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Okay... so you've delved deep into the darkest and most dangerous dungeons the Palladium World has to offer and managed to find one of the legendary Rune Weapons that Kings would give up entire kingdoms to own... so what are your chances of being able to keep this weapon for any length of time?

The moment you draw this weapon to fight anyone, people are likely to recognize it as a powerful magical weapon at the very least (the mystic runes carved along it tend to be a give away in this case) and sooner or later rumors of this weapon are going to reach knowledgeable ears (those with access to the knowledge needed to identify this weapon... even with how wild such rumors can get). This is even more likely once one reaches a major town or city where city guards or a nation's militia are based to keep the peace... as it is the responsibility of these individuals to inspect those coming and going (especially taking not of adventurers and mercenaries... including any obvious magical items they may be carrying).

So what are the chances that a city guard or militia captain seeing a weapon covered in mystical runes NOT confiscating a potentially dangerous magical item? Rune Weapons have a reputation of being the MOST powerful weapons on the Palladium World... and even if this rune covered weapon turns out not to be a Rune Weapon... do they dare take the risk that such a powerful weapon is in the hands of someone who's loyalty they can't be sure of? It would be like a police officer allowing someone to walk around the city carrying an assault rifle... or worse... wouldn't it?

Then there are the greedy and the ambitious... especially nobles who believe that the laws of the land don't actually apply to them... or that they can use them to justify anything they do. Since most adventurers aren't likely from their lands, chances are they will have little to no legal recourse to address any abuses of power such nobles use against them. Additionally, such nobles could reasonably have them arrested and their possessions confiscated by merely accusing them of any number of crimes that they would be hard pressed to disprove (in most cases in feudal societies... one is guilty until proven innocent), by which time getting back such a weapon would be difficult at best (it has probably been secured in the noble's treasury under the heaviest of guards). Many Nobles may even see it as their right to take such a weapon as it is a weapon that deserves to be in the hands of a Noble... and not some common adventurer who would squander such power anyways.

True, Rune Weapons often have the means to prevent the unworthy from using them... but is that really likely to stop someone from trying to take it... either out of concern that it is in "unworthy" hands or out of simple greed? And what of those Rune Weapons that don't have these means to discourage those from taking them (some actually enjoy the chaos and anarchy they spread as the corrupt and greedy fight for control of their power)?

So... in your games... just how difficult do you make keeping a Rune Weapon for your players once they have earned such a weapon?

So difficult that my character (me then) managed to persuade another player to give his up to his church! HAhahaha

The Dark Elf wrote:So difficult that my character (me then) managed to persuade another player to give his up to his church! HAhahaha

that's hilarious

If the characters show the weapons in places where there are people who are inclined to that sort of thing then yes people do try to take the runE weapon and leave no survivors (Can't leave survivors of rune weapons otherwise there are bonding issues) and the players often assume the attempts are part of the plot/s going on and get confused about what is going on rather than realising its just plain greed on some peoples behalf.

Well, we have had exactly three rune weapons in our old campaign. One was the Eternity Blade, and the assassin who tracks it down showed up right as the PC with the weapon was slaughtered by a fellow PC. The attack was not to take the blade for herself, just because the rune weapon wielder was becoming dangerous and bellicose. A great role-playing job by the player who sacrificed the PC to the role. At least I hope it was role-playing and not actual arrogance brought on by the weapon.

The second was the red sword from the Old Ones book with the chaotic mentality. It was picked up by a very unpredictable and irrational PC (same one who did the slaughtering in the previous paragraph) who became even more violent and audacious with the sword in her possession. She was wanted in Old Timiro for a series of crimes and never really showed her face (assassin) where she was known. In places where she wasn't known she kept the sword out of sight, instead going with two high quality but non-rune weapons. The sword was taken from her by a dragon in the Fountain of Life adventure in the Yin Sloth book. IT did buy passage through the maze, however.

