Mr. Welch's List - Revisted

Mr. Welch's List has been a favorite of mine for years now- and has been featured in my 'links' section since I started this place. Every now and then I like to go back to his site to catch up on his ever expanding list of "Things Mr. Welch can no longer do during an RPG". It is a must for all gamers. Fun fun stuff. Below are some of my 'selects' from his most recent batch, starting at the 1500 mark... I've divided them into a few categories for your reading pleasure.

First up are the Star Wars and 'general gaming' related items. Heh heh.

STAR WARS AND GENERAL GAMING RELATED
1510. The Movie Phone Guy can't be the voice of the ship's computer.
1519. In the middle of a Black Ops I can't sell my niece's band candy to the hostages.
1525. I will not waste critical successes on drumming.
1526. Can't use my pistols to communicate in Morse Code.
1528. I can't ask the bad guy if I fired 40,000 rounds or just 39,999.
1532. If its cheaper to buy a new gun than reload the old one, there's a problem.
1533. Even if the rules allow it, can't have a belt fed pistol.
1534. I will raise my hand if I've already heard the the DM's riddle.
    (Personal note: Yeah. Everyone has heard that Tolkien Egg Riddle)
1549. The totalitarian government tends to notice large purchases of cows, trebuchets and surveying gear.
1551. During the Black Ops all cell phones go on vibrate.
1559. Any mention of Life Day gets everybody a dark side point.
      (Personal note: Starring Beatrice Arthur!)
1571. Can't bluff the Empire at Hoth with just a whole bunch of snowmen.
1581. I will stop using crew as hit points.
1584. Even if the rules allow it, you can't sneak with a running chainsaw.
1595. We aren't raising the villain from the dead because we haven't killed him enough yet.
1596. Even if she's the most dangerous, the party doesn't appreciate me killing the naked chick first.
1600. Even if the rules allow it, I can't mount a flamethrower on a knife.
1611. Even if she started it, no setting the princess on fire.
1618. Any character even remotely resembling Mr. B Natural is dead before the first dice are rolled.
    (Personal note: What does that make me, boy?!)
1633. If Plan A was 'Beat it out of him' Plan B can't be 'Just ask nicely'
1637. 'Dibs' is not a term of bereavement.
1647. Any character requiring the GM to tab more than 10 pages of rules for reference is vetoed.
1650. Venting non-essential crew to the void before payday is not an acceptable cost cutting measure.
1659. Just because he has specialization in observation skills does not mean 'he likes to watch'.
1666. If if takes more than five minutes for the debris to stop falling, I need to pick a smaller gun.
1667. When told to distract the bad guy they didn't mean by playing Wham over their commlinks.
1668. When told to distract the bad guy they didn't mean by shooting the guy standing next to him.
1669. When told to distract the bad guy they didn't mean by setting him on fire.
1675. If an enemy fails a stun check, that does not give me a free hit for flinching.
1676. Before I get it on with the green chick, I'll make sure she's supposed to be that color.
1678. I don't get any XP for anything I killed in a flashback.
1687. No following a minute behind Gold Leader and just shooting down Vader.
1699. The Astromech appreciates it if we'd stop using him for ordinance delivery.
1707. In the middle of a black ops, can't play 'will it bounce' with the penthouse furniture.
1718. I don't have to name everything we discover after myself.
    (Personal note: Not OtherSpace—LevarSpace!)
1722. No building a Gatling Gatling gun.
1734. We aren't continuing the mission until everybody is clear on the term "Going in hardcore"
1755. Calling my shot means 'Where I want to hit him' not 'Where I want him to land.'
1757. The princess' menstral cycle doesn't factor into her rescue.
1761. Star Destroyers are already baby proofed.
1775. Just because I spared the villain's life doesn't mean she owes me a first date.
1776. They don't make weapon grade schnauzers.
1808. Even if I buy enough for everybody, snuggies alone will not raise crew morale.
1809. If I get to pick my position in a star spanning empire, can't pick Fire Chief.
1815. Can't have a gun capable of using other PC's as ammo.
1829. Darth Vader does not need his air filter changed.
1834. Star Destroyers don't have help desks.
1868. Playing "The Who" doesn't give me a bonus to forensic checks.
1873. Stormtroopers will only fall for the broken comlink trick so many times.
    (Personal note: Same goes for "Omega Particles")
1881. No shooting the Quarren at the start of the adventure, even if it would have immediately solved the last four adventures instantly. (Personal note: So true)
1898. No hiring Anakin Skywalker some Twilek hookers, thus removing his reason to become Vader.
1901. Even if my Jedi has a Scottish accent, can't have a plaid lightsaber.
1902. Playing a Gamorrean doesn't violate anybody's religion.
1906. I will ask permission before performing an autopsy in another character's hideout.
1907. No putting the villain's fake bio on Match.com and letting the stalkers do my work for me.
1909. Combat boots don't give bonuses to CPR checks.
1922. Can't air hump the king from behind while he's performing demagoguery.
1927. Can't filibuster other characters.
1928. Nobody is going to buy the disguised wookie as a jawa with a pituitary problems.
1940. Blasting the distress signal from orbit is forbidden, even if it would have avoided the last six ambushes.
1982. Even if the GM's pet NPC has tons of plot armor, can't use her for cover.
1989. Can't set the Death Star to stun.
1990. Even if we crashed the opening of the last eight adventures, still have to name our new starship.
    (Personal note: So true)
2002.  No flashbacks to the death of the disposable expository NPC at the start of the adventure.
2003.  Any gun who's damage is best described in scientific notation is vetoed.
2006.  Torpedo spheres don't just go off on accident.
2007.  No taunting Darth Maul with the fact Uncle Owen had more lines, more screen time and a more memorable death.
2032.  If I ever trick the DM into telling us the only way to make money mining is to work the shaft, all my characters die.  Not just in this game either.
2033.  Even if the rules allow it, I can't conduct a television interview and maintain a choke hold at the same time.
2036.  Darth Harmonious is not a real Sith Lord.
2037.  No matter how many times it's already been retconned, I can't change the story of the origins of the Sith every time we play.
2038.  Even if it's a friendly pick up game, it's a bad idea to dunk on Vader.
2065. Even if I buy off the Nemesis disadvantage doesn't mean we can't still be enemies.
2066. Snipers don't appreciate their spotter yelling out "BOOM HEADSHOT!"
2067. Can't have a gun that can inflict lethal damage with just the bullet's windshear.
2076.  If I'm commissioned to build an artillery gun, they don't mean a gun that fires howitzers.


