6 min read


Context

Writeups.org has a number of “Weapons Locker” articles.

The name references a 1980s supplement for the old Marvel Super-Heroes Role-Playing Game by TSR.

They’re not lists of game stats – though there is a lot of stats. They are closer to a guided tour about weapons and their role in action-adventure stories.

The header picture of this article references a small running gag throughout the modern firearms Weapons Locker articles. Where Angelina Jolie is demonstrating an improbable variety of guns.

All these articles are part of the “Weapons locker” subcategory, in the categories breadcrumb near the beginning of each article.

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Caveats & notes

  1. All Weapons Locker articles are interested in fiction, with an emphasis on comic books. Plus action movies and video games, since those media do the heavy lifting in shaping perception of weapons.
  2. There’s also a focus on US fiction rather than, say, Bollywood or Nollywood action flicks. Or fantasy manhwa, or Chinese CRPGs, or whichever.
  3. As heavily emphasised in the articles, all the content is about stories. There often are side notes about how things work in the real world, but the article always prefer to depict fictional workings. No matter how unrealistic.
  4. Many of the articles are presented in two parts. One that covers the relevant weapon types most often seen in stories, and another that presents more rare, specialised or completely made-up weaponry.
  5. Stats are provided for the DC Heroes Role-Playing Game and, if I have the energy, the Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Role-Playing Game.
  6. Neither of these RPG systems is fine-details-oriented. So we’re going to cover weapon categories rather than specific weapons. Since almost all weapons within a given category would have the exact same stats.
  7. On the other hand, we did add a fair few optional rules to increase the detail level. See our technical RPG articles for this sort of material.
  8. Historically, a major source of pictures and data for firearms in movies and games for the Weapons Locker articles has been the Internet Movie Firearms Database  . This is less true now, but it’s still an invaluable resource on this niche subject.

Archery - Tomb Raider Lara Croft Alicia Vikander aiming bow

Ms. Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in the 2018 movie adaptation of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot (pfew).

Not-universe-specific articles

Generic articles – modern firearms series

Generic articles – melee weapons

Generic articles – shields and armour

Generic articles – other articles

  • Weapons locker – Bows. Covers bows, arrows and accessories ancient and modern. Crossbows will be in another article.
  • Weapons locker – The Quick Missiles Essay. Provides stock stats for the main missile and warheads types. It’s a short article but has suited all our needs so far.
  • Weapons locker – Old West firearms. Covers the guns used in movies, comics, novels, etc. set in the Old West — the decades that follow the Civil War. It is now presented as a three-parter, since there’s a/ a lot of guns and b/ a lot of explanations in that one.
  • Weapons locker. That was the last evolution of the original article. It covered a lot of ground – albeit in a shallow manner. So there is still material in it that has yet to be covered by more modern articles. But it’s really old.

Wolfenstein 3D game - BJ Blazkowicz - Brandishing chaingun

Good ol’ B.J. Blazkowicz brandishing an improbable chaingun in the first major First Person Shooter (FPS) video game.

Universe-specific articles and links