I doubt they put much thought into the physics of the gun; they wanted a big weapon with a "fun" impact. That they don't bother with a powerful gust of wind may be a function of that as well as limits on the amount of special effects they want to deal with.
However, the gun is a "black box" from our POV, with no knowledge of how it works or what its components do. There may be an advanced system to deal with recoil, but because it is part of the black box we don't know how it would work (for all we know, there is something inside that absorbs the energy). Or alternatively, even if the effects on-screen may not be entirely consistent, the energy is supposed to be released only on impact by some unknown mechanism. The point is, a weapon like this would not necessarily be useless in-universe because it would hurt its operator as bad or worse than the target (so there would be measures to prevent this, otherwise the gun would not be build), even if the laws of physics would be just as true as they are in the actual world.
I note that DM is not the kind of SF that delves into the impact of technology (small touches like Transfer Transit aside, maybe). The futuristic setting is used as a convenient backdrop to tell a story and to explore the characters; it could just as easily have been set inside a fantasy universe a la Game of Thrones, with magical elements to replace the near-magical technology that they use. Indeed, with Zairon it sometimes crosses over into that territory.
However, the gun is a "black box" from our POV, with no knowledge of how it works or what its components do. There may be an advanced system to deal with recoil, but because it is part of the black box we don't know how it would work (for all we know, there is something inside that absorbs the energy). Or alternatively, even if the effects on-screen may not be entirely consistent, the energy is supposed to be released only on impact by some unknown mechanism. The point is, a weapon like this would not necessarily be useless in-universe because it would hurt its operator as bad or worse than the target (so there would be measures to prevent this, otherwise the gun would not be build), even if the laws of physics would be just as true as they are in the actual world.
I note that DM is not the kind of SF that delves into the impact of technology (small touches like Transfer Transit aside, maybe). The futuristic setting is used as a convenient backdrop to tell a story and to explore the characters; it could just as easily have been set inside a fantasy universe a la Game of Thrones, with magical elements to replace the near-magical technology that they use. Indeed, with Zairon it sometimes crosses over into that territory.
Very interesting, I wonder if sentiousness (is that a word?) will be brought up.
