Even if you as GM allow dual pistol weilding, shooting at multiple foes at once is VERY hard. One or two shots at a target with one pistole, then one or two shots with the other. Just as likely, shooting both pistols at same target at same time.
If you allow a PC to attack two targets in the same phase, both attacks should have a -20. In addition, every target acquired aftre the first should result in an accumlative -20 mod.
So the PC shoots at two targets. The first target is at -20, the second at -40. Since the PC is shooting at 30% activity, there is an additional -30 to EACH shot. So the penalties are -50 and -70. Target still gets DB and range penalties need to be applied.
Dual pistol shooting is great, if you shoot at one target, preferably with one pistol. As a lifetime shooter, and a damn fine shot with left or right hand, I assure you dual pistol weilding with six attacks in a round should result in a lot of noise and little else.
To be fair, what tends to happen it the character shoots both pistols at one target (I do apply a penalty if they try and shoot at two at once anyway - and usually more than -20! Humans can't aim in two different directions at once...) And usually, six shots is only with Haste. (200% activity gives you three shots at 60%, one Snap, one Normal, one Deliberate). I don't tend to worry too much if they switch targets in different actions. (I don't bother to strictly adhere to target declaration, because frankly, the system is clunky enough without me having to write down where every shot from every character is going this round...Especially with 8+
PC combatants.) I.e., if the player's first pair of rounds drop the first target in the Snap phase, I don't worry about them pulling on to the next one in their next action. (After all, 10 seconds is a long while in combat...)
And I'll be honest, I intensly dislike action declaration-type phases in any system, period; this goes for orders writing phases in wargames as well. It kills the game flow. In reality, I play Rolemaster, not for the realism, but for the critical hits and the fact I can use it for anywhere and anywhen without batting an eyelid. So I'm quite happy to sacrifice realism (to a point - I'm still a simulationist player, not a gamist player) if it cuts out some needless record keeping. So simply applying more penalties would be counter-productive in it would mean we'd all have to do more record-keeping and it'd make having dual-wielding weapons less fun. (And realism can very actually be damned in that particular respect in any system! We all like our twin weapons in any genera...)
The SM:P system is in theory okay, but I think it's in the end just slightly too complex to do, with the numbers we have in practise. (Not for me, personally, but for everyone else who's much more casual. Heck, I've
only just got them starting to master D&D 3.5, which is, to be fair, a heck of a lot easier to get to grips with for a non-junkie. If only because it abtracts more and so requires less number-crunching. And let's face it, RM is largely a number-cruncher's game!)
If I can tweak the percentages a bit, I think the RMS system - which is just that touch less record-management heavy - will work. The trouble with the SM:P system is that, really, it's just too much for the rest of the players. Cutting out the penalties, action declaration in which phase and dropping the number of actions to (in theory) an average of 50% will go along way to letting them cope with it more.
But,as at the moment, if I understand correctly, as you total your % activity as you go, if I have 30-60% action, the players could still squeeze off 3 shots a round. Admittedly, the system would be leaner, because they won't have to declare their actions in advance or worry about Snap or Deliberate penalties - which solves at least partially one problem.
For one roll in RMSS init, roll the normal 2d10, add Qu mod, then count down init from 40. Snap actions add +10 to the init roll, normal actions add +0, and deliberate -10. One roll, three distinct init numbers. You will also see that fast characters can get off a normal action befor slow characters/npc's can get off thier snap action sometimes.
Hmm. That appears to be subtly different to the SM:P sequence, at least in the bits I was referencing off (primarily Firearms and Blaster Law), because that's not what we've been doing. (We've been doing all Snap, all normal, all deliberate. That's what it says in at least one of those sources; I'm not sure which and I don't have time at the moment to go and check.) Not that I would use that system exactly anyway. The PCs I'm dealing with are far, far too freakin' fast, which would mean the enemy would never get a chance to shoot back!
