16 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

As an example of the off-stage exchanges:

• Having an NPC slicer clean the credits might be done in exchange for Favor (possibly turning to Blackmail if the PCs cross the slicer).
• Having an NPC make a formal apology to the Hutt for a "misunderstanding" might allow them to wash the issue away in exchange for Favor or Debt.

Things done on-stage result directly in complications that are part of the active story, not Obligations. However, if the group doesn't want to deal with them in the active story, then it's OK to say "We can either play out the issue or you can take Bounty X to put the whole thing on the back-burner until it comes up again later." Note that playing out the issue should offer a chance to reduce the Obligation even if it doesn't resolve the issue (after dealing with the consequences to some degree on-stage , the Obligation value should go down). This is because Obligation is a narrative currency used by the players not by the characters .

In my mind, Obligations are a perfectly acceptable consequence of on-screen action. Given there must be consensus for accepting new Obligation, it is dead simple to say, "yes, you may certainly steal that briefcase full of credits, but know that the consequence is a 10-point Obligation involving an angry Hutt." I can appreciate your view on the matter, and far be it for me to tell anyone how to play the game at their table. I don't relish having to maintain a separate list of pseudo-Obligations when there's already a mechanic that works well enough for me. And it plays out well at the table - if we don't roll it, it doesn't come up that session. If it does, well, they knew this day was coming. I see this fitting quite well into the concept of narrative currency being players' and not characters' resource.

*Glances at thread title*

Friendly public service announcement - if anyone should show up to help Scotter rob his players of their watches, jewelry, phones, or wallets, that would make them an accessory to a relatively high level felony. Thank you. Continue on.

Oceans 12, man.

All is quiet for a few sessions...let the PCs spend their money...

And then the Hutt comes down hard, all at once. He blows up their ship, threatens their families, threatens to expose them to the Empire, ruins their reputation within the Rebellion (possibly compromises a mission and frames them for collaboration with the Empire)... Wherever it hurts most, he hits then on all fronts. And then he demands his money back, plus interest.

1 hour ago, awayputurwpn said:

Oceans 12, man.

All is quiet for a few sessions...let the PCs spend their money...

And then the Hutt comes down hard, all at once. He blows up their ship, threatens their families, threatens to expose them to the Empire, ruins their reputation within the Rebellion (possibly compromises a mission and frames them for collaboration with the Empire)... Wherever it hurts most, he hits then on all fronts. And then he demands his money back, plus interest.

A hutt wasting valuable resources like a fully-stocked party? I could imagine a nefarious Hutt using that to his advantage, particularly in Hutt politics. It did pay them a million credits after all....

But of course! How else are they gonna pay all that cash back?

The ever-gracious Grubba the Hutt will deign to allow his servants to work off their debts to him at a very reasonable rate.

With all those suggestions what type of story this could become, I realize that it is not up to the GM to decide. This is the space for players to make the decision, to make their own story. As GM you are in this kind of situation in a very comfortable position. You merely tell you party that there will be severe consequences when they try to steal the million and afterwards you merely need to prepare the dramatis personæ and let the adventure unfold itself. Prepare some encounters which you think will happen based on the past actions of the group, like for example bounty hunters on their trial or a swoop gang trying to steal the money from your pcs, but everything else is up to the PCs, they are the protagonists, they decide in which direction the story unfolds now. Go they now after the Hutt to keep the money? Try they to negotiate? Do they just run? Matters little for you, you know what the Hutt wants, he wants to save face and he wants either his money or something of equal or better value and he has the resources to achieve his goals. On the plus side for the characters, the hutt almost certainly cares little about a dead ex-business partner who retired. So he is at least not out for revenge.

Just cover your bases with a few of the possible encounters and be prepared enough to fill a session, know the motivations of the npcs and you actually should be fine with letting the players play. It is a pain in the ass, because it means now the Hutt and his cartel needs a buttload of npcs, so it's a buttload of extra work, but it should be worth it, because your players will hopefully tell the story for years how they have stolen a million credits from the mighty Viro * , the Hutt or died trying.

*Name subject to change

8 minutes ago, awayputurwpn said:

But of course! How else are they gonna pay all that cash back?

The ever-gracious Grubba the Hutt will deign to allow his servants to work off their debts to him at a very reasonable rate.

There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling.

On February 23, 2017 at 1:30 PM, JalekZem said:

Remember that even in the movies, the main protagonists steal gear from defeated enemies. Luke and Han use armor. Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie use stole stormtrooper guns. Both in Episode IV. This happens in other movies as well. So long as it does not get to the proportions that most Video Games go to as the primary means of gaining cash it is ok.

Briefly, yes. But at their first opportunity, they go back to their regular weapons and equipment. The stuff they got from the Stormtroopers just wasn’t that good/useful to them in the long run.

Quote

In one group I am playing in, we have a small stash of 5 or 6 Stormtrooper Rifles, a dozen or so grenades, 4 utility belts, a Heavy Blaster Rifle, and a dozen or so vibro-knives. All taken from som kind storm troopers.

