To make Swords and Melee weapons as viable as Guns

Well, I'm working on a fan project that I wanted to be an actual sequel to classic PStar series, but next to nobody seems interested, and I may have to go it alone again, or build a group of interested parties within my own town or something.

Anyway, right now I'm trying to tackle the issue of guns vs melee weapons. I absolutely hate the fact that guns make combat such an easy, near effortless endeavor when it comes to fighting, and the art of swordplay and other melee weapons seems so much more full of finesse and grace (even if the end result is a bloody mess - guns are no better by a long shot). They completely render all close combat weapons useless and unnecessary.

Here's where you guys can come in and help: I'd like to brainstorm some ideas on tools, techniques and what not to nerf guns in battle for my story. While I don't want guns to be completely useless (though it would serve them right if it was), I would like to make sneak attacks using them almost pointless (almost NO sniping at all). We can go over every single aspect of what makes guns so usefull, and find something that could ruin their effectiveness, and employ these methods through the use of a tool or technique. I already have a few ideas that I've derived from other things like anime and movies, but I'd like to see what you guys come up with, in order to expose things that I may not have thought of.

Interesting subject ! First of all, good luck for your project ! it's true that it's hard to find people to make such important sequels and I don't think I'll have time to help you (really sorry ! ) but hope you'll find some people to help you !
Secondly, the guns ! It's an important point here and it's hard to find any solution to it ! Maybe try to make a sword or mele weapon mixed with some guns ?

Wow

Why WOW ?

First thing you'll want to do is nerf guns, but not to the point they are useless. The best way to do this would be to define the type of ammo they use. For example a rubber bullet would be less effective than a lead bullet. You could also make the guns shoot light particles or even photons that are less lethal than rubber bullets, best way would be to make those weapons a new tech in your universe and therefore not that powerful. You could also make the weapons less accurate.

Next thing you'll need to do is work on various techniques for melee combat or come up with various weapon designs that account for the ranged weapons. Perhaps add a shield of some sort on the handle of an axe, or turn a two handed great sword sideways into a shield. While this won't work too well with those that use smaller weapons such as claws or duel daggers, a way to counteract this would be to give them greater agility or even develop some sort of technique like an invisible barrier or aura that protects a user.

There's also the Dune/Star Trek Online route of having types of defenses that are tough against guns but can be more easily defeated/entirely bypassed by melee weapons.

That's a really good idea. I remember finding that interesting in Dune, definitely one of the more plausible reasons to have swords and such alongside ray-guns (of course, honestly, does anybody really need a reason, swords are infinitely more fun than guns).

I was going to post this a couple days ago, but for some reason the Submit Post button doesn't appear on my phone. Anyway:

You could always do what Dungeons & Dragons and other games in the d20 System do when it comes to guns: Have them do a basic amount of damage, but your character's stats don't actually affect the final damage. (For example, you add your character's Strength to damage done with a longsword and twice your Strength to damage with a greatsword, but the same character doesn't add Strength to damage done with a shotgun or 10mm pistol.)

In case it comes up because it's Phantasy Star, thrown weapons (like Lutz, Anna, Thea, Kara, Alys, or Kyra throwing boomerangs) would also have Strength added to their damage because they're muscle-powered, bows (like Laya and Gwyn's) would not because the bowstring's providing the oomph to launch the arrow, and crossbows (like Rudo's starting gun), pistols, shotguns, hunting rifles, assault rifles, and laser rifles (like Odin's, Rudo's, Kain's, Wren's, and Demi's) would not add Strength either.

Yes, I am a nerd. XD

Snorb wrote:

You could always do what Dungeons & Dragons and other games in the d20 System do when it comes to guns: Have them do a basic amount of damage, but your character's stats don't actually affect the final damage. (For example, you add your character's Strength to damage done with a longsword and twice your Strength to damage with a greatsword, but the same character doesn't add Strength to damage done with a shotgun or 10mm pistol.)

Phantasy Star III actually already did this with needlers and Wren's guns. All attacks were based on the characters Str + Weapon Power - Enemy Def + or - damage variance, but the damage from Wren's shot attacks and needlers was derived only from the weapon's power + or - the usual damage variance and was unaffected by enemy DEF.

Given the lack of interest in my topics on 'discussion forums' regarding Phantasy Star, I think I'll just continue doing this on my own from now on without relying on anyone else. So yeah, I'm done.