Deadly, but not a weapon

[Morte]

What's deadly but not "a weapon".

There's Sherlock Holmes story where he uses his scarf as a deadly weapon. Dr Watson has his trusty revolver, but Holmes looks unarmed.

I'm looking for the traveller equivalent -- something you could take on a ship that requires you to check all firearms and edged weapons, or a planet with similar law.

Obviously, unarmed combat ability is a possibility. But armed combat should be better, all else being equal. Concealed weapons are not quite the thing I'm looking for -- I want something that wouldn't be breaking any rules if found. If it needs training, that's fine.

Any thoughts?

 

[vegascat]

It sounds what you are looking for is improvised weapons.

Improvised weapons are objects used to cause harm that are not normally considered weapons.

The stilleto heel of a wonams shoe may be deadly used properly.

A chunk of plastic broken into a narrow wedge could be used as a blade.

A wooden stick with an end broken at an angle can be a spear.

Attach a two pound bag of coins to the end of a belt for a morningstar type weapon.

A mans tie may be used as a garrote.

These are just a few ideas. Leave it to a group of immaginative PCs to come up wiht many more.

 

[zephyrus]

Metal ink pin or sharp pencil, letter opener, hanger, hard case lugage, screw driver, wrench, bag (Plastic), rope or cable.

most improvised weapons fall into a couple of broad catagories.

Bludgeoning & Choking/Smothering is gonna be your most common. Peircing and Slashing are usually too obvious.

 

[kaladorn]

Belt.
Suspenders.
Neck chain, appears to be silver but is actually only silver plated and is made of steel.
Rolled up magazine.
Sports equipment (baseball bat, hockey stick, hardball)
Kitchen knife.
Cutlery/Tableware.
Computer cords (mouse cord, speaker wire, power cord, etc).
Laptop computer can be used as an improvised bludgeon.
Dental floss garotte.
Walking stick.
Tools from toolkit. (Wrenches, screw drivers, utility knives, chisels, various kinds of wire, pry bars, flares, hatchet)
Steel toed boots.
Watch (mine is stainless steel).
Large Mag-Lite style flashlight.
Steel helmet (perhaps off a vacc suit).
Length of water or other fluid pipe.
Musical instrument.
Curling iron.
Soldering iron.
Portable welder.
Rope. Cord. Cable.
etc.

 

[Eric]

It looks like all of these will require a martial arts feat to be used as weapons.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Zanrain:
It looks like all of these will require a martial arts feat to be used as weapons.

Oddly, people in the real world, who know nothing about 'feats' and many of whom know nothing about 'martial arts' are able to employ these, at least on an ad-hoc basis, as weapons. Perhaps not terribly efficiently, but efficiently enough to cause bodily harm and sometimes death.

 

[Morte]

Thanks for the replies.

I'd thought of the flashlights and pliers used as clubs etc. What I'm looking for isn't really an improvised weapon, it's some dangerous item that people don't think of as a weapon even when looking for improvided weapons. This is something the character would always carry, and would train themselves to use.

Now I've seen a few examples and thought "the problem with that is...", let me clarify a little.

I want a weapon chosen so that:

- The character can always carry without raising eyebrows (taking a heavy flashlight to dinner would look odd)

- If they're patted down by guards before going in to see Mr Delfini, the guards won't remove it

- It can be used quickly, preferably like a sheathed/holstered weapon (coins in a sock takes time to arrange)

- With training, it would offer a useful advantage (approaching a blade), making them the favorite against an unarmed opponent of similar skill

- It's entirely legal

- Even if some gaurd realises it makes a good weapon, they say "Sorry, that could be used as a weapon, I have to take it", not "Hey, you tried to smuggle a weapon in". But they'd be unlikely to realise.

Spending a feat to avoid non-proficiency penalties is fine, as is time in training.

The best I've come across so far are:

- A watch that quickly turns into a good knuckleduster (James Bond's Rolex)

- The cellphone I had in 1995 with the large battery option would have made a good "blunt object". Maybe some sort of ruggedised portacomp in T20?

- A debit card with a sharp edge.

- A belt with a deadly buckle, purpose designed for fighting, but looking like clothing.

- Hard-soled mountain boots.

None of these really set the world on fire. I need something better.

 

[Tanuki]

A cane. Not a walking stick, but a cane, properly used, with perhaps just a hint of a limp. Canes are like eyeglasses or crutches or a cast -- use it properly and it's assumed that you need it.

But you can use it like a club. If it's one of those adjustable ones made with telescoping metal tubes you can sharpen the tip that goes into the rubber tip (the rubber tip has a metal plate in it to keep the tube from punching through it). Pop off the tip and you've got a stabbing weapon that you can fence with.

