Designer's Notes on "Better Improvised Weapons."

Here is a collection of random notes on my recent article, "Better Improvised Weapons," for the post-apocalypse-themed Pyramid 3/88 The End is Nigh. Here is also Pee Kitty's writeup of the issue.



I've written up a lot improvised weapons for GURPS already, such as the table in GURPS Martial Arts. So I didn't want to just write up some more weapons. Instead, I wanted to cover some of the ways improvised weapons work in movies, comics, and books. That is, they're better . . . sometimes forever, usually just for a scene.

Meldon Jones is a triple tribute.

Equipment Bond - the bonuses for Equipment Bond came out of a brunch discussion with Sean Punch last time I went up to Montreal to see him. We got sat on the far end of the table, probably because we discuss things like the Equipment Bond perk over bagels* and coffee. Sean mentioned regretting not thinking of that earlier. A while later I emailed him and asked if I could steal it. The price was, I had to mention nail guns. Done and done.

Intimidation - I suggested this Rancid quote as a quote in the article. It didn't make it, but it's probably the initial trigger for Intimidation bonuses idea:

"Police retreated with riot shields in fear of a baseball bat"
Rancid, Warsaw, off of Life Won't Wait.

I had a Simpsons quote for I Made it Myself, too, but it didn't make it in. Probably for the better . . .




* Montreal bagels vs. NY bagels is like French bread vs. Italian bread - equally amazing but quite different.