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Types of Explosives

The oldest commonly used explosive is black powder, aka gunpowder. A combination of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, it has been largely replaced by smokeless powder for firearms and military applications in the more civilized parts of the world. Black powder is still used in mining, as it's very cheap in bulk, and suitable for earth-moving types of blasting. Other nitrates can be substituted for the potassium nitrate for some applications.

Dynamite is created with nitroglycerin, a powerful but very unstable explosive. The transportation of nitroglycerin is prohibited almost everywhere; if needed, it's usually manufactured on the spot.

The first practical military and industrial replacement for black powder was dynamite, first manufactured by Alfred Nobel in 1867. Dynamite is cheap, with 60% more power (per pound) than TNT, but too sensitive to be used in artillery shells, exudes nitroglycerin, and is bad at high and low temperatures. Various trade names and variations include gelatin dynamite (sensitive, more powerful than plain dynamite, won't exude nitroglycerin, some water resistance, creates lots of poisonous fumes). Another variant is ammonium dynamite, which contains ammonium nitrate, has 85% of the power of "straight" dynamite. Dynamite is sold in various strengths:   30% ("loggers' dynamite"), 40%, 60% and 80% are fairly common. The usual stick is 1/2 pound in weight.

Unlike commercial dynamite, military dynamite contains no nitroglycerin compounds -- it's a mix of RDX and TNT, and has about 40% less power per pound compared with regular dynamite. It's issued in 1-pound sticks at "full strength".  

TNT, or trinitrotoluene, is a very useful modern explosive. It is a component of (or closely related to) many other explosives, such as amatol (mixed with ammonium nitrate), hexanite, hexogen, cyclonite, and RDX. While invented in the mid-Nineteenth Century, the first military application was for German naval shells, in 1902. TNT and the smoke it produces is toxic, but very safe from a demolitions point of view -- insensitive (POWx0.5% chance of detonation when struck by rifle bullet), flammable but won't explode from fire, excellent water resistance. A version of detonating cord developed in the U.S. before the Great War, cordeau, is a lead tube filled with TNT; it detonates at 5200 feet per second.   

Invented before the American Civil War, nitrocellulose (also known as guncotton) has uses as a cheap explosive, artillery and rocketry propellant. Nitrostarch is a similar explosive, used for filling hand grenades and artillery shells during the Great War -- sensitive, very flammable, good water resistance, creates poisonous fumes.

Gelignite (also known as blasting gelatin), a mix of guncotton, wood pulp, potassium nitrate and nitroglycerin, was the first plastic explosive, invented in 1875 by Alfred Nobel. It is one of the cheapest explosives, and was the main explosive used by the IRA. While technically "plastic", gelignite doesn't have that nice modelling-clay consistency of later plastic explosives, being more like a thick jelly. It burns slowly, and can only be exploded by detonators or other explosives; it is thus relatively safe. 

The German government developed PETN before the Great War (they call it nitropenta), and used it in booster charges and detonators. Its most notable use is as the core of the modern, fabric-covered versions of detonating cord (developed in 1938), known in British military service as cordex, with a detonation rate over 8000 feet per second. Other names for PETN-filled detonating cord will include primercord, primacord, det cord, etc.

Currently, the British military use Nobel 808, or plastique, a green plastic explosive (which smells of almonds).

The Munroe Effect

This refers to the partial focussing of blast energy caused by a shaped charge. Discovered in 1888 by (unsurprisingly) Charles Munroe, the military usefulness of this effect is not appreciated until the Second World War. An War Department engineer, Henry Mohaupt, produced the first hollow-charge ammunition in the late 1930s as experimental anti-tank hand grenades for the U.S. Army. The first-ever military use will be during the attack on the Belgian fort "Eben Emael" by German troops on May 10th 1940, using Pionierhohlladung H 15 engineering shaped charges -- 10.43" in diameter, 27.5 pounds, and able to penetrate 3" of armor plate.

The "Fury Gun" is an early non-military example of a hollow-charge weapon.

The Misznay-Schardin effect, discovered during World War 2, is related, and is the basis for claymore mines.