Now for a few D&D related things. And yes, I do enjoy making fun of elves.

D&D RELATED
1503. Despite what the rules say, it doesn't take 45 minutes to choke a 10th level fighter to death.
1535. The spell is called Prismatic Spray, not Taste the Rainbow.
1536. Before we start the dungeon crawl, I don't have to have my monk oiled down.
1585. Vegipygmies are not a part of this complete breakfast.
1619. If the elf is rolling badly doesn't mean we need to water him.
1657. My halberdier is not guisarmed and dangerous.
1658. The words "Rock Opera" will not appear in any of my wishes.
1671. Before entering the dungeon I will take off the "I'm with tasty -->" tabard.
1683. Killing the orc horde by drowning them all at once is heroic. Killing them by drowning them one at a time is an alignment check.
1689. 1/3 of the elf homeland's GDP does not go to hair care products.
1720. Contrary to popular opinion, the girdle of masculinity/femininity does have a noticeable effect on elves.
1735. "Come here often?" is not what you say when rescuing the princess from the necromancer's dungeon.
1737. There is no par on a dragon.
1782. I will remember we're playing 4th edition and stop using my imagination.
1784. Some grizzfarb says I have to stop making up gnomish profanities.
1796. The halfling language is not just baby speak.
1797. Getting the dwarf fixed isn't going to improve his disposition.
1849. There is too an elven word for monogamy.
1850. There is also an elven word for heterosexual.
1864. Even if paladin starts with P and that rhymes with T, it doesn't stand for trouble.
1865. No wasting Music Man references on a 10th grader.
1877. I will stop asking the high elf for a hit.
1878. Elves are not all backstabbing, untrustworthy weasels, but you never hear about a dark gnome do you?
1910. I don't need to know the melting point of orcs.
1932. I will stop telling people the elf is openly fey.
1953. A lifetime subscription to Cosmo is not an elven racial bonus.
1963. If I can't use the dwarf to beat a guy to death, that including beating him against the dwarf.
2030.  Elves do not get a racial bonus to the skill Trade: Interior Design
2070. The spell is "Heat Metal", not "Detect Piercings".

And finally, some miscellaneous stuff, mostly chosen for personal reasons...

