Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit
The big advantage of crossbows over guns is that crossbows have no LC.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalillama
Hunting werewolves in NYC is a whole other kettle of fish.
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New York State has quite a number of laws restricting crossbow use. (Only legal for 10 or 14 days in part of hunting season, depending on where in the state you live; a requirement to have the same license as muzzle-loading firearms instead of the bow license (and with some bow-hunting organizations arguing that crossbows should be treated as firearms); prohibitions against using them for large game like deer or bears; minimum size (17 inches wide and 24" long, so no concealable ones) as well as maximum draw weight (200 pounds); general laws against possession of any weapon with intent to use it on another person, as well as laws against any sort of armor-piercing ammo with intent to use or explosive tips; transportation and storage rules (such as illegal in vehicles unless un-cocked and with separate ammo, and illegal in vehicles containing a spotlight unless it's locked in the trunk); and a couple of my favorites bound to interfere with PC activity, especially if it's in the city -- illegal to discharge within 250 feet of a building or pointed at a building, and illegal for the shot to pass over any part of a public road. (Hopefully the werewolves and vampires stay in Central Park to give the hunters a sporting chance.)
There are other rules and restrictions, but that's enough to give you the flavor. (There's a requirement for passing a training class just to give you a chance to keep up with all the other requirements.) You can't assume that crossbows are "no LC" or LC 4 just because they're not guns.
If you're going for realism, then look up the laws for your locale. (Iif Supernatural with the roaming Winchester brothers is your model, then you're going to need to look up a lot of laws, as they change from place to place, and there's no Federal "interstate commerce" exception to protect you from violating some ordinance in some random town you drive through on the way to your mission). If the setting is fictional, then of course you get to make up the laws as you see fit. But it's quite possible that if weapons are regulated, crossbows get almost as much attention as guns.
It's probably simpler to ignore the inconvenient legal details (unless it's a Law and Order: Urban Fantasy Unit game) but then you can't really use that as a basis for preferring crossbows. If it's Rule of Cool, then that suffices. Uneven attention to pesky realistic detail (lots of interfere from gun laws, while crossbow laws are overlooked) will push non-cooperative players in the desired direction -- but then, you shouldn't have any non-cooperative players, because everyone already agreed to the setting assumptions in Session Zero.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dustin
It's not possible to match a bolt to a crossbow
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Rifling marks aren't unique to guns and bullets. Tool marks from and on objects of all sorts are commonly used as evidence, without a need for them to be anywhere near as unique as a fingerprint. If being fired from a crossbow can scratch paint or fiberglass, or dent wood or aluminum in the bolt, they can be matched to some degree. The relative rarity of crossbows likely means that standards for false positives will actually be lower. (If crossbows are unusual, then the fact that the murder weapon matches yours even weakly is more significant. After all, the prosecutor only has to convince a jury...)