TM 1-1 says "The coveralls are made of a bullet-resistant (AC=7) resistweve cloth."

Bill Worzel, in Playing Hints for the Morrow Project (Different Worlds #33) says "Another word of caution, the resistweave (sic) coveralls that are standard issue in the Project do not make you invulnerable.... While they may stop penetration and thus blood loss, they do not stop the force of the shot. You will take all the structural damage done by the shot..." (emphasis mine)

Richard Tucholka, in an email to me several years ago, said "Resist Weave is good but you still suffer from broken bones and internal injury. It does keep a round from blowing chunks out of you. Best for Low Velocity and home-made rounds." (Yes, Richard used a THIRD variation in the spelling! :)

Kevin Dockery, in a recent email said "No, the coveralls did not let you take all of the damage from a projectile impact. You would get seriously walloped and could easily crack a rib and the bruising would be spectacular..."

First of all, when I first read Bill Worzel's comments I was stunned. What was the point of the coveralls as armor if you still took all the SP damage? If my character gets hit with a .45ACP in Torso Area 1, what I care about is that 8 points of structure damage equals a 60% chance of death, not that I'm going to lose 3% of my lousy blood points!

Also, it was clear that this should not be the case because it's not realistic. If a bullet is stopped (as it is with kevlar for example) then while you may be injured, bruised, etc., it's still nothing compared to the damage done by a bullet flying through your internal organs. Richard Davis of Second Chance has shot himself point blank while wearing one of his kevlar vests more times than I care to think about. I've seen it. He found out early on that rounds like the .44 Magnum hurt & bruised him so he took to stuffing a few magazines under the vest to absorb the shock.

If we assume that resistweve works like kevlar (or better), then it follows that instead of taking full SP damage it should be a small amount, probably just a few points if the offending item does not penetrate the coveralls.

I therefore put these rule into place: Damage from 1 to 4 points (stopped by the vest) is reduced to 1 pt. of SP, and 5 to 7 points total (stopped by the vest) is reduced to 2 SP. Normally the only thing my MP team members would wear under coveralls would be generic undergarments, but if there is something more substantial underneath for some reason then the SP damage can be reduced to zero at the GM's discretion. As even 1 point of damage to Torso Area 1 still equals 60% chance of death, very unrealistic in this case, I give NO chance of death for players and just a token 1% for NPC's.

Obviously, the description of the standard Project coveralls is vague. How do they work- like kevlar? Other details, like pockets, are not described and while it's normally not critical information we can fill in the blanks here to give our players a very clear picture of how things are.

When I first played MP, we jumped on someone's suggestion that Resistweve was a very light, thin and strong synthetic fabric, beyond the normal technology of the era it was made in, thanks to BEM. This material, when struck by a bullet or similar object, instantly and momentarily became rigid in that area, helping to spread the energy of the impact over a wider area. This, combined with the strength of the material (greater than kevlar) led to an AC of 7 despite the fact that the material was about as thick as a single layer of regular nylon. Because the concept of this material worked well, we decided that the AC of 7 would apply to most all damage- bullets, arrows, knives, explosions, flechettes, fire, etc. which is very, very convenient. Similar materials may be found in Science Fiction stories and games.

This material, being thin and "breathable", provides good protection from the sun while at the same time being comfortable even in very warm weather. The downside is that it provides mimimal protection from colder temperatures, and because it is breathable it does not resist any chem or bio agents which may float its way. The fact that the material is so thin means that folded-up coveralls don't take up much room & a spare pair can be carried in an individual's rucksack without taking up a lot of space. To reflect this redefined Project coverall we reduced the weight (listed in TM 1-1 as 1.71kg) to an even one kilo.

As for the form the coveralls take, there is plenty of room for customizing to whatever the GM cares for. Besides the qualities of the material itself as described above, we decreed the standard Project coveralls to be an olive-drab color, and having six pockets (2 front & 2 back in the hip area, and two breast pockets). For some teams we made extra coveralls available in other, more camoflage colors like white where there was a lot of snowfall. Other specialty coveralls could be made available as well, limited only by the GM's imagination.

Finally, we also decided that the Project's rucksacks would be made of the same material, providing some protection to the contents. Theoretically it would provide additional protection to the wearer if shot in the back torso, but team members normally don't go into combat with the rucksack on anyway so it never came up. I suppose if someone was ambushed it could happen. We figured that a pack of modern design (internal frame, similar to the current GI style) made with Resistweve would weigh about 2.5kg, where an ALICE pack (with less capacity) with its external frame came in at a hefty 3.21kg.