Which fantasy TRPGs do you think truly reflect the characteristics of firearms as Game Changers?

[MGibster]

One reason why I'm not a fan of modern or later era games. Not the PCs skill anymore that governs things but a race for the biggest gun.

I feel as though a lot of GMs let players in modern games get away with using firearms in a variety of situations where they shouldn't be able to get away with it. Let's take Cyberpunk 2020, there are areas of Night City where a PC could walk around in full combat armor with an assault rifle strapped to his back and nobody is going to bat an eye. These areas are called Combat Zones which have been abandoned by city authorities and even the police don't go in there. But try pulling that nonsense in the Corporate Zone and you'll likely end up either arrested and in jail or dead as the authorities come down on you hard.

Let's say the local fixer wants to meet you at a trendy night club to talk about a job. Imagine showing up with a mono-katana and a pair of Malorian Arms pistols (Desert Eagle .50s basically). You think the bouncer is going to let you in? You show up in combat armor you think people at the club aren't going to laugh at you?

One of the things I like about CP 2020 is you need to take these kinds of things into account. My character can't just walk around with the best assault rifle wearing the best armor because he'll look like a tool and nobody will take him seriously.

 

[Anonym]

Regular trained militants（usually private）:lv1-3, gunslinger(PathfinderRPG,ultimate combat)

Elite Vieterans or special forces:lv4-6,typical 3th Gunslinger/2nd Ranger

Commando:lv7-9,typical 5th Gunslinger/3th Ranger

Diredevil(Rambo):10-12,typical 6th Gunslinger/5th Ranger

and 5th and above spellcasters have the firepower close to that of a entire fire team and much more tactical flexity due to the power of supernatural spell them wielding, but with a very short range. that's why spellcasters can still very important and valuable in an era filled with firearms and missiles. (of course, leaders of magical organizations such as the chief-archmage of wizard Guild/Union will certainly have power no less than that of the president).

 

[Argyle King]

GURPS

 

[Blue]

Firearms as game changers? Okay, none of your list applies. For the first hundred years of firearms, everything you said is just wrong. They had no overwhelming advantage. Rifling wasn't even discovered in those first 100 years. They were slower and less accurate.

Now, during that early period cannons were a game changer. But handheld weapons lagged far behind, taking centuries after gunpowder use in weapons before they were generally better than other weapons.

 

[John R Davis]

DnD combat already makes the damage die of the weapon more important than the skill of the PC anyway, getting a bigger gun is no different than getting a bigger sword

Er. What?
No.
I'm taking bomb, missile, howitzer levels of damage.

 

[GMMichael]

One of the things I like about CP 2020 is you need to take these kinds of things into account. My character can't just walk around with the best assault rifle wearing the best armor because he'll look like a tool and nobody will take him seriously.

Trying to get into my town with a waraxe?

 

[Piperken]

...about the concept of HP, I think it's necessary to explain that it's just a very abstract concept——————it's just expressing how difficult it is to kill this guy, or how much damage this guy can withstand before it falls.that's why it's called Hit Points instead of anything else such as Life Points...

I think everyone is aware of what hit points are, and that they are a bigger'ish abstraction conceptually. A lot of mechanics used in rpgs are based in abstraction.

I'd advocate that rather than focus on particular abstractions, instead ask if the rpg generally:

• Meets your aesthetic vibes in how it depicts modern firearms in use with a fantastic setting?
• Do the rules that govern firearms, its ordinance, character initiative etc, reproduce the feel and flow of firearms elegantly for you, when scenarios involving their use occur?
• Are you as a player/table runner, desiring more or less crunch in regards to how they're depicted?

Some of the systems that have been already suggested to you feature modern firearms prominently, and don't use hit points as a representation of the character's own meat, as you put it; consider them, you might find something you like.

...Similarly, when most humans are hit by a 5.45x39mm bullet, they will immediately down and die, even in the luckiest cases themstill would be amputated or get some permanent trauma. but if it were Rambo, the situation would be different. his keen senses and intuition were able to make him react at the last minute, suffering only the slightest damage, or simply because he was very lucky (otherwise he would have died long ago)————so he had much much more Hit points than normal soldiers...

I understand this point you raise, but this is a bad example. Highly-trained soldiers die horribly in conflicts all the time, despite the investment made into them. Rambo is a cinematic action hero, who's background is based on people who undergo that training and subsequent experience. The two are not remotely similar.

 

[Wolfram stout]

GURPS

Outside of Shadowrun, GURPS jumped out at me as well. I tried to run a shadowrun-style GURPS game back in the 90s. Core-book + GURPS Magic + GURPS Cyberpunk. If I remember correctly the dedicated Spell-Slinger was on par with the Gun Guy but did have to conserve mana points more than gun guy had to worry about ammo.

Even high tech body armor was of little use against either.

 

[Mannahnin]

It doesn't make them dominate the game, and they're not modern firearms, but The Nightmares Underneath distinguishes them (and heavy crossbows) from other weapons by making them ignore AC. You hit by rolling equal to or under the firer's Dex, with modifiers for long range, cover, target moving quickly, or spending a round aiming.

 

[General_Tangent]

Traveller does a remarkably good job. It still has cutlasses, which are great if you don't want to breach a hull in space. But guns are the hamburger helper of combat.

I seem to remember that the good old halbard did quite a bit of damage in the Traveller Little Black Books.