My Players looted the room

[drunkonduty]

Just need to vent really.

 

Playing the other day the heroes break into an apartment to look for clues as to who was selling the stolen art works. Then they looted the room. Ripped open the safe, took the diamonds and barer bonds. Stole a few art works themselves. The silver cutlery. Wrapped it all up in the silk bed sheets and had the telekinetic lift it out the window to their (rented)van.

 

sigh. Ya just can't kick the DnD out of some people.

[Certified]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

Security cameras and arrest warrens are your friends.

[drunkonduty]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

Oh there'll be repercussions. (no cameras but they were seen near the scene and the cops are keen to talk to them.) It's just the knee jerk DnD-ism that makes me sad.

[Rapier]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

We once added a bunch of DnD players to a Champions game and right after they KOed the villains they are tried to loot the bodies, so we pointed out Spandex doesn't have pockets. But we still had a laugh.

[Cygnia]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

Time for the local press to demand the police arrest these lawless vigilantes. And it's time we brought in the lawyers... *grins evilly*

[Da Hooligan]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

While not altogether similar this called to mind an old D&D game I was in. Our group was exploring yet another ancient ruins when we found a door. We saw light coming from under it and when we peeked through a crack we saw an old man sitting in a chair reading a book. For some reason the first thing that came to my mind standing there before the door in the ancient ruins that we knew from experience was infested with undead, was to knock.

The GM was at a loss for a few minutes as he had been expecting us to either try to sneak in or bash our way in and attack the old man. As it turned out the old man was indeed evil and some form of undead. However, since we were polite He talked with us and gave us some directions and advice about our quest. To this day I'm not sure what kind of undead he was. I just know that sometimes it pays to be courteous.

[drunkonduty]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

We once added a bunch of DnD players to a Champions game and right after they KOed the villains they are tried to loot the bodies, so we pointed out Spandex doesn't have pockets. But we still had a laugh.

 

LOL! That's funny. I might mention that to my players, in a ****-stirring sort of way.

[drunkonduty]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

And it's time we brought in the lawyers... *grins evilly*

 

Oh. Wow. I'm not sure I'm ready to be that mean yet. Maybe just a warning, like a huge super battle in which they get kicked all over the city.

[LordGhee]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

You konw it is just so hard to be a super villian now a days. If some one spotted the van (street cameras0 then homeland security data base shows up who rented it and there goes you secret ID, who knew you where runing a Dark chapmions game (dark for the evil player now muh ha ha )

 

 

Lord Ghhee

[Arkham]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

The best way, I've found, to warn new players about this essential gameplay difference, is to remind them that they cannot actually keep anything they loot unless they spend points on it.

 

Or just flat out say, "You are superheroes. That's not the genre we're playing in."

 

Or did everyone make a Catwoman type vigilante? In which case it is Roleplaying and totally in character.

[Utech]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

You'll want to have a talk with your players to make sure you're all playing the same game. If looting is what they want to do, they should be free to do it -- so long as you don't mind running that sort of game.

 

Looting is not the sort of thing I'd expect while playing in a supers campaign, but it might be interesting.

[Egyptoid]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

the trick to stopping it IMHO is that they owe you XPs now.

 

if they looted a nigh tech radio, well HRRP costs 3-5 hero points.

 

if they kept the jewelry, then basic wealth costs 5 hero points.

 

if they kept the guy's shotgun, then an OAF energy blast costs 15-30 hero points.

 

of course, the new costs are easy to pay if they are all wanted for questioning... (watched, hunted)

 

am I right ?

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

the trick to stopping it IMHO is that they owe you XPs now.

 

if they looted a nigh tech radio, well HRRP costs 3-5 hero points.

 

if they kept the jewelry, then basic wealth costs 5 hero points.

 

if they kept the guy's shotgun, then an OAF energy blast costs 15-30 hero points.

 

of course, the new costs are easy to pay if they are all wanted for questioning... (watched, hunted)

 

am I right ?

 

Nasty.

 

I like it.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

So I suppose stopping the game to have a discussuon about genre would be out of the question.

 

Is it possible the players don't WANT to play a traditional Supers game? I suspect the Punisher funds his war on crime with the criminals' wealth. He doesn't have a day job. Catwoman is a jewel thief. Luke Cage and Iron Fist got paid for being superheroes, as did the Power Company and the revived Heroes for Hire book.

 

Rather than leaping to "there will be repercussions - I will punish the players for acting outside my notion of the genre", maybe it would be a better idea to address what kind of game the players and GM ALL want to play. If this happened in one of my games, one of two things would happen. First, the players would point out to the person suggesting the looting that this is out of genre. Second, if it proceeded, the PC's who are not open to a career in burglary would probably seek to arrest the looter - I doubt that character would be welcome on the team thereafter. Given all of the PC's co-operated in this larceny in your game, you as the GM may well be the only guy who believes you are playing a four colour Supers game. Maybe you have to adjust to the game the players want to play.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

My first inclination is along Hugh's thinking: maybe the players aren't looking to play a 4-color supers game.

 

However, let me introduce another option: Talk to the players, then make it all part of a plot.