MISCELLANEOUS
1506. It is not automatically assumed whatever vehicle my cop commandeers is a monster truck.
1517. Checking to see if the Mad Slasher is dead is ok, dismembering him with a shotgun is overkill.
    (Personal note: I disagree)
1521. While not lethal, Ferris Wheels aren't exactly healthy to vampires.
1540. Can't lure out House Laio mechwarriors by announcing a Chinese Firedrill.
    (Personal note: For you, Todd)
1574. I do not have to scan the Romulan ambassador for cooties.
1601. Cephalopods do not get bonuses to attack Japanese women.
1623. Can't thwart the Cylon's massive attack just by installing Norton Antivirus.
1759. Doesn't matter what I just killed with it, the howitzer is not going to qualify for holy relic.
1830. Deer Season is restricted to rifle or bow. Not greco-roman.
1851. Can't use woodchippers as shotguns against vampires.
1904. Prepping for the adventure means memorizing spells and buying gear, not coming up with a safety word.
2004.  Just because I took the large advantage does not let me rampage through Tokyo at will.
2009.  I will make sure when the GM asks what my fetish is if he means voodoo bag or brunettes with short hair.
2063. Despite Hawkman, Batman, Antman and Spiderman, Red Snapperman is not a legitimate superhero name.
    (Personal note: Red Snappa. Verry tasty!)
2075. Just because I can, doesn't mean I have to land my Veritech like Ironman on the deck of the carrier every single time.

What the Force???

A friend of mine made a blog post about a news outlet's 'coverage' of the recent Star Wars Celebrations event.

You can check the post out here

 Essentially this is a case of someone at a news agency (probably a junior writer or intern, judging by the quality of the writing) going to a Star Wars convention, taking pictures, then writing 'funny' captions about them. Oddly enough, this was posted as 'news' on various sites around the nation. Not an editorial. Not a 'opinions' blog page. But as a legitimate news story.

In addition to all the points my friend made in her post (which I agree with wholeheartedly), I would just like to add that, for me, this article fails mainly because it just isn't funny. Seriously, we all know how cool the Daily Show is, but whoever wrote this: You are no John Stewart... or Triumph... or Onion News reporter. The 'humor' mostly dull. And where it isn't dull its derogatory- and it is exactly the kind of half-assed attempts at media humor that the Daily Show loves to jump on. So, to the author of this 'article': If you're writing news. Write news. If you're writing comedy...look for a new job.

Luke didn't use his lightsaber

So, something strange I noticed in the original Star Wars film (Episode IV)- something that totally goes against the conventions of most movies. In the beginning of the film, Luke receives his father's lightsaber from Ben Kenobi. Later, we see him practicing with it onboard the Millennium Falcon. And then... well, that's pretty much it. He does not use it for the rest of the movie. In fact, I'm not sure you even SEE the thing after that scene on the Falcon. He doesn't have it with him on the Death Star, or when he gets to the rebel base or... even at the awards ceremony.

I never really noticed this before. But in retrospect, it is very odd. Especially when you consider the fact that Lucas had no idea if Star Wars was ever going to HAVE a sequel. Normally, when a hero in a movie gets a 'cool legendary weapon', he damn well uses it. But not here. So, is that bad writing? or Forethought? or... what? I'd like to chalk it up to the latter—that Lucas knew that Luke would slowly build up to using his lightsaber. But... well, I just don't know. Either way, I don't recall it ever mattering that much to me. In fact, I thought the blasters were cooler anyway.

Kuat - Wonder of the Galaxy

For the longest time, the planet Kuat was just a name- the location of the famous 'Kuat Drive Yards'- producer of massive warships. I'm not sure exactly when the planet/system was first detailed- though the first I remember was in the late 90s, in one of the D6 RPG system books titled 'Platt's Starport Guide'.

In this sourcebook, Kuat is depicted as a 'restricted' kind of system, where most space traffic doesn't actually go the planet. Rather, traffic is directed to one of three massive space-station complexes at the edge of the system. Later depictions of the planet (in the d20 system, as I recall), don't reflect this. Rather, Kuat is shown as having an artificial 'ring' around it. These, I imagine, are the legendary 'Kuat Drive Yards'- though I don't recall anything actually designating them as such.

I actually love the idea of Kuat having a massive ring of stations orbiting it. I can see this as something that could have evolved over time- with various space-stations and tethered 'skyhooks' being established in equatorial orbit. Gradually, more and more would have been constructed and interconnected until they formed a ring surrounding the entire planet.