The last sword was the blue one from the Old Ones book. That was acquired by a Paladin who has used it well. It was stolen from him by the command of Cardinal Medean in Old Timiro. The paladin was attacked in the street and left for dead. He lived and the group was able to retrieve the weapon. However, knowing it would happen again, we had a sword made with false runes on it and magically colored the same shade as the rune sword. We swapped the weapons and the paladin allowed the story of his sword being taken to flourish. I guess the Church didn't want to admit it had stolen the sword or to admit that it had a false one, so no one followed up on it. He keeps it out of sight in towns and cities and uses it liberally in the wilderness.

-Vek
"Almost more trouble than they're worth."

The problem with many rune weapons is that they really can't be hidden that well. Many are large swords and similar weapons, while others are fairly ornate (not just by the runes carved into them). Unless one wants to wrap their rune weapon in a blanket or such, the chances of it being noticed are usually rather good (and the Rune Weapon itself might object so such treatment). True, some of the smaller rune daggers and such could be hidden or otherwise concealed... at least to an extent... but that also depends on how thorough a search a city guard and such perform.

Beyond that, while rumors of the power of Rune Weapons are likely wide spread... the specifics of those abilities (including their bonds to their wielders) is probably a lot less well known. There is also the time it takes for such a weapon to forge such a bond that also has to be taken into account too (if the bond hasn't formed, the weapon can be taken without too much fuss... beyond what the weapon itself is likely to put up). A noble who knows only rumors of the powers of such weapons likely won't care if its previous owner is still alive... so long as he has the "legal" right to take it (and even if he doesn't... he may claim it is his right anyways).

Then there are those rune weapons that can have multiple bonds (there was a dagger in one of the books... it's hilt had the stylish curves of a woman's body, that could have multiple bonds... though it tended to forget about anyone who didn't currently possess it) or refuses to make a bond yet bestows its power on nearly anyone it fancies. While these Rune Weapons are rare, they do exist and negates the need of a previous owner's death. There are likely also others who merely require time for such a bond to break... usually as a new bond is being formed.

In other words... there are ways for people to take such weapons without having to kill its current owners... which makes these weapons all the more difficult to keep once world gets out that someone has them.

I had players give up rune weapons just because a mage went, "Oh, that thing'll steal your soul."

Alrik Vas wrote:I had players give up rune weapons just because a mage went, "Oh, that thing'll steal your soul."

Well... in all fairness, it is a risk with some Rune Weapons... Deathkiss for example.

I've always liked playing rune weapons kind of like the Morganti weapons from Steven Brust's Taltos novels... the kind of thing anyone with psychic talent can hear murmuring.

I like the talkative and insulting ones that give good sounding ideas that really are bad ideas and it keeps nattering away at the subject until the players give up and go along with it just to get it to shut up/stop insulting/challenging duels to the death with the nobles/kings/paladins as they walk by.

Outside of Castlerake they're all pratically worthless. Castlerake is only valuable if you're storming a castle in the next month or so. Soul drinkers are good if you're the type of player that uses it as a last resort, a surprise attack against a single target, or somehow trick witnesses you don't intend on killing into thinking it's something other than a rune weapon you're attacking with. Aside from those instances, if I had to chose between all the rune weapons and the weakest zanpakuto, without hesitation I'd pick the zanpakuto.

I hate to break it to you, but put into palladium, those swords are rune weapons, and minor ones. look at Rifts Japan for more info.

The Beast wrote:Outside of Castlerake they're all pratically worthless. Castlerake is only valuable if you're storming a castle in the next month or so. Soul drinkers are good if you're the type of player that uses it as a last resort, a surprise attack against a single target, or somehow trick witnesses you don't intend on killing into thinking it's something other than a rune weapon you're attacking with. Aside from those instances, if I had to chose between all the rune weapons and the weakest zanpakuto, without hesitation I'd pick the zanpakuto.

Necrom

Rune Weapons useless? Seriously? Have you seen the write-ups for many existing Rune Weapons (From Rifter #5, Mount Nimro and Library of Bletherad for instance)?

Okay... many of them are not something that most players will want to keep (very evil or very dangerous to their weilders... sometimes both). Still there are quite a few that have some powerful abilities that almost any player would want to add to what they can do. True, few can topple towers... but then most players won't want to do that... at least not often enough to say "Hey, wouldn't it be nice to have a weapon to destroy castles?"

