Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > Transhuman Space

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-19-2016, 11:40 AM   #31
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Copley wants the gun for self-defence, as you say, but in his day-to-day job as an unlicensed dala dala (privately-owned minibus) driver, not to say bioroid snakehead, he passes a lot of random security scans, from drones and stationary gates. And he must occasionally pass the border into Tanganyika.
Fair enough, but the obvious snag there is that when some bored/over-enthusiastic/LAI-monitored cop/rentacop/border guard subjects him to an old-fashioned pat-down, he may logically be in deep ****. "I'd love to accept your gift, my friend, and my little digital friend isn't watching just now - but that's a hit man's gun. If my bosses discovered I'd let that thing through, they'd nail bits of me to the wall that I've only just finished having crush-proofed..."
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 11:54 AM   #32
Icelander
 
Icelander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Fair enough, but the obvious snag there is that when some bored/over-enthusiastic/LAI-monitored cop/rentacop/border guard subjects him to an old-fashioned pat-down, he may logically be in deep ****. "I'd love to accept your gift, my friend, and my little digital friend isn't watching just now - but that's a hit man's gun. If my bosses discovered I'd let that thing through, they'd nail bits of me to the wall that I've only just finished having crush-proofed..."
Aside from the hidden Smuggler's Luggage cargo hold (with space for two bioroids in envirobags), there's a small secret compartment in front of the Lekker Lilanie (our temperamental minibus), within reach of Copley and Batenga, if he's greeting people who come in or just sitting up front with his friend. When crossing the border, one would hope Copley hides his gun there.

That aside, if anyone elects to carefully physically search Copley while he's carrying a highly illegal weapon... yes, he's pretty much ******. As are we if anyone searches the minibus while we're smuggling 'stolen' bioroids in Dar es Salaam (who turn into illegal immigrants once in Tanganyika, so not quite as bad there).

As our cyberpunk Dar es Salaam has a high rate of violent crime (mostly ignored by the weak police force as long as it takes place in the 'vagrant' neighbourhoods and doesn't involve anyone important), but bans even stun weapons to 'vagrants' or other low Status people (though cops or guards will take much less bribing over a stun wand than real guns) and makes handguns illegal to anyone not Status 1+ or otherwise 'in' with the power structure, a lot of people are willing to buy and carry black market guns. More carry knives, of course, but anyone not confident in his ability to survive a knife fight might at least dream about owning a gun for self-defence.

It doesn't matter whether it's a snub revolver some 150 years old or a high-tech synthetic low-profile automatic designed by a rabid Duncanite (and pirated by nanosocialists or plain ordinary criminals), if you get caught with it anywhere Status 1+ people might work or live, possession of it probably gets you killed by a trigger-happy thug with official status or sentenced to a fate worse than death if you survive arrest. The high-tech gun is just less likely to be found on you, especially if you try to live your life without ever talking to anyone with Status 1+ or a badge.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!

Last edited by Icelander; 07-19-2016 at 12:15 PM.
Icelander is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 12:38 PM   #33
vicky_molokh
GURPS FAQ Keeper
 
vicky_molokh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Join our flashmob group! Get yourself on police watch lists, in order to make life easier for poor persecuted professional hitmen!

Hmm. Not sure how easy that would be to sell.
Not easy at all if trying to sell it the way you do. But if properly packaged, e.g. as a fight againt the increasingly bigbrotherly governments, with a talented memeticist, it'll have chances no worse than the more ridiculous memes that manage to survive.
__________________
Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper
vicky_molokh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 02:00 PM   #34
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Not easy at all if trying to sell it the way you do. But if properly packaged, e.g. as a fight againt the increasingly bigbrotherly governments, with a talented memeticist, it'll have chances no worse than the more ridiculous memes that manage to survive.
One can find idiots who'll buy anything. But that idea is so blatantly "taking stupid personal chances in a bad cause" that it'll only get a very few idiots, who'll then find themselves tagged as an anarcho-terrorist faction and practically self-discrediting.
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 03:01 PM   #35
vicky_molokh
GURPS FAQ Keeper
 
vicky_molokh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
One can find idiots who'll buy anything. But that idea is so blatantly "taking stupid personal chances in a bad cause" that it'll only get a very few idiots, who'll then find themselves tagged as an anarcho-terrorist faction and practically self-discrediting.
NRA is a thing, and THS-2100 is supposed to have both a higher 'fertility' and a higher 'mutation rate' of weird memes. Plus, you seem to be overlooking that bigbrothership is a thing in 2100, so it's more probable that such behaviour would be seen as an ideologically noble stance despite the inconveniences it brings, which would likely tone down the risks of memeplex implosion.
Sure, the 10% number looks more like a dream of the memeticists, unless they throw some good money and skill at the issue. But even 0.1% would be a significant inconvenience for the panopticon.
__________________
Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper
vicky_molokh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 05:16 PM   #36
Icelander
 
Icelander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
I've occasionally been thinking of a fad/flashmob sort of meme of deliberarely doing legal but suspicious stuff as a form of protest against such big-brotherly attitudes. When 10% of the population carries a cheap, highly suspicious but not technically illegal weapon on themselves as a matter of principle, it gets harder to harrass people for stuff like that. Especially in Fifth Wave states, where chances are higher of proving that such harrassment/increased surveillance are caused by either discrimination or an arbitrary and subjective decision (since cops won't have the resources to treat a whole 10% of the population as suspects equally).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Join our flashmob group! Get yourself on police watch lists, in order to make life easier for poor persecuted professional hitmen!

