Wealth Obsessed Players

By RebelDave, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I need some advice.

My group are dead set on accumulating everything. Such that they insist on looting everything and everyone they come across.

I would like to keep them reasonably 'poor' to add some tension and stress to their Characters Lives.

After they defeated Teemo, I did my best to limit the time they had to loot the place. I asked them all where they were looking in the throne room, and stressed they had bare minutes to grab what they could carry and make a run for it.

They now have a vertitable stockpile of spare weapons, alcohol, trophies (With an undetermined value), and various other stuff (Including damaged laminate armour, that my technician has flat out declared he can fix, and will probably argue incessantly if I tell him its beyond repair).

They found the 10k Cartel Tokens Teemo was holding, and while on Formos I applied a 20% addition to all things they wanted if they were paying in Cartel Tokens, on the basis that the further from Hutt Space they were, the less they were worth.

Despite fixing the entire ship up, buying food supplies, and Attachments and MOdifications, they still have around 6000 tokens left.

And they are now set to run Trouble Brewing, which could net them either 5k or 10k (Potentially, but if youve read Trouble Brewing, thats not a given - But WILL probably result in them trying to kill everyone on Kessel).

I charged them 1000 creds to fully fuel the ship, and 10 credits each per day for food (They bought 2 months supply for everyone).

They still have 5k left.

I brought this up with one of my players and he flat out said "If you try to keep us poor, we will simply try harder to loot more" (One player, who is currently absent, makes it a point to steal EVERY SINGLE WEAPON of EVERY SINGLE ENEMY they kill) (And yes, I've tried to ensure they were in a postion that they couldnt carry them all, but the situation at the time was one of zero threat, and plenty of time, and a speeder to load it into... they even wanted to take the speeder of their foe, and I had to argue the point that it wouldnt fit on the ship... so they sold it)

I'm at a loss. They are dead set on having so much cash they can Bride/Buy/Sell their way out of anything I could throw at them.

Help please!

This comes up quite often when people forget RPG does not mean video game.

I brought this up with one of my players and he flat out said "If you try to keep us poor, we will simply try harder to loot more" (One player, who is currently absent, makes it a point to steal EVERY SINGLE WEAPON of EVERY SINGLE ENEMY they kill) (And yes, I've tried to ensure they were in a postion that they couldnt carry them all, but the situation at the time was one of zero threat, and plenty of time, and a speeder to load it into... they even wanted to take the speeder of their foe, and I had to argue the point that it wouldnt fit on the ship... so they sold it)

I'm at a loss. They are dead set on having so much cash they can Bride/Buy/Sell their way out of anything I could throw at them.

Help please!

Encumbrance is your friend.

Look at encumbrance values... use them... a lot.

Use threats to break stuff.

Use Despair to destroy multiple items.

Force a mission they need to go through populated areas often. They will be arrested quickly displaying that kind of firepower.

Storage on a ship, make sure they have storage containers... enforce ship encumbrance thresholds. Don't let them near a shop until they are so loaded down they look like Cartman in Southpark and can barely walk.

If they want to destroy the game, don't let them.

Also not everyone can be bribed. Even a Bribe should only add a boost to a roll (maximum) it should still be a roll. Do they lock up/secure their ship? no? have it stolen.

Talking to them as Players didn't help so fight them with consequences in game until you get a happy balance.

This is not a video game, this is not D&D this is Star Wars on the fringe. If you have to throw a weapon every now and then with the genelock attachment and the self-destruct mod.

Then they pick it up... oops a crit. A few random times of this and it will go away.

If they want to bribe people sure- charge huge amounts (or simply make the receipient unbribeable- e.g. Imperial officials, or Hutts they have a feud with). If they want to buy high ticket items, sure- but remember to use the correct rarity checks to find items, and limit the amount of searches they can do (e.g. 1 per planet). If they want money, give them more fun ways to get large sums of money so they don't need to faff around with stealing and selling everyone's toothpicks.

