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Hello All
I'm new to pathfinder society, played 1 scenario so far, and will soon be GM'ing a game in my native London to hopefully convert my old friends to the wonderful world of PFS.
Now the issue I have is that while they were playing my old 3.5 campaign they all began to get a bit strange with their looting.
You see while most people would be content with taking a dragons gold my group always tended to take the dragons gold, scales, horns, vials of blood and maybe even the head itself. Than when they enter a strange dungeon they will begin to take charcoal/paper reliefs of the runes, the demonic looking candlesticks, a fragment of the obsidian tiling .etc .etc
So my question is how would these items be handled in PFS. I assume they will all go 'poof' with the other loot when the scenario ends but since people are allowed to buy things back I am a bit confused on where the line is for all the random guff my hoarders seem to accumulate.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks :)
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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They can get what's on the official chronicle sheet. Anything else, no.
So there's no mechanical incentive to loot everything, because you won't get to keep it. I think that's a good thing; it helps keep the GM sane and it helps keep the scenario within the time limit. Also: players who just play the scenario "normally" don't lose out on anything that the maniacs might get by stripping the wallpaper from the walls.
Flavorwise, feel free to add a note that the PCs made rubbings of the strange runes. It's good character building. But there are no mechanical advantages attached.
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Thanks for the replies Chris & Ascalaphus.
I really like that note from the Venture Captain bit hehe.
I'm sure that after getting a stern letter from the Captain they will likely tune down their ways.
One thing I should be happy about at least is that they are not doing it for monetary gain but rather they tend to over-think things. Everything they take they always do so in the idea that there might be some piece of plot that can be obtained from it at a later date. I guess that since these are scenarios and not a long campaign they would probaly not take so much since they know that most of it will not be needed in the four hours or so they have.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Well, there are some recurring personages and plot points hidden here and there. So taking notes on who you meet and all that is certainly worthwhile.
We play a lot of scenarios from older seasons, and out of order, so sometimes someone will go "oh, that's the creepy man from the next scenario!", or "hey, I recognize that name, that's someone my other character killed in a scenario three tiers higher".
So there's some additional fun to be had if you look for it. It's not strictly necessary to play the game and get everything, it's more like a bonus.
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Frankly, there is no problem with the players scribbling on their chronicle sheets that their PC picked up the brass "candlesticks" from Zarta Dralneen's place if they want. It adds flavor to the game.
They do have to realize, however, that those items cannot provide any mechanical benefit, no matter how banal.
They can go into a schoolhouse and pick up all the chalk they want, but unless they pay for a piece of chalk, they don't have chalk, outside of that particular scenario.
By that, I mean that if they are in an encounter where it makes sense that items from that same scenario might make a difference, I could see conferring small bonuses.
For example: Say the PCs have to fight their way through some big nasty chimera on the way to the fortress full of mooks. If they show up at the fortress full of mooks and the Doormook braces them at the front gate, I might allow a PC a small bonus to Intimidate if he casually turns such that the Doormook can see the head of a dragon, a goat, and a lion hanging off the side of his horse. Especially if there is reason to believe that the mooks knew about the chimera in the area. Things like that encourage can thoughtful play, and thoughtful play makes EVERYTHING better.
NOTE! those are very circumstantial bonuses, and I certainly wouldn't allow a PC to carry that sort of thing from one scenario to the next. That's what spending gold, applying skill points, and adding feats on your character is for.
Now, if you get guys that are simply stealing everything that isn't nailed down, and end up burning valuable scenario time in the process, it might be worthwhile having their VC send a note telling them to stop farting around and get the job done. YMMV.
We have some players in our area who take various trophies from the scenarios, purely as color commentary on the game. We have a few players (myself occasionally included) who take copious notes and sketches and maps during the game. So long as they know that these things don't actually provide anything but roleplaying opportunity, it's no big deal.
It might be worthwhile reminding them of encumbrance rules, though. Those dragon scales are heavy!
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We play a lot of scenarios from older seasons, and out of order, so sometimes someone will go "oh, that's the creepy man from the next scenario!", or "hey, I recognize that name, that's someone my other character killed in a scenario three tiers higher".
It can get even weirder than that. I've been in the position of commenting, "Oh! I recognize that guy. I'm going to kill him in a couple levels when I can apply that pre-gen chronicle."
