So unless you're a member of the nobility, you'll have to leave your mail and broadsword at the gate. That calls to mind that bit from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves with the guard crying "no blades, no bows, leave your weapons here..."
Why half those peasants are wandering around with spears, axes, and bows is questionable, but more importantly the logistics and administration of this method is severely lacking. Would you leave your sword on the ground with a bunch of random axes, knives, and bows? How do you get it back? "Hey, can I have my sword back please? What do you mean someone else took it?" You can't get a receipt because hardly anyone can read or write, and the city isn't going to pay for a clerk to sit at the gate and write receipts because hey, that costs money and it's your sword so it's your problem.
Weapon and Armour Valets
Small groups of enterprising folk have recognised this problem and are willing to safeguard your hauberk and your great-grandfather's longsword for a reasonably sum of money for a pre-determined amount of time. They set themselves up outside the city walls, usually in their own house, advertising the storage of weapons and armour not allowed within the gates.The valets, swordbearers, armoury masters, whatever you want to call them, charge the same as a servant or labourer (5.6sp per day*) per two items stored with them. Use your favourite system for hiring retainers and checking their loyalty.
Your items are kept in a (relatively) secure room by a man with a good memory for faces. There is no refund for collecting your weapons or armour before the agreed-upon date. You could visit every day and "top up" the valet's fee but you're probably paying to get in and out of the city every time you pass through the gates so it's usually cheaper to be specific and pay in advance.
Some valets also hold licenses (see below) that allow them to transport weapons and armour through the city to certain locations (the castle armourer, for example) if the PCs have a bunch of weapons from their last dungeon that they want to sell.
Weapons and armour stored in this fashion should be safe, and the GM should probably not endanger the PCs' equipment or he will find the inclusion of the valets fruitless since the PCs will look for safer means of looking after the tools of their trade.
Expensive Items
Items worth 50sp or more at the local value (modified for material, location, availability, current events, etc.) should be handled more securely. The cost for securing these weapons (21sp per day) includes a secure storeroom or vault, two guards, and a clerk who will write you a receipt.You can lie about how much your emerald-encrusted, masterfully-engraved, solid silver warhammer costs in order to store it with a cheaper valet, but see the section below on loyalty checks.
Loyalty Checks
If something untoward happens (rebellion, fire, plague, invasion, terrible omen, meteor storm, PCs are arrested or declared criminals, etc.), make a loyalty check as you normally would for servants or retainers. More expensive valets (the ones with guards and vaults) should be more resistant to loyalty checks, while cheaper valets who have been given expensive items to look after may require a loyalty check every week (or every day if an item's great value is obvious).On a failed loyalty check an item may "go missing" or be replaced with a less-expensive counterpart. Depending on the circumstances that called for the failed loyalty check, this may or may not be the PCs greatest concern.
Note that it is often not worth the valet risking their reputation and business for the sake of a shield or a quiver of arrows. If the city is facing invasion, however, locals may be prepared to take their (your) portable wealth and get themselves and their families as far away from danger as possible.
Licence to Bear Arms
Members of the nobility, including knights and their squires, are automatically permitted to bear arms and armour in public, and most of the time they may do as they please.For those less privaledged, each town and city may issue a license to bear arms and armour within its limits. In order to successfully receive a license, a person must usually be a citizen (own a house or business within the city) and have the backing, in writing or in person, of a local guildmaster or someone on the town council. The license still costs 50sp, although in some cases a patron may foot the bill if they need armed bodyguards, sentries, or "problem solvers."
How often these licenses are checked, how closely they are scrutinise, and how easy they are to forge, will be up to the GM according to the city, neighbourhood, current events, etc.
Something's Different...
Roll a D6 every time the PCs return to collect their items from a regular valet (i.e. not the valets with guards, vaults, and clerks). On a 1, roll on the following table for a randomly generated quirk. This only applies to one item per withdrawal, not the entire cache.| D6 | Weapon | Armour |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rust: shouldn't be too hard to clean off. | Rust and grime: you may appear to be a vagrant or common brigand. Might be accurate. |
| 2 | Mega rust: It's bright orange! Needs some TLC from a blacksmith. | Squeaks or rattles: stealth is impossible until it is repaired. |
| 3 | Dull: needs sharpening (no effect for blunt weapons) | One word: fleas |
| 4 | Used: dried blood on the handle, where did that come from? | Used: stinks like a cheap tavern! |
| 5 | Replica: it looks the same but something feels... off | Missing part: a few links of mail, a strap from a vambrace, the laces from padding... |
| 6 | Good as new: no nicks, no blood, sharp as ever! | Gleaming: it has been polished to a mirror shine! |
* Silver standard; 1sp being worth two regular meals in a city inn, and a broadsword costing ~20sp