The first Faustpatrone weighs 7 pounds, and is 39" long; the 14 ounce warhead has a diameter of 4". Effective range when aiming at tanks is about 33 yards, and the projectile is launched at about 100 feet per second. I'd call the Call of Cthulhu range value against people 10 yards, at most - the first ones don't even have any sights. Armor penetration is 5.5" of plain steel; the Call of Cthulhu blast effect would be 5d6 (there's no fragmentation effect to speak of, except inside the target), with a 3 yard range. In the real world, the first ones were delivered to the German army in August of 1943. But then again, the PIAT was introduced that same year, and we've seen those in the Rocketship Empires world! The first American bazooka enters service historically in 1942, but we'll see!

Damage Values

Just got this from our GM Kevin, these new values are the valid ones for his Pulp campaign. The referee will adjudicate damage beyond the first range given, or for larger amounts of explosives than given in the examples.

• VOG-25 40.6mm Russian (48gm HE)     1932     2D6+2/2y

• VOG-25P 40.6mm Russian (37gm HE Frag)     1932     2D6/2y +1D6/4y

• generic anti-personnel mine         4D6/5y

General Demolition Usage Notes

• plain/straight dynamite: sensitive, cheap, exudes nitroglycerin (especially if stored in high temperatures), unreliable performance at high and low temperatures

• gelatin dynamite: sensitive, more powerful than plain dynamite, won't exude nitroglycerin, some water resistance, creates lots of poisonous fumes

• TNT: insensitive (POW/2% chance of detonation when struck by rifle bullet), flammable but won't explode from fire, excellent water resistance

• nitrostarch: sensitive, very flammable, good water resistance, creates poisonous fumes

• sensitive explosives: require a detonator for each bundle (up to 7 sticks/blocks at least)

• insensitive explosives: require a detonator for each block, or even a booster charge

• time fuse/slow fuse/safety fuse: burns quietly at 3 seconds per inch. Up to 20% inaccuracy.

• quick fuse: Burns noisily, with sparks and smoke, at 1 second per foot. Up to 30% inaccuracy.

• time pencil fuse igniters: rare outside of military engineers, these are brass tubes about pencil-sized; unreliable (probably 90% likely to fire), timing inaccuracy 15%, but very much affected by temperature. These aren't to set off explosives directly, but rather to ignite burning-type fuses. To use: insert time or quick fuse into the igniter, pull the safety wire, look in hole, crush tube (which starts a slow chemical reaction). Good practice: use two of these!

• short (red): 1 hour @ 65°F; down to 15 minutes @ 105°F, up to 3 hours @ 35°F

• medium (blue): 24 hours @ 65°F; down to 6 hours @ 105°F, up to 64 hours @ 35°F

• long (green): 7 days @ 65°F; down to 2 days @ 105°F, up to 19 days @ 35°F

• blasting machine: generates electrical current to set off electric detonators. The smallest “interwar” models weigh a few pounds, can set off several detonators at once.

• electric detonators: black/white = instant; yellow = 1 sec delay. A metal tube with a pair of short wires protruding from one end.
  

• blasting caps: a metal tube an inch or two long, these are crimped onto time fuse; when the burning fuze reaches the blasting cap, it explodes, hopefully setting off the “real” explosive. Sensitive to fire and impact. Powerful enough to blow off a finger or two.

Quick Effects Cheat

     A 1 lb nitrostarch block will perforate a 1' thick brick wall, or 1/4" of steel plate; it will sever a 1/2" steel rod, a 5" thick piece of timber, or a railway rail -- all presuming external untamped charges. An 8 oz stick of 40% gelatin dynamite is about 1/3 the power of the 1 lb nitrostarch block; thus a 3-stick bundle is about the same power as the 1 lb block.

• Tools and Supplies For a Pro: cap crimping/hole punch tool, a sharp knife, electrical tape, pliers and some wire (for hanging/attaching charges), wooden blasting cap storage box. For electrical systems, you'll need a blasting machine and a spool of wire. For blasting in humid conditions, or (god forbid) underwater, a can of "cap sealing compound" or heavy grease is important.