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I'm in the weird position that I will likely only ever get to GM SF2, never sit on the player side. So most of my experience with player options will have to come from PF2 compatibility, transferring classes and items into fantasyland. So I'd appreciate any ideas you have to make SF2 stuff fit in as much as possible ^^
Now, my PF2 GM's world is only a step below modern high fantasy like Warhammer Fantasy. Semi-modern tech like flintlock firearms, breechloaders, repeating crossbows and so on are common enough with some faction. Even some 19th century stuff like break-action shotguns in some cases. Alchemy is common as well. Magic isn't exactly rare, but true magical firearms (like star guns) are expensive and restricted, trending more towards level 10+. So while I have a lot to work with, just doing the easy "they're magic now" excuse for futuristic firearms isn't available to me.
So far I've had the following ideas:
1. ARs, MGs and similar high(er) capacity weapons can be represented as super-charged repeating crossbows, 2004s Van Helsing style (I've always loved that weapon :D). Maybe some super early repeaters. I don't think I can swing portable gatling guns, though XD
2. Pistols are converted into a variety of stuff we already have in PF2, but with some mechanisms/implements that make reloading faster. Like pepperboxes with breech blocks that you can swap out or handcrossbows with mags. This really only needs to make aesthetic and surface-level sense. Revolvers might be an option, but I'm not sure.
3. Grenades, grenade-launchers, flamethrowers etc are all alchemical or in some case magic, conceptually comparable to existing PF2 stuff. Just, you know, probably cooler and actually mechanically as useful as they should be.
4. Shotguns... are shotguns. Double-barrels are fine, though the stuff with a higher capacity needs some explaining. I'm not sure if revolver shotguns, Alof's "magazine" or actual pump-actions will make the cut.
6. Rocket launchers and Co. are a bit more... special. I'm currently thinking of adopting the spellgun idea, basically in-universe they aren't regular weapons but magic consumables that allow someone without magic to drop spells like they are hot.
That's where I'm currently at. Thoughts?
At least you get to play, lol. Anyway, something that's fun to think way too hard about is how a magical civilization might evolve if we don't assume their technological development will mirror our own. And why should it? They've got frickin' magic! So, I think the way to go about this reflavoring is to consider how magic might become more accessible, and what effects that increased accessibility might have.
By default, Pathfinder already has a form of consumable magic: scrolls. You can, canonically, write a spell down to use it later, and anyone with appropriate magical training can activate it. So, if we imagine a world where scrolls can be mass-produced and people have a higher degree of magical literacy in general, we can start to think of common applications for "commercially available" magic. Thus, something like a grenade might be a simple cantrip scroll folded into a paper plane or stuffed into a disposable casing, where "pulling the pin" involves saying the command word before chucking it at the enemy.
A roto-laser, meanwhile, might be a bunch of tightly-rolled scrolls all mounted inside a tube with a crank handle. When the barrel is spun, the scrolls each brush up against an activation rune and fire. Thus, your roto-laser is ACTUALLY a simple machine that lets you cast the ignition cantrip or similar spell really, really fast.
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Well, I hope you'll get to play as well!
And yeah, it is great to speculate on topics like that ^^. In general, it is hard to believe that societies with significant access to magic wouldn't develop it like their lives depended on it. Because it would. Fantasy worlds are always filled to the gills with dangerous creatures roaming the land, evil empires hellbend on conquest and ancient threats awakening to destroy civilisation. Anyone who stagnates or doesn't weaponise the **** out of magic is like 20th century Belgium.
However, my GM's world is only in the very early stages of that and generally still going for a mixed vibe of medieval and renaissance, so getting your hand on the stuff is like trying to buy a main battle tank as a civilian. Meaning it isn't really an avenue I can explore, unfortunately.
I don't really understand from your explanation what your situation is. Are you taking over a world and trying to maintain its flavor?
Running an adventure within an established world?
Running an adventure with SF characters in a particular PF2 world?
I'm a player in a homebrew setting my GM created for PF2 and I'm working on ways to sell him on SF2 weapons, so I'll be able to actually play SF2 options as a player. Mechanical arguments are still up in the air, but this is so he doesn't ban them already on grounds of "stuff like this doesn't fit into the setting.