SO,

Have a pair of players who refuse to leave thier weapons behind for any reason. Even in situations where it would be inappropriate for them to carry them. HOw do fellow DM's deal with players like this or simply leave them at the ship while the rest move on in the adventure?

What kind of weapons? At least in my game, most worlds in the Star Wars galaxy allow the carrying of some kind of sidearm for personal protection, at least.

If they're trying to get into a government building or a fancy ball thrown by a gangster, there might be security out front that would refuse to allow entry to anyone toting a heavy blaster rifle or a rocket launcher or something.

The Star Wars galaxy's a dangerous place, it's hard to fault a PC for wanting protection

Talk with your players about it. If they carry rifles or other heavy weaponry with them, remind them that it would be the equallent of carrying M-16s, AK-47s or similar weapons on our streets. Sure it's legal, and/or acceptend in some parts of the world, and the Far Far Away Galaxy, most places would not accept that, on most of those places would find it illegal.

If the players don't agree or get it, have in game law enforcement act upon them if they carry that stuff around.

If they say "no" and stay at the ship and ruin the game for everyone, just say "have fun on the ship" and have the other players have fun, and occasionally ask the ship players "what are you guys up to, playing sabbac or looking over your fancy shiny weapons whereas the others are having fun?. If they still don't get it and continues to ruin the game and fun for everyone, expel them from future games. No need to play with people that are being A-holes.

However, carrying pistols is legal on most places in the Galaxy and unless there is some high security place it would be a non conflict in carrying them. I guess it's like carrying a open civil use sidearm that is legal in a few liberal democracies around the globe.

If it was a case of etiquette, like on a fancy world where it's just considered uncivilized or very poor form to walk around with a weapon, then I'd have people shun them, refuse to interact with them, turn up their nose, or be at minimum polite, but refuse to offer any help or assistance, while the armed people are present.

Just like you might not get much help from a wealthy landowner if you walked into an audience with him wearing grubby clothes covered in bantha poodoo from working on the fields all day.

I'd say use either security to force the issue, or etiquette and protocol to make it more trouble than it's worth to wear a weapon in that situation.

Oh dear. I guess you could just refuse them entry? Say the security won't let them in?

Or if they sneak weapons in have them found out and fined, maybe they have to keep rolling checks to keep them hidden? That might be better as you can warn them there will be concequences and it's their call if they won't listen.

If they carry heavy weapons though, on a "civilized" world, i would have panic break out, people would think that the character is either a ****** up gangster, school shooter, terrorist, robber etc. or any of them combined. Panic, and law enforcement soon showing up.

I agree with the above posters--there's a mentality in a lot of RPG's (especially but not limited to CRPG's) that you have all your gear on you, all the time, and walking into any situation heavily-armed is appropriate. Walking into the governor's office with a carbine is not likely to be any more successful than claiming your Second Amendment rights will be in getting to carry a shotgun into the White House. However, this hasn't been the expectation for a lot of people before.

Talk to your problem players. If nobody wants to leave their weapons behind, is it because they're primarily interested in combat? If so, missions where they need to infiltrate the Governor's Ball are not likely to be fun for them. If it's just a couple, try to get to the root of why they won't leave them behind.

Leaving them in the ship is a pretty harsh way to deal with it. There are reasonable in-game consequences, and I'd alert the players to them beforehand--"you know, the governor's security is not going to let you in visibly armed" can be useful. If they still refuse, maybe those two are again only interested in combat. Maybe you could set it up where, while part of the party has to infiltrate the ball, another part of the group needs to assault a gang headquarters or something. Switching back and forth between intrigue at the ball and a firefight in the ghettos can be a fun technique.

Ultimately, if no resolution can be found you may need to ask them to leave, assuming it's getting in the way of everyone having fun. If it isn't bothering anyone, fine; but it sounds like it's bothering you at least.

First off what characters are they playing?

Are they trying for Mandalorians and are roleplaying believing those weapons are their lifeblood?

Are they playing bodyguards?

What have they done up to this point in your game?

My reasoning is that maybe what you need to do is arrange for them to acknowledge what they need to do rather than force the issue.

They're aboard the ship and your other players need to find some business... does their face need muscle to act as their bodyguard or protector after all some of the criminals out there won't think twice about taking advantage if they're on their own and carrying quiet alot of money or gear...

