11 minutes ago, Dunefarble said:

I actually feel like that opens up MORE opportunities. A corrupt guard taunting a prisoner with his own possessions is a lot more likely then a well-regulated system with lots of procedures. They don't even have to be VALUABLE really, for that to work. See the red stapler in Office Space for an example. It gives you a built in nemesis, too.

Multiplied x a galactic population?......to each their own but there's a lot of apples and oranges and lack of appreciation of the scale imo.

19 minutes ago, Dunefarble said:

I actually feel like that opens up MORE opportunities. A corrupt guard taunting a prisoner with his own possessions is a lot more likely then a well-regulated system with lots of procedures. They don't even have to be VALUABLE really, for that to work. See the red stapler in Office Space for an example. It gives you a built in nemesis, too.

Agreed. Why, even in the GotG example, a guard stole the Walkman.

For that matter, the one example we’ve seen of an actual prison/labor facility appears to have shown us prisoners wearing their civilian clothes rather than prisoner garb.

20 minutes ago, 2P51 said:

Multiplied x a galactic population?......to each their own but there's a lot of apples and oranges and lack of appreciation of the scale imo.

The scale works both ways though depending on location.

A prison in the outer rim is (most likely) far different than one on the inner sphere.

If we’re talking a fringe outpost mining colony jail, even if it’s ran by Imperials it’s probably not “up to code”

1 minute ago, Flavorabledeez said:

The scale works both ways though depending on location.

A prison in the outer rim is (most likely) far different than one on the inner sphere.

If we’re talking a fringe outpost mining colony jail, even if it’s ran by Imperials it’s probably not “up to code”

Agreed. And if they're traveling from the arresting location, I can see guards traveling with them for the transfer. It would depend a lot on the setup. And also the gear. It doesn't make sense for the basic stuff, but for that fancy thing or treasured backstory keepsake? Makes for good narrative opportunities.

6 minutes ago, Dunefarble said:

Agreed. And if they're traveling from the arresting location, I can see guards traveling with them for the transfer. It would depend a lot on the setup. And also the gear. It doesn't make sense for the basic stuff, but for that fancy thing or treasured backstory keepsake? Makes for good narrative opportunities.

Right.

Xandar could have kept prisoners’ belongings planetside. After all, they began processing them there, before transferring them to the Kyln, and it would appear that prisoners would have to be transferred back planetside for release. (Apparently, the impound “lot” for prisoners’ vehicles is aboard the Kyln, too. So they presumably transported vehicles to the station only to transport them back down when a prisoner was released.)

But, instead, they transported prisoners to the station to complete processing them in and stored their belongings - including weapons - in lock boxes aboard station. All for narrative effect: bring the characters together and set them all off in the same trajectory, complete with McGuffin.

There’s nothing to say that a particular prison in Star Wars wouldn’t still have prisoners’ belongings on site, especially if it’s to serve the story.

18 minutes ago, Dunefarble said:

Agreed. And if they're traveling from the arresting location, I can see guards traveling with them for the transfer. It would depend a lot on the setup. And also the gear. It doesn't make sense for the basic stuff, but for that fancy thing or treasured backstory keepsake? Makes for good narrative opportunities.

Thing is the OP stated that we’re talking about starting gear here, so the treasured keepsake doesn’t apply.

But making things easier for the GM does. If it was me I’d have the players make their characters and starting equipment normally. Then during their escape if Player A takes a blaster off a guard it’s the blaster Player A bought during creation. As they go and grab equipment it’s essentially already “their” equipment, that way I don’t have to look into any lists and designate anything, just focus on story . Anything left they haven’t accumulated during the escape is in a locker on the ship they boost.

This is also why I like the fringe idea for the location. It explains why the Imperial guards have piecemeal equipment as opposed to the standard load out. Pretty hard to keep things working when you get resupplied once ever three cycles (if you’re lucky).

11 minutes ago, Flavorabledeez said:

Thing is the OP stated that we’re talking about starting gear here, so the treasured keepsake doesn’t apply.

But making things easier for the GM does. If it was me I’d have the players make their characters and starting equipment normally. Then during their escape if Player A takes a blaster off a guard it’s the blaster Player A bought during creation.

