I just thought I'd toss in my two credits' worth on the topic of
weapons in the MT rules, on their availability and their uses. These opinions
were formulated on the basis of my ten-plus years of ironing out the bugs in
Traveller Classic, and having to start all over again in MegaTraveller. |-<
In campaigns that I ran in the good old days when Stref was still
kicking and lawnorder prevailed Throughout Our Fair Kingdom, the presence of
an Imperial government with a vested interest in maintaining peace and quiet
in the starports and on the worlds of its domain made things really simple.
In short, people couldn't GET any of the really balance-wrecking weapons under
normal circumstances, and those who did were usually hunted down and killed by
the Imperial authorities, who enjoy the concept of citizens with high energy
weapons and rigid armor about as much as the DEA enjoys the concept of drug
smugglers having easy access to shoulder-launched missiles and heavy machine
guns. The difference between the Imperium and the USA in this case is that the
Imperium has no legal, moral or ethical obligation not to go in shooting, with
heavier guns than the bad guys have. Arms suppliers are usually a hunted breed
for similar reasons, unless they "follow the rules" and keep the really bad
stuff out of the hands of people who shouldn't have it.
What did this rigid enforcement of the arms laws mean to the average Traveller
group? Nothing above TL 10, that's what. No Gauss weapons, no high energy
weapons, and no combat armor or battle dress. And the improvement in game
quality was amazing: if all you have is an ACR and a combat environment suit,
you tend to think harder and plan more carefully before you start shooting,
despite the fact that you know the people you'll be fighting are no better off
than you are, normally. Firefights were significantly fewer and further
between, and carried an element of real risk in them: the armor/weapon balance
at TL 10 is such that (at least under the old rules) you could take a hit, or
even two, and hold body and soul together for a few more rounds before passing
out, adding to the drama and excitement of the game. Since I was fortunate
enough to be dealing with sensible and mature gamers in most instances,
parties were quick to recognize the element of risk and fun this added to the
game, and followed policy with thankfully little whining from people who felt
emasculated without a giant, plasma-shooting phallic symbol on hand.
Nowadays, in the Shattered Imperium, these careful regulations, which rely
upon a well-policed and stable environment to maintain themselves, go to
pieces. The result is a game where any butthead with enough money can put on
Combat Armor, pick up an FGMP-15, and go looking for adventure. Adventure?
Hah! Where's the adventure in being able to deep-fry anything and everything
that's thrown at you, up to a point, beyond which you're effectively naked and
helpless? So I'm experimenting with more, shall we say, PRACTICAL means of
maintaining game balance, using common sense and some important Trav Classic
rules that should have carried over into MT (but if they did, I don't know
where they're written up).
First off, I have relaxed the weapons availability laws in keeping with the
collapse of Imperial High Justice. It is now at least reasonably feasible for
a player to get ahold of anything he wants. The obvious extension of this, the
fact that the bad guys also have anything they want, is a heavy-handed and
unsatisfactory balancing agent; if a party gets smoked in mesquite because
they forget that other people can have FGMPs too, who's the poor sumbitch that
has to help them roll up new characters? ME!
There must be other ways to keep this stuff out of the players' hands. Some of
the ones I've been experimenting with are: cost, maintainance, and what I call
the "ice factor." First of all, there's no way around it: high-tech guns cost
a lot. They aren't easy to find, at low TL they aren't elegant or streamlined
in manufacture, and their power packs and ammo cost a lot, too. Of course, the
ref who allows the option of having a plasma rifle will also probably let his
players get rich enough to buy them or lucky enough to steal them, so this in
itself may not be enough. But it's a good place to start.
Second, there's a direct relationship between the complexity of a weapon, its
cost, and its cost of maintainance. It's fairly easy to keep a revolver in
good shape; it can lie in a drawer unused and untouched for literally years
and yet come up firing at a moment's notice. One TL up from that, though, we
have the autopistol, which is much more inclined to be finicky if it's
dropped, not kept clean, not handled and oiled often, or even fed the wrong
sort of supposedly-fine ammo. Machine guns are for the most part even more
complex, and so on up the ladder.
