Re: (TFT) Re: ... $ over comes EXP and Why buy ST?

[Peter von Kleinsmid <pvk@oz.net>]

At 09:32 AM 11/11/04 -0500, ErolB1@aol.com wrote:
> ...
> But then the security guards - or at least the best-quality ones - will have
> a "gamer" approach to things. They'll be kitted out in the best equipment 
> they can get their employer to pay for, either directly or indirectly. The 
> guards may even *be* the PCs.

I'm not sure where you got that from what I wrote - I was trying to say the 
opposite: that if GM's resist their gamer instincts when equipping and 
roleplaying their world, and look at what people really do instead, then 
their players will find interesting weaknesses to exploit, and so won't be 
simply dominated by whoever has the most money.

That is, in the real world, people who constantly study what the absolute 
very best equipment in the entire universe is, and obsessively strive to 
always have only the very best and carry it with them at all times, are a 
very rare and very paranoid minority. Most people who see someone doing 
anything even similar to that tend to label them as kooks and/or phone the 
FBI, etc.

> ... Or, one could make the PCs be something other than mercenaries or 
> pirates. If they're smugglers, space merchants, etc, their primary focus 
> for spending $$$ will be other than on combat equipment. The focus will be 
> on spending as little on combat stuff as they can get away with and still 
> survive & prosper.

Yes, although that brings to mind another issue: when players have a budget 
large enough to work with things like entire space ships or freighter 
cargos, generally the costs of personal equipment are vastly cheaper, so 
plain cost alone usually shouldn't be the determining factor on what 
personal equipment everyone ends up with. Other factors can include 
(repeating here):

Size, weight, convenience, conspicuousness, materials used, social factors, 
legal factors, organizational regulations, common supplies or parts, 
availability, side-effects, and

situations:
* different gear has different pros and cons in different settings
* situations may occur where people get separated from their equipment and 
need to choose from what's available
* reasons to blend in with other groups which have or use only certain 
types of equipment

PvK
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