Looting, in general, is a problem. Pick it up as you go if its inherently valuable, certainly... if you can carry it (four assault rifles aren't heavy, but have you ever tried to carry them? Awkward....). Dispose of the body of a lone hitman that hit you at your doss? Just good sense (as is moving out....now.)

On the other hand I have to seriously raise my eyebrow at the 'list' of problem loot. Four AR's, a few frags and a few thousand rounds of ammo? That's a MINIMUM purchase for a starting Gunbunny in most campaigns of mine. Well, maybe not four AR's (that depends on the campaign), but certainly the frags and the ammo. Four four editions I've never had a samurai that didn't have 10k ammo minimum. If running with the 'absolute pro' mentality, cases of guns (so you can discard them after the runs they've been used on) is standard, regardless of time. Then again, I wrote a rundown on teh state of CSI: Shadowrun, so I'm not exactly unbiased here....

Still: If a few thousand rounds of ammo, a couple of frags and some assault rifles is a problem in your campaign what the hell are your characters doing with major mojo and wired reflexes?

The sympathetic link will only work is the rifle they took was really special to the guard ... and if the guard isn't dead. Initiated wage mages have also likely have way better things to do. Lastly detection spells are pretty worthless as ritual magic because the target is a person who gets another sense.

Having weapons self destruct when they are out of signal range is a horrible idea. It means directional jammers instantly neutralize guards without a roll.

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To loot or not to loot is really just a tone question. There isn't a right answer. It is possible in the setting. It can be totally inappropriate for some of the stories the setting is designed for. If the GM doesn't want looting for flavor reasons that's fine. If you want to tone down looting, figure why it's happening. Likely it's either low pay for the runs or the mind set of the players. If you are fighting a mind set IC solutions wont help, the players will frustrate because you are constantly "denying them there dues". If that's the issue talk it out with the players. If the looting comes from the characters not having the yen, well pay them better. 5k a milk run, 10k for a easy job if will goes to plan, 20k if all realistic "plan-A's" involve squaring off with armed resistance. And up from there if there are initiated secuity mages, cybered para critters etc. If you don't play that much you will see money conscience PCs looking for "alterntive Revenue Streams" because shadow running just doesn't make sense. A lot of people seem to think that "getting forced into the shadows" means you have to be runner, but it doesn't most any 400 bp runner could be some kind of undocumented professional.

Eh...good point, forgot that part. On the other hand they can easily have ECCM software to counter such things.

Why arent there rules for Frequency jamming in SR.

Today you use different radio channels and I imagine that commlinks must have the same thing so you could jam an area NOT using the signal YOU have.

All you have today are blanket jamming of everything WEAKER than your own signal or jammers rating.

could you dig that up? I'd love to see it

Back in SR3 days we used to stuff things we swiped into collapsible warded faraday cages until we had a chance to go over them in detail. You can still do the cage, but not the ward.

So,

I appreciate all the advice and philosophys of gaming people have shared in this thread, I'd like to just go back to my orginal post and say that I DON"T MIND AN OCCASIONAL Looting...and right now thats what it was. The team took some gear and it was fine. However, I do feel that the team should have to spend their money. If they can loot all the guns and ammo they want and stockpile all the nuyen they make I don't see that as balanced.

I am a fair GM, the team is a bunch of noobs as far as their street cred is concerned...so in my opinion they have to do the shit work first and build a rep then the good work comes...which is starting to happen. I suspect the reason they looted was because of the low payouts of the runs...which is fine, I kinda anticipated this...but I got nervous when one of my players wanted to take the parts out of the security cameras in the facility because now Im worried when they run a serious corp they will try and take everything that isn't bolted down...which is why I wanted ideas on how to dissuade the behavior of looting.

Oh they are all very new to the system (as am I) if they realized they could loot cyberware and what not they might attempt it...I'll probably just keep that a secret for now lol.

That being said, they are running their first corp next session and I will use some of the ideas listed here to make it more difficult to loot weapons and ammo...not impossible just difficult...and they are getting a decent paycheck out of the run now

-Josh

Just take the weight-penalties in account (or make them up) and you will be fine.

Cheers

Tell us how it went.

Your team has a great deal to spend money on other than gear. Never ever forget the basics shadowrunning tool, the bribe. A little palm grease will take you much farther than a pistol alone will. Make that clear. Also don't forget lifestyle, as well as other basic expenses. A GM can make it fairly difficult to hoard money. And if all else fails, you can always offer karma for cash, which the magicians will pounce on like a drunk frat boy offered free sex at Marti Gras.

Used cyberware has sufficient disadvantages that most PCs wouldn't install it often. But selling it is another possibility altogether. (And really, the fact that you can cut a person up and sell their internal organs is just common sense. It works in real life, too.)

there are rules for jamming every frequency except the ones you are using. is that enough for you?

(they go like this: you can choose to not jam the frequency you are using when you make a jamming attempt)

OR you could use a smart jammer. Then you cna blanket all but your teams or just the hostiles ect

I can't find a copy of the thread here on Dumpshock... I think someone else linked to it here for me before I was a member, but here is a link to the thread on another forum.

CSI:Shadowrun

Thats only true if their contemp at using the piece of crap standart issue guns, my Sasha would never be use one of those(her guns are custom).
And most characters don't probably have to buy new guns after chargen anyway. except those like Sasha who are gun nuts.

Vincent Hanna: My life's a disaster zone. I got a stepdaughter so fucked up because her real father's this large-type asshole. I got a wife, we're passing each other on the down-slope of a marriage - my third - because I spend all my time chasing guys like you around the block. That's my life.
Neil McCauley: A guy told me one time, "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." Now, if you're on me and you gotta move when I move, how do you expect to keep a... a marriage?

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Vincent Hanna: What are you, a monk?
Neil McCauley: I have a woman.
Vincent Hanna: What do you tell her?
Neil McCauley: I tell her I'm a salesman.
Vincent Hanna: So then, if you spot me coming around that corner...you just gonna walk out on this woman? Not say good bye?
Neil McCauley: That's the discipline.
Vincent Hanna: That's pretty vacant, you know.
Neil McCauley: Yeah, it is what it is. It's that or we both better go do something else, pal.
Vincent Hanna: I don't know how to do anything else.
Neil McCauley: Neither do I.
Vincent Hanna: I don't much want to either.
Neil McCauley: Neither do I.



From Heat. It's how my character Sonya views everything. If you can't walk out on it within 30 seconds it's going to get you killed.

Yeah, I have played in a group once where getting the MacGuffin to the Johnson and then proceeding to ditch or check out EVERYTHING we took from the facility was standard operating procedure, but the point stands that taking a gun from a facility is really no more inherently problematic than taking your target from a facility. A certain amount of risk is always involved. Generally, I think it's a good idea to be cautious, and RFID'd tagged gear is certainly a concern, but I also think it's silly to nail your players for nabbing one sort of item and not not another inherently more valuable item. Basically, I think RFID tags are more likely to render a looting effectively worthless (due to the time, effort and costs involved with cleansing a "hot" piece of gear) rather than something that'll get you tracked and gunned down within the week.


Oh man, THIS. Bribery is awesome. It's also what I actually use most of my looted gear for. I can't imagine a quicker way to impress the local gang lieutenant than dropping by with some novacoke and a shiny new toy every once in a while. A few custom Ares Alphas here and there is a good way to make friends amongst the lower rungs of society.