Re: [HOE] re:...Crazy Junker

[toadpooka@juno.com]

 Yeah, I've got to say that I don't agree with the idea of
destroying/stealing the posse's equipment as soon as they start.  Let
them use it for a while, and if you feel that they aren't watching it
carefully enough, it might get stolen.  If they don't spend some time
maintaining the car, maybe it breaks down.  But just offhandedly saying
that the road warrior's car gets blown up in the first 15 seconds of an
adventure is mean and dumb. The flipside of this is that I don't expect
my characters to try to start with a tank.  If I let them do that, I just
might destroy it right off, to teach that player a lesson.
Junkers make a marshal walk that line very carfully in this regard.  It's
possible for a character to build something that you'd want to destroy or
take away, but if you do that, you're negating everything that makes a
junker a junker.  If a device like this one is created in-game, you'd
have a huge component cost, difficulty, Taint and Stability to balance it
out.  If it's the starting device (which I assume it is), the player
doesn't buy the components, doesn't make the roll, doesn't draw for
Taint.  But he still does have to make a Stability check the first time
the gun is used that day.  And, the Stability of starting devices is only
16 (that's the bad part about not making that construction roll).
Also, the ammo for this gun has to be junker-made.  He gets the gun for
free, but he's got to build the bullets for it.  This means that you
should make him pay for the components, make him design and roll the
construction, with you watching.  Having to constantly make ammo does two
big things: makes the junker even more component-dependant than normal
and makes it a lot more likely that he'll get the Taint (though something
tells me you don't want to give this character an excuse to be an
A'hole).
So, I'd go back and ask the character how he got the ammo for this gun. 
If he said he bought it, slap him in the head with a fish.  If he said he
made it, ask how much the components cost, how much he made, the Frame
size of the batch, the Stability of the batch, etc.  Then, once he's out,
make him hunt for components to build the next batch.  The parts he uses
to make ammo are parts he can't use to make bigger guns.  After spending
hundreds of components on ammo for his gun, he'll probably end up having
it explode in his hands sooner or later.  Then he'll have hundreds of
rounds that don't fit any guns anywhere, and that still have to make
Stability checks every week.  They might just explode on him too.
Also, don't let him fire that gun without a tripod or anything unless
he's a total beast.  Most guns that big are mounted on vehicles.  The
thing is the size of a small person, and should weigh at least 77 pounds.
 Carrying that, enough ammo for it, a G-Ray collector, components for
more machines in addition to other gear will slow this guy down
completely.
--
From Whom It May Concern,
Rich Ranallo
"Long live the legend, it'll outlive us"
-Violent Femmes, "Death Drugs"

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