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heck, meeting the same guys in different scenarios can be fun... even if they are only "bit NPCs"
During a scenario with a "local thug" encounter, where the PCs are confronted by "hired thugs" intended to warn them off of their research, we captured several of the thugs and were questioning them. My PCs tend to do this a lot... Our judge had run another scenario the week before where I had much the same encounter... so he and I (with several "new" Players/PCs) went thru the "interview" something like this....
Me: "So Mook, we meet again!"
Mook #417: "Yeah, if'n I'd knowed it was yous, I might not've takkan dis job".
Me: "and how's the wife? and the little mooks? three isn't it?"
Mook #417: "same oh-same oh, off visitin' her mum again in Durma, and the lil ones is growin' like weeds..."
Me: glancing at the other mooks - stablized and waiting thier turn at interigation "So, does the local Thugs Union have ok Medical benifits? Looks like you guys will need it. Wait, you're Rent-A-Thug aren't you?"
Mook #417: "Not w'at it used ta be, w'at wit da cut backs and all. Had to switch over to Thugs-are-Us."
Me: "Tell ya what Mook, I'll pop for a couple charges off my happy stick when we're done here..."
Mook #417: "Hay, you're all ri't! T'anks!"
Me: "No problem! Least I can do. Now, about the guy who hired you..."All this while the other players just watched and enjoyed. After all, I said my guy was the "Face"...
I've seen you post this story before, but it never fails to bring a grin to my face. Cool story, bro (non-sarcastic).
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My barbarian who retired from PFS at level 14 has 4 stuffed dragon heads on his wall at home - that's all of them that he killed in his PFS career.
Again, no mechanical benefit - just fluff. On the up side, that also means that no GM ever insisted that I pay for taxidermy services.
We have a local tetori who tattooes his skin with pictures of every dragon he succesfully pins and ties up. He's a Mwangi though and the tattoos are in black ink so no one can really tell what kind of dragons they are supposed to be.
He has probably forgotten anyhow: Once a man starts to wear a fez on top of a Tian war-hat people stop asking him questions.
EDIT: Also, one local Forlorn collects spent clw wands as a hobby. No, I have no idea either.
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If it has no mechanical benefit, just scribble it onto the chronicle sheet as a cool story. If they want a mechanical benefit, then deduct an appropriate amount of gold.
For example "These are the testicles of the last guard who tried to prevent me from going where I wish, and he was an Ogre."
On ITS as '+2 circumstance Intimidate Masterwork Tool, 50gp'
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If it has no mechanical benefit, just scribble it onto the chronicle sheet as a cool story. If they want a mechanical benefit, then deduct an appropriate amount of gold.
For example "These are the testicles of the last guard who tried to prevent me from going where I wish, and he was an Ogre."
On ITS as '+2 circumstance Intimidate Masterwork Tool, 50gp'
Now that is a great way to add flavor to an otherwise boring and flavorless item (the generic masterwork tool)!
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Thanks everyone, there are a lot of good ideas here. Brock that is a very good idea especially. I guess if people really do want to keep their junk I can designate it as one of the many mundane items and charge accordingly.
Example: Since jewellery has a 'various' price I could say that the skeleton fingers they loot could be made into a jewellery necklace for 15gp or maybe classify the Angels feathers they looted as a Holy Symbol (if relevant to their god) .etc
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My new character is a hoarder that loots everything. In one scenario I was carrying around a robot as part of my loot.
I know this does not aide me in any way after the scenario, but it is a roleplay flavor for my character.
Although I will be exuberant when loot from the adventure earlier helps us later.
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My first PFS character had a drum that he carried around and played on occasion (retired fighter with one level of bard just for the fun). He would re-skin the drum every time he played... with the skin of the BBEG or other tough fight from the prior adventure.
Once it was human skin, crawling with tattoos, but usually it was more benign (yes there were issues with that one - lots of 'is this an evil act' discussion with the DM). I wrote it on the chronicle sheet every time mostly so I could keep track.
No mechanical benefit of course, but there's a lot of room at the edges of PFS rules for role play - use it!!
As others have said.
They can loot the siding nails, but they won't get any extra cash for it.
There have been just a couple of scenarios where figuring out how to loot something that one might not have thought to take did give a reward on the chronicle sheet. But that is very rare.
I have a character that takes an incisor or fang from every magical beast he has killed. He's threaded them onto a necklace. No benefit but just fits the character.
Rather than stripping the bathroom fixtures, taking notes on who did what to whom and where will probably help them out more in the long run.