Cash doesn't really work properly due to the 2 orders of magnitude difference between ship and personal costs anyway, so eh! Favours and connections are worth far more than mere $$$ in the underworld. Plus... 15k isn't even that much. That's a month's wages (see Far Horizons).

Encumbrance doesnt deter them. As mentioned, on Ryloth, they took out the gang, stole their speeder, and filled it with everything they could loot from their foes.

They have a YT1300 (yeah yeah cliche), thats essentially empty.

How much should I be charging them for food and fuel and docking fees?

These players are masters at making what they have go a very very very very very long way.

Drop some Obligation on them when it gets to be too much. They start getting a rep for stealing everything they can get their hands on.

Encumbrance doesnt deter them. As mentioned, on Ryloth, they took out the gang, stole their speeder, and filled it with everything they could loot from their foes.

They have a YT1300 (yeah yeah cliche), thats essentially empty.

How much should I be charging them for food and fuel and docking fees?

These players are masters at making what they have go a very very very very very long way.

I am not sure you understand vehicle encumbrance. You don't just stick it in a saddlebag and go... you have to fit stuff into its compartments or you will throw off the flight pattern or block an exhaust port.

Also on a YT-1300 Weapons "worn" / carried are different than weapons on a ship. Unless they are secured properly they could go flying and shoot something inside the ship. =) In a crate you need the encumbrance of the crate and the weapons inside taken away from the total.

Make food/docking fees have to be negotiated/haggled. Fuel Costs, etc.

Don't let them sell items for 100% of the value, force the resale rules Page 150 of the EotE CRB gives you an easy out. "Exactly what is illegal on each world is up to the GM" Negotiate PER ITEM. Enough threat = baddies arrive. Use Table 5-3 to decrease the resale cost as well.

Blow up their ship with everything on it.

Did they kill Trex in Escape from Mos Shuuta? If not, have him come and take his ship back. Or give them some other enemy. Have them drop out of hyperspace in the middle of an Imperial fleet. Then let them escape, but put some serious (and expensive) damage on that ship first.

Edited by cupajo

If my players get to wealthy I am going to have an Interdictor Class Star Destroyer pull them out of hyperspace for an inspection. They can either risk capture/ try to flee resulting with their ship and everything on it being destroyed and them fleeing in escape-pods to a hostile jungle world below and sinking alot of cash into getting back on their feet or just fleeing in escape pods outright and commencing their new adventure. I don't want to bankrupt them as they still have assets elsewhere but still want to make things interesting.

Edited by dpb1298

I've run into this problem before, too. Fights in public places tend to prevent blatant looting of the dead. And if they insist on making trips to carry away stuff, scavengers can also loot that stuff while they are away. It's a bit annoying GMing for a group with the "if it isn't bolted down" mentality. Remember to point out that it isn't a simple action to get a dead body out of its armour: proper laminate or battle armour could take a fair chunk of time. Vehicles have registrations: have a vendor ask for the proof of purchase.

But yeah, who they steal from has a bit of a problem. Especially when it's a group with standard issue equipment. And how are they moving said standard equipment? Port authorities might be bribed into letting some spices or stolen goods into port, but even they draw the line at blood soaked stormtrooper armour.

Obligation is your friend here: actions have consequences. Standard issue gear has trouble being sold without drawing attention. Remind them that this isn't shoot and loot apocalyptic wasteland: it's a roleplaying game.

I'm just guessing here, but if they insist on looting and selling everything, then they should rack up plenty of obligation. Too much obligation means they can't spend xp. A group that obsesses over wealth is probably also obsessed with character development. If they can't boost those numbers, they might reconsider.

I've run into this problem before, too. Fights in public places tend to prevent blatant looting of the dead.

Also keep in mind a maxed wound threshold does not mean dead (even for an NPC) it means defeated. They can be alive but "out of the fight". Therefore looting a live body is not recommended either. If they were leaving dead bodies everywhere that is even worse and should have authorities following their every move.

Ok, a little counter point. Ok, so, what's the problem? They kill, they loot, they are rich. Let them be rich if it sastisfies them. Just let them be rich. Give them a couple of social encounters where they can throw their money around. It seems this is the kind of game they want, so let them have it. For awhile.