I could also see this as being a 'wonder of the galaxy', when you consider just how HUGE that ring would be in terms of area. Okay, so it wouldn't be a 'Dyson sphere' or anything, but it would be damn impressive.

Star Wars Celebrations

So, last weekend I did something I've never done before: I went to a Star Wars Convention—Star Wars Celebrations in Orlando, Florida. Some might wonder why a big Star Wars fan like myself has never been to one of these. Well, the short answer is that I don't particularly like crowds. I always thought it would be a hassle- both to get there and to actually do anything in the crowded convention hall. I also have to admit that part of me was not looking forward to having to deal with obnoxious Star Wars fans- you know, those stereotypical folks who can make you feel embarrassed to call yourself a Star Wars fan.

What really 'sold' me on the idea this time was the fact that so many of the original cast members of the movie were going to be in attendance. Most notably (for me), Mark Hamill was going to be there. Evidently he doesn't often go to these things. And then I found out it cost $125 for his signature. But... well, that didn't really deter me when it came down to it. I had friends interested in going to this convention, too (Sharon and Philip) so why not. Orlando is only a couple hours from where I live.

Long story short, the convention was quite enjoyable. There WERE huge crowds, and lots of lines, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone was. From the folks hosting the convention to attendees like me. If there were any of the 'bad stereotype' fans in attendance, I didn't run into them. Most people were really cool, and the costumes were awesome (though I still don't understand why folks dress up in Star Trek uniforms for a Star Wars convention).

As a fan of toys (and collecting toys), I was in heaven. There were all sorts of awesome things for sale- stuff I'd been looking for but couldn't find elsewhere. And oddly enough, things seemed to be rather reasonably priced. Okay, so maybe I spent too much for one item in particular, but darnit, I really wanted those "Cammie and Fixer" action figures.

As far as the premier/corporate presences at the convention, they were pretty cool as well. Hasbro had a great display set up for their current and new-release toys. They also had some neat photo-op stations around their booth- including the emperor's throne and a huge action-figure case that you could pose in. Disney, as always, was awesome. Seriously, those guys know how to present themselves well AND make it very easy to buy their stuff. I wound up getting an awesome 'rebel alliance' phone case from them for my iPhone.

Lego deserves a special mention here as well. They had a huge 'pit' of blocks for little kids to play with as well as 6 or 8 big tables set up with the 'standard' legos for bigger kids to play with. They had dioramas of Hoth, Tatooine, Naboo, etc. I had to laugh at all the parents hovering around their kids, urging them to go see something else. Nope. All the kids wanted to do was stay there and play legos. Can't say I can blame them.

As for myself, I was fixated on a gigantic diorama of Tatooine that was constructed by folks at the Con. There were dozens of paper-mache and other 'craft-built' buildings and terrain features mixed up with dozens of action figures and vehicles—everything from a tusken raider village to downtown Mos Eisley to a pod race. I know that as a kid, I would have been practically glued to that.

But more than all these 'draws', I came to the convention with the hopes of catching a glimpse of some of the stars. I was not disappointed. While standing in line to get in to the con, my friends and I heard a commotion from accross the room. This soon revealed itself to be Anthony Daniels (Threepio) making his way up and down the lines, saying hi and taking photos with fans. Just so cool of him to do that. It was cooler still when he plucked my friend's kid (Alex) out of line and took a photo with him. Hehe. It was all the more awesome in that Alex was wearing an R2-D2 shirt. Too cool.

Now, when I had heard that Mark Hamill's autograph was $125, I had dismissed the notion of shelling out that kind of money. I'm just not an 'autograph' kind of guy. Sure, I had mulled it over, but had pretty much written it off. Until I got to the con... and saw the line for his autograph. And saw it wasn't very long.. and.. yeah. So I payed for the autograph. I got to see Mark Hamill- the guy who played Luke- my personal hero from age 7 onward. As I told my friends afterwards. I felt like I was 7 years old again. All I could think to say to him was "hi" and "you're awesome" when I was leaving the autograph booth. Thankfully, the kid in line in front of me was more talkative and actually asked him a few questions. Mark Hamill seems to be a nice guy- at least he was with our little group. And btw, his favorite episode was episode V.

So, yeah. The con was fun. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized how much stuff was going on that I missed. All the panels and events and such. If I ever go again, I'll have to look into those.

And Speaking of Vehicle Scale Weapons...

