A gun can end another player’s scene with a single squeeze of the trigger, and that power is exactly why carrying one is a privilege you earn through experience, not a right you start with. The rules below apply everywhere in the worlds, with two exceptions noted at the end. They exist so that a firearm enriches a scene instead of cutting it short.
A gun is not for winning
Guns are not meant to kill a character or to end a story, and the goal of drawing one is never to win the scene. Use them sparingly; they tend to end things abruptly and often add little. Drawing a gun does not mean it has to be fired, and good practice is to always leave your counterpart a way to avoid severe injury. If you push for a kill against someone who has complied, or wave a gun around while hiding behind your own limits, you can lose the privilege of carrying one at all.
The two-post rule
Firing a gun takes two steps, every single time, no matter the situation. First, a post drawing and aiming the weapon. Then, a second post pulling the trigger. This gives your target a real chance to react, to run, to talk, to reach for their own. You may draw within your first post if the situation calls for it, but the two-post structure between draw and fire is absolute. A maximum of two shots can be fired in a single post, and you never have to fire even one. Do not enter a scene with your gun already drawn; the only exception is an on-duty officer responding to a call where firearms are already in play.
Aim to tell a story, not to kill
It is bad form to aim to kill. Avoid point-blank shots without permission, and write in the possibility that you might miss: shaking hands, poor training, a moving target, a distraction. The more precisely you aim and the more you stress how trained your character is, the more your counterpart will rightly try to dodge, because nobody wants their character to die. Always leave the other player a way out. Do not shoot someone who has surrendered or complied unless they have given you permission out of character. If it truly fits the story, you can miss on purpose, fire a warning, or threaten instead.
Your Armed status
When your character is actually carrying a gun, open your Character Card and switch your Armed status on. This marks you as carrying above your head, though you still have to emote the weapon in your writing; the tag is not a substitute for the scene. A warning that matters: if you are arrested while Armed, your gun is confiscated automatically, even if you never drew it, and the system cannot undo that. So only switch Armed on when you are genuinely carrying, and think hard about when and where that is worth it.
Don’t carry all the time
You do not need a gun to be intimidating, and carrying one every day is asking to lose it. Decide when you head out whether your character is armed, and carry only when you plan to use it or expect real danger. It is poor form to pull a gun from nowhere, and equally poor form to make one vanish the moment it might be confiscated. If your gun is taken enough times, your permit is revoked for a stretch, another reason to carry with intention rather than habit.
If a gun is lost in a fight
If a player loses their gun during a fight, anyone with a gun permit may pick it up and use it. A player without a permit who grabs it must get the owner’s consent to use it; otherwise their only option is to throw it out of reach, and to dispose of it when the scene ends. A firearm is never a loophole around the permit system.
The law, and where guns are banned
Local law is roleplay law, and it does not always mirror real life. In Hathian, open carry is illegal for anyone but police, so displaying a firearm in public invites a realistic response: confiscation, armed police, or serious jail time. Concealed carry is not itself illegal, but if you are caught up in an incident and arrested, your gun is confiscated regardless of whether you were the victim. Two places forbid firearms entirely in ordinary play: Greek Row, where no guns are permitted in roleplay at all, and Hathian General Hospital, where metal detectors and guards keep weapons out and only on-duty officers may carry. Exceptions to any of this exist only for planned stories cleared with the relevant leads in advance.
Equipment
A few hard limits on gear. Silencers are not allowed. Body armor is for on-duty police only. Any potentially lethal projectile weapon, including bows and crossbows, requires a gun permit; thrown melee weapons like knives do not, though a trained knife-thrower is wise to get a permit to avoid disputes. Realistic toy or fake guns need a permit too, because others have to treat them as real. When unsure about a particular weapon, ask an admin, or simply get a permit first.
Carry with intention and leave every scene survivable, and a gun becomes a source of tension rather than a scene-ender. The rules for fire and explosives, the other tools that can reshape a scene, come next.