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Old 07-17-2019, 05:07 AM   #31
L.J.Steele
 
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

To move this back to gaming, some of this will be setting expectations with the PCs. If the setting and game experience is that urban settings are mostly safe -- unlikely to get into a sudden life-n-death struggle -- then PCs will be more willing to put their gear into storage. The first time they get jumped in a bar by a couple of vampires and don't have the gear to make it a reasonable fight, they'll cling to their stuff thereafter like a snail in its shell. Ditto if they put their gear in storage and it gets stolen, messed with, etc.

Yes, the fight without the gear is a good challenge, but use it sparingly if you want the PCs to not spend ludicrous effort on making that problem never happen again.
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Old 07-17-2019, 11:43 AM   #32
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

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To move this back to gaming, some of this will be setting expectations with the PCs. If the setting and game experience is that urban settings are mostly safe -- unlikely to get into a sudden life-n-death struggle -- then PCs will be more willing to put their gear into storage. The first time they get jumped in a bar by a couple of vampires and don't have the gear to make it a reasonable fight, they'll cling to their stuff thereafter like a snail in its shell. Ditto if they put their gear in storage and it gets stolen, messed with, etc.

Yes, the fight without the gear is a good challenge, but use it sparingly if you want the PCs to not spend ludicrous effort on making that problem never happen again.
This is why barfights use fists, feet, knees, glass bottles, and clubs from broken stools. Give them a few of those and then give them a vampire-filled bar. (Unless you're dealing with From Dusk 'Till Dawn, in which case have at it from the start!) Also, most bars won't search you for concealed weapons, so the concealed knife or pistol coming out when things get too rough isn't unheard of, but make sure the NPCs draw first.
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Old 08-12-2019, 11:20 AM   #33
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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...
I think a lot of people think about the possibility of being caught in an armed confrontation when they see an on-duty policy officer doing business in the store they're in. I think a conspicuously visible sheathed weapon always makes people think of the possibility of a conspicuously unsheathed weapon. It doesn't necessarily matter who's carrying them.
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Old 08-12-2019, 09:30 PM   #34
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

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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.
Well, there was one case where a police precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug buyers by posing as drug dealers on the same day and in the same neighborhood as the neighboring precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug dealers by posing as drug buyers.
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Old 08-13-2019, 04:17 AM   #35
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Well, there was one case where a police precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug buyers by posing as drug dealers on the same day and in the same neighborhood as the neighboring precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug dealers by posing as drug buyers.
Left hand, meet right hand. You two kids fight nice. :)
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Old 08-14-2019, 04:34 AM   #36
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

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Well, there was one case where a police precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug buyers by posing as drug dealers on the same day and in the same neighborhood as the neighboring precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug dealers by posing as drug buyers.
...and those are two police forces that work for the same people for the same reasons. In a feudal setting, or any other with multiple power centres, things can be far worse. You could, for example, have "law enforcement" personnel working for the Church, the City, the Crown and a local noble, all in one location, none of whom share the same chain of command or agenda (except in the broadest terms) and may have long standing rivalries even if there is no conflict between their employers. And that is before they get off duty and start drinking.
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Old 08-14-2019, 12:31 PM   #37
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...and those are two police forces that work for the same people for the same reasons. In a feudal setting, or any other with multiple power centres, things can be far worse. You could, for example, have "law enforcement" personnel working for the Church, the City, the Crown and a local noble, all in one location, none of whom share the same chain of command or agenda (except in the broadest terms) and may have long standing rivalries even if there is no conflict between their employers. And that is before they get off duty and start drinking.
More likely you could have law enforcement engaging anyone who is capable of violence without regard for bystanders. People being shoved into anyone else in close quarters in a melee, shots being fired through crowds, lamps being knocked over. With magic the nightmare only gets worse. Realistically dangerous foes or rival enforcement groups settle-up in remote areas where their fight isn't putting others at risk. But the isolated times when there's gossip about someone being wounded or a shop catching fire because of a fight between the Kingsguard and the Hendleman gang creates a sense of dread any time you see someone packing a blade on their hip or a warbow over the shoulder.
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Old 08-15-2019, 06:41 PM   #38
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

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Well, there was one case where a police precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug buyers by posing as drug dealers on the same day and in the same neighborhood as the neighboring precinct ran an undercover operation to arrest drug dealers by posing as drug buyers.
This reminds me of the pilot episode of Miami Vice.

Hrm. I may be aging, a bit.
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Old 08-19-2019, 06:37 AM   #39
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

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More likely you could have law enforcement engaging anyone who is capable of violence without regard for bystanders. People being shoved into anyone else in close quarters in a melee, shots being fired through crowds, lamps being knocked over. With magic the nightmare only gets worse. Realistically dangerous foes or rival enforcement groups settle-up in remote areas where their fight isn't putting others at risk. But the isolated times when there's gossip about someone being wounded or a shop catching fire because of a fight between the Kingsguard and the Hendleman gang creates a sense of dread any time you see someone packing a blade on their hip or a warbow over the shoulder.
That's entirely plausible, but I'm trying to evoke the idea of feudal bannermen who, yes, are the local law enforcement, but are also prone to throw down with each other under some circumstances - local civilians might well need to be concerned whenever they can see more than one set of livery badges in a given place. That's the downside of using the analogy of modern developed world policing - it assumes altogether too much professionalism, but most of us aren't used to being in places where what passes for rule of law is enforced by the retainers of local warlords.
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Old 08-20-2019, 05:29 PM   #40
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Default Re: The rights and consequences to bear arms in RPGs

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That's entirely plausible, but I'm trying to evoke the idea of feudal bannermen who, yes, are the local law enforcement, but are also prone to throw down with each other under some circumstances - local civilians might well need to be concerned whenever they can see more than one set of livery badges in a given place. That's the downside of using the analogy of modern developed world policing - it assumes altogether too much professionalism, but most of us aren't used to being in places where what passes for rule of law is enforced by the retainers of local warlords.
I'm sure someone here was a missionary or a Doctor Without Borders or some similar intensive task. Or just grew up in a bad part of town.
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