabers, and sledgehammers all see use. Light Melee weapons (Tempo 2–3) like Brass Knuckles and Bowie Knives are fast but weak; Medium (Tempo 4–5) like Hatchets and Sabers are balanced; Heavy (Tempo 5–6) like Sledgehammers and Cavalry Lances trade speed for impact.

Note that Light Melee triggers Exposed even on standard Strikes — the cost of their speed.

Choosing Your Protection

Armor is a trade. Every point of Armor Rating (AR) subtracts directly from damage taken — but heavier armor restricts speed, attracts attention, and (in Stormrise) attracts lightning.

The standard armor tiers:

• Duster / Reinforced Coat (AR 1, Concealment) — the working person’s protection. No restrictions.
• Boiler Plate (AR 2, Hardened) — heavy industrial plating. Negates one Grievous Wound per scene; slows you down.
• Ironbrand Hardsuit (AR 3, Bulky) — military-grade plate. The Ironbrand’s signature. Major Defense penalty for the protection.

Veil-touched armor exists but is rare and usually cursed. Treat any unusual piece with caution.

The full stat blocks and properties live in the armor and armor-properties files.

Essential Gear

Beyond weapons and armor, a Frontier character carries:

• Waterskin (1 day’s supply at standard climate; 2 in Scorchveil).
• Rations (1 week’s worth as a starting load).
• Bedroll (Long Rest requires it for full recovery).
• Salt Pouch (10 uses; mandatory for camping in supernatural territory).
• Lantern and Oil (6 hours of light per fill).
• Medical Kit (5 uses, +2 to Medicine checks).
• Lockpicks (if you do that kind of work).
• Dynamite (for the work that doesn’t ask).

The full gear list, with prices and effects, lives in the gear files. Don’t underbuy salt. Veterans never run out of salt.

The Three Rules of Frontier Economics

1. Carry more salt than you think you need. It is consumable, it is light, and it is the difference between safe sleep and being eaten alive by Walking Dead.
2. Specialty ammunition is for specialty problems. A box of Salt Rounds is useless against Consortium Enforcers. Save them for the Psionic ambush you didn’t see coming.
3. Maintenance is non-negotiable. A jammed revolver in a gunfight is a dead character. Use Downtime to clean weapons, restock kits, and patch armor. Tracked in downtime-actions.