For me it's not about making it feel like real life, but more like a Star Wars story.

There are a lot of things which happen in pulp sci-fi adventure stories that aren't very realistic, but they're part of the fabric of the adventure genre. To me, that's what Edge of the Empire is designed to emulate.

Actually as long as looting and stealing = rewards without consequences players will do it, unless they are actually roleplaying in a roleplaying game a character that morally would not. The GM has to introduce consequences to discourage detrimental roleplaying behavior, or if you don't want to deter someone being able to do those things he has to introduce campaign elements to maintain balance, via nickel and dime fees, plots involving expenses and losses, or as others mentioned a large moneysink such as Obligation or projects.

There is a reason most roleplaying games start with the presumption of the characters are white knight good guys or criminals in this case and its the other criminals that are the truly bad ones(the kind that steal from poor villagers, enslave others, kill them, pirates etc). Some players cannot maturely roleplay bad guys, and when they behave badly its often to the detriment of the campaign or other players.

HappyDaze, on 19 Feb 2015 - 11:56 PM, said:

If my GM tried telling me I have to pay 2000 Creds for fuel and food while the group barely has 10k, I'd sure as hell loot every bit of scrapmetal I can get, because I'd be barely able to afford living.

Really? IRL, I know many people that often have less than 10k in the bank and monthly bills in excess of 2k looming. None of the people I know are looting everything they see, even things that are legal to pick up (soda cans along the side of the road), and none of them make a habit of pawning everything that comes into their hands.

But you know who does tend to get to that point? Hardcore drug addicts. Is that the kind of characters people want to play?

Um, me. Who doesn't?

I think it's just more about finding a tone that everyone can live with.

The GM might want the PCs to be living on the edge of their resources, being poor and having to struggle.

The PCs might want to be wealthy and powerful characters. Or they might just loot everything because that's how you do it in D&D.

Neither one's right or wrong, necessarily, just talk with your players about the tone you're going for and find out if everyone can find a compatible middle ground.

I think you can dissuade looting simply by not providing open markets for sale, and where those markets exist, not paying premium.

Not every shopkeeper is going to be willing to pay for a bunch of still-warm blasters and charred armor, after all! Who wants that kind of heat, especially if you have a good idea who the previous owners were?

I think you can dissuade looting simply by not providing open markets for sale, and where those markets exist, not paying premium.

Not every shopkeeper is going to be willing to pay for a bunch of still-warm blasters and charred armor, after all! Who wants that kind of heat, especially if you have a good idea who the previous owners were?

Now this I need to remember.... granted, I am sure others have said similar, if not the same, but for some reason this was worded in a way that twanged a string.

Thank you to everyone for their advice!

You forgot docking fees, permits, bribes for Imperials, custom inspectors, and local law enforcement.

Let your characters buy/rent a couple safe houses on different planets/space stations in different star systems you will have them in debt to the Hutts or the Suns in no time. Its really easy to get your characters to screw themselves financially. Just like people do in real life, dangle that carrot in front of them over a credit card from the Bank of Nal Hutta(at 45% interest ) and THEY WILL SCREW THEMSELVES GUARANTEED IF YOU DO IT RIGHT! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Regarding the video game looting mentality…rig some blasters and some other tech with DNA recognition tech and as soon as someone who isn't the owner handles it BOOM! and I would make critical wounds loss of limb(s) automatic. Make them buy some cyber-prosthetics. If they keep it up BOOM=dead make a new character. If it really is that big of a deal to you. Another option, Robbery, having a lot of wealth is going to attract a lot of people who will want to take it, have their shiny new ship stolen right of the docking bay! If your players are thieving dicks, well isn't it Karma…or the Force!? Hope this helps.