I've never really been satisfied with the way the official Star Wars D6 handles differences in scales when it comes to damage. In the First Edition rules, it was stated (roughly) that the listed damage of vehicle weapons would be doubled if used against a character-scale target. Thus, a 6D Quad Laser cannon would do 12D versus a humanoid target. This worked well enough—until you got to the reverse: a TIE Fighter with a 2D hull could rather easily be heavily damaged/destroyed by just 2 or 3 shots from a standard blaster rifle (which would do about 2D+2 damage in vehicle scale). Now, I know TIE fighters are supposed to suck, but.. not THAT much.

In the First Edition 'Rules Companion', the whole idea of 'die caps' were added. For example, a person using a 4D Damage blaster pistol against a landspeeder with a 2D Hull; If the attack hit, 4D were still rolled, but the 'cap' on the die was 3. Thus, anything OVER a 3 became a three. Instead of a max damage of 24, you'd have a max damage of 12. I didn't particularly like this- for one thing because there were a LOT of different scales. Character, Speeder, Fighter, Walker, Capital, etc., so you really had to use a chart to figure things out. Also, mathematically, the rolls for 'capped' weapons were skewed to always roll towards the upper end of their range: for instance, with a cap of three, if you rolled a 1, it counted as a 1; a two, it counted as a two, but if you rolled a 3, 4, 5 or 6, it counted as a three.

In all honesty, I don't even remember what 2nd Edition used to solve these scaling problems, because I had already kind-of worked out my own system by that time. I have been refining it ever since and pretty much now I use a very simple (in my opinion) way to handle damage between targets of different scales.

There are three scales in my system:

Character (things the general size of a human)
Vehicle (things from speeder-bike size to light freighters)
Capital (things from medium freighter size to star destroyers)

Theoretically, there is a 'gargantuan' size category, for things like the Death Star, but I can't recall a single time where I ever needed it in my own campaign.

Damage between scales is simple:

For every scale you go up from character-scale, the number of dice is divided by three

For instance

A heavy blaster rifle does
6D character scale damage
2D vehicle scale damage
0D+2 capital scale damage

An E-Web 'blaster cannon' does
9D character scale damage
3D vehicle scale damage
1D capital scale damage

A quad-laser cannon does
18D character scale damage
6D vehicle scale damage
2D capital scale damage

A turbolaser does
36D character scale damage
12D vehicle scale damage
4D capital scale damage

Of course, this means I've had to adjust the hull ratings of some of the vehicle slightly lower (for instance, the X-wing now has a 3D rather than a 4D hull, because... seriously, 4D was just a bit too much).

Again, I like this because there is some symmetry to it. For instance:

An 'average' human has a 2D strength and the average blaster pistol does 4D;
An 'average' starfighter has a 2D hull and the average laser pistol does 4D

Now, keep in mind there ARE different modifiers for HITTING things of different scales/sizes, this system only covers damage taken when something is hit. And obviously, if you're a player character, no matter how strong you are, you do NOT want to get hit with a turbolaser.

Vehicle-Scale Weapon Damage and Fire Control

As much as I love the Star Wars D6 system, there are things in it that require explanation/rationalization as to why they are so—explanation beyond simply ‘game balance mechanics’. Or at least they do for me. If a player asks me ‘why is this like this?” I like to have some kind of answer for them.

What I’ll be talking about in this post in particular are the combined mechanics of vehicle-scale weapon damage and fire control. Damage is pretty self explanatory—the damage the weapon dishes out. The more powerful it is, the more it does. Fire control represents an ‘assisted aiming’ system that most vehicle-scale weapons have—the weapon’s ‘targeting computer’, if you will.

We’ll start with damage—but before we do, I want to gloss over the whole problem D6 has with wildly varying stats. For instance, a basic ‘laser cannon’ is listed in various Star Warssource materials as doing anywhere from 1D to 5D damage. This seems to have no rhyme or reason to it—it was simply a number picked by whoever authored the source in question. For the purposes of moving this discussion forward, I’ve come up with my own ‘rules’ for standard damage per weapon type. Here is a brief example:

A ‘blaster cannon’ is lighter than a laser cannon and does 3D damage

A ‘laser cannon’ is the standard vehicle weapon and does 4D damage

A ‘heavy laser cannon’ is heavier (duh) than the standard and does 5D Damage

I like the symmetry here between vehicle scale weapons and character scale weapons. For instance, the standard blaster pistol does 4D character scale damage; the standard laser cannon does 4D vehicle-scale.

