Murder-Hobo Control - Looted Equipment

What is a "Murder Hobo"?

It is a trope seen in pretty much every RPG, be it table-top or electronic. In a nutshell, it's the "kill them and take their stuff" mentality. Players tend to start seeing the world in dollar (or gold, crown, credit, insert currency here) signs. Just laid low a group of bandits? Strip 'em bare and sell the stuff later on down the road. Enemies become a lucrative business for the players, whether it makes thematic sense or not.

Is it really a problem that needs addressing?

That depends largely on you as a GM and on your players. Murder-hoboing is often seen as breaking immersion, or otherwise acting contrary to the accepted conceit of the game. Take standard fantasy - how do you reconcile a Paladin with what amounts to desecration of corpses for monetary gain? If things like that don't bother you or your players, then game on. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but this post isn't really geared towards you.

The Road So Far

I've gone through many, many iterations of this - each time refining it to be closer and closer to the motto of Savage Worlds: Fast, Furious, Fun. I did not want to slow the game down in search of greater verisimilitude, but at the same time I didn't want to constantly be making on the fly determinations of what players are actually able to acquire.

The Beginning

At the core, I wanted to use Savage Rifts' Technical Difficulties setting rule. It's an easy way to represent various levels of quality for similar gear. I'd love to take credit for the idea, but I actually saw it on the Savage Rifts Facebook group. Each level of Technical Difficulty adds a penalty (-1, -2, -4), a repair time, and a repair cost (0%, 20%, or 40% of book value).

Initially, I had players roll on the Technical Difficulties table for any item they wanted to pick up from a body.

I also wanted to incorporate the idea that a thug blasted by a Glitter Boy is not going to have nearly as functional equipment as the thug with a laser hole through the head. I called this Overkill.

This originally manifested as adding to the Technical Difficulty roll based on wounds past incapacitation. Then, because I really didn't understand the concept of "Fast, Furious, Fun", I decided that if the total was 7 or higher (off the table), the player would draw a card per point over. So, say they rolled a 5 with 3 points of Overkill - a total of 8. They'd draw two cards. If it was a 2, 3, or 4 of Clubs, the item was destroyed.

Yeah, I know, even I shudder when I think of that convoluted mess.

Iteration - Improvement!

Then, I settled on a more streamlined mechanic - do away with the roll altogether, and just draw a card. Starting with Spades, if it was a face card or a non-face card of a previous suite (2 of Spades through 10 of Spades OR J of Hearts to A of Hearts, for example), it was, in order, No Effect, Glitch, Serious Problem, Severe Failure, or Destroyed.

For Overkill, I changed from every wound over to every other wound over incapacitation causing a point of Overkill. Rather than add to a roll, however, it simply shifted the results to a worse effect. Severe Failure became Destroyed, Serious Problem became Severe Failure, etc.

A buddy of mine then made the suggestion to have Overkill draw extra cards, but pick the worst. This made for an interesting mechanic where bennies could be used to remove low cards, potentially drastically improving the results.

As you can probably notice, still a bit of clunk to it. If I draw a 10 of Hearts, is that a Glitch or a Serious Problem? Dangit, time to check the chart again. As for the Overkill change suggested by my friend, while interesting, would ultimately slow the game to a crawl. Got ten extras with at least armor and a weapon? That's twenty draws before Overkill is brought in. Granted, for something like that I'd probably abstract it to a draw per item type (all of one type of armor on one draw, all of one type of pistol on another draw, etc), but still - clunky.

Sweet Compromise

The current rendition is a simple card draw per item. On a Spade, it's fine (No Effect). On a Heart, it has a Glitch. And so on.

Overkill is still 1 point per 2 wounds past Incapacitation, but it has returned to moving the effect down one level. It is also an Optional rule as it does require more record keeping.

Jokers are always No Effect, regardless of Overkill, and Spades can never be reduced past a Severe Failure. I toyed with this for a while, but decided that there should always be a chance of recovering the item, albeit in about the worst condition possible.

Once the result is known, after the effects of Overkill have been applied, a player may spend a bennie to move the result back up by one.

