armed to the teeth in everyday life

[Bill the barbarian]

52 minutes ago, soltakss said:

A friend bought a shotgun from a shop just around the corner from a police station, so he walked in to register it, but with it over his shoulder. He got a few funny looks, then a policeman came up and asked if there was something he could help with. When he explained, the policeman said to come to his desk, then nonchalantly added "Next time, could you break it and leave it open, so we can see there are no shells loaded?" He then realised that he could have been tasered by a dozen policemen, quite easily.

I will make no editorial comment here, soltakss but the moment I saw your comment , my mind flashed back to the 60s (if y’all wish to make an “editorial" comment of any kind on this post I request that you quote “my mind flashed back to the 60s." and leave the rest as not being germane to RPGs; Hell, have a laugh at my expense signed Bill “hey boomer” the barbarian!)

That’s editorial comment, otherwise comment away.

Cheers 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

On 1/16/2020 at 12:10 PM, Joerg said:

Out of morbid interest, what hinders the bad guys masking their real weapons with such red tips that can be removed at a moment's notice?

There are actually people in the U.S. that do disguise their firearms to look like nerf guns and water guns.

[Lloyd Dupont]

Or maybe make nerf guns looks like the real thing! 😮

 

 

[dvdmacateer]

[Ian Absentia]

Or the more socially accepted fashion in White...

Now available in Ladies' sizes.

!i!

[tobarstep]

So, on the topic of armor in public, I'd always heard that it was more restricted than weapons (at least in times long gone). Strangely, if you walked around carrying a weapon it was considered to be for self defense, and probably most "gentlemen" had at least one on them. But if you were wearing armor it meant that you were looking for trouble. I suppose wearing armor was a sign that you were actually expecting to be attacked at some point, whereas wearing a weapon was more a sign for others not to mess with you.

[Atgxtg]

On 1/17/2020 at 12:42 PM, Lloyd Dupont said:

I wonder... and I guess it could be possible on some planet that if they see in big armor, they send heavily armored official to check you (heavily armored for safety) and then billed the person for the extra cost they inccured!  

Yes, that's quite likely. What tends to happen is that when people see someone decked out in armor they wonder why they need it and just what is going on. In my last Star Wars campaign the PCs kept gravitating towards bigger and better weaponry, and the bounty hunter picked up and went around in a suit of power armor. In the long run that tended to make the bystanders more nervous, and any potential adversaries more likely to pull out bigger weaponry and call in for reinforcements. 

It's pretty basic psychology. If you got a handgun and the other guys have a machinegun, then you want more firepower and will tend to focus on the guy with the machinegun over another guy with a rifle. So in play, most of the criminal and low life types that the PCs ran up against would do what they could to try an offset the PCs arsenal, which typically mean't bigger badder weaponry that was less forgiving and caused more collateral damage. The end result of the firepower upgrade for the PCs was that it made it harder for the PCs to keep a low profile, and their combats became more dangerous, more lethal, and less forgiving. But it's hard to convince players that they would be better off carrying a weapon that did less damage.

 

 

[Old Man Henerson]

6 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Yes, that's quite likely. What tends to happen is that when people see someone decked out in armor they wonder why they need it and just what is going on. In my last Star Wars campaign the PCs kept gravitating towards bigger and better weaponry, and the bounty hunter picked up and went around in a suit of power armor. In the long run that tended to make the bystanders more nervous, and any potential adversaries more likely to pull out bigger weaponry and call in for reinforcements. 

Rather rude for the people to discriminate against your PCs like that. After all, you can't blame them for guns being part of their religion

Edited January 23, 2020 by Old Man Henerson

[Atgxtg]

18 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said:

Rather rude for the people to discriminate against your PCs like that.

LOL!

18 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said:

After all, you can't blame them for guns being part of their religion

Gun, no, energy packs, yes.

 

But realistically, even when it's someone you "trust" it raises the tension. For example, just imagine a policeman knocking on your door asking your a routine question about some car parked illegally, up the street from your house. Now imagine him doing in in body armor with an assault rifle in his hands. He can ask the same exact questions, and do the same exact things, but your reaction and interest would probably be entirely different. That sort of stuff actually factors into how most local police forces arm and outfit themselves. 

 

[Bill the barbarian]

On 1/22/2020 at 12:39 PM, Ian Absentia said:

Now available in Ladies' sizes.

 

Sigh.

[Ian Absentia]

2 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Sigh.

Sauce for the gander...

!i!

[Old Man Henerson]

9 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

LOL!

Gun, no, energy packs, yes.

Got to get them all!  Certainly beats Death Sticks.

9 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

But realistically, even when it's someone you "trust" it raises the tension. For example, just imagine a policeman knocking on your door asking your a routine question about some car parked illegally, up the street from your house. Now imagine him doing in in body armor with an assault rifle in his hands. He can ask the same exact questions, and do the same exact things, but your reaction and interest would probably be entirely different. That sort of stuff actually factors into how most local police forces arm and outfit themselves. 

Yeah, while carrying a smallish weapon is a good sign not to mess with you, rolling up in full tactical gear or plate mail is a sure sign to everyone that something bad is about to go down.

[Atgxtg]

15 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said:

Got to get them all!  Certainly beats Death Sticks.

Yeah, while carrying a smallish weapon is a good sign not to mess with you, rolling up in full tactical gear or plate mail is a sure sign to everyone that something bad is about to go down.

Pretty much. Being slightly better armed and armored that the general population makes other less likely to want to start trouble with you, the more your packing the more likely thayt people will beleive that you are goinhg to intiate trouble and that they should plan for the inevitable, maybe even get in a preemptive strike. 

It's pretty sound reasoning as no one lugs around with a flame thrower and a rocket launcher without a reason. So everyone will assume the PCs have a reason. But, since the regular people don't know what that reason is they will get a little paranoid and defensive, and things get less stable. In the real world this is one way how "incidents" tend to happen between nations.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Atgxtg

[olskool]

On 1/23/2020 at 4:07 PM, Old Man Henerson said:

Rather rude for the people to discriminate against your PCs like that. After all, you can't blame them for guns being part of their religion

In this world you can NEVER BE...  too rich, too healthy, too good looking, or too well armed! 😎