Plea for help.

[Lord Mhoram]

The help I need is in justification for campaign feel. My friend is planning to run a Star Hero game, and he wants Martial Arts to be a major part of it, but he wants gun to work just as well- the kind of fight he is looking at (in general) is where the two groups shoot each other for a bit, then close and go to Martial Arts.
Now he is a stickler for realism (or at least justificiation), and is trying to figure out why people don't just keep shooting. Techinical or social fix ideas would be appreciated.

The ideas we have had-
"New Bushido" a social / moral code that you don't shoot first, announce your intentions, HtH is better than guns ect.
A velocity shield force field that can deflect any fast moving particle, can only stay up for a short time (say 1 minute) but takes half a turn to a turn to get going. So you get shot at, you turn on your field, shoot back, and when the FF is up, you close and chop them up with swords.

Neither of these are very aesthetically pleasing. Anyone with any ideas would be welcome.

[Zoth]

I kind have the same problem you do. My sci-fantasy campaign I’m developing I want Magitek. Magical made high-tech. Thing is I don’t want lot gun combat and stuff, I want a reason for there to be swords.

Originally posted by Lord Mhoram

A velocity shield force field that can deflect any fast moving particle, can only stay up for a short time (say 1 minute) but takes half a turn to a turn to get going. So you get shot at, you turn on your field, shoot back, and when the FF is up, you close and chop them up with swords.

How about handling velocity shield this way, the shield normal only protects
so much vs. fast moving particle but for a sort time (how long most normal combat takes) it can be powered up. It take x number of phase to build up the power (how ever long you want range combat to last) then you can forget about using fast moving particle on them, you are gone have get into HTH to do damage.

Z.O.T.H “opinions expressed”

[Lord Liaden]

It's really hard to justify a "shoot for a while, then fight hand-to-hand" policy. Even if you have a code of honor, it wouldn't explain why it's okay to blast away at someone one minute, then stop to start punching and kicking him the next. Makes little tactical sense.

Now, if you're talking either/or, where sometimes it's appropriate to use firearms and sometimes hand-to-hand makes more sense, sci-fi campaigns involving space travel would make a rise in the practice of martial arts easy to justify: imagine a firefight aboard a spaceship, with drive units, reactors, and bulkheads separating you from hard vacuum.

[Zoth]

Another idea is that the shields use a rare components/power source that gets used up per number of shots. May be also the fields the shields produces makes it hard to use blaster up close they malfunction easy or something.

That way you might want to start combat at a distance but you are gone want engage the enemy and get in close before too long.

Z.O.T.H “opinions expressed”

[Storn]

Try this on for size.

Everyone has access to force shields.

The queer thing about these shields is that they get stronger with each shot that hits them. The first few shots will get thru the shield, but it gets stronger and stronger. Totally the opposite of all shields *Ive* ever seen in games/ sci fi.

The kicker: Living, Organic material, such as a fist or foot, passes through the shield with no problem. And maybe if someone had a bamboo spear still living.

Tactics: At range and when closing, it makes sense to fire a few rounds down field, you might get lucky and really puncture a shield. At least take 3 or 5 Body off the target. But after a few shots the shields will exceed the ability of the weapons to damage. So, its barroom fight time.

I'll leave the mechanics and number crunching up to others.

[BobGreenwade]

My thoughts here mostly echo suggestions people have already made:

1. On spaceships and stations, firing high-velocity projectiles is a bad idea because they might puncture the hull or damage sensitive or dangerous equipment. Thus the return of martial arts and hand-to-hand weaponry in such situations.

2. Personal force fields only stop energy beams and high-velocity projectiles, but aren't as useful against relatively low-energy attacks such as fists and hand-held weapons.

3. Ammunition is hard to come by, hard or hazardous to carry, or limited for some other reason, so ranged weapons are used only when really necessary.

Any combination of these should do the trick.

[ngross]

How about this. Two ideas:

(1) Insane force field. Delayed activation, ? turns. Only works against missile weapons. Special effect - force field 'tunes' itself to the frequency of the missile weapons as you get hit. aka. Star Trek's Borg.
(2) Insane force field. Linked with absorption (energy) going to an END battery. Trigger (when END battery is full). Special effect - force field charges by absorbing the energy from an energy blast.

For number 2 above, do not know if you have slug throwers. If you do, you could just have absorb the kinetic energy from the missile attack.

Well... What do you think?

[Talon]

Read Dune.

[dbsousa]

Justification #1: High Velocity Bullets are not affected by artificial gravity, and will bounce around a hull until stopped by a body or cushion. Anyone with space combat training knows not to fire a shot unless his aim is true. Most current rifles, which rely on sprayfire and such, are as likely to kill the shooter as his target. Duelling pistols have become fashionable again in boarding actions.

Justification #2. Laser pistols require so much energy that they only can fire a few shots before recharging. Recharging is a time consuming process, so in ranged combat, people count shots, and charge into melee when the other side runs out...

(edited for clarity)

[Lord Mhoram]

Originally posted by Geoff Speare
Read Dune.

I know. My friend finds those kind of shields uneathestic, one of the reasons we were looking for a different answer.

[tiger]

I'd think the best way to work it is either the fact that balsters in starships cause problems or a honor thing would be the best way to work it. YOu could use the theroy of the noise blasters make, but then so do clashing swords.

[Herolover]

I have had this same problem. I love sci-fi, but I also love the idea of "ray-guns and swords." The problem is why would anyone want to use a sword.

I realize I am going to go over things others have said, but I would like to make a good list.

1) The Dune thing. This is the force field that for whatever reason stops guns.

2) Starship damage. This is the situation where starships are so fragile that everyone is scarred to fire a gun.

3) The cultural/honor thing. This one could be really hard because as someone pointed out what reason would you have to say yes you can shoot two times, but after that you have to use a gun.

4) Limited gun. The problem here is you have to come up with why the gun is limited and why no one is using other guns. The best reason I like is that the setting has just come out from under a time period of "the long night" where technology went backwards and it is just now coming back up. You can say guns are rare.

5) Law. Maybe a strong government or stronger race has outlawed guns forcing those who have them to hide them.

[Agent Escafarc]

Originally posted by Herolover

4) Limited gun. The problem here is you have to come up with why the gun is limited and why no one is using other guns. The best reason I like is that the setting has just come out from under a time period of "the long night" where technology went backwards and it is just now coming back up. You can say guns are rare.

This worked for Battletech with it's lack of fire and forget weapons, smart weapons, and no indirect fire.

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by Herolover
5) Law. Maybe a strong government or stronger race has outlawed guns forcing those who have them to hide them.

I think this is a good idea. Advanced personal weapons could be strictly controlled by the authorities and limited to their operatives, with possession being a serious offense. Advances in detection equipment could make guns hard to conceal or take into sensitive areas; what weapons could be concealed would likely be small, with limited power and/or ammo - and there's your "limited use" justification right there.

After a long enough period of such controls, reduced reliance on guns could become an element of the culture, even the criminal subculture. I remember in the film "The Krays", depicting the London underworld in the 1960's, gangsters were shown settling fights with very long knives (Britain had little tradition of personal gun ownership).

[Al_Beddow]

here are a few ideas...

1) Force sheilds are common place making projectile weapons useless since the rounds travel too fast.

2) Energy weapons react with the force shield causing them to explode (ala Dune and the game Space Opera).

3) if your campaign uses a method of travel like the "jump" system in Traveller, getting replacement parts for your weapons can be tricky.


so.. Swords, knives and such are the only weapons that move slow enough to penetrait a personal shield and won't negatively react with it.