Separate the pieces and you've got two weapons or a weapon and something to block with. The inner tube could even have a nylon or fiberglass blade socketed into the part that goes inside the outer tube, though that would be a very obvious "this is a WEAPON" problem if discovered.

For that matter an arm in a cast is innocuous but can be employed with devastating effect, particularly if it's the cloth/fiberglass/resin kind rather than plaster.

A leg brace is another option. Can be disassembled into metal rods and knuckledusters.

 

[Morte]

I like the cane, but it's maybe a bit obviously useful as a weapon. I can see a few doormen telling a character to leave it at the door. OTOH the "masquerade" aspect could work some of the time, and it's certainly good roleplay fun.

Also, if I was a PC checking out fellow passengers I'd be immediately suspicious of a cane. I've seen too many films with canes used as weapons.

The arm in a cast I like. It could be a problem to wear it all the time, though. Maybe that could go a step further, to something like a cybernetic replacement hand which just happens to have a few sharp edges below the cosmetic flesh. Can TL15 do this, I wonder?

 

[Ran Targas]

Some ideas:

- Remember the blow guns or zap guns you used to make out of ball point pens in grade school? Same concept but highly toxic ink

- Cloth gloves with memory metal strands woven into the cloth, when a small current is passed thru the strands, the gloves become rigid, turning the gloved hand into a hardened club or extended fingers into jabbing weapons (perhaps the charge could be built up by flexing the hand rapidly)

- A shoelace, belt, zipper, or fob containing a molecular strand of poly-wolly-dura-tri-tanium useful as a garotte or slicing weapon

- A pocket watch (with reinforced parts) that doubles as a morning star (think of the original use for the yo-yo)

- Any personal item that is battery powered, rigged to produce an electric shock capable of incapacitating a victim

- A pair of glasses where the lenses are sharpened high-impact plastic throwing disks and the frame can be used as a sling to heave them

- A hearing aid designed to produce any extremely painful high frequency noise that impacts directly on the central nervous system

- A hard plastic credit card designed to break into four razor-sharp shards, weighted for throwing or useful for slashing

And then there's the stuff you want to leave at the door to incapacitate or distract the guards:

- A wrist watch or pocket watch that contains a compressed vial of knock-out gas, time released when the alarm goes off

- A credit card sized wafer of white phosphorous sheathed in brittle plastic, one or two good bends or smacks on a table and wooof!

- A flask of extreme proof liquer with a detonator in the cap, twist and boom!

Ahhh, sweet memories of Top Secret ...

 

[MichaelL65]

Originally posted by Morte:
Also, if I was a PC checking out fellow passengers I'd be immediately suspicious of a cane. I've seen too many films with canes used as weapons.

Then it can make a great distraction as well!

 

[snrdg082102]

Hello Morte,

By definition a weapon is "an instrument, device or something used for attack or defense against an opponent or adversy." Random House Webster's Dictionary p. 747. Note that I combined the definitions.

From the above most items can become weapons, even in unskilled hands with little or no training.

Since we are talking about the future how about combining two items together. For example a belt with a piece of jewelry that can act as a battery to create a sword.

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by MichaelL65:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Morte:
Also, if I was a PC checking out fellow passengers I'd be immediately suspicious of a cane. I've seen too many films with canes used as weapons.

Then it can make a great distraction as well!

</font>[/QUOTE]Yep, I like that. I like the idea of "the one they spot and the one they don't".

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by Thomas Rux:
Hello Morte,

Since we are talking about the future how about combining two items together. For example a belt with a piece of jewelry that can act as a battery to create a sword.

Clever, but, well... once you're found to be carrying a James Bond weapon you're admitting to being James Bond.

If it were in this vein, I'd be happier with a cellphone that was withdrawn from the market two years ago because the manufacturers discovered that if you entered the wrong code into the power management subsystem it turned into a tazer.

[BTW, I'm prepared to accept that there is no really good answer and might as well study Ju-whotsit. But not yet.]

 

[justacaveman]

Credit cards, or deck of playing cards that are actually concealed explosives. Blasting caps w/timers built into buttons etc..

Shoe with heavily weighted sole that can be used as a bludgeoning weapon.

A high skill level in a martial art that has the ability to turn almost any item into a deadly weapon (Boy, that's a real nasty paper cut).

A very strong ballpoint pen made of titanium that can be used to stab someone with.

A small laser built into another electronic device (A laser is electronics).

 

[Eric]

Credit cards, or deck of playing cards that are actually concealed explosives. Blasting caps w/timers built into buttons etc..

You mean, like my punch cards.