Even if there's been 25 points of Overkill (50 wounds over Incapacitation), a Spade will always be a Severe Failure, a Joker will always be No Effect. If any other card is drawn, the item is Destroyed unless a player spends a bennie, in which case it now has an Severe Failure.

The Ubiquitous Example

Noble the Glitter Boy pilot blasts a Coalition Grunt with his Boom Gun. Let's say that he did average damage, 32. The Grunt gets no armor due to the AP 25 of the Boom Gun, which leaves him with a Toughness of 7. That leaves 25 damage, which resolves to six wounds. The 1st Incapacitates the Grunt, leaving five wounds over.

The Grunt has on armor, a rifle, and a pistol. Noble draws a card for each: 10D, 6S, and 10C.

If we don't use the Overkill rules, then we're done - the armor has a Serious Problem (-2, 20% value to fix), the rifle is fine, and the pistol has a Severe Failure (-4, 40% value to fix).

If we do use the Overkill rules, then those five unresolved wounds become two Overkill points - the armor is now Destroyed (Serious Problem =1=> Severe Failure =2=> Destroyed), the rifle acquires a Serious Problem (Fine =1=> Glitch =2=> Serious Problem), and the pistol is destroyed (Severe Failure =1=> Destroyed =2=> Destroyed).

Noble would've liked to have recovered the armor, as it is worth the most, but it's also hard to offload due to the obvious Coalition markings. He knows a guy, though, who could do it. So, he spends a bennie and brings the armor from Destroyed to Severe Failure.
It won't be worth nearly as much, but he should be able to get about 2250 credits for it. If he can scrounge up 18000 credits in parts (unlikely as he's hurting for credits), he can repair it and sell it for 22500, getting 4500 back in profit.

[Savage Rifts] Particle Beam Weapons and Crew Served Options

Introduction

As expressed, however briefly, in a previous post, I am unsatisfied with how particle beam weapons work in Savage Rifts. They just increase the die type by one and leave it at that. From what I recall of the Rifts universe, particle beams were the energy weapon king of anti-armor warfare - or at least that was the intent. Palladium's stats tended to vary based on who was writing the book, so I can't really go off of them.

In any case, I've set out to standardize how particle beams function and bring them in-line with my own expectations.

In addition, I want to see heavy weapons viable as a crew served weapon and not require a robot, PA, or vehicle to hook up to. The second part of this post address that aspect.

So, without further ado, here we go.

Particle Beam Weapons

The premier energy anti-armor technology, particle beams are expensive compared to other forms of energy weapons and harder to maintain. All particle beam weapons suffer from Technical Difficulties. Remember, as well, that any weapon with a Mods value requires a Strength of d12+Mods to wield effectively as a personal firearm.

General rule of thumb for creating a particle beam weapon: take a comparable laser, reduce the range to 2/3 of the laser's. Increase the damage die type by one. Add +2 AP for personal weapons, +5 AP for heavy / vehicle weapons. Add +1 to the Mods value for heavy / vehicle weapons. Double the cost. Reduce shot count to 3/4 of the laser's (for personal weapons).

This gives the following profiles for Vehicle / Heavy particle beams

Vehicle Particle Beam Weapons

Weapon	Range	Damage	RoF	AP	Shots	Mods	Cost
Light	100/200/400	2d12	1	10	Special	3	900,000
Medium	100/200/400	3d12	1	15	Special	4	2,000,000
Heavy	100/200/400	4d12	1	20	Special	5	4,800,000

Notice the special under shots? That's where the second part of my introduction comes in ...

Energy Cells / Canisters

Sometimes you need a big gun, but you need it in the field with the grunts and not strapped to a lumbering behemoth. Problem is, those big guns need energy, and they're usually tied into the on-board power supply of said behemoth.

The solution are Energy Cells, although different manufacturers call them different things. Each cell has energy equal to its rating times 12. A weapon uses energy equal to its max damage, so a d12 uses 12 energy. 2d12 uses 24 energy, etc.

For example, an EC10 contains 120 power. That means that each shot of a Light Vehicle Particle Beam consumes 24 energy from the EC10, giving the weapon a realistic shot capacity of 5.