The problem you have here is the players and you do not agree on the type of game you guys want to play. Everyone here will give advice on how to curb this, but really you tried and you can't. You said it's yourself that a player told you they will just try harder to loot.

If you want to stop this, it will take more drastic measures. You can talk to your players and let them you are not enjoying the game and want to change, if they won't then let them know you will no longer run the game for them. It is far better to not to game, than to game and be miserable. If they then decide it would be better to change their ways, then give it another shot. If they start back up, just kill them. And I mean kill them, not do it combat, don't roll it, just let them know they got hit by a bus. Sorry to be blunt, but it seems you tried to do it the diplomatic way, and they just told you to eff off. Time for a new group. Good luck out there man.

Edited by R2builder

I would like to keep them reasonably 'poor' to add some tension and stress to their Characters Lives......

I'm at a loss. They are dead set on having so much cash they can Bride/Buy/Sell their way out of anything I could throw at them.

This here is your issue; not their behaviour per say but the difference in expectations about what you want out of the campaign. As GM, you can do your best to force players to play the way you want, but it won't end up being fun for anyone. Talk to your players, out of game, and ask them what they want. (This should really be done at the start of all RP games)

Obviously, they put a high priority on accumulating wealth. Are they just trying to outfox you and beat you at your own game (remind them that Edge is not set up for adversarial play, and it works better when you are both willing to work together to establish a narrative), or is RPing wealthy characters just what they really want? (Reassess why you want to keep them poor...can you find different motivations that will keep them playing but allow them to enjoy their wealth?)

As long as they're motivated to keep playing by some in-character desire, there shouldn't have to be an issue with them being able to live the high life while they do it, and if they solely want money for the purpose of buying their way out of trouble, sometimes that won't work. Also, remind them out of game that you should all be working together to tell a story, and if they only want to loot and bribe, there's nothing left for you as GM to do to challenge them.

Edited by GAThraawn

All that stuff they took from the Teemo; have Teemo's boss (A very powerful and well connected hutt) show up with a small-ish army and demand all they took back. With interest.

It baffles me how often this subject comes up... It seems there are almost always two or three posts on the front page about "my players insist on looting everything, how can I stop them?"

This is not a knock on the folks posting about it, I just find myself surprised.

I think the main thing to do would be to talk to your players and determine if you've really got a problem or not.

"Guys, this game doesn't have to be like D&D where the objective is to keep leveling up and gain more money and power. To be honest, that's not really the 'Star Wars'-type feel I was hoping for when I set out to play a Star Wars roleplaying game."

And then find out if your players have any thoughts about that. If they all disagree, and if you can live with it, then maybe just keep going and don't worry about it too much.

If they're reasonable, maybe they'll cut back a little on the gold hoarding.

Finally, if you really want to deal with it in-game, there is plenty of great advice on dealing with it, especially if you search for the many, many other threads where people have similar problems--again, not a knock on the original poster, however there's a lot of good advice you can find.

If your crew flies around in a ship, fuel and maintenance can basically be as expensive as you want them to be. Some planets will be more expensive than others. If there's a lot of competition in an area, prices go down, if there's little competition, prices go up.

As others have said, you can't just carry everything you want to pick up, it's not a videogame. Use common sense and the encumbrance rules. Mainly use common sense. If they're trying to carry three rifles at a time, that's going to be a problem. If they're trying to carry a crate of something, that's going to be hard to do. If they're trying to fill a speeder with stuff, you can definitely have a lylek jump out and try to eat their speeder.

Han and Lando made and lost fortunes on a regular basis.

They are the kings of losing cash.

Everything from being conned themselves to having a girl friend literally steal everything that wasn't bolted down.

Keep in mind Fencing some of this stuff for even a fraction of its value is not going to happen.

Stolen storm trooper armor is worthless on the open market. Its only good to be melted down to make something else.

You can't even walk around wearing the stuff without running into trouble.

