I know part of the flavour of EotE is to "keep the crew hungry," but I do have to wonder just how "hungry" you can keep them if they start picking up everything from every body after a fight.

Now, I know the selling of things isn't as effective a means of gaining money as in previous games (as we start at 25%, and Stormtrooper armor is now DRASTICALLY lower in price), but I wonder if anyone's found looking every fallen foe, especially minion groups, to be an issue with keeping the crew broke or ill-equipped to deal with whatever comes next.

Anyone have any input here?

Number of thoughts but many of them are situation dependent.

Keep them moving: if they want to stop and loot, let them, but then here come the reinforcements or the authorities who happened to hear the blaster shots and see the characters looting dead bodies...oops.

When they try to sell the items, well the contact turns out to be an ISB plant... oops.

If they don't sell the items, well maybe they're discovered during a routine customs inspection and if it's illegal or marked as Imperial (such as E11's or Trooper armor) well then the PC's have some 'splaining to do.

Basically it boils down to let the players choose as they wish but as the GM you can make the consequences of their actions suitable for the "lesson" you want to convey. Sooner or later they'll put two and two together.

Had a friend grab the Gamorean axe. I let him use it, but at the very end after a few usages I said it broke when he rolled too many threats. Oops, sorry! ;P

My players dropped 10 blaster pistols they had accumulated for 1,000 credits towards paying a bribe. Credits come and go really quickly. Remember that those opposed Negotiation tests to sell used goods will frequently result in Threat(s) and even Despair(s) since almost every merchant is going to have 1 or more ranks in Negotiation.

Enforce the Encumbrance rules. Two suits of armor and several armloads of blaster pistols aren't that easy to lug around subtly.

The Encumbrance rules really prevent "Bethesda game" type hording this from happening. My players were only able to grab one or two spare blasters each after an encounter. If they try to sell them off, often then run into trouble when the buyer notices blood on the weapon.

I've basically told my players that taking armor off of a body is fairly time consuming and if they killed the person then the armor will most certainly be damaged. Pretty much the only stuff they can snag off of bodies without taking too much time are the basic items and weapons. Though with the weapons I also said they could only carry a reasonable amount of them (i.e. 2 or 3 pistols, maybe one blaster carbine/rifle if they aren't already carrying one).

This last session I had a player take a heavy blaster rifle from an enemy (during the battle actually). I'm not going with the strict rules on encumbrance but I did rule that since he is already carrying a blaster rifle and a vibrosword that he would have to put down the heavy blaster rifle to use the other weapons. He wouldn't be able to stow the heavy blaster rifle like his other weapons.

So far my players haven't been attempting to take everything that isn't nailed down.

Best looting so far: Out scoundrel took the comlink off of a downed ISB agent and gave it to the slicer allowing him a two Boost bonus to hack the Imperial systems (once, until they realized the frequency was compromised). He used this opening to reboot the Imperial ship's sensors allowing them to escape during its momentary blindness.

Don't send swarms of mooks wielding phat lewt. In EotE, stormtroopers should be rare and fearsome. Doubly-so for legendary bounty hunters wearing a Hutt's randsom's of valuble ordinance. When it comes to looting mooks, chumps have a whole specie of change named after them...

The Encumbrance rules really prevent "Bethesda game" type hording this from happening.

It's weird. In our usual D&D game, my players hardly ever loot the bodies, but in EotE, they want to take the armor off of every storm trooper or every NPC's blaster.

Keep in mind that in a narrative system like this not every "Kill" is an actual death, some of those stormtroopers/bad guys can be just too wounded to continue to act, are unconscious, or mortally wounded and are going to die soon (just like PCs). Also Minions and many other opponents count Strain as wounds so combat is really about getting them out of the fight not just death. It can of course mean they are dead, they just don't have to be. So you can have have a trooper, for example start moaning and crying out for help when characters start trying to strip armor off...

This and enforcing the Encumbrance rules should keep players from going overboard.

Here we see Luke Skywalker carry a blaster and wearing a utility belt he has looted from a defeated Stormtrooper.

Looting is very much a part of Star Wars and not something to be feared.

Here we see Luke Skywalker carry a blaster and wearing a utility belt he has looted from a defeated Stormtrooper.

Looting is very much a part of Star Wars and not something to be feared.

Yes, but I'm pretty sure that if, say back on Tatooine, a squad of Stormtroopers saw some guy walking around with that utility belt questions would be asked...

I don't think the OP is having a problem with taking things that are useful or even grabbing some valuable equipment to resell its the wholesale looting to squeeze out every last credit from every encounter that is the issue.

Keep in mind that in a narrative system like this not every "Kill" is an actual death, some of those stormtroopers/bad guys can be just too wounded to continue to act, are unconscious, or mortally wounded and are going to die soon (just like PCs). Also Minions and many other opponents count Strain as wounds so combat is really about getting them out of the fight not just death. It can of course mean they are dead, they just don't have to be. So you can have have a trooper, for example start moaning and crying out for help when characters start trying to strip armor off.

