The Armor Question
We need to decide what armors are available and under what conditions
The problem is that nothing sucks so hard for a GM than having PC's that are totally invulnerable to attack. It's also less than fun for Players (except those with the intials M.K.)and forces the GM to use heavy artillery against them, making low-key adventures impossible. But, nothing sucks so hard for a Player than having his PC drop like a sack of potatoes every single hit. This is less than fun for the GM too, since he has to use kid gloves all the time.
Facts in evidence:
1) Modern Day armor in the book is limited to: Flak Vest (+2 toughness, +4 vs Bullets), Kevlar Vest (+2 toughness, +4 vs. Bullets, ignore 4 ap), Kevlar Vest with Inserts (+4 toughness, +8 vs. Bullets)
2)Near Future Armors: Infantry Battle Suit (+6 Armor), Hard Armor (+8 armor)
3) Far Future Armors: Powered Scout (+10), Powered Battle Suit (+12), Powered Heavy Suit (+14).
Dave's Initial Thoughts: I think the Kevlar Vest is almost certainly an absolute must. I think it should be easily available. It's perfect for making gun shots from goons not be a sure kill. Although it's not enough to make one feel invincible (as I found in a test fight of Dr. Hercules vs. 5 Japanese riflemen).
I think that the Powered Armors should be completely out of bounds. We did that in Knights of Orion, and I don't think that's the road we want to go down again. It was great for epic space fantasy, but we're looking for a different feel here.
I do wonder about the Kevlar with inserts, Battle Suit and Hard Armor. The battle suit and hard armor don't offer any more bullet protection than Kevlar with inserts, and the weight is really high. The Kevlar with inserts can be avoided by called shots, and the two suits are very heavy and almost sure to incure a weight penalty to all but the purpose built strong guys. If we let those things in, however, there has got to be some sort of restriction, because dudes just don't walk the streets in that sort of gear without getting arrested.
Andrew » I don't see why anyone would be arrested for wearing a full body suit of armor. However, I could see such a person drawing some pretty serious suspicion from all those who see them. I *could* see such a wardrobe choice getting you arrested if you did so while carrying around any sort of obvious weapon.
I say that without some sort of of weird science, PCs should be allowed to use all modern day armor. The kevlar with inserts is what one would see soldiers in Iraq wearing these days, so we'll just have to let folks know that when they armor themselves that way they look as though they mean business. In other words, we should be encouraged to “dress for the mission”.
I don't know how you see these adventures going, but I don't know that we want to make combat the focus all the time. I'm thinking that investigation and role-playing will also need to be accounted for in these scenarios, forcing the PCs to make tactical decisions about how they equip themselves.
Dave» my thoughts exactly. I was thinking that plain kevlar vests could be “normal”, since people wear them under their clothes (I'm thinking of the cop who works at our school). Anything else would be considered “loaded for bear”. Maybe we should force everyone to make up an equipment sheet, with a “Casual”, “Investigating” and “Smashy-Smashy” outfit each in a separate column.