Stuff stolen from a Hutt is nuclear waste no fence will touch it and more then likely its easily identified as belonging to said hutt so the fence is going to do himself a favor and call Teemo's relatives and tell them exactly where to find the players. Right after throwing them out of his shop.

They can get around encumbrance in a few situations like the speeder bike being around sure, but there's not always going to be a speeder bike let alone one with a key in it which has a full tank of fuel.
Not only that if they're spending a bunch of time looting then they risk you having people drawn by the nearby noise, cops, other guards, whatever the case may be. They shouldn't typically have a lot of time after a deadly and likely loud fight to carefully check every mooks pockets. Not only that maybe one of those guns they go to sell later was registered and the shop owner decides to report the players to the imperial authorities for selling stolen weaponry, I hear there's rewards for being an imperial snitch after all. Now they have to start looking for someone who won't ask questions to buy their loot off them and unfortunately he knows they're desperate and isn't going to pay much for the stolen goods, after all it's going to be hard to unload the gear himself and he needs to make a profit to.
There's a lot of consequences you can do that don't feel to cheap or gamey, sit down and just start thinking of everything that "could" go wrong, jot it down on a sheet you can keep handy next session and pull from those ideas occasionally if the players decide to go loot crazy again.

The people I played with were like that to beging with but after doing beyond the rim and finding all that money to basically buy their dreams, it all just kind of faded away, I mean they had what they wanted so there was no real reasons that they wanted to go and loot everything and lift anything not bolted to the floor, it's fun to have your guys on the edge of bankruptcy to make them spend wisely but they'll look for ways to make money however they can and if it makes sense then restricting it just makes it feel awkward and unpleasant. My advice is run some adventures that aren't as money focused that have different yet exciting adventures (we're going to free some slaves next, as soon as I said it their moral compass took over). Also you can't always sell everthing you came across it might be tagged in some way or be a known items or a 'hot' item for example if make it really hard to sell any kind of weaponry on Very civilised planet or just let them let them get some stuff and see how it goes, you can always break it later.

Hope that helps you in some way

Edited by OxygenWalrus

This is a situation that should be addressed first and foremost OOC.

You need to have a conversation about how this isn't D&D, about how a major theme of EotE is living on the fringe in a very Han Solo way, where you can get a small fortune and it still won't be enough to wipe out your debs, because once the lenders get their hooks in they will not let go easily. I'm not sure this will work for you given how your conversation has already gone, but it's worth a shot.

Direct their attention to the actual Star Wars sources. Note that there's just not a lot of looting! Han and Luke dress up as Stormtroopers, but they don't go out of their way looting even when they might have an opportunity. You don't see Han later selling his laminate armor and blaster rifle to the Rebellion, or even keeping them for hypothetical future use: on Yavin, he's back in normal clothes with his normal sidearm, ready to head back off into space. This is an important thing to emphasize.

Unfortunately I get how the printed economics of this game can generate problems. When players see very expensive gear that they want to buy in the books, but in-game you're barely making ends meet, it can be quite discouraging and frustrating. Reminds me a lot of Dark Heresy 1e, which super-incentivized looting because the books were full of gear you'd love to have but could never afford if you didn't play a D&D-esque looting game, and would probably never get if you didn't take something from an enemy to use it or sell it.

Speaking from experience - I play AoR with some people who play a lot of D&D. I'm not the GM, but I've pointed out to him how it's a problem and immersion-breaking when some of us Rebel soldiers on-mission take the time to loot dead stormies and lug their blasters around for resale. It really is a thing that ties in closely with prior gaming experiences.

You can talk to your players and let them you are not enjoying the game and want to change, if they won't then let them know you will no longer run the game for them. It is far better to not to game, than to game and be miserable.

I completely agree with this, while at the same time want to note that the GM giving a "change or I'll quit" ultimatum instead of both sides reaching a compromise, can itself be problematic.

Edited by Kshatriya

I need some advice.

My group are dead set on accumulating everything. Such that they insist on looting everything and everyone they come across.

I would like to keep them reasonably 'poor' to add some tension and stress to their Characters Lives.

