TW Ironhorse security

[Soldier of Od]

What are your opinions on what armour and weaponry might be allowed/tolerated for passengers boarding a TW Ironhorse? Presumably, like most New West towns, Mega-damage weapons and fully-environmental armour would be right out, but what about non-environmental M.D.C. armour and S.D.C. damage firearms and other weapons?

And what kind of security measures do you envisage there are to enforce these rules? Are the guards simply watching carefully, keeping an eye out for any obvious weapons as people board, or are they stopping and searching every single passenger? Will they be opening everyone's hand luggage and patting (or scanning) everyone down?

Because of the 'New West' setting, I imaging the 'stations' to be more like traditional railway stations as opposed to modern airports and all the security measures that you would find in such places. Perhaps you disagree?

It gets a little tricky because, presumably, there will unavoidably be passengers on board capable of inflicting Mega-damage and other mischief in the form of borgs, D-bees, mages, psychics, etc. If they are allowed onboard, are there also allowances for minor weapons?

[Bill]

Whatever makes sense for the story you're telling. If the tone you've established is paranoid and militaristic, then you can expect psychics and metal detectors at the stations to verify that passengers are unarmed and powerless without some form of official sanction. If you've been running a more free-wheeling old west style game where everybody is armed all the time, there may be some marshals or other security personnel on the train waiting for things to get violent with no restriction on who/what gets on the train.

[taalismn]

Yeah, lax security works both ways....unless the troublemakers/bandits figure on being able to outnumber and outgun every other armed passenger and crew member on the train, their plan's going to wind up literally shot full of holes.

I could just see some bandit complaining "Jeez! They should have LAWS about bringing them gatling pulse particle beamers aboard trains!!!"

[Axelmania]

If they banned full-coverage MDC armor then would they also ban MDC beings?

[taalismn]

If they banned full-coverage MDC armor then would they also ban MDC beings?

Probably....if they can detect them. But the real problem is EBA. A person with their own environmental protection concievably wouldn't need MD weapons to mess up a train...a vial of nerve gas, or pathogens loosed in a cabin would be even nastier than just blasting away with a laser carbine.

[glitterboy2098]

I'd imagine the bigger worry would be psi-nullifiers on board.

[taalismn]

I'd imagine the bigger worry would be psi-nullifiers on board.

Ouch. Magic disruption. Yeah, mystic derailment.

[Axelmania]

A person with their own environmental protection concievably wouldn't need MD weapons to mess up a train...a vial of nerve gas, or pathogens loosed in a cabin would be even nastier than just blasting away with a laser carbine.

More of a threat to the peons in coach that nobody would care much about.

Incentive to buy your own private environmentally-sealed booth and go first class.

[Blue_Lion]

If they banned full-coverage MDC armor then would they also ban MDC beings?

Probably....if they can detect them. But the real problem is EBA. A person with their own environmental protection concievably wouldn't need MD weapons to mess up a train...a vial of nerve gas, or pathogens loosed in a cabin would be even nastier than just blasting away with a laser carbine.

They tend not to address NBC/CBRN threats in the books.
I would point out that just because you are in EBA when the pathogens or chemical weapons is released does not mean you are safe from them. You can easily get infected when you remove your contaminated gear.

I disagree that a vial would be worse than blasting away. A vial of nerve agent(nerve gas is misleading as it is not a gas but air born mist) is not going to do any thing on its own, it needs to be spread, it is relay just a liquid contact/inhaled poison so a vial of it is only harmful if you poor it on some one or sprayed a mist of it.(Chemical weapons are not only the agent but some way to spread it over a large area such as special bombs.) Even with an air born agent the exposer would be fairly limited to the immediate area while a laser could clear cars if they lack defenses. It would take a significant quantity to pose a threat to more than just a few feet from the release point, it is not like the movies where some one drops a vial and some one 10 feet away is affected.

[eliakon]

Rifts is a highly cinematic world that doesn't really have much truck with 'realisim'. The rules on weapons and armor tend to be the ones that are the most amusing to the author writing them, or that seem to advance the story the most at the time.
There is deliberately little attention paid to issues like terrorism, NBC warfare, or solid examinations of the follow on effects of mega-damage...
...because those sorts of things tend to drag the story down, are not really fun, and tend to end up in the realm of "Oh gee, there isn't really any way to prevent mass slaughter of everyone is there."
Or put another way, the trains work, because the setting says that they work. If the players and GM are willing to work with in that premise then weapons and armor on board are not a huge issue because conveniently no one will use the loopholes to smuggle in unstoppable firepower (unless of course that makes for a good story). Its like in video games. The characters have all sorts of super weapons and armor and gear... but amazingly no matter how high level and good your gear (unless you go grinding or side questing) you usually end up fighting foes and plots that are just about right. Bandits in disk one and Bandits in disk three are wildly different... but still 'just bandits' if that makes sense.

[taalismn]

Or put another way, the trains work, because the setting says that they work. If the players and GM are willing to work with in that premise then weapons and armor on board are not a huge issue because conveniently no one will use the loopholes to smuggle in unstoppable firepower (unless of course that makes for a good story). Its like in video games. The characters have all sorts of super weapons and armor and gear... but amazingly no matter how high level and good your gear (unless you go grinding or side questing) you usually end up fighting foes and plots that are just about right. Bandits in disk one and Bandits in disk three are wildly different... but still 'just bandits' if that makes sense.

"Now we not be blasting away with boomguns and destroying this here train just because of a little disagreement over cards, are we? No, you gentlemen will be waiting until our next stop when you get out, we can set up a betting pool, and you can kill each other like civilized beings, right?"