Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (
More info?)
Sorry for not answering sooner or more directly. Thanks for all the
feedback, it's been most helpfull.
A bit of the background: Late medieval/early rennaisance fantasy
world culture figures out that their world goes through cycles of
creation and destruction. Every so often the magic of the world fades
away and reality itself disolves into utter timeless chaos only to be
reborn anew.
In a bid to allow themselves (their culture really) to survive they
build a few secret cities inside mountains shielded with their most
powerfull magics so they can float in the unrealness till the world
reshapes itself around them. A kind of magical generation ship.
The game started with the city's "landing" and the players are now
exploring the "new world".
Here's how I've decided to outfit "The City's" police and (mostly
vestigial) military.
The Watch (ie police): Unarmored uniforms and billyclubs most of the
time. (And tanglefoot bags as well.) With padded armor versions of the
uniform for rough neighborhoods (with leather armor available for
officers). Mostly non-lethal weapons unless the situation forces their
hand. A few medium armors, swords and crossbows available if they need
to outfit a squad for some "SWAT" mission (ie if they need to rush into
a building where known criminals have baricaded themselve for example).
The Guard (military): Having been "bottled" up for so long has
reduced the army to a few guys trying to keep military traditions and
techniques alive. Their only real job (for now) is keeping people out of
certain places and acting as honor guards for the Council of Sages on
ceremonial occasons. (Based on decidedly medieval doctrines, a core of
"real" soldiers with some riffraff drafted in to fill out the
battlefield so the painters will have a satisfyingly full field of
battle to conmemorate later.)
Marking a door as off limits: Chainmal or a breastplate. Big showy
plumes in their helmets, serious looking pole weapon, maybe a shield and
a sword (that they better not take out of the scabard without serious
provocation).
Ceremonial Occasions: Lightly built plate armor (lot less AC than it
looks) but very colorfull/richly decorated. Really big feathers and
plumes on the helmets.
Seriously Keeping People Out: A couple of beefy guys in full plate
with shields and longswords or bastard swords standing out in the open.
And sneaky guys and hidden bowmen well out of sight.
Arcane Magic: While the city was in transit magic ran off
concentrated liquid mana, so it was dangerously unstable. But if magic
was need to solve a problem the Sages would certainly make the neccesary
arrangements.
Divine Magic: A few gods placed traveled with their beleivers by
"sleeping" within shrines or holy relics. So few clerics ever manifested
all that much power, but the clerics of one or two religions (LG, old
martial and lawkeeping traditions) would have felt duty bound to join
(or at least assist) both the Watch and the Guard.
Militias: now that the city has landed and people are going out to
start new towns and cities the old rule allowing "Lords" to raise
militias will probably be used to raise the old "Regiments" (If in a
rather Pratchettian manner as in "Jingo". So they'll be badly trained
(if at all), and equiped cheaply but colorfully.) by both the old "noble
families and by upstarts looking to become nobles.
There is the possiblity of a profesional (modern) army being started
some day, but for now there's only a few untraditional students of
military history/techniques even thinking of such things.
Charleson Mambo
ps Sorry if this shows up twice, first one seem to have vanished into
the aether.
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To confuse, inveigle, and obfuscate.
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(I suppose
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