They're approached for a job that entails them having to obey the local law codes and only carry hand weapons which must either be visible or as the case may be can be carried and not noticed...

Does the local law prevent them carrying vibro weapons?

Does it prohibit body armour?

What obligations do they have?

Could any of these help get round this problem?

How about a question of my own... training sabers as mentioned in the latest Beta, are they prohibited like light sabers or are they allowed like say in the Tapani Sector if they're registered?

Given they're stun only weapons could someone in your game wander around with a pair of those even if only for appearances sake?

The weapons in question are a 8'-10' pole arm(Glaive) belonging to a Melee Marauder.

and a supped up Bowcaster i consider a heavy rifle belongin to a wookie.

I have no problems with side arms, its the large stuff i wonder about.

Alot of good sugestions , and to be honest it has not been a problem but i can see the fringe of the issues creeping up...

SO thats why i left the inital question very broad.

I'm still surprised that our GM allows the party to carry around all their heavy weapons and disrupt or weapons. My character was built around using non lethal technology so as to be less conspicuous. There are rules for concealment and talents to use on them. Give the sneaky people a chance to use their talents to smuggle in the heavy weapons.

Arrest them, confiscate their weapons, and don't give them back. That will encourage not bringing them when the situation occurs again.

I once had an npc ask them all to hand in their weapons before they entered the markets to a planet they just arrived to.

They were pretty willing and it was going to go fine.

Till at the last second they were like "wait do you have any ID?" to the npc.
The npc quickly ran away

Arrest them, confiscate their weapons, and don't give them back. That will encourage not bringing them when the situation occurs again.

This would also make for a good infiltrate and "confiscate" them back side-quest. Maybe then they will learn their lesson. Maybe.

I'm not sure the players need to be "punished". There should be realistic in-game consequences (assuming that your players want that, rather than a video game--again, if everyone is in agreement that it's ok, then roll with it--but remember that everyone includes you). But beyond that, I think you all need to discuss as a group what sort of game you want to have and what everyone's expectations are.

will just GM like im George Martin. all of your Sean Beans will die

will just GM like im George Martin. all of your Sean Beans will die

And your music will have a rich and innovative production sound!

I'm still surprised that our GM allows the party to carry around all their heavy weapons and disrupt or weapons. My character was built around using non lethal technology so as to be less conspicuous. There are rules for concealment and talents to use on them. Give the sneaky people a chance to use their talents to smuggle in the heavy weapons.

You should let your GM know about this. I had a player who liked to push the boundaries and do as wacky of things as he could. At some point when talking about one of these events, he said in a joking manner "Yeah I was surprised to, but it's our job as players to see what we can get away with." No it isn't! The job of the player is the same as the GM, to have fun. All the uncomfortable situations I'd had to work around, battling my sense of "Let the players do what they want" versus "This is just dumb", and it turns out the player knew it was dumb but wanted to see if he could get away with it.

Don't stress out your GM, let him know "Hey, that stuff we do? We're ok with consequences." Though I suppose from your wording, it's more a question of whether the other players in your group understand and accept the consequences.

Edit - and on the original topic, I try not to tell players "You cannot do this." I try to make consequences for what they're doing. Have the bouncers turn them away from a bar if they don't leave their weapons in the communal locker. If they get violent, have the bouncers fight back... if they kill the bouncers, have the local police show up. If they kill the police, have the local army show up. If they kill the army... well you've got two choices - call in the air force, or accept the force wants them in that bar.

I've always envisioned starports (those on worlds more civilized than Tatooine or Nar Shadda, in any case) to have a sort of reverse security check point for airports, where there are customs people looking over anyone walking out into the world beyond and doing random (or not-so-random) checks of people passing through. Anyone wearing a heavy battle armour and carrying a light repeating blaster would get pulled aside fast.

Edge of the Empire seems like it really relies on being a "living" campaign. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons which can function just fine as a dungeon crawl style game where everyone is always prepared for battle, Edge of the Empire plays out more like a cinematic movie often with scenes that require more "situational appropriateness". If the characters are on their own ship for example it would be assumed that they would likely not be armed. So if suddenly something does happen within their ship such as an intruder or another situation that would require a weapon they may likely find themselves unprepared.