 

If the players do agree that looting is not in genre and are willing to go along with that in the future (this is a key factor here), you can have one of the things they stole is a diamond with a blood-red streak inside. As a mild retcon, this diamond influenced them to loot the place. If anyone has Detect Magic, they could make a roll (with a decent penalty) to detect an evil presence in the stone. Otherwise, their first inclination that something is wrong is when DEMON shows up tracking the diamond, maybe even kills the original art thief. Also, whomever has the diamond begins carrying it everywhere (not obviously so) and wants to commit other crimes. (This requires buy-in from one player, but could add a lot of roleplay fun).

 

Anyway, just an idea.

[acide_bob]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

My current gaming group have the same problem... or has the same problem... At first they were looting almost nothing and one day, someone try to loot Tthe Punisher Barret model 82 0.50... When he realised he had to pay 30 creation point to keep it they stopped the looting altogether.

[Peregrine]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

Here's another question: are you running the game as a "resource scrounge"? Can these 4 color supers get access to whatever mundane "stuff" they might want (so long as it provides flavor rather than game mechanical advantage), or are they "scraping by"?

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

I'm throwing my hat in with Hugh and everybody else who's basically said that you should have blown the whistle and reminded them what genre they were playing. I've done the opposite; I played so much Champions that when I go back to D&D, I tend to pull my punches and go for knockouts instead of kills. It's a matter of habit.

 

If, after you stop the game and verify that they remember what genre they're supposed to be playing, they say that they're still going through with it, then you can lower the boom on them.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

why not haver the players act like the adventure on dungeons&dragons TAS if they must act like d&d characters they never looted anyone

[Vulcan]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

why not haver the players act like the adventure on dungeons&dragons TAS if they must act like d&d characters they never looted anyone

 

That's because the kids a) had never actually played the game, and started with legendary magical gear. Kind of takes the fun out of looting if your stuff is vastly better.

[drunkonduty]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

Ah some food for thought there guys. Yes, I shall have to have a word with them about what is genre appropriate and what is not.

 

Some more details, just for laughs you understand:

 

They didn't get to keep the loot as they used it to pay the people smuggler who got them out of Hong Kong. Did I mention: they did this in Hong Kong where they are foreign nationals? So now the Chinese police would like to question them, although as yet there is only circumstantial evidence linking them to the crime. These guys also work for PRIMUS some of the time. Their handler there is going to be very annoyed when the State Dept. pass on a politely worded complaint from China. All in all they SHOULD know better.

 

And no, they are not just scraping by. I allow them to have any sort of normal equipment that the characters can afford and is not restricted in some way. So the millionaire has his i-phone with international roaming and flash suits and luxury car and eats out at the best resteraunts etc. They all have internet access and laptops if they want them. But a gun costs character points (unless it's just a one-off 'pick up the dropped weapon' situation.)

 

Now, I must admit we are deep in the rusty iron age in this game. None of my PCs are (and this is a massive understatement) particularly moral types. I'm cool with that. It's more the stupidity (repercussions? why should there be repercussions? we're super heroes) and the DnD-ness of it. Mostly the DnD-ness of it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy DnD. (am I allowed to say that here?) It's just a different style of game. So yes, I think today we shall start the session today with a chat about what is genre appropriate and what sort of repercussions actions will have. Make sure we're all in the same ball park.

 

cheers folks. As I said at the top mostly I just needed to vent. I mean it is actually pretty funny. And has given me a a few plot seeds to work with.

[Broadsword]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

I had the same problem with my Players when they played Jedi in a Star Wars game I GM'ed. The they refused to change and ended up outlaw by the Jedi, Republic, Hutts and every other major entity. Had million credit bounties on them. They refused to give though and ended up fighting almost as soon as they entered any civilized system.

[wcw43921]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

Just need to vent really.

 

Playing the other day the heroes break into an apartment to look for clues as to who was selling the stolen art works. Then they looted the room. Ripped open the safe, took the diamonds and barer bonds. Stole a few art works themselves. The silver cutlery. Wrapped it all up in the silk bed sheets and had the telekinetic lift it out the window to their (rented)van.

 

sigh. Ya just can't kick the DnD out of some people.

 

BOB: "Aw, c'mon B.A.! We're not looting the bad guy's stash! We're confiscating it as evidence!"

 

DAVE: "Yeah! It's perfectly in character!"

 

BRIAN: "And perfectly legal, too. Ever hear of the Silver Platter Doctrine?"

 

SARA: "Is that the doctrine where everything gets handed to you on a silver platter?"

 

BRIAN: "You're not helping, Sara."

 

 

In case nobody gets the reference--

 

[kahuna's bro]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

I had the same problem with my Players when they played Jedi in a Star Wars game I GM'ed. The they refused to change and ended up outlaw by the Jedi' date=' Republic, Hutts and every other major entity. Had million credit bounties on them. They refused to give though and ended up fighting almost as soon as they entered any civilized system.[/quote']

 

they must have confused the jedi and the sith

[DusterBoy]

Re: My Players looted the room

 

That's one of the most sneaky, devious, cunning and downright underhanded things I've heard Bolo.

 

I like it.