>>192642>All the communists we looted have been broke so far. This has been a rather low-magic adventure and scarce with treasure.Okay, I want to talk about this.
Yes, I'm sure that there actually has been a dearth of items on the bodies of soldiers and there could probably stand to be more, but I'm absolutely astonished by the complete disregard of everything that actually is found.
Like the disregard of the money on the soldiers. Okay, fair enough, the total value is probably relatively low, like maybe 30 bits per soldier. And on top of that, it's not in Equestrian currency, it's in foreign currency, so you can't just spend it anywhere. But still...
New Mareland is an autarchic state that thinks that it can obtain everything it needs within its own borders. This means that they are probably desparately in need of things beyond their borders, and especially the money to buy it with. Foreign currency is probably at a premium. And if it isn't, what of Ny Winghaven and Nova Griffonia? Both Trottingham and Ny Winghaven, and especially the Village Up North are near Stalliongrad. Surely it's worth something to them? Also again, sure it's maybe 30 or 40 bits per soldier, but when you encounter a dozen dead soldiers, don't you think that maybe that adds up? Like if you saw a five dollar bill on the ground, would you think "That's not worth anything! I'm not picking that up!" Literally it's just paper. Bend over and pick it up. What does it cost you to pick it up and carry? Like what's the harm? It weighs nothing and takes up almost no space, and it adds up to hundreds of bits.
Also rings. Wedding bands are just ignored. I can get if you feel bad for looting it, but like, if you leave it there you can't give it to their loved ones later.
By far the most disappointing thing has been the complete and utter disregard of dropped firearms from enemies and on the ground. For example, in the church there were two dropped rifles that were just ignored. Yes I get it, they are literally Mosin Nagants, a type of rifle that was substandard by the time it first saw combat in the Russo Japanese war in 1903. I know, just 12 years ago you could go into a store and buy one surplus from Russia and the Ukraine for $125 or less. Even now you can buy one for $375. It's a meme gun and the name I've been using for it has been the Russian translation of "Moist Nugget." No character is going to want to equip with it. But like... It's worth something, surely? You could resell it for at least 150 bits in Ny Winghaven, maybe even more. So when you have a half dozen or a dozen of them that's thousands of bits of value. I had a previous player who saw four old guns as wall decorations and immediately he thought "I can resell this to the criminal underground for a lot of money!"
And like... You can equip NPCs with firearms. Pick it up, and tell the NPC to carry it. Or tell the NPCs to carry it. Yeah sure, you probably don't care for the improvised weapons because that would necessarily require putting the NPCs in danger. But a rifle does good damage, almost every NPC can use one, and they have no practical range limit. You just have to
know that there's going to be a major battle on the Kostroma that will be a mix of a boss/multiple mini-bosses and mooks, and you could have the players attack, while NPCs stay in the background and either shoot at the mooks, or provide covering fire to discourage other enemies from joining the fight, or maybe shoot to harass the boss, or just do something to help. Like, you have to have known that. So why have rifles just been completely disregarded and left on the ground after every single battle? Why were two left behind in the church? How many rifles have just been left behind and ignored? Six by now? That's 12d8 of damage just left behind to rot and rust. 900 bits of resell value just ignored and discarded. That's not even counting the pistols, and honestly I think it may be more than that. Again, I get that obviously the players don't want to carry these things, but you don't have to at all. Give it to the seamen and engineers and such of the Kostroma survivors who have been carrying wrenches or nothing at all, make them be artillery in battles, and then sell it later. Or don't, I guess. But it still feels really weird to have a complaint about loot when thousands of bits of value with extremely obvious value in combat are just entirely disregrarded without a thought.
Like with the final airpony and his pistol. I was intending to have a little story with the pistol. Like maybe it was empty with the hammer locked open to show that he was defending himself. I decided against that because I assumed characters wouldn't care to pick up a gun that obviously didn't have any bullets. I thought maybe there could be a single bullet to suggest that he may have been contemplating killing himself to avoid capture? And also I wanted the gun to be of a foreign make to suggest it was a trophy gun or self supplied, or to suggest that captured weapons are being reused, to do
something with it. Now granted I forgot to include this when I first wrote the airpony, but after it was included it was just ignored. I mean, surely the players could assume the airpony is going to want it back later?
One of fact of a twentieth century setting is that all of the tools, implements, and machines involved are themselves heroes and legends of the era. Like the "Automatic rifle" of the GRU non-commissioned officers. I thought before "Oh, it would be really cool if Silver could get one" Maybe cavaliere, because that's the SVT-40, the coolest looking rifle of all of WW2. I love those so much. I was so happy when I was finally able to buy one. I love including those and other guns in the game, usually with oblique references to what they actually are.