Post originally by David Sinclair at 2003-08-06 08:33:47
Converted from Phorums BB System

Be glad the author decided to use them. He could have gone the alternate route through Hasbro's unauthorized products program that gives the world all the monopoly clones and axis & allies expansions. Had he gone that route, the entire D20 and OGL licensing structure could have been destroyed.

Next, if the author of Action!'s combat rules actually held a gun, then I'm guessing that whatever military or law enforcement experience he has had was beyond his ability to translate into game terms? Then again, you shouldn't make assumptions that the author of the combat system happens to be that particular one of the three people listed in the credits.

Incidentally, "having military experience" is meaningless without specific military experience. If the Action! author you're thinking of happens to have been a cook, then he only handled the most basic weapons in inventory (an M16, maybe an M4 and M9, and that's it) during basic training, then shoots off a few magazines of ammo at requalifications every year or two.

Same goes for law enforcement experience. If he was a dispatcher, for example, odds are he never even handled a gun. And if he was a patrol officer, firearms experience widely varies. Big City cops tend to have experience with a very small group of firearms, consisting mainly of the police-issue weapons. If he was a rural cop, where the officers tend to own their own guns rather than being issued one, they tend to have far wider experience, due to the fact that the money for the gun comes out of their own pockets and they spend quite a bit of time finding a gun that suits them best.

So, when you hear claims of military and law enforcement experience, take them with a grain of salt.