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Old 01-15-2013, 01:29 PM   #1
Jasonft
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Default Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

Our current game has some very rare supers and rare but notable evidence in daily life of Gadgeteers and their ability to rapidly advance science (or SCIENCE! for Cinematics) in narrow slices. People with the right connections and lots of cash can get equipment all the way up to TL11 in some cases, but otherwise the world is mostly identical to our current TL8 world.

My question is this: In regards to Legality Class of Ultra Tech items in general and weapons in particular, should the LC of said weapon or item be different than that listed in the book(s) if said item or weapon is notably above the general TL of the campaign? The question could, I suppose, be expanded to any situation where the PCs (or their opponents!) get access to out of TL items like gunpowder rifles in the days of the Roman Empire.

I know this will be a headache for the individual GM and must be decided by them for the individual campaign, but it seemed to me an interesting topic for debate here. Thoughts anyone? What should or should not be reasonable alterations to the listed rules?
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Old 01-15-2013, 01:45 PM   #2
johndallman
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Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

Well, assuming that the legal authorities actually understand what the high-TL weapons can and can't do, they will probably evaluate their legality according to their effectiveness relative to local technology.

For example a TL7 bolt-action hunting rifle with scope is LC3 in today's USA. In a TL4 environment, it allows assassinations at unheard-of ranges with terrifying reliability. It's probably LC1, or LC0 if the local rulers are worried about assassins.

There's an Iain M Banks short story, A Gift From The Culture, which contains a hand weapon capable of shooting down a large spaceship. The Culture doesn't really do legality classes, and all its own ships are trivially defended against such things, but it would be hard to argue with any lower-TL culture that ruled it LC0.
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Old 01-15-2013, 02:17 PM   #3
Anthony
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

By and large, law enforcement has enough trouble evaluating commonly available technology, making evaluation of exotic technology nearly impossible; it's probable that laws, if they exist, are based on broad capabilities, and figuring out the actual legality of a weapon, absent precedent for its use, may be a matter of guessing.
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Old 01-15-2013, 03:08 PM   #4
Dalillama
 
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Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

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Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
By and large, law enforcement has enough trouble evaluating commonly available technology, making evaluation of exotic technology nearly impossible; it's probable that laws, if they exist, are based on broad capabilities, and figuring out the actual legality of a weapon, absent precedent for its use, may be a matter of guessing.
Although if the gadgeteers have been around for a while and their existence is reasonably well known, there may be laws covering the general class of 'super weapons' without regard for the specific tech involved. This would still have top be based on general capabilities, but I can see lays for 'stun guns' and 'ray guns' which cover, basically, lethal vs nonlethal types of ultratech.
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Old 01-15-2013, 06:39 PM   #5
Jasonft
 
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Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

The world of the campaign I referred to has had Gadgeteers for about forty years now. They are still absurdly rare, but even in the first tiny handful of metas they tended to have a huge and well known impact on new technology.

The in-game reason I asked about this LC question is that my character has a criminal record (arrested but they couldn't pin anything on him) and wants to acquire a TL11 blaster pistol as a sidearm. Would he encounter exceptional legal problems if the police discovered this fact?

The general reason I asked is that it seems the sort of question GURPS fans love to argue over because it is just so weird - but might come up in a game anyhow.
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Old 01-15-2013, 07:18 PM   #6
Diomedes
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Dallas, TX
Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

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Originally Posted by Jasonft View Post
The in-game reason I asked about this LC question is that my character has a criminal record (arrested but they couldn't pin anything on him) and wants to acquire a TL11 blaster pistol as a sidearm. Would he encounter exceptional legal problems if the police discovered this fact?

As a guess, the US would probably regulate such a weapon as a destructive device, requiring registration and the ATF's permission to own. Your character's arrest might well serve as justification for the government to deny the permit (or maybe not, if he wasn't actually convicted). Police who ran across him would have roughly the same reaction as if he was carrying a submachine gun.
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Old 01-15-2013, 08:22 PM   #7
Refplace
 
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Location: Yukon, OK
Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

Yeah a Blaster is a lethal weapon and would probably be classed as a military assault weapon and extremely likely to be tightly regulated.
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Old 01-16-2013, 12:09 AM   #8
BrockNicholson
 
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Default Re: Legality Class for out of TL weapons?

Even if a TL11 pistol was legal you would probably encounter extreme levels of police harassment for carrying one. Look at the treatment people legally carrying firearms in the open.

For the more general question of TL differences: I think it would matter how much of a difference. If you have a laser rifle that fires an invisible beam, I don't think cultures prior to the invention of the rifle are going to even comprehend what is happening. However, once a culture gets the idea that there are tubes that can be pointed at things and destroy them, its not such a big jump to assume its a different sort of "projectile".
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