And this is only with the few dozen that have been actually been written up... and the possibilities can only grow from that.

Plus, in setting, how many people know of the pitfalls of rune weapons, versus the legendary power of them?

Probably as many people who can actually identify a real Rune Weapon as opposed to merely a magical weapon with runes on it... in other words, likely not many.

kiralon wrote:

The Beast wrote:Outside of Castlerake they're all pratically worthless. Castlerake is only valuable if you're storming a castle in the next month or so. Soul drinkers are good if you're the type of player that uses it as a last resort, a surprise attack against a single target, or somehow trick witnesses you don't intend on killing into thinking it's something other than a rune weapon you're attacking with. Aside from those instances, if I had to chose between all the rune weapons and the weakest zanpakuto, without hesitation I'd pick the zanpakuto.

Necrom

"You Dare?" Necrom is awesome for a GM, a nightmare for the players.

Just saying necrom is more powerful than all the zanpakatutu's

Necrom? Zanpakuto? I think I am missing something here.

Razorwing wrote:Necrom? Zanpakuto? I think I am missing something here.

Necrom is from Adventures in the Northern Wilderness. Zanpakuto's are from Bleach.

Yeah... Don't have AitNW (seems to be out of print or discontinued).

Would it be possible to provide a general idea of what it can do... provided it wasn't reprinted elsewhere.

Touching the runesword turns you into the hulk pretty much, necrom is first ed and is tougher then most of the gods (twice the hp of the dragonwright gods for example, as many or more attacks per round and so on), basically runeswords are spirits bound into a weapon and the necrom sword is tarm kin toes essence bound into a weapon (cthulu in a can)

Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Razorwing wrote:Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Don't remember much about Vald, but Necrom completely replaces the person touching it. So if your goals are waging genocide against the elves and you don't care if you die in the process, by all means pick it up.

A player in one of my campaigns got a rune weapon he couldn't get rid of. She (the sword) was bound and determined that she was the only one with the right to kill him for daring to touch her, and wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that. She was constantly giving him bad advice that should have killed him (he had the Devil's own luck with dice rolls when it counted), and would always be back at his side by the next morning if anyone took her from him or he gave her away. It really was funny watch his frustration with the sword. She was also very jealous and went out of her way to destroy any weapon he dared wield beyond herself.I've been told that the amount of personality I gave the sword was excessive, but it really allowed for great opportunities for character development.

What other abilities did this sword have... other than the ability to reappear by his side (assuming that was an ability of the sword and not it's apparent curse).

The Beast wrote:

Razorwing wrote:Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Don't remember much about Vald, but Necrom completely replaces the person touching it. So if your goals are waging genocide against the elves and you don't care if you die in the process, by all means pick it up.

Just dump it into the middle of an enemy army and watch what happens.

kiralon wrote:

The Beast wrote:

Razorwing wrote:Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Don't remember much about Vald, but Necrom completely replaces the person touching it. So if your goals are waging genocide against the elves and you don't care if you die in the process, by all means pick it up.

Just dump it into the middle of an enemy army and watch what happens.

How do you get it there?

Mark Hall wrote:

kiralon wrote:

The Beast wrote:

Razorwing wrote:Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Don't remember much about Vald, but Necrom completely replaces the person touching it. So if your goals are waging genocide against the elves and you don't care if you die in the process, by all means pick it up.

Just dump it into the middle of an enemy army and watch what happens.

How do you get it there?

With robots...?

Mark Hall wrote:

kiralon wrote:

The Beast wrote:

Razorwing wrote:Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Don't remember much about Vald, but Necrom completely replaces the person touching it. So if your goals are waging genocide against the elves and you don't care if you die in the process, by all means pick it up.

Just dump it into the middle of an enemy army and watch what happens.

How do you get it there?

Fought it and won
Bag and telekinesis, potion of flight and potion of invis
of course you would have to be pretty desperate or pretty evil to drop that apocalypse machine on someone.

or maybe a very big catapult.


I have never been sure if touching it with skin was required, or if you were protected if you wore gloves. (Goes with a lot of the touch to activate items), does poking it with a stick count, if yes how long does the stick have to be before it doesn't effect you.

