Creature Loot

By Archlyte, in Game Masters

Posted at

Just curious as to how you handle what players can get off of animal type adversaries they may kill, should they have the time to actually harvest anything from it after the encounter? I am making some rules for creature loot and I want to tie the Silhouette to the possible available resources that the players might be able to get from a creature they kill (Hide, Scales, Bone, Blood) and also a chance for stuff to be in their lair or stomach (like equipment from sentients they killed or stuff like Krayt Dragons having Pearls).

Narratively this is not always an option, and I intend to make the carcass cleaning a time consuming task so that it's not turned into a loot each animal type thing. I also see this as something that survivalist/hunter types can do as part of their overall contribution to the group.

Any thoughts or ideas on how you would do this for the instances in which it fits the tone and feel of your game?

Posted at

This is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, I don't use many animals in my stories. Do you have an idea of what do you get after processing the animal in question?

For example, if it's food you already have that cover in the survival skill. Maybe silhouette 1 or higher provide food for more PCs/NPCs. If it's raw materials for crafting, you could allow an amount of credits x silhouette of raw material. That abstract measure could be used for crafting later with the survival skill. Then, the description of the item crafted will include some description related to the original animal.

Regarding what they could find on a stomach/lair, it could be a random item from the survival equipment list (if amateur explorers are the most common victim). Consider finding damaged equipment to use for spare parts (or the Utini Talent) or repair later.

Posted at

I wouldn't make a loot table for it, if the narrative requires the scavanging for animal parts, i'd just make an appropriate Survival check and tell them they hunt down a particular beast for item X and it took Y time. Can make an inteeestimg cutscene, but I don't think it worth more effort than that, unless it's like a "strandrd on an island" situation, where the scavanging itself is part of the story to survive

Posted at

There are certainly some animals which have or contain valuable items, if harvested. Among them is the Kryat Dragon, in the stomach of which can be found extremely valuable Krayt Dragon Pearls.

Posted at

I suggest you research the animals and creatures of the Star Wars Universe. There are a multitude of possibilities like the Voxyn. It's a force sensitive creature that was actually a hybrid of two other animals. I believe it also has poisonous abilities so you "could" use the blood for poison items. Just remember to apply appropriate conflict where necessary.

Along those same lines KOTOR had a "poaching" mission where you could kill and strip Tatooinian Wraids for their skull plates and sell them at the local hunting lodge.

Yet another KOTOR mission was retrieving the sword of Bacca on Kashyyyk. To do it you had to lure out an ancient Tarantatek and kill it. When you looted the body you would find the Sword of Bacca. What is the lesson we can draw from this?

Use something in the Creature as a Macguffin (plot device) to move the story. e.g. "Only the blood of the Jabberwocky can send you back home". You can even be so evil as to use the creature to supply a Macguffin to get yet another Macguffin, to get another,...and so on and so forth.

Every plot resolution should open more doors.

Posted at
On 4/13/2019 at 7:14 PM, Rithuan said:

This is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, I don't use many animals in my stories. Do you have an idea of what do you get after processing the animal in question?

For example, if it's food you already have that cover in the survival skill. Maybe silhouette 1 or higher provide food for more PCs/NPCs. If it's raw materials for crafting, you could allow an amount of credits x silhouette of raw material. That abstract measure could be used for crafting later with the survival skill. Then, the description of the item crafted will include some description related to the original animal.

Regarding what they could find on a stomach/lair, it could be a random item from the survival equipment list (if amateur explorers are the most common victim). Consider finding damaged equipment to use for spare parts (or the Utini Talent) or repair later.

I have a table that gives the possibility for each type of resource (Blood, Sensory Organs, Claws, Mineral Deposit/Pearl) for each major type of creature (mammals, craniopods, invertebrates, reptiles) and the resources have a roll index in case you don't want to choose as the GM. The skill they use to harvest gives the number of chances for a resource type that's usable for each point of skill. Sil gives a multiplier for the number of units that are extracted. I also have the Enc value for a unit of resource. There is a small chance for normal loot too in addition to the organic resources, especially if creature lair is involved.

A skill Check is required for each present resource to extract it, and tools help. I used the following skills as possible harvest skills: Medicine, Survival, and Xenology.

The extra qualities of the resources are not complete yet but will be things like poisonous or durable, etc. The base sale price is also listed per unit. Here is first draft of it.