Honestly, that's how I would do it too (minus the freighter gear. Maybe freighter credits, but if they don't find it, they don't get it. I'm mean that way).

As for treasured keepsakes, I was thinking more 'the pistol that was my momma's that she shot my pa with' type of backstory thing. I like gear with history in my campaigns, even if its starting gear. I'm still mad at our Trandoshan for crashing the ship that had my hidden rifle on it, even if I bought a new, better one later. She was my baby girl 😭

5 minutes ago, Dunefarble said:

Honestly, that's how I would do it too (minus the freighter gear. Maybe freighter credits, but if they don't find it, they don't get it. I'm mean that way).

As for treasured keepsakes, I was thinking more 'the pistol that was my momma's that she shot my pa with' type of backstory thing. I like gear with history in my campaigns, even if its starting gear. I'm still mad at our Trandoshan for crashing the ship that had my hidden rifle on it, even if I bought a new, better one later. She was my baby girl 😭

Man, I wish my players were that sentimental. My experience has always been that what happens at the table is what they seem to care about the most.

I get more along the lines of “this blaster is all I have left to remind me of the farm my family was murdered on by the Empire, but it doesn’t let me roll as many dice as I’d like to, so I’ll trade it in for something better the first chance I get.”

14 minutes ago, Flavorabledeez said:

Man, I wish my players were that sentimental. My experience has always been that what happens at the table is what they seem to care about the most.

I get more along the lines of “this blaster is all I have left to remind me of the farm my family was murdered on by the Empire, but it doesn’t let me roll as many dice as I’d like to, so I’ll trade it in for something better the first chance I get.”

That is... tragic. I love nostalgia items in campaigns. So helpful to character development, so motivational, so... easily destroyed. Actually, when my first lightsaber was destroyed I was distraught not over the loss of the components, but the loss of the leather hilt wrap from, yes, my family's Dantooine nerf farm where the Empire murdered my parents (with Black Sun's help). That sting lingers, even 2 real world years later. And yes, I may have a krayt pearl now but... man, I really wish I had that Dantari crystal. It was from home.

In the game I gm I also made one character's lightsaber crystal the crystal his father used before going into hiding after order 66. He gave it to my player's mother as an engagement ring. That player is VERY careful with that lightsaber.

40 minutes ago, Flavorabledeez said:

Thing is the OP stated that we’re talking about starting gear here, so the treasured keepsake doesn’t apply.

Says who?

A cheap, obsolete Walkman. (Less the Walkman, even, than the $1 mix tape inside it.) Treasured enough for Quill to go back into the Kyln to retrieve.

Right now, I’m about 3/4 of the way through the audiobook for Ernest Cline’s Armada. The main character’s most prized possession is a cheap, 20+ year old baseball jacket with game and sci-fi patches on it that belonged to his father who died when the main character was a baby.

Hera risked life and limb to get back into her family home, occupied by the Empire, to get the family kalikori.

Being a treasured keepsake is a matter of giving the character a reason to have an attachment to it, not how many credits they spent on it. As a GM, if I had a player who could give me a reason why an object like these, that don’t affect gameplay, is important to the character - a collection of favorite songs made by their late mother, a jacket that provides a sense of connection with the father they never knew, a small representation of family - I’d probably let them have it for free. Because as a GM, the hooks that those can provide are even more valuable to me than the objects are to the characters.

13 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

As   a GM, if I had a player who could give me a reason why an object like these, that don’t affect gameplay, is important to the character - a collection of favorite  songs made by their late mother, a jacket that  provides a sense of connection with the father they nev  e  r knew, a small representation of family - I’d  probably let them have it for free. 

This is more dependent on your players, but... some of the most important things to my characters (across a variety of campaigns) are things the GM surprised me with. In a warhammer campaign I played an NPC dwarf left me a battle axe (with bog standard stats) when he died and that will have to be pried from my cold dead hands. He (the GM) actually had to work to get me to use more appropriate weapons on occasion, because the scene where the companion died and left it was so heart warming. Before then, I was more along with the 'but this will give me better rolls' mentality. Sometimes all it takes is that one Item/Scene/NPC to shift the thinking, if that's something you'd like to see.

Edit: sorry, the quote was meant to represent what I was contributing to, not what I was responding directly to.