(I mostly go by touch and aura interaction).

kiralon wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:

kiralon wrote:

The Beast wrote:

Razorwing wrote:Sounds along the same lines as Vald-Korskoi from Rifter #5... basically a Vampire Intelligence bound to a rune sword.

Okay... I understand that the two aren't the same... but there is a similar idea here (very powerful god-like being bound to a weapon that turns its wielder into a powerful being).

Don't remember much about Vald, but Necrom completely replaces the person touching it. So if your goals are waging genocide against the elves and you don't care if you die in the process, by all means pick it up.

Just dump it into the middle of an enemy army and watch what happens.

How do you get it there?

Fought it and won
Bag and telekinesis, potion of flight and potion of invis
of course you would have to be pretty desperate or pretty evil to drop that apocalypse machine on someone.

or maybe a very big catapult.


I have never been sure if touching it with skin was required, or if you were protected if you wore gloves. (Goes with a lot of the touch to activate items), does poking it with a stick count, if yes how long does the stick have to be before it doesn't effect you.

(I mostly go by touch and aura interaction).

That's how I'd play it too.

Aku-Arkaine wrote:A player in one of my campaigns got a rune weapon he couldn't get rid of. She (the sword) was bound and determined that she was the only one with the right to kill him for daring to touch her, and wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that. She was constantly giving him bad advice that should have killed him (he had the Devil's own luck with dice rolls when it counted), and would always be back at his side by the next morning if anyone took her from him or he gave her away. It really was funny watch his frustration with the sword. She was also very jealous and went out of her way to destroy any weapon he dared wield beyond herself.I've been told that the amount of personality I gave the sword was excessive, but it really allowed for great opportunities for character development.

Jealous girlfriend rune weapon is best rune weapon.

Alrik Vas wrote:

Aku-Arkaine wrote:A player in one of my campaigns got a rune weapon he couldn't get rid of. She (the sword) was bound and determined that she was the only one with the right to kill him for daring to touch her, and wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that. She was constantly giving him bad advice that should have killed him (he had the Devil's own luck with dice rolls when it counted), and would always be back at his side by the next morning if anyone took her from him or he gave her away. It really was funny watch his frustration with the sword. She was also very jealous and went out of her way to destroy any weapon he dared wield beyond herself.I've been told that the amount of personality I gave the sword was excessive, but it really allowed for great opportunities for character development.

Jealous girlfriend rune weapon is best rune weapon.

Jealous Gay boyfriend rune weapon is pretty funny too. (wielder has to keep himself pretty and oil the weapon up regularly, as well as the comments)

kiralon wrote:

Alrik Vas wrote:

Aku-Arkaine wrote:A player in one of my campaigns got a rune weapon he couldn't get rid of. She (the sword) was bound and determined that she was the only one with the right to kill him for daring to touch her, and wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that. She was constantly giving him bad advice that should have killed him (he had the Devil's own luck with dice rolls when it counted), and would always be back at his side by the next morning if anyone took her from him or he gave her away. It really was funny watch his frustration with the sword. She was also very jealous and went out of her way to destroy any weapon he dared wield beyond herself.I've been told that the amount of personality I gave the sword was excessive, but it really allowed for great opportunities for character development.

Jealous girlfriend rune weapon is best rune weapon.

Jealous Gay boyfriend rune weapon is pretty funny too. (wielder has to keep himself pretty and oil the weapon up regularly, as well as the comments)

Let's not go any further with this... okay? The less said... the safer all our sanities will be.

I think rune weapons are coolest when they drive the plot; Mindprancer, the Eternity Sword, and Castledrake are good examples. One of my favorite homebrew creations is Sentinel, a rune shield created from the soul of Osiris' bodyguard. The shield has a powerful motivation to recover Osiris' body parts and fighting Set and his minions and actively works to bring his wielder into his quest.

Hotrod wrote:I think rune weapons are coolest when they drive the plot; Mindprancer, the Eternity Sword, and Castledrake are good examples. One of my favorite homebrew creations is Sentinel, a rune shield created from the soul of Osiris' bodyguard. The shield has a powerful motivation to recover Osiris' body parts and fighting Set and his minions and actively works to bring his wielder into his quest.

