Since 2013, it's pretty much been the Cyberpunk player's maxim, especially in the gritty streets on Night City, to pack heavy. In case there are any absolute Greenhorns in the readership, packing heavy is the term for cramming as many or the largest weapon/s you can get away with.
So who doesn't actually carry some sort of firearm in the game? The dead body, perhaps? The gibbering fool? Even a techie will carry a holdout, generally. Even a netrunner will carry something stylish to show off to friends.
You don't have to able to fire a gun to be able to use a gun. A firearm is a tool, just like a deck or a left-handed screwdriver. It is a device of coercion, a pacifier, an equalizer, a last chance. Sure, it kills people dead but that is it's end purpose. If you want to use a gun properly you use it with Intimidate, Leadership, Persuade/Fast Talk, or your basic COOL skill. A gun can end fistfights or stabbings, and it can get your character what they want. It can get attention fast, it's a remote control for lights (if you're good), it tells people you mean business. Actually whipping a gun out and planting it in someone's face can be good for a player character. I'm not talking in terms of mental health, but of a threat level that is pretty much unsurpassed. What is disappointing is the GM who ignores this fact, who decides that NPC's will go on and try to jump a character who has a gun on the NPC. The GM might know that the character will miss. He might also know that the gun he/she is firing might not even hurt the assailant. What a GM has to take into consideration is that the actual NPC may not know that. All they know is that there's a barrel pointed their way. That dinky Dai Lung magnum might have frag-flechette rounds, for all he knows. Sure, the GM knows all but the characters he plays don't. In some ways, this is the hardest thing about ref'ing a game.
I think that the best thing about personal firearms in the Cyberpunk universe is their intimidation factor. Players always want to know if their assailant is packing. They're never worried about if their cannons are visible. Except, perhaps for the fixers. Telling alert players about the butt of a Malorian 3516 in a shoulder holster can really get them toey. On the flipside, the fact they cannot see anything on a target can get them quite suspicious too, especially if the target is acting in some nonchalant manner, cool and aloof. They get very suspicious and quite paranoid.
Paranoia is another good reason to carry a gun. Especially in the city. An out-of-game quote by one of my players went something like this;
'Night City, it's worse than a warground, it's worse than the jungle. See, out there, you know where the enemy is; he's way over there, on that side, or down the other side of the hill. N.C, man, they're everywhere. You don't know who's gonna shoot you next, where they're gonna come from. You gotta pack heavy because you don't know who he is or what he's carrying.'
I have done my bit to encourage that paranoia, as a responsible GM.
Another point about personal sidearms is the instant threat factor. The CorpRat you're threatening might have a fleet of six Arasaka AV-4's ready to make an air strike, but they're not in his hand right now. You could have a Militech snapcard, you might have all the clout in the world but a gun is instant and the great equalizer. Some poor street schmuck with a Fashion Gun 9 can still pop the richest Eurobrat in the known world, as long as the circumstances conspire.
But what to pack? Firstly, you're limited by budget; what you can afford. In Cyberpunk now you can make a pistol that costs over ten grand, and it will be a damn fine piece too. Just don't lose it. Customization can make a gun's price rocket, but there's a stack of nice budget stuff out there too. If you can put up with a good gun having a lower reliability, say ST (standard) then it can be even cheaper. Although nobody, but nobody wants a jammed gun in the heat of combat. If it's a tool, it's worth taking care of. Ask any solo character player what to carry and they'll probably give you a different answer. The smart ones will probably ask; 'Where?' and this is your primary concern. Concealability is a prime factor in the City and civilized (your call) company. Therefore pistols are the go, but if you want to get brutal then cut down an SMG or shotgun.
I think that the weapons most misused in C-punk are the in-betweeners, shotguns and submachine-guns. If you look at it this way; handguns are the low end of the scale, and assault rifles, machineguns and beyond are the top end. So shot-flingers and squeezeboxes could be construed as 'middle-range' weapons.
Never take a shotgun into ranged combat. It's very stupid. Your range is low, accuracy is down and ammo capacity is generally low. An assault rifle holds more rounds, fires further and packs more of a wallop unless you're loading something like thermite or monowire rounds; and they can start to sting the wallet. Shotguns kick the proverbial in house-to-house work, and streetfights. Auto-shotguns, as stated in the Cyberpunk 2020 rules, are 'hell on wheels' when it comes to this work. Fire through walls, you're bound to hit something, especially with buckshot. Concealing becomes a problem. Cutting down shotguns frags accuracy, something you are generally lacking to begin with. Of course, buckshot once more solves this problem, as filling an area with a cloud of lead leaves hardly any room for error. Brutal intimidation weapons at once for their size and width of barrel, they are extremely versatile in terms of ammo load and diversity. In the city a shotgun means business. Nobody carries a shotgun just for personal protection. It's an 'I'm gonna fuck you up' type of weapon and if you see an NPC carrying this kind of piece you should panic. Chances are in the city your character will be wearing urban gear or light armor, and a shotgun, especially with solid rounds, can shred this quite easily.
Submachine-guns are in a similar vein. Their low range makes them useless for static defense; if he's within three hundred metres then he's got the jump on you with an assault rifle. Look at it in game mechanics; an SMG's extreme range is three hundred metres and long range for a rifle is four hundred.
Again it boils down to concealability. Not as long but bulkier, SMG's can be shoulder rigged, or a back breakaway holster is handy. It pays to get a nice bulky jacket or trench, and plenty of extra magazines. Many of the SMG's available in C-punk waste their clips in one combat action so it pays to double-clip (taping them, which is crude), get bigger mags or just carry more of them. The first two options increase the size of your weapon again and can frag with reliability.
SMG's are basically pistols that spew out rounds at a frightening rate. The associated mechanics are more complex to deal with full autofire and correspondingly larger. Roomsweeping, suppression and cover fire are this weapon's forte. In the city or in urban combat, they again scream 'business not pleasure' like the shotgun. I prefer my SMG's small and well-concealed, pocket rockets or squeezeboxes. If you're running rules for bruise damage through soft armor, (which I find quite realistic) and you hit a big solo in Gibson gear with twenty-five rounds then you can really leave him gasping. There may not have been a single penetration but twenty five shots slamming in and causing bruise, shock and stun damage will ruin anyone's day. Submachine-guns are like miniature assault rifles and should be treated accordingly. In no way do they replace or even match up to them. As range decreases the smaller and easily manageable SMG is brought into play. Yes, an assault rifle is still as lethal from five to five hundred metres, but walking into a meet with one of those beasts dangling down your back screams 'unsubtle'. SMG's are only a step down but at least you can hide them.
A word about bows. Unless you're eccentric, can't get a silencer for some esoteric reason or you're afraid of chemical sniffers picking up gunpowder (pack Electrothermal weapons), then forget them. Low rate of fire, low ammo capacity and ungainly. Very suspicious, too, like sword canes. NB: Ever given an NPC a swordcane in the game? Watch the players twig. A cane is an anachronism. Get some cyberlegs.
A word about exotics. This category of weapons runs the gamut from 'drop in the cistern to save water' to very lethal devices. The Militech EMP rifle is like a re-usable, reloadable EMP grenade that you can point. The Volt pistol, an Avante needler loaded with sleep or biotoxin (must be a good shot), a Nelspot Wombat with acid shells, all these are nasty, especially backed up by other guns.
And finally, if you don't carry a gun in Cyberpunk, for frack's sake, at least carry some Ninja Smoke Pellets for a quick getaway (SOF II).
Dr Wally GM