Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

L.J.Steele · 07-12-2019, 05:24 AM

Some of it is genre, and whether having to think about weapons laws is something the GM wants the PCs to worry about. One could easily have a "fig leaf" approach -- make an effort to conceal and the world will ignore it; try to wander down the National Mall in full plate with a two-handed sword and somebody will oblige you with trouble.

Some of the way games (and fiction) treats weapons may be a skewed view of the past. Medieval England had laws about how many armed followers a knight could travel around with -- typically from tournament to tournament. Large bands of heavily armed folks wandering around were deemed a possible threat to the peace. The American west wasn't as wild as the Westerns would have you believe. But PC expectations are often based on the fiction, not the boring facts.

07-12-2019, 05:24 AM	#4
L.J.Steele Join Date: Apr 2005	Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs Some of it is genre, and whether having to think about weapons laws is something the GM wants the PCs to worry about. One could easily have a "fig leaf" approach -- make an effort to conceal and the world will ignore it; try to wander down the National Mall in full plate with a two-handed sword and somebody will oblige you with trouble. Some of the way games (and fiction) treats weapons may be a skewed view of the past. Medieval England had laws about how many armed followers a knight could travel around with -- typically from tournament to tournament. Large bands of heavily armed folks wandering around were deemed a possible threat to the peace. The American west wasn't as wild as the Westerns would have you believe. But PC expectations are often based on the fiction, not the boring facts.