8 hours ago, Flavorabledeez said:

Man, I wish my players were that sentimental. My experience has always been that what happens at the table is what they seem to care about the most.

I get more along the lines of “this blaster is all I have left to remind me of the farm my family was murdered on by the Empire, but it doesn’t let me roll as many dice as I’d like to, so I’ll trade it in for something better the first chance I get.”

In an Edge game, getting rid of gear used in a crime is a smart thing to do. Using the same kit over and over is a great boon to investigators trying to catch you.

Thanks for the tons of ideas guys.

I think I really like having the character's choose their essential starting gear like normal and then them getting it in or after the breakout.

On 1/16/2019 at 6:47 PM, Ghostofman said:

Depends on how much of the prison system rolled over from the Republic, and what those personal effects are. I mean for most people you're not talking a pile of weapons and armor, more likely its exactly what you have on yourself right now. A change of clothes, watch, wallet, comlink, and a few other random items of not much scope or scale. A gallon ziplock worth of stuff is not a big deal.

That said... I'd probably do it like this:

To have an exciting jailbreak and following story progression, I'd insert a Tobias Beckett style NPC to present the players with the core plan, be a fix/foil as needed during the execution, and be the, or a transition to, follow on quest giver upon successful escape.

So from that perspective, I'd probably do something like tell the players they'll get their starting gear and/or credit upon escape up front. Then upon escape Beckett tosses them a duffelbag full of clothing, gear, and some walking around money, and let the players use their starting credits to tell me what's in the dufflebag.

Players still get starting credits/gear, don't double down on untraceable looted items, but do get a chance to buy any specialty gear they couldn't loot (so like, no Mechanic not having a toolkit or something), and it even gives a nice scene for a little RPing for Cad Bane to pull out a hat out of the bag and comment on it.

I actually really like this.

I already had some kind of group in mind that was planning a prisoner revolt or some such (just to give the players a hook, even if they choose to do their own breakout) having them get a stash of supplies / duffelbag after the breakout seems like a really neat solution 😃

4 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

In an Edge game, getting rid of gear used in a crime is a smart thing to do. Using the same kit over and over is a great boon to investigators trying to catch you.

If Star Wars was even remotely realistic, maybe. But this is a fantasy setting, where "gunslinger with trademark blaster leading a group of daring smugglers" is the expected norm, not the out-there dumb concept that gets you killed.

Not to mention that any GM that requires you to constantly change out gear like Slicers Gear, your guns, armor etc just to be less "noticeable" in the future is just being obnoxious for the sake of draining credits. Believe me, players find enough credit-sinks without artificially introducing more that the game was never designed around.

Small items, weapons, armors, they were carrying when arrested by Imperials? It's gone*. A ship or an account with a large amount of leftover credits? It's still out there unless seized as part of the crime. This could be fun for later adventures. An uncle sucked the account dry and the player wants to track him down. The ship? Some thugs noticed it was parked someplace way too long and took off with it.

*Edit: Gone meaning either seized as part of the crime (so it could be in a local evidence locker if not destroyed), grabbed as fair game by the arresting Imperials, or grabbed by others when it was left behind.

2 hours ago, Silim said:

Not to mention that any GM that requires you to constantly change out gear like Slicers Gear, your guns, armor etc just to be less "noticeable" in the future is just being obnoxious for the sake of draining credits. Believe me, players find enough credit-sinks without artificially introducing more that the game was never designed around.

Here, let me counter your outrage-gasm:

Not to mention that any player that refuses to change out gear like Slicer gear, your guns, armor, etc. just because they feel they are in integral part of their character is being obnoxious just for the sake of hoarding credits. Believe me, players find enough credits in this game without unnaturally hoarding credits in ways the game was never designed around.

2 minutes ago, Sturn said:

Small items, weapons, armors, they were carrying when arrested by Imperials? It's gone. A ship or an account with a large amount of leftover credits? It's still out there unless seized as part of the crime. This could be fun for later adventures. An uncle sucked the account dry and the player wants to track him down. The ship? Some thugs noticed it was parked someplace way too long and took off with it.

I could possibly see a small container of inoffensive personal effects retained, but definitely not weapons, armor, espionage gear, and the like--even if that gear isn't illegal, it's probably retained as evidence of their crimes.

