Author Topic: Loot the bodies!  (Read 5916 times)

Offline Radijs

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 160
  • Fhtagn-Didley!
    • View Profile
Loot the bodies!
« on: August 12, 2011, 11:46:20 AM »
I think this question's probably come up before and its one of the few things that irks me about DFRP and fate in general.
Recourses is a skill.

If my character's dead poor he'll stay that way, even if the adventure means we find several suitcases full of money, unless I spend several sessions slowly increasing my recourses skill (and maintain my skill pyramid while I do so) my character will continue being poor.
He could wallpaper his (tiny) appartment with 100 dollar bills but still not have a penny to his name.

The same goes for gear and goodies (Focii, enchanted items etc) You've got a certain amount, and its more or less fixed.

I want to loot the bodies! I wanna run my hands through grubby piles of cash! How can DFRP/FATE handle this?
What part of "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" don't you understand?

Offline Tallyrand

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 221
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2011, 11:52:04 AM »
Aspects are, I think, the best way to deal with this.  One thing to remember about a low resources score is that it doesn't just represent not having any money, it also represents not being great at having money available.  Remember that with aspects your character can be a millionaire who can't swing the funds to bribe a rent-a-cop in a crunch.  As a GM if I handed out fat stacks of cash to the character I would probably tell them all that they have the aspect (or even a couple of stacked aspects if it's a really large amount of money) "Cash on Hand" or "Briefcase of Bills" or the like and tell them that those aspects will stick until the end of the next story.  Also of course tell them that if they want an excuse to raise their resources this would be a good opportunity.

Offline Radijs

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 160
  • Fhtagn-Didley!
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2011, 12:04:21 PM »
For money that makes sense.

How would it work for magic stuff? IE: The evil wizard has the Superstaff of Doom, I clout him with mine and decide that I'm morally bankrupt enough to use the SoD and add it to my collection of magic items? Even though I'm already out of slots for focus items and such.
What part of "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" don't you understand?

Offline Tallyrand

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 221
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2011, 12:14:14 PM »
That is one of those places where mechanical balance bumps into story, personally I would give the player three options.

1) Spend refresh to buy the Staff of Doom, I would allow some major restructuring to allow for this.

2) The character may use the Staff of Doom until the end of the current story but then gives it up permanently at the stories conclusion (the how can vary, delivers it to the Wardens, gifts it to a powerful fey, breaks it in the final conflict etc).

3) Allow the character to use the Staff of Doom until the end of the current story and then change one of his aspects to represent his ownership of said staff.  I would generally tell the player to assume that he doesn't always have it on him (he may spend a fate to Declare that he does with the aspect) and that he hasn't fully learned to control it.  Dependent on the nature of the item I may also occasionally compel the aspect to force the character to spend a fate or two (I wouldn't NPC them with this without their permission though) to gain some permanent access to the IoP (similarly to how Changlings work).

Offline DFJunkie

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 624
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2011, 12:19:44 PM »
If the Superstaff of Doom is a focus or magic item it wouldn't work for someone who used magic differently than the wizard who crafted it.  Now, if you manage to wrest the Superstaff away from its wielder in a climactic moment I would personally waive this rule during that confrontation, but in general stealing another wizard's focus or enchanted item doesn't give you access to its power.

If it's an IoP then you'd have to either pay the refresh cost for it and potentially lose control of your character or pay a fate point for any scene in which you wanted to make use of it. 
90% of what I say is hyperbole intended for humorous effect.  Don't take me seriously. I don't.

Offline InFerrumVeritas

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 813
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2011, 12:30:13 PM »
This has come up a couple of times:

Money: Aspects.  Our GM rules that loot related aspects stick until the end of the story arc and that you can tag them once for free on a single Resources roll during this story arc.

Items:  Nothing is free.  If we find an item, we are allowed to use it in that scene.  After that, if we keep it, we must spend FP equal to the refresh it is worth (for an IoP), or a single FP for Potions/Applicable Enchanted Items (Foci have been ruled to not work for casters other than those who made it/it was made for without invoking an aspect to justify it). The caster is unable to recharge an enchanted item they haven't made without research, so it's only good for a limited number of uses.

