Firearms Companies and Megas, Who owns what? Prepare thyself for a wall of text... Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Vicar]

With the release of Shadowrun Returns and the general moddability of it, I found myself adding (and fixing) guns to that game, going back to as many gun-books as I could find (I'm talking ALL the way back), and just looking at the way that guns in the Shadowrun world have evolved over time. And then I found Gun Heaven 2, which blew my mind.

You see, Gun Heaven 2 went ahead and presented the guns according to which AAA "mega" produced them: Saeder-Krupp, Renraku, or Shiawase. Ares wasn't listed, as the stats for their guns are scattered across a bunch of books, and the 6 others weren't mentioned at all. And because the weapons were laid out in such a manner, I got thinking about things I hadn't ever rally thought about before.

I guess because the Fichetti Security is described as being "the handgun of choice for security companies" or some such, that I always just assumed that everybody (except Ares) used Fichetti equipment. But that wouldn't be the case, would it? I mean, we're talking about GIANT corporations here. The rules are different for them than they are for the smaller guys. They would almost have to, every single one of them, have their own armaments divisions. Here are a couple of reasons why:

1) Security. In the age of wireless and matrix 2 and 3 and bricking, there's always the possibility that purchasing your weapons from a 3rd-party could cause a gaping security hole. What happens if Ares (I doubt they would, but it's possible. And not just Ares, but anybody) leaves a backdoor in their smartlinks? You know, just in case? And then open conflict (or the right information passed to a certain shadowrunning outfit because this job is just THAT important) erupts? BOOM, that mega suffered a serious strategic setback.

2) Branding. In the age of extraterritorial mega-corporations, everything that an employee does or wears or eats reflects on the employer. I highly doubt that a AAA (especially one as public-conscious as Horizon) wants their security personnel seen in public sporting a gun made by a competitor. And let's face it, when a company is that big, they are definitely all in competition with each other, even if their main focuses might be in divergent areas.

So, looking at Gun Heaven 2, as I mentioned, Shiawase, Saeder-Krupp, and Renraku are represented. Ares is obviously represented in all the books. In Corporate Guide I found a listing saying that Cavalier Arms is owned by NeoNet (which is in itself interesting, because Cavalier Arms is presented in the "Mom and Pops" section of Gun Heaven 2). Aztechnology has Armamentos Murreta (of which I can find ONE gun in all the books I've looked at, the AM-884 Mondragon Battle Rifle from the War! sourcebook). And Monobe (not a AAA) owns both Weapons World (the WalMart of guns) and FN Herstal (which in turn, IRL, owns Browning and Winchester). So 6 of the ten are represented.

I myself can definitely see Horizon leaning towards the Morrissey line of things (security for the fashion-conscious, natch), and in Gun Heaven 1? Jianshi is mentioned in connection with Wuxing, but that's a correlation, and doesn't necessarily mean ownership. Nowhere can I find any mention of security armaments for EVO/Yamatetsu or Mitsuhama.

So I guess my question is, have you guys thought about these things? Are there other references that I'm missing?

ps - I really do hope that Catalyst, in 5e, continues to move away from "variants of real-life guns" and more towards the world/setting-specific weapons like those presented in Gun Heaven 2.