At this point, the system seems to work. Where the ‘wrinkle’ comes in is when you have ‘fire-linked’ weapons. For instance, the 2 laser cannons used by the TIE fighter. Logically, one might assume that if two 4D weapons are fired simultaneously, the resulting damage would be 8D. Yet, the stats in all of the sourcebooks list the damage of a ‘dual laser cannon’ as 5D. Just 1D higher than a single cannon. Similarly, the Falcon’s ‘quad laser cannon’ does not do 16D (4x4D), but ‘only’ 6D.

How to explain this…

The best that I have come up with is that ‘linked’ weapons do NOT fire simultaneously, but rather alternate to keep up a higher sustained rate of fire that a single weapon can not. Thus, a craft hit by a dual laser cannon isn’t (necessarily) hit by both blasts every time- but odds are you’re going to do more damage when you hit. Maybe one hit is square, and the other is just a graze, or maybe both blasts hit, but both are grazing shots. The D6 system is very abstract when it comes to damage anyway, meaning that a bad damage roll already DOES indicate a ‘grazing’ shot, while a good roll indicates a more solid hit. Thus (I feel), the adding of a D or two of damage helps reflect this AND keeps damage rolls in game balance’.

My general rule for this is as follows:

A ‘single’ weapon does its base damage

(example, a laser cannon does 4D)

A ‘dual’ weapon does its base damage + 1D

(example, a dual laser cannon does 5D)

A ‘triple’ weapon does its base damage +1D+2

(example a triple laser cannon does 5D+2)

A ‘quad’ weapon does its base damage +2D

(example, a quad laser cannon does 6D)

I also feel rather ‘justified’ in this explanation by what we see in the films. Weapons DO seem to alternate their fire. TIE cannons alternate. X-Wings seem to fire their lasers in sequence. The Falcon’s quad guns fire 2 x 2, etc.

Now, all this having been said, how does Fire Control fit into all of this? Well, I am of the opinion that Fire Control is NOT just the targeting computers on the ship, but also a factor of the rate of fire that vehicle weapons put out. In vehicle combat- particularly ‘dogfighting’- it is VERY difficult to hit a moving target. This is why cannons mounted on modern aircraft are of the ‘automatic’ variety. They fire a ‘stream’ of rounds at an enemy in order to increase their chances of hitting with a few of those round. The same is shown in the Star Wars films.

So, for me, the fire-control of a vehicle is part computer, part rate of fire. Say your average TIE fighter has a fire-control rating of 2D. In my opinion, 1D of that would be the actual assistance of the computer, the other 1D would be from the ‘burst fire’ effect. A vehicle with a 1D fire control would have only a basic target computer and rely almost entirely on the burst effect to help them hit targets. A vehicle with a 3D fire control would rely more on its computers (providing 2D) and less on its burst effect (which still just provides 1D). This has no actual effect on the mechanics of the system—you would never roll 1D for computer then 1D for burst effect, but I do like to THINK of the system in this manner.

Also, if you consider that burst effect and want to add some more depth to your vehicle combat system, you could allow different fire modes on weapons that could alter both the weapon damage and fire-control. This is a concept I always enjoyed in the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter video games.

In these games, if you had a craft with dual weapons you could switch between the standard alternating shot to a ‘dual fire’ mode, where both weapons fired at the same time. The effect in the game was that your rate of fire dropped (it took longer between shots for both weapons to recharge) and with it your chances of landing a shot, but when (if) you hit, you did more damage. With a quad-firing weapon (such as an X-Wing or TIE interceptor) you actually had 3 fire modes. The ‘standard’ was firing alternating pairs of weapons. But you could also switch to a mode where each laser fired individually, in turn. This upped your rate of fire (and chances to hit), but lowered the damage when you hit). Likewise, you could switch all four weapons to fire simultaneously. This resulted in a very slow rate of fire, less chances to hit, but more damage if you did hit solidly.

In game terms, this could work simply as follows:

For dual-weapons:

Alternating Mode (standard): Damage normal; Fire Control Normal

Dual-Mode: Damage +1D; Fire Control -1D

For triple-weapons:

Alternating Mode (standard): Damage normal; Fire Control Normal

Triple-Mode: Damage +1D; Fire Control -1D

For quad-weapons:

Alternating Mode (standard): Damage normal; Fire Control Normal

Single-Mode: Damage -1D; Fire Control +1D

Quad-Mode: Damage +1D; Fire Control -1D