Roll

Resource

Mammal

Reptilian

Avian

Aquatic

Invertebrates

Insectoid

Craniopod

Units

Enc per Unit

Unit Price

01-11

Blood, Plasma

100%

96%

96%

94%

54%

50%

50%

10

2

4

12-13

Carapace, Shell, Exoskeleton

12%

32%

23%

42%

50%

95%

50%

12

3

6

14-22

Meat

100%

100%

100%

66%

40%

90%

80%

8

2

4

23

Sinews, Structural Tissues

100%

98%

100%

88%

40%

90%

80%

4

1

6

24-31

Bone

95%

78%

98%

52%

01%

08%

20%

6

4

3

32-33

Cartilaginous Skeleton

5%

26%

28%

61%

05%

08%

30%

4

2

5

34-37

Teeth, Tusks, Beak

98%

92%

97%

68%

06%

60%

35%

2

2

10

38-39

Claws, Pincers

80%

97%

97%

77%

12%

90%

20%

4

2

8

40-41

Ichor, Protoplasm

02%

04%

03%

19%

96%

90%

66%

6

2

5

42-51

Skin, Hide

100%

98%

79%

83%

88%

04%

18%

10

4

6

52-54

Sensory Organ/Antennae

97%

96%

98%

96%

96%

94%

80%

2

1

10

55-61

Organ

100%

100%

100%

98%

98%

90%

94%

4

2

8

62-63

Hormone/Pheromone

80%

76%

73%

71%

90%

95%

25%

2

2

16

64-65

Milk, Jelly, Nutrients

100%

11%

13%

82%

90%

95%

40%

2

2

4

66

Venom, Toxin, Stinger, Acid

30%

78%

38%

62%

80%

90%

35%

1

1

20

67

Oil/Fat/Petrochemical

100%

98%

39%

54%

60%

88%

38%

2

1

8

68-69

Wing/Flight Membrane

15%

35%

100%

11%

09%

67%

10%

4

4

4

70-71

Brain/Nervous System

100%

100%

100%

98%

95%

95%

99%

2

2

8

72-74

Horns, Ridges

30%

85%

62%

14%

87%

82%

75%

2

4

10

75-77

Plates/Scales

9%

95%

45%

79%

43%

58%

60%

6

3

8

78-80

Fur, Feathers, Hair

97%

18%

99%

04%

04%

34%

30%

8

2

12

81-82

Gas

23%

31%

42%

25%

62%

22%

18%

2

2

22

83-84

Fin or Flipper

08%

14%

23%

90%

12%

04%

09%

4

3

4

85-87

Tentacle or Pseudopod

04%

09%

03%

85%

90%

06%

52%

4

4

6

88-90

Foot/Paw/Appendage

99%

98%

98%

64%

16%

38%

70%

2

2

5

91-95

Head Trophy

95%

96%

95%

70%

07%

50%

96%

1

5

15

96-97

Tail

73%

80%

81%

87%

15%

50%

20%

6

4

2

98-99

Egg, Larvae

02%

91%

96%

97%

70%

94%

78%

2

3

4

00

Mineral Deposit/Pearl

01%

05%

03%

07%

07%

04%

02%

1

1

500

Roll

Resource Quality Description

Resource Quality

01-08

Terrible

c

09-24

Poor

b

25-65

Normal

No Modifier

66-90

Good

b

91-00

Superior

c

Posted at

I lowered the Encumbrance per unit. The encumbrance would add up fast and as it is narrative to some degree I thought lower numbers would be better. How do you deal with say multiple items at Enc 2? would you just do N(2) or some other way of handling it?

Posted at
On 4/13/2019 at 5:55 PM, Archlyte said:

Any thoughts or ideas on how you would do this for the instances in which it fits the tone and feel of your game?

I'm going to be my usual devil's advocate and say "never use charts". They do not serve a story and the results are rarely interesting. Instead, already have an idea of the resources of the place, and what the party will need to accomplish their goals. Provide encounters with various flora and fauna that have potential, but then let the dice (and ideally the players) decide how much variation there is in the results vis a vis what the party needs to get.

An actual credit value isn't all that interesting. What's more interesting is can they trade the 5 diamond-back rattleskink skins for a blaster each? I mean, remember Phantom Menace? Qui Gon had 20000 Republic dachtaris, and they weren't worth anything.

Say the group crashes in the mountains on some planet, they can see down past the foothills into the plains below, where tiny glimmering shapes rise and fall...a spaceport! But they have to get there, they have to eat, they have no supplies or credits, and it's going to take a week. While in the field, Survival, Xenology, and Lore can tell the party what is likely to be useful and how to harvest it quickly. Once they've arrived in civilization again, Streetwise and Negotiation or Knowledge for the locale can tell the party what value an item might have in the local market.

The most important part of this is that both the party and the GM can do their own injections whenever they get a suitable result. Triumph on a Lore roll after a midnight disturbance? "I heard that Blood Bat hearts are considered an aphrodisiac" or "Monkey gizzards are the key ingredient in the local drug market." 3A on a Streetwise roll? "Turns out those Nexu talons we got are used by local gangs as a sign of toughness." Despair on a Negotiation roll? "That catalope skin is drawing attention, and you hear someone mutter 'Those bastards! It's endangered!'".

Using a chart just robs the game of all that potential.

Posted at

I should also say that the chart is not exclusive, it's just an aid. The Narrative dice are still in effect. Pre-Made stuff can be helpful or it can be restricting, and in this case I intend it to be used to help make sure a variety of options are easily available.

Edited by Archlyte
Posted at

I like the chart as I would use it as a stepping off point only.