Mike, I fail to see the relationship betwen "Rule #1" and the
rest of your tirade.
I have played Traveller ever since it came out, under a variety
of GMs (mostly good. Bad GMs seem to stick to D&D). I have NEVER
seen a relationship between good roleplaying (or lack of it) and
weaponry (or lack of it). The two are about as closely related as
rockets and crabs.
The only point I get from your tirade is either that:
1) requiring internal consistency is bad, or
2) allowing bad guys to have a fighting chance is bad.
Neither assumption really makes sense. The assumption that doing
either of these things somehow enhances group play makes no sense
either. The assumption that you cannot be playing the game right
unless you follow these "guidelines" makes no sense, either.
Having played Traveller for many years (and many other
roleplaying games during the same period), I have noticed that the
ONLY time firepower affects playing style is when the PCs have it, and
the NPCs don't. Otherwise, whether the available firepower is clubs
or FGMPs seems to make little difference. FYI, in Cynthia's games, my
character(s) have used guns four times in the last two years: once to
shoot a couple of large carnivores trying to eat my cattle, once to
break up a bank robbery, once to ambush some pirates, and once to stop
a lunatic from killing my character. In none of those cases did my
level of firepower affect my decision to use force, and in only one
would a lack of firepower have convinced me not to (I would have let
the carnivores kill my cows, since I have no desire to be eaten by a
four-ton meatgrinder on legs).
Digression!
Back to the main point. Mike, do you really believe that being
internally consistent is bad from a "role-playing" standpoint? Have I
just lost any respect I might have had for you?
Rule #1, as Cynthia described it, is my rule #1. It can best be
translated as:
"The only advantage you have over ANYONE else is your mind, and
it's contents. They can, and will, use everything the universe allows
to accomplish their goals, just as (presumably) you will. In other
words, if you can't outthink them, don't bet on being able to outshoot
them."
If this assumption is wrong, then I have indeed missed the boat
in roleplaying. But I suspect that allowing the PCs to get their
hands on "terror-weapons" while forbidding the NPCs to do so is worse,
and I don't think I will EVER allow such in any game I play in, even
if the PC(s) are nice guys who would never use those same
"terror-weapons".
Later...
- -- Via DLG Pro v0.991
[email removed]
I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution.
--W. von Braun