Hmm. Not sure how easy that would be to sell.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Not easy at all if trying to sell it the way you do. But if properly packaged, e.g. as a fight againt the increasingly bigbrotherly governments, with a talented memeticist, it'll have chances no worse than the more ridiculous memes that manage to survive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
One can find idiots who'll buy anything. But that idea is so blatantly "taking stupid personal chances in a bad cause" that it'll only get a very few idiots, who'll then find themselves tagged as an anarcho-terrorist faction and practically self-discrediting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
NRA is a thing, and THS-2100 is supposed to have both a higher 'fertility' and a higher 'mutation rate' of weird memes. Plus, you seem to be overlooking that bigbrothership is a thing in 2100, so it's more probable that such behaviour would be seen as an ideologically noble stance despite the inconveniences it brings, which would likely tone down the risks of memeplex implosion.
Sure, the 10% number looks more like a dream of the memeticists, unless they throw some good money and skill at the issue. But even 0.1% would be a significant inconvenience for the panopticon.
From a philosophical point of view, the police use of force* based on possessing a tool that would be convenient for the commission of crimes strikes me as offensive. I realise that any human-run democratic society will probably prioritise philosophical rights behind the comforting ideal of more safety through Big Brother, as the majority will usually subconsciously assume (mostly correctly) that any incidental rights violations will affect only those different from the majority, but it still offends me.

It would make law enforcement easier if citizens would all agree to sit quietly at home and stare at their hands. My cop friend (who, incidentally, is just now arriving to pick me up) is fond of saying that if the police could, they'd outlaw any other activity, as likely to make their jobs harder. But to me, at least, people ought to have a fundamental right to ignore the preferences of police, as long as they don't hurt anyone else.

*'Stopping a citizen and asking him politely until he explains away my grounds for suspicion' is simply a very pro-government and pro-police way to describe an arrest that may or may not last for long.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!
Icelander is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 05:28 PM   #37
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Flyndaran is the one who came up with the fancy assassin nickname. The actual PC in our campaign, Johann Copley, has fired the weapon exactly once, at a melon a couple of hour's drive outside Dar es Salaam. That was to check it worked, after he bought it from a friend of a friend, who is a black-market minifabber.
...
I'm sure my mostly in jest interpretation would be the one heavily pushed by the police. "If you aren't breaking the law, then you have nothing to fear." But, in dystopian enough lands of corruption and violence, breaking weapon making/owning laws becomes a rational necessity.

But even here and now are people doing their best to make functional guns with 3D printers even though they can legally buy FAR better firearms.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 05:32 PM   #38
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
From a philosophical point of view, the police use of force* based on possessing a tool that would be convenient for the commission of crimes strikes me as offensive. ...[/SIZE]
There's charging people acting oddly at night with "criminal tools" like a large flashlight that I also dislike about our legal system. Then there's legitimate fear of those carrying illegal weapons which have no rational purpose except crime.
You said yourself that the item is illegal. Why shouldn't even good cops be a little bit suspicious of illegally armed suspects?
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 05:58 PM   #39
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Join our flashmob group! Get yourself on police watch lists, in order to make life easier for poor persecuted professional hitmen!

Hmm. Not sure how easy that would be to sell.
I know I remember some incident(s) where some douche wandered residential zones weilding his legally owned rifle to promote some NRA nonsense. I think it did more to promote the opposite position.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2016, 07:06 PM   #40
Icelander
 
Icelander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Transhuman Space Firearms more in line with High-Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
There's charging people acting oddly at night with "criminal tools" like a large flashlight that I also dislike about our legal system. Then there's legitimate fear of those carrying illegal weapons which have no rational purpose except crime.
Easily concealed weapons can have a number of purposes, the most plausible of which is self-defence, either from criminals or from the government. In a panopticon society with random scans of all citizens, it is not necessarily irrational to design tools and clothing to make it harder to surveil one. It might indicate less trust in the benevolence and/or capability of Big Brother than the police would prefer, but it's not obvious that this is irrational, merely that it is probably dangerous.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
You said yourself that the item is illegal. Why shouldn't even good cops be a little bit suspicious of illegally armed suspects?
It is illegal in the dystopian CR 4-5 (Corruption -2 to -3) Dar es Salaam where our campaign is set. It is likely to be illegal in many other societies. But for the purposes of vicky's example, he specified a technically legal, but nevertheless highly suspicious weapon.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!
Icelander is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
caseless, firearms, future warfare, high-tech

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:45 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.