Silliness

My previous post about GURPS stats for several AR-15 rounds kinda brings up a confession.

I've actually considered the game stats for a gun before purchasing it.

More than one game world involved making myself as a character and then only being able to have what I already owned for equipment.

Normally this also meant going someplace where resupply was difficult.

I purchased a 4" Colt Anaconda in .45 Colt because our gamemaster was talking about plopping a set of "us" characters in an old-west game.

I bought my Rifle No. 1 Mk. III* because I had several characters who carried one.  Why did they carry one?  Five extra shots as compared to most other bolt guns and in third edition a RoF of 1 instead of 1/2.  In 4th edition, it just has five more shots.  In both editions it does one less die per shot, but volume is good!

Because the difference between 5.56 and 7.62 NATO is just two dice, but the 5.56 guns and ammo are much lighter 5.56 was much more popular.  Every pound of encumbrance not used on your weapon is a pound you can use to carry some esoteric piece of kit that will keep the GM from blatantly screwing you over with some penalty that occurs merely from the lack of.

An interesting thing about the guns we selected was hardly anyone ever took a machine gun.  I suppose I need to be more clear about that.  We'd take what is legally considered a machine gun all day long; like an assault rifle or an SMG.  But we'd very rarely carry something belt-fed.  They cost ten times as much as the equivalent rifle and weigh four times as much.  Not to mention all that ammo they used...

You almost have to force a player to take an LMG or GPMG.

Of course, we'd get weird from time to time.

I made a Norwegian Dwarf from an alternate WW2 setting.  He'd been pressed into the German army.  I made him a combat engineer and he carried a Solothurn S-18/1000 and an MP.40.  Can't get me to carry a belt-fed gun; but I'll figure out a way to carry an AT rifle!