May steal that one!!

Seven rune weapons will play a big role in a story I am working on (short or serialized remains to be seen)... set in the Eastern Territories against the backdrop of war with the Wolfen Empire. Given that both sides want powerful weapons to tip the balance of power in their favor... and many within those nations are more than willing to go to any lengths to get such power... it seemed both the perfect place to set the story (close proximity to the Old Kingdom gives the area a plausible reason for the weapons to be in the area)... and the most difficult place for one to keep such weapons (without being forced to fight for one side or the other).

I am deliberately keeping a few details on the true nature of these weapons to myself for the moment (for my own twisted reasons). With luck... I may have something to share soon... if you all agree to play nice that is.

Razorwing wrote:Seven rune weapons will play a big role in a story I am working on (short or serialized remains to be seen)...

"Seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone..."

Woundhealer
Sightblinder
Stonecutter
Farslayer
Coinspinner
Mindsword
Wayfinder
Shieldbreaker
Townsaver
DragonSlicer
Soulcutter

Razorwing wrote:Seven rune weapons will play a big role in a story I am working on (short or serialized remains to be seen)... set in the Eastern Territories against the backdrop of war with the Wolfen Empire. Given that both sides want powerful weapons to tip the balance of power in their favor... and many within those nations are more than willing to go to any lengths to get such power... it seemed both the perfect place to set the story (close proximity to the Old Kingdom gives the area a plausible reason for the weapons to be in the area)... and the most difficult place for one to keep such weapons (without being forced to fight for one side or the other).

I am deliberately keeping a few details on the true nature of these weapons to myself for the moment (for my own twisted reasons). With luck... I may have something to share soon... if you all agree to play nice that is.

I always play nice[sup]1[/sup]


1For certain values of the word nice

I found the rune weapons are usually not worth keeping. They attract a lot of attention and it's better to sell them off and use the coin to buy other magic items that can be more useful, especially since there is usually only one rune weapon found by a handful of people. Sometimes it's not protecting it from outsides but the green eyed monsters of the group. selling it off and buying everyone magical gear usually is the better plan.

Why buy a rune weapon when you can pay an assassin, instead?

(though, that runs into the problem of "How do you get the rune weapon from the assassin"... and raises a fun idea of a Summoner's demon getting a rune weapon after killing an opponent...)

If you want to keep a rune weapon, don't tell anyone what you've got, and don't use it's abilities in public. Make an alter ego, wear a mask, all that sort of thing. Become a folk legend.

If you've got a rune weapon that you want to make flashy and terrifying, do it ringed by steel. Be the leader of a massive army that is convinced you are their god incarnate, they'll throw themselves in the way of every assassin that comes your way. That's what makes a great minion.

Mark Hall wrote:Why buy a rune weapon when you can pay an assassin, instead?

(though, that runs into the problem of "How do you get the rune weapon from the assassin"... and raises a fun idea of a Summoner's demon getting a rune weapon after killing an opponent...)

because Rune weapons are a high visibility item, generally, and when a previous owner "conveniently disappears" and the weapon "mysteriously" appears in the hands of a rich and powerful individual, everyone is going to know what happened and who payed for it to happen.

and generally that will mean bad things. if the person is not the highest power in the land, he's gonna get targeted by either what passes for law enforcement.. or by a rival or more powerful person out to remove a new threat. if the person is the highest power in their gonna be suddenly targeted by everyone below them.. because such acts would be likely to trigger uprisings against despots, threaten rivals/less powerful people and encourage them to remove the big threat you have made yourself, or attract attention from neighboring powers which fear what your going to do with a powerful artifact like a rune weapon.

this is especially true if they make a habit of knocking off the wielders of magic artifacts to take them for themselves. a noble with a rune weapon can lead an army to victory, but much of the fighting power is personal. but a noble with enough Rune weapons (or their equivalents in power) to equip a force of loyal knights/warriors is a going to be a true terror.. since it means that that power will be in multiple places on a battlefield, and able to support a larger force.

