Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor
That would depend on a lot of things such as whether the tavern normally serves armsmen. The possibility that he has a reason might make one nervous. The reason might be a nasty one (such as extorting from the manager) or an acceptable one for an armsman (they are looking for someone on the run, they are here to stop a brawl, or whatever) but in either case the sooner they are gone the better. If they are here because someone is making trouble then obviously we want them to finish their job so we can get back to are drinking. On the other hand if they are just here for a drink and it is normal to wear a sword on patrol in that baron's fief than they are welcome-after all they probably get better pay.
By comparison if I saw a gaggle of cops drop by Starbucks carrying pistols and Billys I would think they were just cops. However if one of them had a shotgun or a sniper rifle I would think something nasty was going down in that neighborhood. Cops normally carry pistols and billys. And if armsmen on a given fief normally have a sword when they go drinking that might not be a problem. Looking at it, though it might be a good idea for them to tie down their swords with twine (or put them in a rack the way Samurai used to) before making an order for obvious reasons.
|
The problem with comparison to modern law enforcement would be the very real possibility that you have multiple groups of "cops" who might or might not suddenly throw down with one another for reasons not in the public domain - that would definitely make people nervous. I would suspect that the normal setting approach would be for each retinue to have their own drinking establishment and people only to worry if they saw several sets of livery at once...