Weapons laws
From RPGwiki
A slightly more minor quibble but one that does need to be answered. What is an acceptable weapon in this society? Obviously this will change from land to land, as in our world there are countries with strict weapons laws (us), looser weapons laws (U.S.), and places where guns are freely available (some of the more war-torn parts of Africa). But what is the standard going to be on our world, particularly with regards to traditional fantasy weapons.
I was thinking it might be an interesting idea if there were lands where ancient hand to hand weapons were classed as acceptable in the same way the US allows firearms, but where actual firearms were very strictly controlled. In those kinds of lands you might see bodyguards wandering around with swords in sheaths on their backs instead of shoulder holsters, with only government security types allowed guns to protect their charges.
Of course wands could fall into a grey area in between, with the really rich hiring wizards with wands of magic missiles in a shoulder holster to be their protectors.--Alex 10:46, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
Careful, bodyguards with swords is getting dangerously close to He-Man territory...
To be honest, I'd rather most parts of the world obey similar arms laws to europe, which is to say usually only availble with a lisence and harder restrictions on military grade weapons. As for ancient weapons, I'd go by the example of the modern world again. Blunt replicas are ok, as long as don't tote them around in the streets, but actual weapons designed for killing out pretty much out of the question. You may be able to get a license to keep them somewhere private, but you stil can't carry them around with you. Most surviving examples, especially magical ones, would be in museums or private collections.
Wands would be covered by the same laws that cover the spells that they cast. A wand of magic missiles in a shoulder holster is a concealed weapon, and likely to get you arrested. A wand of sleep on the other hand is more like a can of pepper spray and rather less likely to upset officers of the law - assuming that they can tell the difference. Andy 13:24, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
Fair enough for the most part. But since there are lands in our world that have differing rules I think we can still fit in a couple of lands with either tighter, looser or just different weapons laws. --Alex 10:50, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