In your statement you say, "everyone is going to know", but who is everyone?

News travels slow, but can be sped along by certain parties who want the public to believe their narrative, just like today.

The Beast wrote:

Razorwing wrote:Necrom? Zanpakuto? I think I am missing something here.

Necrom is from Adventures in the Northern Wilderness. Zanpakuto's are from Bleach.

Weird I don't remember hearing the U in paku, but it is there in all the spellings. While a Zanbato is a real sword.

The kingdoms I run tend to treat rune weapons as backpack nukes, eg if you have one and want to get into credia and the authorities know you have it, unless you are on really good terms with the rulers they will either hold it for you, charge you an exorbitant licensing fee, tax it at %1 of its value or not let you in at all (first option somewhat common, last option most common). If you are caught with an unlicensed rune weapon and cause trouble they will hang you and keep the weapon.

How do they find it, the gate guards of bigger towns have magic detection capabilities.

glitterboy2098 wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:Why buy a rune weapon when you can pay an assassin, instead?

(though, that runs into the problem of "How do you get the rune weapon from the assassin"... and raises a fun idea of a Summoner's demon getting a rune weapon after killing an opponent...)

because Rune weapons are a high visibility item, generally, and when a previous owner "conveniently disappears" and the weapon "mysteriously" appears in the hands of a rich and powerful individual, everyone is going to know what happened and who payed for it to happen.

and generally that will mean bad things. if the person is not the highest power in the land, he's gonna get targeted by either what passes for law enforcement.. or by a rival or more powerful person out to remove a new threat. if the person is the highest power in their gonna be suddenly targeted by everyone below them.. because such acts would be likely to trigger uprisings against despots, threaten rivals/less powerful people and encourage them to remove the big threat you have made yourself, or attract attention from neighboring powers which fear what your going to do with a powerful artifact like a rune weapon.

this is especially true if they make a habit of knocking off the wielders of magic artifacts to take them for themselves. a noble with a rune weapon can lead an army to victory, but much of the fighting power is personal. but a noble with enough Rune weapons (or their equivalents in power) to equip a force of loyal knights/warriors is a going to be a true terror.. since it means that that power will be in multiple places on a battlefield, and able to support a larger force.

And this is one of the reasons that the Western Empire is so hated and feared......
Their habit of 'spellgunning' non-imperials for their magic and issuing that out to the Janissaries.

kiralon wrote:The kingdoms I run tend to treat rune weapons as backpack nukes, eg if you have one and want to get into credia and the authorities know you have it, unless you are on really good terms with the rulers they will either hold it for you, charge you an exorbitant licensing fee, tax it at %1 of its value or not let you in at all (first option somewhat common, last option most common). If you are caught with an unlicensed rune weapon and cause trouble they will hang you and keep the weapon.

How do they find it, the gate guards of bigger towns have magic detection capabilities.

Wow, sure lenient on pocket nukes.

Pocket nuke= confiscation by a strike force
Charges of terrorism and multiple counts of attempted murder
Charge for owning an illegal weapon

Zer0 Kay wrote:

kiralon wrote:The kingdoms I run tend to treat rune weapons as backpack nukes, eg if you have one and want to get into credia and the authorities know you have it, unless you are on really good terms with the rulers they will either hold it for you, charge you an exorbitant licensing fee, tax it at %1 of its value or not let you in at all (first option somewhat common, last option most common). If you are caught with an unlicensed rune weapon and cause trouble they will hang you and keep the weapon.

How do they find it, the gate guards of bigger towns have magic detection capabilities.

Wow, sure lenient on pocket nukes.

Pocket nuke= confiscation by a strike force
Charges of terrorism and multiple counts of attempted murder
Charge for owning an illegal weapon

I try to keep my games a bit fun too, getting executed for having a rune weapon tends to get players overly excited, and rune weapons are an awesome reason for being able to keep prodding the players with things.

If that works for you, cool! Though...I deplore the spread of magic, honestly. Giving gate guards magical detection abilities from items just grates on me. While having a wizard as a gate guard seems unsightly.

I dunno, I'm odd.