Eventually, if we use these things a lot, we are asked to incorporate them into our character at the next appropriate milestone (Significant for boosting Resources, Major for incorporating IoP, and Minor for shuffling Enchanted Items).

Offline Tsunami

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1169
  • Not delicate.
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2011, 12:51:18 PM »
There is another thread active right now that discusses this exact issue. http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,28205.0.html
There seems to be a possible solution for this in another Fate-based Game called "Bulldogs!"

Offline admiralducksauce

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 577
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2011, 01:43:13 PM »
Quote
He could wallpaper his (tiny) appartment with 100 dollar bills but still not have a penny to his name.

That's because he wallpapered all his money to his apartment walls instead of putting them in a bank account. :)

For money, your GM can also just give you a bonus on resources rolls until he decides the cash is gone.  It doesn't NEED to be an Aspect, although it certainly can work that way as well.

For items, well, I gotta agree with the other posters here.  You maybe can "preview" them that scene or even that session, but if you want always-on access to them, you pay the refresh.  That's for refresh-costing Items, though.  Items with a capital I.

When it comes to equipment, I generally am pretty forgiving.  My group picked up a dagger that can hurt ghosts, some tricked-out M4s and some SWAT-issue MP5s, body armor, etc.  As far as I'm concerned, they have those things.  Nothing there is anything I would charge refresh for, not even the ghost knife.  Although since they haven't spent any points, they know I can take it away if I feel like it.  In fact, there's been a funny side-story about the group's assault rifles all being held by the one player who never makes it to gaming.  Whenever anyone else can't make it, our in-game explanation is that they've gone to track down Jimmy Pale Wolf and get those guns back before he trades them for sexual favors or Alf pogs or something.

Offline DFJunkie

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 624
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2011, 02:45:46 PM »
If you want to quantify liquid resources you could borrow the Legends of Anglerre treasure system.  Each unit of treasure can be turned in for a +1 to a single resources roll.  It's similar to the temporary aspects idea, but a little more granular, and allowing a player to write "2 units of resources" on his or her sheet might make it seem more "real" to them.
90% of what I say is hyperbole intended for humorous effect.  Don't take me seriously. I don't.

Offline beachhead1973

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 112
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2011, 07:17:10 PM »
in our games we ignore the resources skill entirely, except with NPCs and even then, it;s mostly dealt with via GM fiat

Offline Becq

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1253
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2011, 08:10:18 PM »
Give the players green-colored fate point chips, and tell them that each chip represents a one-shot free-taggable "Wad of Cash" aspect, useable to boost rolls in which expending money would provide a benefit (rolls to buy stuff, bribery attempts, etc).  Note that you could write this down, instead (e.g., "Wad of Cash" x3), but I think having chips would be more amusing.  Be careful not to have too many of these chips in play...

This is basically identical to DFJunkie's idea, but skinned a bit differently.

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2011, 02:22:05 AM »
Give the players green-colored fate point chips, and tell them that each chip represents a one-shot free-taggable "Wad of Cash" aspect, useable to boost rolls in which expending money would provide a benefit (rolls to buy stuff, bribery attempts, etc).  Note that you could write this down, instead (e.g., "Wad of Cash" x3), but I think having chips would be more amusing.  Be careful not to have too many of these chips in play...

This is basically identical to DFJunkie's idea, but skinned a bit differently.

I like the overall concept but I think I'm going to go with something like this instead.
Quote
Tell them that each dollar in their wallet represents a one-shot free-taggable "Wad of Cash" aspect, useable to boost rolls in which expending money would provide a benefit (rolls to buy stuff, bribery attempts, etc).  Dollars will not be returned at the end of play.
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.

Offline polkaneverdies

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1588
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2011, 12:27:12 PM »
Lmao. Just choked on coffee.

Offline Becq

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1253
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2011, 06:11:26 PM »
I like the overall concept but I think I'm going to go with something like this instead.
Hm.  I do see the appeal.  And there are no obvious balance issues that I can see.  I look forward to hearing how it works out.  And I also look forward to getting my 15% royalty check...

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12405
    • View Profile
Re: Loot the bodies!
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2011, 01:28:39 AM »
$1 per tag?

Way too cheap. A character with Mediocre Resources could buy an island for the OoC price of a sandwich.

Think bigger.