Actually, that's true. In our all Jedi game, as the end of the clone wars grew closer and closer, they all started to get a - well, bad feeling about this. In order to combat whatever "this" was, they started funneling off military supplies using the "they will never miss one penny out of a thousand dollars" method. Weapons, medical supplies, spare parts, droids, ship parts - as it all rolled off the assembly line, very occasionally one would go missing and wind up in their coffers.

So yes, I guess in a way I'm guilty of looting too - but it was a very slow, deliberate process that served the story. It wasn't mugging 3 stormtroopers for their guns to sell on the black market.

There's a galaxy of difference between being murder hobos who mug random Stormtroopers for their armor and weapons and a group that cleans up after themselves to make sure that there's no sign of the fight in the first place (which naturally leads to having a bunch of random junk laying around from dead enemies). Further, some groups want to loot to keep spare equipment in their ship or base in order to have the right tool for the job. Looting enemies doesn't always mean selling the ill-gotten gains -- though once one accumulates 100 Stormtrooper blaster rifles, there's little to do other than sell them.

I've found a way to deal with this issue that works very well for my group, at least. I run armour as non-lootable, but otherwise everything is up for grabs. This pretty much includes the equipment listed on the NPC's stat block - one or two weapons and some other stuff like stimpacks.

Now, the real point is an agreement I suggested to my players. They agree not to devolve into loot-munchkins, and I rule that they routinely recover enough credits from defeated NPCs that it cancels out petty expenses - restocking and refuelling their ship, the occasional renting of a landspeeder, a hotel room for a night or two, and so on. This saves me from keeping extremely detailed notes on what some random minion NPC is carrying, and saves them from keeping track of every last credit.

Obviously if an NPC is carrying real money (say 500 credits and up) I let them know, but otherwise they just take any interesting or useful items they want to keep for themselves and we just handwave everything else. It works like a charm, everyone's happy and things progress swiftly and smoothly without stopping to do inventory every 30 minutes.

in my games i kind of borrowed from the Old republic game.

If they had a weapons they can get those, chances are tho that it might be damaged, or inferior.

Armor either has blaster marks on it, or a gaping hole where the players shot them, and then again, it might not even fit them so they need to spend some creits to repair and refit the armor.

Depending on the NPC they can have some odds and ends that might fetch under 50 credits, maybe under 100 for a rival. Which they can liquidate when they find a market, which offsets the cost of weapons and armor refurbishing

with the crappy encumbrance rules there is not much opportunity to haul loot.

Even a Nexu head was difficult for one of my players to haul around as a trophy

Consider too that leaving behind looted bodies can send a different message from leaving behind unlooted bodies. The former says over-zealous robbery, the latter says killing was likely the core motivation.

Ha! I finally realized what bothered me about looting bodies in Star Wars and how to stop it.

I'll set the Jawa Salvager's Union on them if they don't leave the junk.

Well, i went the other way with that: I gave them jobs with such big pay-offs that they don't bother with looting normal stuff.

Risk your lifes for a few weeks on a planet full of ice, little atmosphere and dangerous animals trying to survive to get tons of rare silk that no longer gets produced (the inhabitants died off) and you can demand quite a lot.

So why bother for a few creds and rifles when you are a millionaire?

And your newest deadliest enemy is the IRS ^^

I've skipped a few posts so please don't flame me if I repeat something already said...

Like many ppl said, ENCUMBRANCE is the best way to go... Getting to 20 encumbrance rating is pretty hard... remember it's Brawn +5 +bonus... so a normal character with brawn 3 and a backpack (+4 encumbrance) will be able to carry 3(brawn) +5 +4(backpack) for a total of 12 encumbrance.

12 encumbrance... hummm...

What do characters usually carry.... blaster pistol or rifle (average 2 enc.), medpac (2 enc.), extra reloads (1enc.) ; so usually they have around 5 encumbrance already taken, leaving 2 to carry stuff.

Now, you can make them carry other stuff....

- They are hired to hack into a secret pirate computer to steal valuable data, but they have to carry a special laptop computer to hack into the main frame because it is encoded in an old Jawa dialect... laptop having 3 encumbrance rating.

- They are hired to salvage a prototype engine from a crashed starship, so they need to carry a full tool kit (4 enc.).

Imagination is the key

Anyway, you can always tell you players that the armor from the guy they just shot doesn't fit or his broken. Miraculously, imperial armor is always fine and shine when they loot it to infiltrate an imperial compound.

Another tip... don't give ennemy characters uber gear... if you want to make combat deadlier, dont give those minions Heavy Blaster Rifles... just add 1 or 2 minions to each group.... that way, the minions will hit more often and do less damage ; I think it's a better way then hitting less often but for more damage. Leave the uber gear to the big rivals and nemesis characters and then you can put genelock on his personnal modded heavy rifle. Also, you can always introduce the bad guys brother in a later adventure where he sees his brother's personnal rifle and then discovers who killed his bro and now seeks vengeance.

As GM, you control the flow of gear and loot, just make sure they have access only to what you think they should have. Gear and loot should serve then story, not hinder it.