I really like this idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

Lets see if I can dig up some guilt in my next game.

Looting is very much a part of Star Wars and not something to be feared.

One instance* of looting does not a trend make. Hell, cutting off arms is MORE a part of star wars than stealing equipment.

* Two if we include Han's belt too.

Stealing stuff and running around with an armload of blasters (or brooms) is more in line with D&D, where's its a non-stop cavalcade of plunder, pillage and ****. But Star Wars, being a more story and character driven game - well, I see no place for it here.

Here we see Luke Skywalker carry a blaster and wearing a utility belt he has looted from a defeated Stormtrooper.

Looting is very much a part of Star Wars and not something to be feared.

He also only used them until he got out of that situation, and I don't recall a half-hour of screen time being eaten up by the search for a vendor to sell them to.

On-the-spot using looted gear to get out of a situation - cool.

Looting stuff as the point of a mission (grabbing a shuttle and uniforms so a commando team can land on the moon and blow up the shield generator?) - awesome

Hoarding for re-selling - not so in-genre.

kaosoe - one question, did they play any previous Star Wars RPGs? One reason for looting stuff was often that the gear stormies got was objectively better than anything you could start with (WEG, depending on the edition, trooper armor was an almost OP way to start off a suit of bounty hunter armor, I think Dragon magazine used to have a running commentary on one munchkin named Red-Eyes who got the armor up to 6D or 7D protection, making him immune to pretty much everything short of capital ship weapons). Now it's far less so - the armor's nothing to sneeze at in terms of protection, especially since you are getting it for the low low price of looting from a fallen trooper, but it isn't nearly worth the hassle in terms of being questioned by everyone and their dog for using it in public.

I don't think the OP is having a problem with taking things that are useful or even grabbing some valuable equipment to resell its the wholesale looting to squeeze out every last credit from every encounter that is the issue.

This is spot on. More often than not, previous games of Star Wars have lead to "How can we easily kill stormtroopers without ruining their armor, load them up, and either wear it or sell it for fast cash?" A d20 party of mine did EXACTLY this, and Stormtrooper armor was the best non-STR boosting, non-space suit armor you could really get.

WEG also had an insane soak value as well as minor benefits, so human-sized characters loved trying to find creative ways to get it and keep it.

So, in the end, awesome armor for a "cheap" price, and both games had said armor running upwards of 10,000 credits on the black market, meaning with the right buyer, 2,500+ credits per suit.

"Fast Cash" was the goal, but I don't think I can really blame them since they needed money to get cargo and fix the ship.

Which is why I'm a bit concerned about looting overall.

Encumberance is probably the best deterrent as many of you have mentioned, and thank you for the reminder. I'll make sure I reiterate that.

The other comments, like bringing in ISB, would be fun to pull off from time to time, but I think I'd have to time it just right so it doesn't become a constant thing.

On-the-spot using looted gear to get out of a situation - cool.

Looting stuff as the point of a mission (grabbing a shuttle and uniforms so a commando team can land on the moon and blow up the shield generator?) - awesome

Hoarding for re-selling - not so in-genre.

I think "genre" is going to take a break here when you think about it. EotE is supposed to be grittier, a bit darker, and the group is going to do a lot more "grey" things that the heroes of the Star Wars Universe wouldn't normally do.

Yeah, we have a few smugglers here and there in the series, but we only ever see their heroic sides. Without the EU, we wouldn't know about the amounts of spice Han would run, how many people were killed by the hand of Kyle Katarn, etc. Even in the films, we see Jedi, who are supposed to be bastions of good, do some underhanded things as needed, often when times were tough and they were on the fringe.

So. . .is "looting" considered "in genre"? In a way, yeah, it kind of is.

kaosoe - one question, did they play any previous Star Wars RPGs? One reason for looting stuff was often that the gear stormies got was objectively better than anything you could start with (WEG, depending on the edition, trooper armor was an almost OP way to start off a suit of bounty hunter armor, I think Dragon magazine used to have a running commentary on one munchkin named Red-Eyes who got the armor up to 6D or 7D protection, making him immune to pretty much everything short of capital ship weapons). Now it's far less so - the armor's nothing to sneeze at in terms of protection, especially since you are getting it for the low low price of looting from a fallen trooper, but it isn't nearly worth the hassle in terms of being questioned by everyone and their dog for using it in public.

We played a few games of SAGA before this. I think I'm too young of a player to have been exposed to the WEG editions. I don't recall looting being any sort of problem in our SAGA games, but much of that had to do with the weapon and armor proficiencies mechanic.

One reason we see alot of looting in EotE is because my players aren't willing to take on extra obligation during character creation for credits when they would rather spend it on some extra XP. I can only blame myself, looting was a necessity for them in the beginning. I had them start out as prisoners on Kessel, so they had to pickup some gear from fallen foes.

After thinking about it, it's too much of a problem because they really haven't tried to sell it. If anything they are just keeping it on their ship incase they may need it later. Which is good because they won't have too much of a reason to gripe at me if I use some dispairs to break some equipment (Which I haven't done and might never do).

