Each and every character (except NPCs controlled by the mods or myself) will start off empty handed. You will be able to look around your enviroment and find a make shift weapon (broken wood, shovel, etc)

You may not be able to kill off your enemies in the beginning but you can always evade them. As you progress, weapons such as knives, guns bats and so on, will be presented to you, usually with an objective to accomplish first in order to be able to reach it.

Each weapon, make shift or not, provides a stat boost and at times, will cause a stat or two to drop a bit. Each weapon will also have a damage threshold, meaning it can only take so much damage before it breaks. At this point, you can keep it and hope to find the equipment to fix it (you must also have the knowledge to do so) or you can ditch it.

Weapons such as guns, do have a limit to the ammunition, which can be replenished if you reach areas that grant you access to it. If you have a gun, lets say a shotgun, depending on how much ammunition it has, is how many turns you are given the stat bonuses. A shotgun will grant you a stat bonus in damage if a round is fired (greater than if you used your fists). It will also have a stat bonus for damage if you use it as a club/blunt object (greater than fists but less than if you fired a round), the same goes for accuracy, as it varies depending on if you fire it or use it as a club. No matter which way you use it, your speed will still take a dip, depending on what type of character you are playing.

A child carrying a shotgun will have his speed reduced greatly, as opposed to a soldier.

Factor in all of these things while stratgizing.