7 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Here, let me counter your outrage-gasm:

Not to mention that any player that refuses to change out gear like Slicer gear, your guns, armor, etc. just because they feel they are in integral part of their character is being obnoxious just for the sake of hoarding credits. Believe me, players find enough credits in this game without unnaturally hoarding credits in ways the game was never designed around.

This is Star Wars, not Shadowrun. ****, even in Shadowrun only the blackest of the black trenchcoats make their players recycles ALL of their equipment between runs. And if you're really struggling to find credit sinks in the game...that sounds more like a GMing issue to me.

Just now, Benjan Meruna said:

This is Star Wars, not Shadowrun. ****, even in Shadowrun only the blackest of the black trenchcoats make their players recycles ALL of their equipment between runs. And if you're really struggling to find credit sinks in the game...that sounds more like a GMing issue to me.

Not at all. Burning gear can be a great way to shed (certain types of) Obligation. It's still the players choice, this just converts credits (for replacement gear) to buying off Obligation in a manner that fits the narrative.

But thanks for implying my GMing is the problem.

2 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Not at all. Burning gear can be a great way to shed (certain types of) Obligation. It's still the players choice, this just converts credits (for replacement gear) to buying off Obligation in a manner that fits the narrative.

But thanks for implying my GMing is the problem.

Well, given your reply to Silim where you talked about players hoarding credits, you made it sound like a common problem that you have at your table. If it isn't, your reply to him doesn't make much sense.

Anyways, why would you force you players to ditch their gear by strong-arming them through Obligation? Like the man said, Star Wars isn't a type of universe that's overly "realistic," it's far more concerned with style. Style such as having a signature pair of pistols or the like. Penalizing players for adhering to the style of the Star Wars universe seems a little counterproductive.

40 minutes ago, Benjan Meruna said:

Well, given your reply to Silim where you talked about players hoarding credits, you made it sound like a common problem that you have at your table. If it isn't, your reply to him doesn't make much sense.

Anyways, why would you force you players to ditch their gear by strong-arming them through Obligation? Like the man said, Star Wars isn't a type of universe that's overly "realistic," it's far more concerned with style. Style such as having a signature pair of pistols or the like. Penalizing players for adhering to the style of the Star Wars universe seems a little counterproductive.

Your reading comprehension appears to be poor. My first post specified it was a counter "outrage-gasm" and in the second I specify that it's the players's choice to burn gear rather than a "strong arm" tactic.

8 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Here, let me counter your outrage-gasm:

Not to mention that any player that refuses to change out gear like Slicer gear, your guns, armor, etc. just because they feel they are in integral part of their character is being obnoxious just for the sake of hoarding credits. Believe me, players find enough credits in this game without unnaturally hoarding credits in ways the game was never designed around.

They don't store the bank robber's guns remotely near the prison/jail, and if they survive captivity, they don't get em back. They don't get their ski mask, getaway car, money, lockpicks back, cutting torch, etc ever.

Any player that doesn't get that is ridiculous.

2 minutes ago, 2P51 said:

They don't store the bank robber's guns remotely near the prison/jail, and if they survive captivity, they don't get em back. They don't get their ski mask, getaway car, money, lockpicks back, cutting torch, etc ever.

Any player that doesn't get that is ridiculous.

Yet Quill’s clothes (marking him as part of a known outlaw gang), spiffy nanotech space mask, boot rockets, unique guns, and a container with a li’l Infinity Gem were all stored in a locker aboard the Kyln, with his ship parked within sight range. Because story.

The needs of the story outweigh the needs of logical bureaucracy.

Welcome to science-fantasy adventure. 😏

13 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

Yet Quill’s clothes (marking him as part of a known outlaw gang), spiffy nanotech space mask, boot rockets, unique guns, and a container with a li’l Infinity Gem were all stored in a locker aboard the Kyln, with his ship parked within sight range. Because story.

The needs of the story outweigh the needs of logical bureaucracy.

Welcome to science-fantasy adventure. 😏

Your point is an irrelevant tangent. Never said a GM couldn't run things how they want, I pointed out how I run things and why that's completely reasonable. Anyone who whines about completely reasonable decisions of a GM are ridiculous. Has precisely zero to do with what you posted.

Welcome to eating less sugar, focusing and staying on topic.