Energy Cell Costs

As can be imagined, Energy Cells are not cheap as they're handling a draw usually handled by fusion reactor. The cost to recharge a cell is the BASE number of shots unit rating (10, 20, etc) * 1000 credits, with a new unit costing 5 times the recharge cost.

Here's a table with all the math figured for EC10 up to EC80

Energy Cells

Cell	Energy	Weight	Recharge	New
EC10	120	5	10000	50000
EC20	240	10	20000	100000
EC30	360	15	30000	150000
EC40	480	20	40000	200000
EC50	600	25	50000	250000
EC60	720	30	60000	300000
EC70	840	35	70000	350000
EC80	960	40	80000	400000

Examples

Using an EC60:

Heavy Particle Beam - 15 shots (720 energy / 48 max damage)

Heavy Laser -  18 shots (720 energy / 40 max damage)

Heavy Ion - 18 shots (720 energy / 40 max damage)

Crew Served Weapons

Any Vehicle / Heavy Weapon can become a crew served weapon. It requires the use of Energy Cells (see above) to power the weapon, and it has to be outfitted with some form of ground mounting and stabilizing platform such as a tripod. Setting up or breaking down a crew served weapon requires a full round (six seconds), after which it may be used without a minimum strength. It is, however, immobile until it is broken down (again a full round).

When transporting the system, the individual pieces are typically distributed among the crew. Humping the weapon itself requires a minimum strength of d4 + Mods die steps (so 1 Mods requires a d6, 2 requires a d8, and so on). Depending on the size of the cell used, each crew member other than the weapon carrier has one or two cells added to their kit.The larger cells are almost exclusively used for semi-permanent fortified positions.

I'm still trying to come up with a good rule of thumb for how much the weapon itself weighs. For now, assume that anyone humping the weapon itself is considered to be encumbered with a -3 penalty as per the encumbrance rules as if he or she was at 3/4 of their max load, Reduce pace by 2 when carrying.

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Update 2016-10-18: Simplified the math and design to make it much easier to use, coming back to "Fast, furious, fun".

Modelling CS Response to Player Actions

Wanted: Dead or Alive

So this is something I've been working on since ... a while ago. Couple of years, at least, I think.

The basic idea is to give the CS a form of AI for the game. Something that responds organically to the actions the player group takes.

In the previous iteration, it was a percentage check much like a skill. The group had a "CS Awareness" stat, and the GM rolled it like a skill. On a success, the CS is actively pursuing the players, with the level of success indicating how bad of a response.

I may continue working on that, but with Savage Rifts finishing in about a week, I figure I should start looking at how to adapt my present ideas over to the Savage Worlds rule-set.

In this case, it's actually fairly straightforward. There are a couple of ways to handle it - the RAW Savage Worlds way and the Savage Rifts way.

The RAW Method

The RAW method is to, again, treat it as a skill check. The level of the skill is the general idea of how annoyed the CS is, while the TN is the result of more immediate actions. Suggested starting values for both are d4 and 6, respectively, making it very unlikely that a new group will attract particular interest at any given time.

Suggested modifiers:
Obvious DB(s) in the party: -1 to TN
Obvious use of Magic / Psionics against CS troops: -1 to TN
Within the borders of a CS territory: -3 to TN

Things that increase the die level:
Repeatedly wiping out CS troops
Assisting known enemies of the CS

The Savage RIFTS Method

The Savage RIFTS way, and my preferred way, is to borrow shamelessly from the Savage Juicer mechanics.

Give the players a Wanted level, and a Wanted die. At the beginning of the game session, the GM rolls the Wanted die. If the roll is above the Wanted level, the CS has taken notice of the players and has sent some forces after their group. The players may opt to lower their Wanted level (and lower is worse, in this case) to avoid the encounter, but in doing so they make it more likely to occur in the next session, and possibly with worse consequences: the lower the Wanted level, the bigger and nastier the force that is sent after the players.

Suggested starting points for Wanted are 8 and a d8 (yes, the Wanted die can Ace).
The Wanted die fluctuates based on player action:
+ 1 die level when travelling through CS territory
+ 1 die level when passing near a CS outpost
Still working on what would lower the Wanted die

Finally, the players may actively court CS intervention with flagrant displays of power. This is mechanically represented by lowering their Wanted level in exchange for a "super" bennie. I'm still working on the details of what this would entail, but an example might be that the group automatically achieves a particular task, or maximizing any roll (without raises), etc. It will need to be worth bring the CS closer to finding the group.

