in the list of banned weapons by law level it says "personal concealable weapons" are banned on Law Level 5+
(Traveller Core 2022 pg 256)
according to Equipment Availability (CSC 2023 pg 4) banned goods might be available on the black market.
and the banned goods are then categorized into
- category 1: unrestricted
- category 2: civilian use
- category 3: paramilitary use
- category 4: military use
- category 5: restricted military use
- prohibited
this is needed to calculate the DM on the streetwise roll as well as the items price and IMO the type of law enforcement reaction (trying to buy an illegal drug should be handled differently to buying a battle dress or fusion gun)
in most cases it is pretty simple to fit the item in one of these categories, but I find it hard for some.
Let's start with concealable weapons. Body pistol and Stealth dagger are the first coming to my mind. Next come Claw gloves, garrotte or monofilament garrotte. These weapons are especially build for their concealment properties and it should be obvious that people wanting to purchase these do that with bad intentions (well you could say the same about a plasma gun, but plasma guns could in theory be used as self-defense-weapon - if such a thing exists - while it is hard to argue buying a monofilament garrotte with self defense in mind)
As concealable weapons, these should be banned by Law Level 5+. But where do they fit into the black market categories? They can't be unrestriced on Law Level 5+. Is a stealth dagger civilian use? Is an arc-field claw-glove that does 4D damage with AP 30 really considered paramilitary, or is it military (or even higher as it is easily concealable?)
next comes armour. I am very glad that in CSC2023 there is a clear distinction about which suit is Civilian (list of civilian suites) or military (list of military suits).
This changed handling of f.e. boarding suits for me as I didn't categorize them as military before CSC2023.
This makes it easy to categorize the suites into one of the above mentioned black market categories (civilian: cat1 or cat2, military cat3-5)
unfortunatly the is also a list of powered suits where it isn't mentioned at all if they are military or not.
This list includes Exoskeletons which is clearly civilian (it says so in the description) but what about Mechanical Carapace, E3 or Powered Plate?
What about augmentations with clear intentions of evading governmental controls? Smuggling Container f.e. or razor claws. Weapon implants, shrieker box or venom glands? Which categories would venom glands fit in, an obvious assassination weapon? Would an implanted advanced arc-field razer claw with 4D damage and AP 20 still be considered paramilitary? Would a smuggling container be considered civilian use with the obvious intend to smuggle something by a (quite propably official or governmental) sensor, very likely with bad intentions (like circumventing tax!
)
last, but not least, what about Intrusion Software is illegal on planets with law level 4+ (it says so in the description). But what category is it considered (or is that already included in the price?). Is intrusion software military equipment? or paramilitary? or civilian?
maybe you can just tell me how you handle these things... I usually try to wing it and mostly came out ok, but would be interested how others are handling it and would love a decent rule how to handle it (for myself, I am fine with houseruling it)
(Traveller Core 2022 pg 256)
according to Equipment Availability (CSC 2023 pg 4) banned goods might be available on the black market.
and the banned goods are then categorized into
- category 1: unrestricted
- category 2: civilian use
- category 3: paramilitary use
- category 4: military use
- category 5: restricted military use
- prohibited
this is needed to calculate the DM on the streetwise roll as well as the items price and IMO the type of law enforcement reaction (trying to buy an illegal drug should be handled differently to buying a battle dress or fusion gun)
in most cases it is pretty simple to fit the item in one of these categories, but I find it hard for some.
Let's start with concealable weapons. Body pistol and Stealth dagger are the first coming to my mind. Next come Claw gloves, garrotte or monofilament garrotte. These weapons are especially build for their concealment properties and it should be obvious that people wanting to purchase these do that with bad intentions (well you could say the same about a plasma gun, but plasma guns could in theory be used as self-defense-weapon - if such a thing exists - while it is hard to argue buying a monofilament garrotte with self defense in mind)
As concealable weapons, these should be banned by Law Level 5+. But where do they fit into the black market categories? They can't be unrestriced on Law Level 5+. Is a stealth dagger civilian use? Is an arc-field claw-glove that does 4D damage with AP 30 really considered paramilitary, or is it military (or even higher as it is easily concealable?)
next comes armour. I am very glad that in CSC2023 there is a clear distinction about which suit is Civilian (list of civilian suites) or military (list of military suits).
This changed handling of f.e. boarding suits for me as I didn't categorize them as military before CSC2023.
This makes it easy to categorize the suites into one of the above mentioned black market categories (civilian: cat1 or cat2, military cat3-5)
unfortunatly the is also a list of powered suits where it isn't mentioned at all if they are military or not.
This list includes Exoskeletons which is clearly civilian (it says so in the description) but what about Mechanical Carapace, E3 or Powered Plate?
What about augmentations with clear intentions of evading governmental controls? Smuggling Container f.e. or razor claws. Weapon implants, shrieker box or venom glands? Which categories would venom glands fit in, an obvious assassination weapon? Would an implanted advanced arc-field razer claw with 4D damage and AP 20 still be considered paramilitary? Would a smuggling container be considered civilian use with the obvious intend to smuggle something by a (quite propably official or governmental) sensor, very likely with bad intentions (like circumventing tax!
)last, but not least, what about Intrusion Software is illegal on planets with law level 4+ (it says so in the description). But what category is it considered (or is that already included in the price?). Is intrusion software military equipment? or paramilitary? or civilian?
maybe you can just tell me how you handle these things... I usually try to wing it and mostly came out ok, but would be interested how others are handling it and would love a decent rule how to handle it (for myself, I am fine with houseruling it)