After they defeated Teemo, I did my best to limit the time they had to loot the place. I asked them all where they were looking in the throne room, and stressed they had bare minutes to grab what they could carry and make a run for it.

They now have a vertitable stockpile of spare weapons, alcohol, trophies (With an undetermined value), and various other stuff (Including damaged laminate armour, that my technician has flat out declared he can fix, and will probably argue incessantly if I tell him its beyond repair).

They found the 10k Cartel Tokens Teemo was holding, and while on Formos I applied a 20% addition to all things they wanted if they were paying in Cartel Tokens, on the basis that the further from Hutt Space they were, the less they were worth.

Despite fixing the entire ship up, buying food supplies, and Attachments and MOdifications, they still have around 6000 tokens left.

And they are now set to run Trouble Brewing, which could net them either 5k or 10k (Potentially, but if youve read Trouble Brewing, thats not a given - But WILL probably result in them trying to kill everyone on Kessel).

I charged them 1000 creds to fully fuel the ship, and 10 credits each per day for food (They bought 2 months supply for everyone).

They still have 5k left.

I brought this up with one of my players and he flat out said "If you try to keep us poor, we will simply try harder to loot more" (One player, who is currently absent, makes it a point to steal EVERY SINGLE WEAPON of EVERY SINGLE ENEMY they kill) (And yes, I've tried to ensure they were in a postion that they couldnt carry them all, but the situation at the time was one of zero threat, and plenty of time, and a speeder to load it into... they even wanted to take the speeder of their foe, and I had to argue the point that it wouldnt fit on the ship... so they sold it)

I'm at a loss. They are dead set on having so much cash they can Bride/Buy/Sell their way out of anything I could throw at them.

Help please!

So...they repaired and refueled their ship, bought food, and upgraded their gear.

Where do the examples of them trying to bribe/buy/sell their way out of everything start? Because it seems to me they've been doing exactly what they should be with their credits.

Not all of us want to play hobos in space you know.

If your players driving goal is acquisition of wealth that can make some of your job as the GM easier since at least you know what carrot you can always dangle in front of your players to get them to make decisions.

I'm not a huge fan of it being the only driving element of the storyline though but using it as a reward for players hard work shouldn't be discouraged beyond when it gets to the point it hinders a greater storyline.

There should come plenty of opportunities for the players to lose or risk their personal fortunes, unexpected expenses happen all the time. Though when you take credits away it should be an opportunity to drive the story along. Learn to play lets make a deal with your players everytime they are set to get some hard won credits as a reward. Maybe if they take half their payment in return for a favor owed later from a passanger can turn into more credits and XP later for a future adventure idea, or an Infochant has some coordinates to a lost treasure he will sell for some credits though he failed to mention because he was unaware of a hidden pirate base or Imperial research lab on the planet as well.

Edited by Greymere

It's perfectly possible to have characters motivated by Ambition (Greed) and possibly even having an Obsession obligation to add a dark twist to it. Such characters are every bit as valid as selfless do-gooders.

The problem with wealth is its really easy to spend it and lose it.

Just look at all the people who manage to blow entire fortunes on useless stuff.

5000 credit shirts

100,000 credit gold plated droids.

Worthless cargo that was guaranteed to be the hottest thing in the world.

Get rich quick schemes.

The beautiful red head psycho who drugs you and then leaves you naked in a dark alley after taking everything from you.

I rarely have looting problems in my groups, so i must be doing something right ^^

Others already told you to talk to your players. While (half-)starving economy can be fun to play it can get tedious so talk about the level of liquidity would be acceptable.

And consider the new possibilities:

EG my group made millions due to raiding a dead planet that once produced exquisite silk. They sold what they found and invested that money into

1. A mining complex on a newly discovered planet

2. a pimped out CR90 corvette

They intend to use the CR90 to hunt slavers (and free Wookies).

I can now use their anti-slaver activities to get them into trouble/adventures with the Empire, Slavers, Criminal Organizations, Pirates and Hutts,

the excavations could uncover secrets buried thousands of years ago,

the Empire could get the idea to nationalize their company,

...

Get creative ^^

Edited by segara82