Re: [HOE] Stripping a pickup for parts

[Thomas Mayfield <dragonboyblue@mindspring.com>]

It really does sound like your Marshal wants to keep you and your
Uber-Junker-Devices-'O-Death in check.  From a Marshal's point of view,
this is understandable- he wants to keep the campaign challenging for you
and all your non-UJDOD endowed friends.  But from a player's view point,
it's pretty darn frustrating.  You are playing a junker- junkers build
things.  Whenever I Marshal with a Junker in the posse, I'm relatively
generous with parts.  I use other methods to keep game balance that let
players still build the cool stuff they want.

1) Make the Junker have to deal with the weight of the componets (as was
suggested earlier).  You may have found the ultra-motherlode of scrap, but
there's no way you could haul it all off.  This can lead into an adventure
all in and of it itself.  The players set up camp so the junker can build
their device on the spot and have to defend the place against local
monsters, bandits, and other junkers that want it all for themselves.

2) Enforce Stability checks.  One of the big balancing factors of Junkers
is that their devices aren't _quite_ permanent.  Try to do it once a week
as suggested in the the junker SB, but if possible do it at an extremely
dramatic moment.  The posse is facing off against the Thing With Really Big
Teeth, are running low on ammo... time for a Stability check.  Even if they
make it, it'll sure create some nice tension.

3) Remember that people don't completely trust junkers.  They deal with
mysterious spiritual forces and create awesome devices from junk.  People
fear what they do not understand. Plus, there are always the tales of those
junkers gone bad... which leads to the next item.

4) The Taint.  Sure Junker weapons can be powerful, and can unbalance a
campaign if the Marshal isn't powerful (and I suspect this is what your
Marshal is afraid of).  Remember that there's always a risk for building
devices of destruction.  Fall into the Taint, and you can acquire some
powerful enemies...

Bring these up with your Marshal, and see if they don't presuade him to
balance his campaign in a way that allows your character to do what he's
designed to do.  Also, just plain tell the Marshal that you're frustrated.
The objective of the game is to have fun, and that's not worth losing for
the sake of campaign balance.  If your Marshal's a reasonable person, ya'll
probably be able to work out some sort of agreeable compromise.

-Evil Marshal Mayfield

---------------------------
Zombie: The Best Never Rest
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