Umm.. sorry.. I think I missed the memo.

Why is looting a bad thing and must be stopped/curtailed?

Let them have it... Let them buy cool kit for the freighter and bling it up. Let them invest in freight for speculative trading. Let them own military gear if they really want it. If it brings enjoyment to the table, you're doing it right. Game balance is an illusion, letting them have a repeating blaster stripped from a dead mook is not going to ruin your game unless you let it.

My mantra is: "Say Yes or Roll the Dice!"

Umm.. sorry.. I think I missed the memo.

Why is looting a bad thing and must be stopped/curtailed?

Mostly, it's tacky, and (when it comes from killed enemies) a bit morbid, especially when done systemically. Stealing someone's ship and/or cargo, or small high-value items is less of an issue (it feels like Star Wars), running off with every broom, coffee mug, pen, MSE droid, and those little hats the Naval officers wear is just... seems a lot more like work than an adventure. Low value common items just screams "what? you opening a dollar store in a strip mall somewhere?"

The one downside to the culture of "yes and" or "yes but" is that players often forget about and then become irritated by the "and / but" portion. Yes, I will let you take everything not nailed down, but suddenly it's a huge problem that they got caught with it, or get a rep for clean sweeping and shoplifting from everywhere they go, or when the resale doesn't fund all their wildest dreams. This is just a small instance of that larger issue.

Ultimately the solution is knowing your players, and understanding (through discussing) things like this with the group. Stealing everything and working in real cash to dodge the Obligation system (or in a AOR game to short circuit the rank rewards for Duty, e.g. "who cares we get an X-Wing for all those hard missions, we stole (enough stuff to buy) a CR90!") sounds like the group needs to have a talk about these mechanical elements and why they exist (maybe the GM did a too good job scaring the players about their Obligation, or someone just wants something for (what seems to them) nothing/consequence-free).

Let them have it... Let them buy cool kit for the freighter and bling it up. Let them invest in freight for speculative trading. Let them own military gear if they really want it. If it brings enjoyment to the table, you're doing it right. Game balance is an illusion, letting them have a repeating blaster stripped from a dead mook is not going to ruin your game unless you let it.

My mantra is: "Say Yes or Roll the Dice!"

I get where your coming from but then whats the point of having any rules or limits at all? If everything is easy whats the point? If all you want is fun, and I've had many sessions just not start because we were just having a great time shoot'n the ****, then there no point in having a game at all because every rule is a limit to someone and if limits = no-fun then get rid of all of them and just shoot the ****.

Challenge is fun, overcoming adversity and being the hero (or villain) is fun, getting everything you want in a world where everything is easy to get may have it's moments but ultimately easy is just boring.

Besides this isn't the argument, the OP and myself aren't saying PCs shouldn't loot equipment and sell it for fun and profit, we're discussion how to make it part of the game rather than the game . The RAW gives us all we need to keep the experience in the context of the SW Universe, which is why we're all here and not talking about some other game.

Mostly, it's tacky

I suggest focusing on making it seem not tacky rather than trying to prevent people from doing it.

Grabbing weapons and ammo from defeated foes to continue the fight is cool and not tacky (honest - Luke Skywalker does it so it must be cool). Abstracting the process of stripping a corpse of its gold teeth and iPhone and finding a buyer for their pocket lint in to simply awarding a small cash sum per defeated foe (in the interests of saving time, naturally) would probably help as well.

Stormtroopers are loot category B (~50 credits). Add a tick mark to your loot column or take a loot token and move on to something else.

One issue I noticed is that Beyond the Rim has a seller that allows used items to be purchased for 50% of cost. This is going to be really weird when you have a Trader that can often sell items for 75% of value (plus more if Wheel and Deal applies). Buying goods at one store and then walking over to another to sell them for profit doesn't seem right at all, and even selling goods for more than you'd buy them for (in the same market) is just wrong.

Umm.. sorry.. I think I missed the memo.

Why is looting a bad thing and must be stopped/curtailed?

Mostly, it's tacky, and (when it comes from killed enemies) a bit morbid, especially when done systemically. Stealing someone's ship and/or cargo, or small high-value items is less of an issue (it feels like Star Wars), running off with every broom, coffee mug, pen, MSE droid, and those little hats the Naval officers wear is just... seems a lot more like work than an adventure. Low value common items just screams "what? you opening a dollar store in a strip mall somewhere?"

I completely agree.

It's tacky because it's not Star Wars. If this was old skool BECMI D&D, looting everything worth of value wouldn't be out of place.

The problem seem to be that if the players insist on doing "out of genre" things then perhaps they don't actually want to play Star Wars but rather "GTA in Spaaaace" or something else.

By forcing Genre Conventions onto players by mechanical means (artificially penalizing looting for example) you're only treating the symptoms, not the cause. They either embrace the expectations of the genre because they want to be part of it or they don't. It's their game after-all, the GM is just there to facilitate and make it happen.

Yes. No looting in Star Wars.