(What about modernization? A very useful rule of thumb is that if a weapon is
introduced at a certain TL, in one more TL it tends to be fairly commonplace,
hence reliable and less cranky, and this margin of safety increases still
more, if slowly, after that. As an example, the first machine guns at TL 5
were crew served, water cooled, heavy, cantankerous, and prone to jams. By TL
6, they were small enough for one man to carry, and reliable enough to work
even when muddy or wet. By TL 7, they were small enough to hold in one hand
and carry in shoulder holsters, and who knows where we'll be at TL 8 or 9? The
introductory TL of a weapon and the TL at which it's bought are very different
things; this has a bearing on the weapon's functionality and features, which
is touched on in very limited ways by the Digest Group equipment sheets, that
scale device performance by TL.)
When we start talking about Gauss and Hi-E weapons, we are talking about
electric/mechanical devices with a high degree of precision and a lot of
separate components that must all function perfectly for the gun to work. Now,
nobody's going to state that these weapons aren't rugged; the Imperial forces
couldn't fight with them if they weren't. But the flip side of this is that
these weapons must be maintained and serviced on a regular basis....and the
means of servicing them is a perfect deterrent to people who think they can
get away with keeping such monstrosities around. According to the rules in
Mercenary (Trav Classic Book 4, for you youngsters out there), a HiE weapon
must be completely disassembled and serviced once every 24 hours. We can
assume that's at its introductory TL, if we wish, and extend the service time
to a few days or a week. But it won't make a difference to a party: when one
keeps in mind that these things are basically small nuclear reactors
(according to the rules; we'll ignore their patent impossibility for now), it
becomes obvious that you're not going to be able to do a good job on them on
the workbench in the engine room of your ship! Armories at TL 12 and up are
among the best-equipped shops in history, and they handle very different needs
than a starship shop. It's one thing to get a fusion gun; it's another to keep
it working. In the uncertain times in which the Imperium now lives, a plasma
gun is a nice insurance policy for emergencies, but nobody who isn't richer
and better connected than any party has the right to be is going to be able to
afford to keep them working safely. Gauss weapons are a much easier
proposition, but can still be difficult to keep in good order; however, most
folks consider the extra power they provide to be worth the hassle. Note that
the same problem holds for Battle Dress, whereas one can get away with Combat
Armor in a pinch since it doesn't have powerpack problems.
Third and last is the "ice factor." This is the way other people tend to view
someone in a risk situation based on their arms and armor. In the campaigns I
run, it's considered common for starfarers to wear pistols of some kind in
their normal day-to-day activities. However, the carrying of rifles is frowned
upon, since a longarm isn't usually something you're keeping handy for
self-defence in an emergency. If a party is transporting precious cargo,
bodyguarding, or doing other high-risk work, then passersby who recognize this
tend to treat such parties with respect. However, the average guy who goes out
with rigid armor, a Gauss or HiE rifle, or both, for no good reason other than
to "be ready for trouble," is going to attract scorn and derision from those
around him, if in fact he isn't arrested or simply shot from behind as a risk
to pedestrian traffic. He's obviously either a criminal, a sociopath, or a
stupid showoff, all of which make him too dangerous to leave at large. These
items, with their connotations of Imperial force and heedless crushing of
resistance, will inspire nobody. You won't get hired as a starmerc if you
walk into your interview armed that way; you'll be considered too stupid to be
a safe employee!
So far, these concepts have integrated themselves well into the campaign I
run. Occasionally we get people pining for plasma guns, but the last guy who
actually got one sold it off for a fraction of its value, because he knew he
needed the cash more than he could use a fusion gun.
Have other people tried similar tactics? Or does nobody other than me mind
parties that are capable of levelling cities?
metlay
PS. If you think THOSE rules are restrictive, my first Traveller universe had
starships whose interiors couldn't withstand any sort of gunfire without
causing serious damage; boarding actions were done with SWORDS! |-> Sure it
was silly, but it was a helluva lot of fun, too.
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