[HoE] Black Hats' Kevlar

["Al Niņo" <toadpooka@usa.net>]

Steve Crow claims:
  I appreciate the suggestions, but a simple, "You can't use it" system for 
  Vests like for the BHs guns and vehicles seems to be simpler and consistent 
  with BH policy (if the Combine spends them special guns and ammo, why not 
  special Vests?). As the rulebook and various sourcebooks note, if you stat 
  something, players will try to kill it/get around it/take advantage of it. 

First off, telling your players simply that they can't use the Black Hats' armor and not giving a
reason is plain silly.  If you want to come up with a reason why their characters look at the armor
and think "gee, I can't use that," that is worlds better.  Also, the Combine doesn't issue armor to
the Black Hats at all, for several reasons.  First off, there's always more scum in the West. 
Throcky-boy isn't gonna shell out $750 to save one waster's life.  If they're not good enough to use
the guns, ammo, and vehicles he already sent, then he already wasted enough resources on them. 
Another reason could be that it's too damned impractical to booby-trap the armor.  Whether a stray
round could detonate a C-23 lining or not, the poor sap wearing it would probably rather take his
chances at getting hit.

My solution is this: Not all Black Hats wear armor.  They get all their other equipment from the
Combine, but they gotta pick up armor on the way.  A few will have Kevlar, most might be wearing
metal scraps tied to their bodies with old bootlaces, but quite a few will be without any armor at
all.  Even when they are wearing vests, a PC who peels one off the body and then sees his buddy get
all blowed up after trying to test-fire his new SMG might think twice about trying to wear it.  And,
as long as it's known around the wastes that Combine equipment is trapped, your average survivor
town market won't want anything to do with ANYTHING you get from a dead Black Hat.  You could claim
that you scavved it off a dead soldier you found, but the townies may not like the look of a posse
strolling in with 20 Kevlar vests that they just "happened" to find out there.  Since they all know
to be scared of Black Hats, and probably don't know of anyone else that's that well-armed, maybe
they assume the posse ARE Combine soldiers...bad news for the good guys...

-- 
"For believers, no explanation is necessary.  For unbelievers, none shall suffice."

Richard A. Ranallo,
Elk, Mason, Communist, President of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance for some reason, and Stonecutter.