New rule question for CSC

[Duroon]

I just picked up CSC last night before my regular game. Didn't have much time to peruse it myself as the group was at a TL 14 space station with lots of credits burning holes in their pockets. The book got passed around a lot.

I am curious on one of the rules in the front of the book. It is in the weapons permits categories explanations. Page 21 prohibited items lists Starship-grade meson guns and particle accelerators as prohibited items. That would make them illegal for anyone outside of the military to possess correct? Was this mentioned in any of the new Mongoose Traveller books before this? I ask, mainly, because my players have already had particle accelerator weapons on their ships for some time now. Unless Particle beam turrets and Particle accelerators aren't the same thing?

 

[MJD]

Special permits are needed, which means you need accountability or a patron or maybe an adventure based around getting one in return for a favour.

 

[Duroon]

I get that from the rule in CSC, but was it mentioned anywhere before CSC in any of the Mongoose Traveller books?

 

[alex_greene]

The concept of weapons permits has been mentioned in at least one book before. IIRC, it was brought up in The Spinward Marches. I'll go and look it up and report with confirmation later.

 

[Duroon]

I have seen the concept of weapons permits before, in previous versions of Traveller as well. I have just never seen the blank prohibition of particle accelerators mentioned before. It puts a cramp in my players plans, not that it is a bad thing though lol.

 

[Stofsk]

It might be because when a particle accelerator or meson gun hits a target, radiation damage occurs resulting in a crew hit.

In the setting, this feature might make it strictly an offensive weapon. Whereas having lasers, missiles or sandcasters means you can argue the turrets are primarily intended to be defensive.

 

[Duroon]

It might be because when a particle accelerator or meson gun hits a target, radiation damage occurs resulting in a crew hit.

In the setting, this feature might make it strictly an offensive weapon. Whereas having lasers, missiles or sandcasters means you can argue the turrets are primarily intended to be defensive.

I understand all of that, in fact one of my players pointed out that not allowing civilians to have particle weapons made all of the ship designs make a lot more sense. Who needs more than 6 armor when that should stand up to most everything that will be thrown at you, unless someone starts shooting at you with a particle beam.

What I don't get is why the particle beams being prohibited wasn't mentioned in any of the previous books.

 

[MJD]

Lots of things weren't mentioned in earlier books, mainly because they were limited in terms of space.

The Spinward Marches weren't mentioned in earlier books, for that matter.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Weapons limitations is a SETTING thing, not a RULES thing.

The TMB and HG are RULES books. CSC gives you some good guidelines for how to limit those weapons in your SETTING. You are of course free to change them for your setting.

In my Traveller Setting, I have FOUR major powers, each one of them has different laws and rules regarding personal and starship grade weapons. CSC provides a good place to start.

 

[Duroon]

Lots of things weren't mentioned in earlier books, mainly because they were limited in terms of space.

The Spinward Marches weren't mentioned in earlier books, for that matter.

Thanks, I was just looking to verify that it had not been mentioned in previous books. I like the rule myself and am going to see if I can get my players to go along with a retcon of it into our current campaign.

 

[dreamingbadger]

I just picked up CSC last night before my regular game. Didn't have much time to peruse it myself as the group was at a TL 14 space station with lots of credits burning holes in their pockets. The book got passed around a lot.

I am curious on one of the rules in the front of the book. It is in the weapons permits categories explanations. Page 21 prohibited items lists Starship-grade meson guns and particle accelerators as prohibited items. That would make them illegal for anyone outside of the military to possess correct? Was this mentioned in any of the new Mongoose Traveller books before this? I ask, mainly, because my players have already had particle accelerator weapons on their ships for some time now. Unless Particle beam turrets and Particle accelerators aren't the same thing?

sounds like common sense to me; the military generally don't like civilians being able to shoot back, it's a bit like asking for an exocet missle to mount on your fuel tanker ... just in case...

as has been said earlier the right patron/favour etc... might pull it off, but if it was in my world it would need to be a BIG favour.

Another thought was if the players are willing to put the weapons under military control, with a small detachment of security troops and gunners then if the platform is in a strategic location the military might allow weapons emplacement... what do you mean you want to be able to control them, i thought you wanted them for defence ... etc...

 

[alex_greene]

Y'see, all these are just cargoes to a warmonger.

This is the sort of stuff that arms companies trot out on the weapons ranges during arms fairs, as buyers look on in awe at all the destruction. And all the trading goes in in the back rooms. You'd have people negotiating over consignments of TL 9 plasma cannons, LAGs and ammo, and the arms dealer will bung in a crate of shock grenades for free because the price just dropped in the market for the LAGs etc.

Think of it as being exactly like trading, but in a very specialised market.

Also, there's a golden opportunity for mercenary player characters to be hired for easy, cushy, fun jobs such as modelling the latest Battle Dress, strutting up and down posing as Robocop and deploying the weapons onto targets for the delight of buyers.

At the back of the CSC, I honestly kept expecting to see pages of job ads for mercenary units.

 

[lastbesthope]

At the back of the CSC, I honestly kept expecting to see pages of job ads for mercenary units.

Nah, at the back should be all the stuff about the extended warranty's and "Ring and Reserve" :lol:

LBH

 

[Jame Rowe]

I have seen the concept of weapons permits before, in previous versions of Traveller as well. I have just never seen the blank prohibition of particle accelerators mentioned before. It puts a cramp in my players plans, not that it is a bad thing though lol.

The other place I've seen it (mind that I've not seen it in CSC, but only for lack of money to buy it with ... until September!) is T20's Traveller's Aide 1.