In situations such as weapon-free zones, I think that they can definitely be done, and there should be consequences applied to those who break the rules and are caught (I mean if they sneak in a weapon expertly and undetected, there should be no negative consequence). As mentioned above this could add immediate reprecusions such as being arrested and/or attacked, or possibly longer term issues such as the criminal obligation.

These kind of situations where the characters find themselves unarmed or at a distinct disadvantage would be a great opportunity to remind them about destiny points and how they can be used to change the story. In the example of the ship scenario, the players may find themselves unprepared, but a quick destiny point may reveal that a holdout blaster was coincidently left within their reach.

You may want to remind the players that the players have fun when their characters get into trouble. Sometimes, they'll have to cope without all their toys, and that will be fun. At other times, you'll provide opportunities to them to show how awesome they are with their heavy weapons, and that will also be fun.

Fundamentally, it's about trust. All of you are working together to create cool stories. It's not about GM and players competing with each other.

You may want to remind the players that the players have fun when their characters get into trouble.

I think this is the single most important truth in roleplaying games, and too often forgotten.

My players in my current campaign are great about this, but I've gamed with folks who hard a hard time remembering it. I always remind players that the heroes of Star Wars failed a LOT, and that's why they had drama and adventure!

Han: "How are we doing?"

Luke: "Same as usual."

Han: "That bad, huh?"

I love this exchange for that reason

Alot of good sugestions , and to be honest it has not been a problem but i can see the fringe of the issues creeping up...

I have a player like this, or I can tell he will be, and he's about to infect the others. We've all been roleplaying for years, but he's new to this game. His way has always been classically "antagonistic", mostly as a response to his experience with GMs who are artibrary or vindictive. The other players have adapted well to this narrative cooperative style, and he wanted to join after hearing it's praises. But he immediately falls into old habits, like wondering how many guns he can carry or asking who is going to be left behind to guard the ship, and I can tell he's dragging the other players back into that mindset.

So I'm going to wait for the first such action in the next game and then have an open discussion about it. As it relates to running around everywhere armed to the teeth, I'd say something like "not every situation requires an armed response", and "since I know you can't have your big weapon with you, don't you think I'd scale things accordingly?". I think the main thing I want to make clear is that I'm really more of a facilitator in their story, and as long as they take reasonable precautions and approach challenges with reasonable wit and resourcefulness, they are expected to succeed.

A good way to encourage the Rambo's to ease up is to get them interested in how effective they can make the most concealable firearm. It feeds their death lust but also addresses the ridiculility factor of carrying of M240s in the mall.

So I'm going to wait for the first such action in the next game and then have an open discussion about it.

If I might make a suggestion...

One thing you might do is have a short but open discussion about it at the start of the session, rather than as a response to any specific actions.

If you wait until this one player says "Who's going to stay behind to guard the ship?" and side-track the game to discuss it, the player might see this as an attack on his style or his personality. And, as you say, if the character is a classic mis-matcher/antagonistic personality, this might trigger them into arguing about it or entrenching their position.

At the start of our campaign, I gave my players a brief speech about how in the past I've seen players become too identified with their characters, to the extent that they don't want their character to fail at anything and go to great lengths to keep them from failing. But what we're playing is Star Wars adventure, and the heroes in Star Wars fail ALL THE TIME. This just heightens the drama and raises the stakes. As the GM, my responsibility is to play fair with you all but that doesn't necessarily mean every fight will be fair or that every challenge will be winnable. It just means you should have a great adventure and a good time.

If it were me, I'd address it without being specific, and try to get consent from all the players so that peer-pressure can help bring the player along.

In my games civilized places don't like heavily armed people walking around - but my players understand it. Pistols are usually ok, especially if concealed (not in plain view). But if you try to walk into Bespin carrying heavy rifles and dressed up in heavy or laminate armour - it means that you're looking for trouble. And local security - be it police forces, gangs etc. will at least take SOME interest in you.

Maybe not arrest you on the spot, but check your intentions - for example a licensed bounty hunter would be allowed in - usually. The PCs can always carry their heavy weapons in a bag or a case - unless the place's security is really tight, no-one will scan them.

On the other hand I tend to assume that 90% of citizens are not homicidal maniacs shooting people as soon as they have a chance. Of course there are really seedy, unlawful areas (wildlife is a different matter) but even gangers don't attack people on sight - they try to extort things, show their position etc. So there isn't a reason to carry heavy arms everywhere...