Work Still to be Done

These are very rough, off the cuff ideas that need refining and playtesting. In particular I need to determine what the CS response is at a given Wanted level, how to regain Wanted levels, and what voluntarily burning a Wanted level does when used for a "super" bennie.
Still, I think this is a good starting point and there's enough there for anyone reading this to run off with and make their own.

Skills Variant

Palladium is definitely a skills based game and it provides one of the most straightforward depictions of how likely you are to succeed at a given skill that I've seen - your skill is expressed as a straight percentage chance.

However, for all that, skills are static once chosen. The only differences between your skill and the skill of that other guy are when the skill was chosen, any OCC / RCC bonuses, and any bonus from a high IQ. This is boring to me, so I decided to make a house rule (a common occurrence, in Palladium games).

At each level, as written, you advance every current skill you have by its per-level amount. 

My house rule is simply that you may forgo advancing one skill to "double" advance another skill. For example, let's say that I have Climb and Forensics. I want my character to be something of a legend when it comes to Forensics, so when I gain a level I might advance Forensics twice and let Climb sit at whatever percentage it's already at.

This begs the question of how to track all of this - after all, we want to minimize the complexity of any house rule so that it is easy to implement and does not overly complicate the game. With the traditional skills system you may have tracked when a skill was learned for easy reference and re-computing should something go awry. The easiest way to implement this house rule is to instead track what level a skill is at. Picked up a skill at 2nd level and you're now 3rd? That skill is level 2. 

Due to the nature of some skills, this approach only works for skills with actual per-level percentages or level based progression. For example, this will not work with Body Building or Boxing, but will work with most Weapon Proficiencies. Additionally, you may only do this swap once per skill per level. In other words, you can't add two extra levels to a single skill by not advancing two other skills - it's a strict 1:1 scenario.

Let's look at a more cohesive example. I have a Veritech Pilot (Robotech RPG, 2nd Edition). Let's say he's 1st level, fresh out of the academy. He has the following skills of note at level 1 (NB: This is not comprehensive in the least - if you want details on the Veritech OCC, please support Palladium and by the book linked at the beginning of this paragraph):

[1] Computer Operation

[-] Forced March

[1] Language: English

[1] Military Etiquette

[1] WP Handgun

[1] WP Rifle

[1] Mecha Pilot: Veritechs

[1] Wilderness Survival

The number between [ and ] denotes what level the skill is at. [-] indicates a skill that does not level.

Now, let's say the pilot levels up and reaches 2nd level. He decides that he wants to be something of an ace in his VT and somewhat of a crack shot with a pistol. He looks at his skills and decides he doesn't much care about etiquette or computers. Truth be told, he doesn't much care about forced marching, either, but that skill isn't a candidate for the house rule. So, rather than adding a level to Computer Operation or Military Etiquette, he instead adds those levels to WP Handgun and Mecha Pilot; Veritechs, respectively. Now his skills look like this:

[1] Computer Operation

[-] Forced March

[2] Language: English

[1] Military Etiquette

[3] WP Handgun

[2] WP Riflee

[3] Mecha Pilot: Veritechs

[2] Wilderness Survival

Astute readers may notice that skills have the potential to cap pretty quickly. The mathematical among you may even see that a skill will reach level 15 by character level 8 if that skill has an extra level added to it at each level past the first. How do you handle that? How do you handle the potential for skills well above the 98% soft-cap?

There's a couple of ways. The first is to simply disallow any more levels to be added to a level 15 skill. This is the easiest way, but also brings us back to everyone looking the same at max level. The other way, the way that I handle it, is to let the skills get high. At worst a skill will be level 29 at character level 15. Is that alot? Sure. However, remember the soft cap - no matter how huge that skill gets, the character will always have a 2% chance to fail. That huge skill of, say, 144%, simply provides a buffer against penalties. He can suck up 46% worth of penalties without worrying about his performance - and it's depressingly easy to get -46% or worse on a skill check.