That sounds totally reasonable to me. But for a relatively small amount of money, you could have bought equipment that was identical or even superior. So, there’s not that much benefit there.

I agree that allowing them to move forward with the big payout would add some really interesting narrative options to the adventure: they would be hunted by the owner of the money, the rebel alliance might also be interested in tracking down the 'deserters', other criminals might want to steal the cash from them, as it isn't legit cash it might be problematic to buy legal items so the characters would have to deal a lot with the black market perhaps buying used (stolen) ships and gear....These all have great story potential.

However, there is also a way out of this that also adds story potential. What if the credits are forgeries and the hutt was actually trying to stiff the smuggler, but the players don't find this out until after they steal the loot?

Do the players then have a grudge against the hutt, do they tell the smuggler about the double cross or do they only find out when they go on a spending spree and buy something expensive? The authorities would likely be called in at some point if forged credits start turning up in a defined area of space, so the players could end up on the run from the hutt, local law enforcement (or sector Rangers) and the empire and their spend is limited to shops that don't check the credits well enough.

My players have a habit of making cash, or stealing ships, I allow this but always find a way to add a wrinkle to things that enhance the story. They also know that I will find a way to level the playing field and so don't rely on keeping what they have as it will likely be taken away from them within the story, and this adds some interesting dynamics to our combined story telling.

I can't wait to see what happens at the end of Jewel of Yavin when they potentially have a priceless Jewel in hand, credits from betting on a race and lots of diverted funds but they still have a job to carry out for a sector ranger (I am running them through the adventure 'enemy of my enemy' at the same time as JoY) and the empire arrive on cloud city......

On 2/22/2017 at 8:20 PM, 2P51 said:

Don't worry about looting, as long as they aren't carrying absurd numbers of things, let them. This game spins up offensively but it's not matched defensively, so it's easy to challenge PCs regardless of gear.

Let them take the money. See where it goes. Create needs for the money. Make the money traceable unbeknownst to them.

As soon as you try and restrict the narrative you're killing it. Now that doesn't mean let them act like 12 year olds, but it doesn't mean make them do what you want either.

This would work just fine, even if you don't use some of the loads of good ideas about Obligation, Hutt involvement, bounty hunters, forgeries, etc...

If you still want to mitigate the amount of money they receive, you can do that with taxes, fees, and money laundering expenses if they want the money to be legit, but that's boring for most people. However, do your players roleplay their characters drinking? Would they like to celebrate their new wealth at the cantina? Flip a dark side point and your characters wake up with a fully gold-plated E-11 blaster, a rare Sriluurian pygmy nerf, a Twi'lek dancer with a bad spice habit who now follows them around, twelve bottles of the best Savareen brandy that have been half drunk already, a large canvas of overpriced street art with a huge tear down the middle (maybe repairable?), a plastic wrapped crate filled with all new plastic furniture from one of the best interior design firms (but they're last years models), an entire new wardrobe of fashions of the type that only runway models wear, several unconscious new friends, and no idea where they stashed the rest of the money. Make sure you talk to them about it before using this option.

If the moral implications bother you more than the money itself, then you have a built in way to handle it without being too preachy: your characters' already established connections with the Alliance. Perhaps their Alliance handler, in disgust, asks for them to be transferred to another handler. Perhaps the characters meet someone that they find very attractive, but once this person finds out who they are, refuses to have anything to do with them. Old friends may ignore the characters or tell them that they are despicable, to their face. There are lots of people in the Alliance who would judge your pc's poorly for what they did ("If money is the only thing you care about..."). Don't overdo it, not everyone in the Alliance will feel this way, but enough that the characters and their players would notice it.

On 2/24/2017 at 8:32 AM, 2P51 said:

they didn't steal credits, they bought tombstones.

God, there's so much machismo and testosterone in that sentence that I think you just made 3 female coworkers in my office pregnant.

Imagine that it was said in the movie announcer guy voice. Makes it even better.

2 hours ago, GroggyGolem said:

Imagine that it was said in the movie announcer guy voice. Makes it even better.

"In a world..."

I'm currently running a F&D campaign 250 total xp (They are now 100 more xp in) Campaign and had an issue like this come up where I had placed a hundred or so custom-made battle droids, under the control of a possessed bounty hunter for dramatic scenes, the group after defeating him decided to take his datapad and steal the droids to sell them on the black market. I let them have them. They got a 200k to 300k pay out for the droids. The City they've been operating in is now in a civil war due to previous character actions serving as a catalyst and they are now fighting their way through the small army of droids they sold and gangers, to get at a small time Crime Boss that has set himself up as a self-stylized warlord thanks to the help of an unseen patron.

Let them have the money and hit them with consequences later. Harsh consequences seeing as how they are angering 3 factions currently.

1 million is enough to buy a pretty sweet ship, I would hate for them to run into a Victory Star Destroyer .