Re: GM-controlled Bad Luck points

On Aug 9, 11:49 pm, Russell Wallace <russell.no.s...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I don't know enough about the subject matter to comment on some of the
> above, but I'm surprised at the last - I was under the impression that
> military pistols were issued to people who aren't expected to use them?
> Drivers, cooks, staff officers etc, as a "better than harsh language"
> measure if there's a screwup and you end up facing rifle-armed enemies.

That's generally the case although there are exceptions (the SOCOM
Mk23 for example is the only known example of a Pistol in the Army
being referenced as an offensive weapon as far as I know).

The elite groups however tend to always carry a pistol as a backup for
their primary weapon, a weapon always to hand, and for special cases
where a pistol is the better choice. They make more use of them in the
Military then the common solider and are more demanding as a result.
There's also the factor that they tend to operate a little outside the
rules, and can as a result get away with improving upon standard
isssue.

Thus in the US nearly all the Special Forces (Force Recon, Delta,
SEALs, etc) have replace the M9 Pistol.


> On-topicness: in a few weeks I'm likely to have to roleplay some
> platoons of the Royal Marines of Windermere, tech level circa 1900, in
> an amphibious assault. I have the idea they'll be armed with rifles,
> bayonets and one machine gun or other heavy weapon per boatload; would
> they carry revolvers as secondary weapons?

I would think so.

However in for at least the last half of the 1800s British Officers
would buy their own sidearms (Colt sold a bunch to them, which is why
I happen to know that) and I'm not certain how long that tradition
remained although I do know Winston Churchill used a Mauser C96 (very
much a non-standard weapon for the British) in their army around the
turn of the century.

He very much liked the weapon btw, although revolvers were much more
common at least until WWII (and for much of that) until replaced by
the Browning High Power.


> Semi-automatics do exist in the game world, but as new-fangled things
> prone to jamming, so I thus far have them as the Special Security
> Department's trademark weapon. (Rationale: if the only firefights you're
> likely to get into are by surprise at close range and one-off, rate of
> fire and ammo capacity matter more than sustainability. Does that make
> sense?)

As I said before, perception often matters more than reality. There
would certainly be people who thought the way you describe during that
period, if they were the ones approving or buying the weapons- that's
all you need.