Let`s not forget Odd Job`s bowlers hat.
For your female PCs, tie their hair up with throwing spi... er chop sticks.
A purse with a brick in it.
Tear gas in a perfume bottle.
A camera with a really powerful flash.
A stout ring.
A nail clipper.
Pepper spray.
A pocket full of sand.
A flask of alcohol and a lighter, instant blow torch.

 

[snrdg082102]

Evening Morte,

I wasn't thinking about James Bond in particular but the other spy shows as well, Our Man Flint, or something like that, I Spy, yes even Get Smart. There was another spy show that had two agents, I just can't remember the shows name. Mission Impossible had some interesting devices created out of every day materials too. How about shows like MacIver (SP?) or the A-Team. I mean Mac used duct tape to come combine items together to get him out of all sorts of jams. Now the A-Team was able to convert nail guns into some interesting devices.

Basically, anything a person can lay hands on has the potential to be a weapon. Sorry about being more helpful, my preferred method of taking out an opponent is from a distance with say an RPG or some sort of explosive device.

Originally posted by Morte:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Thomas Rux:
Hello Morte,

Since we are talking about the future how about combining two items together. For example a belt with a piece of jewelry that can act as a battery to create a sword.

Clever, but, well... once you're found to be carrying a James Bond weapon you're admitting to being James Bond.

If it were in this vein, I'd be happier with a cellphone that was withdrawn from the market two years ago because the manufacturers discovered that if you entered the wrong code into the power management subsystem it turned into a tazer.

[BTW, I'm prepared to accept that there is no really good answer and might as well study Ju-whotsit. But not yet.] </font>[/QUOTE]

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Many 'Traditional' Martial arts weapons are actually 'improvised' farmer's implements and the like.

The Rich guys had swords. The ordinary folk had to make do with sticks and hayforks.

Which brings me to my suggestion:

Aparantly (according to my admittedly non-scholarly studies of such arts) there existed a weapon designed specifically to counter the slashing-style swords that were in vogue in Japan.

Basically, it was a few feet of chain with weights on both ends. It couldn't be cut and thus could be used to block a sword slash. it's flexibility and weighted ends allowed it to be used as a simple flail and even to entangle an opponent's sword.

Something of that sort can be made in such a way as to double as an innocent peice of jewellry. Most "Guard" types might never guess that it actually IS as opposed to "Could be used as" a weapon.

Attach a belt clip (heavy duty) and a key ring. and it's no longer jewelry but still an innocent accessory.

On another note if you want to see some REAL improvised weapons. Check out some of Jackie Chan's movies. ("Rumble in the Bronx" comes to mind, where he beats on the bad guys with everything from kitchen appliance doors to a pair of Frozen Turkeys. In "Operation Condor", he holds off a whole swarm of guys using a tall step ladder)

Hope this Helps.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I don't know what you call these things, but I've seen lots of people with them, usually janitors and security guards and other people with lots of keys to keep up with. Anyway, it is a keychain attached to a small metal cannister that clips onto your belt. The keychain is connected to a small metal cable that automatically pays out and takes itself back up -- sort of like a metal tape measure.

This allows you to have the keys hand, and when you need to use them to unlock something, rather than unclip them from your belt or whatever, you just grab them and pull. The cable pays out to give you enough slack to reach the lock. When you're finished, you just let go, the cable takes up the slack and the keys return to their original position.

You could use this cable as a garrotte. Also, if you had some way to lock the cable in position after it was paid out, you could use the keys and cable as an improvised spiked ball and chain, as someone described above.

 

[Morte]

So far, in my quest for quickly deployed weapons that you could always carry without them being removed by security or confirming any suspicion that you're less than innocent, I like:

- Various converta-garottes (key chains, necklaces, neckties). Although garottes seem a bit specialised -- you'd want to start out behind your opponent.

- Gadgets (portacomp, comms) that make good bludgeons. May be a bit hard to hang onto before any meeting where recordings are banned.

- A heavy and solid watch, with a store-bought strap that just happens to secure it as a good knuckleduster.

- The right belt with the right buckle.

- Footwear that's good for kicking.

- A pen that happens to be constructed like a good stabbing weapon.

- A standard model cybernetic hand/arm that has some nasty sharp/pointy bits under the cosmetic flesh.

- Pointy hair-control thingummies.

- A camera with a really powerful flash, and a background as a photographer.

- An actual weapon you hope they'll ignore -- Swiss Army Knife "for general odd jobs", can of pepper spray "for defence against muggers/rapists".


The problem with most of the other suggestions is generally either:

- They're an admission of guilt. If somebody finds a foil in that walking stick you brought to the meeting with the gang boss, ouch. If SolSec think you might be an Impie spy, then finding a Gauss rifle in your crutches will convince them.

- They're improvised from something that may not be available. Why train yourself to be deadly with a frozen chicken if the fight might happen in a steak house?