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Old 07-12-2019, 09:06 AM   #8
khorboth
 
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

In general, I think it goes like this...

1) If people are carrying practical weapons or wearing practical armor, the perception is that they are expecting to use them.

2) If there is a perception of a good reason for this, fine. If not, then... consequences. Maybe there are laws. Maybe it's people thinking they're crazy.

Some examples:
During the Italian renaissance, an expensive permit was generally required to carry a weapon in a city. This became a status symbol, so the five-finger dagger came into fashion as a way of showing off that you had one. It's not really practical.

Where I live, there's a weird loophole in the law which says I may carry a blade of any length, but not concealed. A sheath then was ruled to count as concealment. A friend, knowing this, was walking a few blocks home with a sword he just bought and was carrying it openly. He was stopped by the police and questioned at gunpoint. He was ultimately let go as they couldn't rule he was threatening anybody in particular. He didn't have a visible reason.

If a person walked into a tavern in real-life medieval Germany wearing a full suit of chainmail and calmly ordered a drink... folk would be very nervous. Doubly so if he was wearing a sword. The presence of these things would be threatening. Unless he was dressed as a soldier of a local lord; now he has a reason.

The tavern at waystops on a caravan route plagued by bandits is probably used to seeing armed and armored caravan guards all the time. They have a reason.

If I go into a modern bar wearing chainmail with a foam sword, I will probably get weird looks, but not really harassed by the authorities because my stuff is not seen as practical.
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