Well, i went the other way with that: I gave them jobs with such big pay-offs that they don't bother with looting normal stuff.

Risk your lifes for a few weeks on a planet full of ice, little atmosphere and dangerous animals trying to survive to get tons of rare silk that no longer gets produced (the inhabitants died off) and you can demand quite a lot.

So why bother for a few creds and rifles when you are a millionaire?

And your newest deadliest enemy is the IRS ^^

This might be why my players don't do a lot of looting. As I mentioned before, I keep the rest of the world moving while they do what they do. I also let them know this in advance, so they are aware that if they waste time on other things, they risk failing at the main objective (the "stick" approach). Alternately, the employer could be offering a bonus for completing the mission quickly (the "carrot" approach).

One thing that usually gets mentioned in threads about player actions is "Talk to the Players!" Tell them that you feel like the constant looting is bogging the game down, and that you're trying to run a more interesting, fast-paced, action-adventure game. If you're thinking of any of the suggestions from this thread, tell them what you're planning, and give them the choice. So, for my suggestions, you could tell them, "Look, this isn't like a video game where the next room triggers after you open the door. While you're in here looting the rest the galaxy is still going on. You have an objective, and if you waste time here, someone else could beat you to it."

Of course, this means you need to be willing to actually let that happen. Players might test you, thinking that you want so badly to use the encounter you planned that you won't have the target get away. The thing about this system is that you can take that encounter and put it in later. Maybe after their prize bounty gets away, they catch up to him later. But he hasn't been static either. He will have hired more minions. Having escaped from them once before, he's more experienced, and knows more about them, giving him one more rank of Adversary.

Or if you prefer the "carrot" approach, you can offer different incentives. One that I use is bonus XP, which I award when the players keep the game fast-paced or role-play dramatic interactions. Lingering to loot, or redundantly haggling are not interesting to me, but risk taking, working together, and some well placed humor are what get the extra points. My players know this.

Something I forgot. You can also consider a good compromise that offers your players a choice. (and having choices is the primary appeal of tabletop/live GM games over pre-programmed console RPGs.)

My favorite is when they want to loot, but know they are on a time limit. I allow a Perception check for them to do a quick search for anything particularly useful, rare, or valuable. This way, you can still keep the game moving, and the players don't feel like they have to leave all the goods behind.

Thankfully, most of my PCs are respectful in regards to the recently departed (unless it comes to stealing money.) I really haven't come into much trouble with PCs looting

I've had players lift weapons and such off of the dead. Of course, I've also had them ditch their own weapons into a sewer grate (and not come back for them) when they needed to "blend in and casually walk away" from a scene. Gear comes in, gear goes out. Looting is only a problem if your players only gain stuff and never lose any.

Think of the movies.

If the folks at the table were thinking of the movies, Ender07 wouldn't have this problem. Nobody in the films was going around rifling through pockets and pulling out gold fillings after a fight.

Another thing I do is to sometimes not have all the badguys actually dead. There is no reason that Minions have to die they can just be too wounded to continue to pose a threat (this makes sense RAW as well because Stun=Wounds). I mean we see a lot of Stormtroopers go down in the films but that doesn't mean they're dead.

Having to deal with wounded opponents often overshadows the whole "kill'em and take their stuff" mindset.

Think of the movies.

If the folks at the table were thinking of the movies, Ender07 wouldn't have this problem. Nobody in the films was going around rifling through pockets and pulling out gold fillings after a fight.

Says the guy who apparently totally failed to read the rest of the post..

Think of the movies. There's always more thugs, stormtroopers, cops until you kill every single one on the entire planet.

"Hang on a minute guys, I just gotta loot this body, then we can fight." - Han Solo

Ha! I finally realized what bothered me about looting bodies in Star Wars and how to stop it.

I'll set the Jawa Salvager's Union on them if they don't leave the junk.

Actually, flippant tho that statement might be, the old WEG game Scavenger Hunt had the looting of bodies be Very Serious Business. The Squibbs and the Ugors get into shooting matches ALL the time over left over imperial garbage - like as in battleships broadsides. If one needed to rub their players nose in it, making it on the Ugor hit list because of unlicensed garbage removal might be just the ticket.

Recently I had my players do a shootout with basically a crime family of Rodians (about 4 groups of 3 street thugs, almost killed the party). The locale is so used to this kind of thing they didn't have interruptions, and they were able to sell the blasters at the local armory (but at a discounted price). They tried to sell all the clothing they got too, netting them with a Jawa family's scrap textiles store but that's another story. They got enough to rearm themselves and sell the rest, that's fine.

But one thing that I might want to throw at my players is a ship jacker. It's an idea that you could use, if the players are looting and hoarding things somewhere, that it just gets stolen when their backs are turned. Some random opportunist happens to see them moving items or parking a ship and decides to clean them out. If they take the time trying to track whatever it is down, they'll never find it, since these kinds of theives would be used to getting their items out and away soon before the proper owners come looking for them.

Ha! I finally realized what bothered me about looting bodies in Star Wars and how to stop it.

I'll set the Jawa Salvager's Union on them if they don't leave the junk.

