Going to church? Don't forget your sawed-off shotgun!

[Numion]

Well, the paranoia was clearly justified, what with the Zombies and all.

 

[Wraith-Hunter]

I know a lot of people IRL with CCW permits that carry their sidearms in church. Both police and citizens alike. There have been a number of shootings in or at churches, and these police and CCW holders carry to protect their falimies them selves and other church members. I even know 2 pastors who carry as well. So it is not unrealistic and happens every day.

Though a sawed off shotgun IRL is extremely short range and inaccurate past a few feet. I prefer my Glock 30

ETA: The debate about guns and church comes down to what people believe about the 10 commandments. Some versions translate it "thou shalt not kill" which is a misstrans;ation of the original hebrew. Other versions translate it as "thou shalt not MURDER" and by murder premeditated slaying of another person. Not applicable to killing in war or in self defense. This is where the pacifist christians clash with the non-pacifist. If you want to do further reading on the subject here is a page with links to some articles: http://keepandbeararms.com/information/XcInfoBase.asp?CatID=81

So in a non horror real life world there are good reasons to carry a firearm in church, and even MORE SO in a horror type world. Christ said: "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a sack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one" (Luke 22: 36.)

 

[GQuail]

Have you had any similar experiences when a player rants about unrealistic actions despite the DM and the rest of the group letting it slide for the sake of "moving on"?

Early in my current game, a party of low level adventurers were travelling by horseback, forced to leave the safety of the riverboat they'd been using to journey to their locale. They are sleeping in a local tinn when the Gnolls of the forest launch an assault on the area. They sneak into the hallway, and theHalf-Orc barbarian's room is the first htey break into....

Initiative is rolled, ACs are called for, and as the Half-Orc answers my girlfriend pipes up, "Hold up, your AC could only be.... are you wearing ARMOUR in bed?"

Now, because it was a Half-orc Barbarian, the player was able to argue that his behaviour wasn't entirely out of character: but my girlfriend brought it up a couple of other times when late-night antics took place and the party headed out in full battle gear with only a few seconds notice: a few late-night efforts where Longbows seemed to magically appear in hand. She, on the other hand, often mentions that her characters turns up in a nightie, or wearing rollers, or some other obvious "got out of bed" motif that makes her perhapos less combat-effective but more obvious fitting the scene.

I don't mind it too much myself, but I know it can bug her, so in future I'm going to make a point of holding PCs to believeable night-time situations. This may inclkude forcing an action or two to pick up stuff like spell components or certain magic items, depending on the character.

 

[Scraht]

This thread is for discussing campaign verisimilitude and dealing with player suspension of disbelief.

We're playing in a Cthulu game last night and one of the players (not me) is an archeologist who happens to be proficient with a sawed-off shotgun. He lists the shotgun as his equipment. This is our first session and the DM (not me) sets us up in church. The archeologist is there to meet with another player who is playing a private investigator (not me).

The players hear a commotion in the back of the church and find a zombie priest eating another priest. First thing that happens? The archeologist takes out his shotgun and shoots the zombie.

The DM is OK with this. One of the other players (also not me) is up in arms though. "Why did you bring a sawed off shotgun to church?" The player had no good reason, other than "I have enemies", which was good enough for the DM. The other player spent several minutes ranting about how stupid that was.

Have you had any similar experiences when a player rants about unrealistic actions despite the DM and the rest of the group letting it slide for the sake of "moving on"?

(And FYI I played a quiet lumberjack who managed to survive the night with 100% of his sanity.)

Yeah, that's a bit ridiculous. As DM, I would have told him he didn't have a gun, he is not Daniel Jackson.

I've Dmed CoC before, and I even said "You may not start with a gun, or any weapon skills, unless you're in law enforcement (or the like)." My setting was modern day, and these were your average, suburban white folk PCs, so as far as I was concerned, it was called for.

Early in my current game, a party of low level adventurers were travelling by horseback, forced to leave the safety of the riverboat they'd been using to journey to their locale. They are sleeping in a local tinn when the Gnolls of the forest launch an assault on the area. They sneak into the hallway, and theHalf-Orc barbarian's room is the first htey break into....

Initiative is rolled, ACs are called for, and as the Half-Orc answers my girlfriend pipes up, "Hold up, your AC could only be.... are you wearing ARMOUR in bed?"

Now, because it was a Half-orc Barbarian, the player was able to argue that his behaviour wasn't entirely out of character: but my girlfriend brought it up a couple of other times when late-night antics took place and the party headed out in full battle gear with only a few seconds notice: a few late-night efforts where Longbows seemed to magically appear in hand. She, on the other hand, often mentions that her characters turns up in a nightie, or wearing rollers, or some other obvious "got out of bed" motif that makes her perhapos less combat-effective but more obvious fitting the scene.

I don't mind it too much myself, but I know it can bug her, so in future I'm going to make a point of holding PCs to believeable night-time situations. This may inclkude forcing an action or two to pick up stuff like spell components or certain magic items, depending on the character.

I have to say, I completey agree with your girlfriend, your average person in DnD, unless expecting an attack, does not sleep in his full battlegear. It's incredibly unrealistic, and kills the setting.

 

[John Cooper]

I've run a nighttime D&D encounter where the guy on watch duty was fully armored and armed, but the other PCs were running around in their underwear with maybe a shield and weapon in hand - whatever they could grab up quickly.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

A gun? He only had a gun? When I play CoC my characters schlep around with five gallon cans of gasoline that have several sticks of TNT secured to them. Guns are for wimps!

Oh yeah, I know a few people who pack when they go to church, or anywhere else. And I live in Massachusettes, one of the hardest gun control law states there is. Of course, the law states that all church services must be attended by musket toting militiamen in case of indian attack. (Well, it did not so long ago, not sure if they've bothered to recind it or not.)

 

[bodhi]

Time and place really matter.

QFT.

The encounter was in a church. Upscale, suburban, 21st century church? 1930's missionary church-in-a-hut in the heart of darkest Africa? First Church of Innsmouth?

 

[mmadsen]

The encounter was in a church. Upscale, suburban, 21st century church? 1930's missionary church-in-a-hut in the heart of darkest Africa? First Church of Innsmouth?

Presumably the other players at the table wouldn't be up in arms about the craziness of having a sawed-off shotgun in church if there were in fact extenuating circumstances -- but there weren't.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I find it sad that multiple people at the table thought it would be perfectly reasonable to bring a loaded weapon to church.

Well, first of all, an unloaded gun isn't much use. And second of all, not everyone is okay with dying in church. As convenient as it is.

 

[Umbran]

Have you had any similar experiences when a player rants about unrealistic actions despite the DM and the rest of the group letting it slide for the sake of "moving on"?

Okay, first off, by calling it a "rant" you make it sound as if he's wrong. The fact that everyone else was willing to "let is slide" says to me that there's a basic acknowledgement that it wasn't how things should be done, but that folks didn't want to bother. Clearly, the other player did want to bother. And failing to bother was impacting his fun.

What we seem to have here, folks, is a basic mismatch of expectations. And that ought to get ironed out, rather than shuffled under the rug.

I have not had to deal with it, but I'd certainly not ignore it if it happened in my game. Doubly so if it was early in the game. Everyone should be on board about thow things are going to proceed.