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Originally Posted by Nightshade
True. It tends to become more pronounced with guns however, as they're functions end up being bunched up a lot more than melee weapons. People will carry a shortsword as a backup if they carry a broadsword, because they don't want the encumberance of carrying two when they don't use the backup that much, or just because they lack the Strength. With handguns, they're going to migrate to the best one in terms of damage and ammo capacity (and in games that pay attention to it, accuracy) and that's about that; if there are Strength minimums they may use the best one within their Strength category, and that's about it.
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No really. Historically you almost never saw someone carrying a "backup" sword. Generally weapons didn't break as opten as in RQ2. THat's why I prefer RQ3's AP ratings. Actually breaking a sword requires either a lot of abuse or a good vice.
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What I'm suggesting I guess is that getting into too much detail is, in practice, sort of pointless here. Among melee weapons there's at least some tradeoffs that can make people do some variation (at least once you're dealing with the whole impale/slash/bash business) but its not a coincidence that you pretty much have three sizes of sword in most versions of the game and that's it, because if you go much past that you have exactly the same problem; one or more never gets used except by the purists. With the limited number of traits that will be visible to a revolver in BRP, I'd have to assume _most_ of them would never get used.[/quote]
Actually just a few traits can make all the difference. For example the Bond BRP RPG uses 11 numbers to rate most guns, and it covers the various weapons rather well.
Just by adding a Concealment and Draw modifers for BRP Old West I added something else to the mix besides damage, ammo, and range.
In the real world, choose a firearm is really about making trade-offs. Generally, the more you stress one trait, the more you pay for it in others. For example, if you want the ultimate in damage potential, you could get something like the Maadi Griffon. It firearm the 50 caliber round used in the M2 machinegun. Probably worth around 2D10+2 damage or so in BRP terms. Problem is, it's a big gun, holds one shot, and has a lot of recoil.
The only games where I see people going with the big damage doers or most ammo are those where the other stats don't matter. Or where the players are idiots. I once had a guy take a .44 Ruger Redhawk as his personal sidearm in an espionage campaign. Since the .44 is a big pistol, people tended to pick up on the fact that he was armed.
Most versions of BRP actually use at least 6 variations of the 'sword". Knife/Fighting Knife (Dagger)/Shortsword/Broadsword/Bastard Sword/Greatsword.
Then there is the saber, kurkri , rapier, and scimitar.
In the end it all depends on just what level of detail people want. Again using the James Bond RPG as an example, the main rulebook gave out stats for 11 weapons, 7 pistols, 3 rifles, and an SMG. Additional weapons were available through supplments. Most adventures tended to give the NPCs stats from the basic book with an alternate if the GM owned the Q Manual.
Me? I'd rather have a character using a Colt "Peacemaker" or H&K USP than a "Fast Draw Revolver" or "Medium Auto pistol".
Note that both approaches are not exclusive. There is nothing that prevents someone from doing up "generic" weapon stats and then doing up individual makes and models.