Actually, flippant tho that statement might be, the old WEG game Scavenger Hunt had the looting of bodies be Very Serious Business. The Squibbs and the Ugors get into shooting matches ALL the time over left over imperial garbage - like as in battleships broadsides. If one needed to rub their players nose in it, making it on the Ugor hit list because of unlicensed garbage removal might be just the ticket.

OH man, I haven't thought about the Ugors in forever! Totally incorporating those guys into a campaign now!

. my group ran into a squad of storm troopers in a deserted mine. this was last night. they killed them, and went to strip their armor. there reallywasn't a way I could put a time crunch in it, and power armor this early in thegame would hurt the balance. most of them we're taken down with an e Web, so their armor was destroyed. however there was one who wasn't. I reminded them that storm trooper armor was very distinctive, and would attract undue attention,the bad kind with guns. they took the armor, but aren't using it. they also took the guns. encumbrance didn't factor in too much, there we're sleds that they put stuffs in

. my group ran into a squad of storm troopers in a deserted mine. this was last night. they killed them, and went to strip their armor. there reallywasn't a way I could put a time crunch in it, and power armor this early in thegame would hurt the balance. most of them we're taken down with an e Web, so their armor was destroyed. however there was one who wasn't. I reminded them that storm trooper armor was very distinctive, and would attract undue attention,the bad kind with guns. they took the armor, but aren't using it. they also took the guns. encumbrance didn't factor in too much, there we're sleds that they put stuffs in

There's almost always a way to make a time crunch, and a deserted mine has a great one. Mines are usually abandoned when A) they run out of anything valuable to mine, and B) the structure becomes unstable. Depending on how long it's been abandoned, even durasteel supports will begin to erode, and blasting away with an e-web is a really good way to cause a cave-in.

there months. the miners came upon asith artifact that over months ddrove the miners crazy. they we're only in there for about 2 hours, so no real worry about dark corruption yet. only a squad of troopers went with the adept, and they were in the mines, already dead. supports would not have had a chance to decay. I thought about that.

edit: I didn't think about the e Web fire though

Our GM put a curb to looting after this little fiasco happened...

*Screen wipe to a jungle surrounding an old ruined monastery - a temple dedicated to the Sith*

The smuggler and pilot, Mina Kaylo, holsters her blaster after the group has defeated a majority of the wannabe-Sith monks and mooks.

She pauses to glance at the group's Heavy Weapons Klatooinian as he's gathering the opponents vibro-axes. He's trying in vain to pick up the dozen heavy metallic weapons.

"Do you know how much we could get for these if we sell them?" he boasts.

We spent about 20 minutes while he was trying to calculate how much each axe would sell for but didn't think about how he was going to carry them all. We definitely weren't assisting with that endeavor.

We decided there was nothing cinematic about watching the heroes loot, so looting only happens if say, your blaster gets damaged or destroyed. You can just pick up another one for the time being. This is also when you can just sort of handwave refilling your reloads, because you spotted some on a body and snagged them.

So I have a question...my PC's are always looting everyone they kill to obtain better weapons/armor and it's gotten to the point where their items are a bit too good for where they are in the storyline.

I was wondering if anyone can think of a way to either deter them from looting every time, or to make it harder so they can't magically pickup a stormtroopers blaster rifle and instantly have a gun that is tons better than a holdout blaster.

Since we just finished Escape Mos Shuuta from the EotE BG and are starting The Long Arm of the Hutt, I figured I could have an explosion occur in a sealed cargobay that they set their weapons in after they boarded the Krayt Fang...or does anyone have any other good ideas?

What are the authorities doing about these people that are murdering and looting?

What are the families of these people doing?

What about the bystanders that see these things occur?

If you've got a problem with them murdering everything and looting it like it was a Zelda game, throw in just a tad more realism and consequence to their actions.

I got my players mad at me Monday. one of them is all Jedi, and has a training saber. well, he got his hands in a dark side acylolites saber (no idea of spelling). he was so happy he could actually do damage. first battle he goes to turn it on, nothing happens. gene locked.

So I have a question...my PC's are always looting everyone they kill to obtain better weapons/armor and it's gotten to the point where their items are a bit too good for where they are in the storyline.

I was wondering if anyone can think of a way to either deter them from looting every time, or to make it harder so they can't magically pickup a stormtroopers blaster rifle and instantly have a gun that is tons better than a holdout blaster.

Since we just finished Escape Mos Shuuta from the EotE BG and are starting The Long Arm of the Hutt, I figured I could have an explosion occur in a sealed cargobay that they set their weapons in after they boarded the Krayt Fang...or does anyone have any other good ideas?

Had that problem also until i did like this:

They stole something unique from a dead body. It looked valuable and of course their greed could not stop them. Then later in a cantina i let someone recognize this unique piece and this belonged to a bad dude brother. Since players had it they were into a huge **** of problems for this man was a Rival with many connections to the underworld and he made their life rely suck for a long time.

He blamed them for his brothers death and did everything to make their life suck and even try to kill the players. And his guys always turned up in a rely bad time. And it was very frustrating to them.

.