Goodman Games

As I skim through the books and start to prep for an adventure I'm writing, I am curious what the standard XCrawl position is on looting... I can't seem to find anything in the books, but something is tugging at the back of my mind.

I'm working under the assumption (and mindset) that XCrawl participants do NOT get to loot the bodies of defeated monsters -- after all, they are rewarded with the fabulous prizes from the sponsors and event coordinators...

The power scale otherwise would tip dangerously in favor of the XCrawlers if they can consistently loot magic gear (especially potions, scrolls and wands) from defeated baddies...

What's your take? Is there an official stance? Would XCrawl refs issue warnings or possibly DQ a player/team that insisted in trying to loot a corpse or specific item?

Oh... no reason in particular. You know... Just asking. Purely hypothetically. *cough*

You are 100% Correct - Xcrawl does not allow looting of the bodies.

IRL its just like you said - players would get way too powerful way too quickly. There is just too much magical equipment for them to walk away with.

In the "reality" of the game this is an asthetic concern - nobody watching the Crawl on the TV wants to see players picking over corpses, or putting on armor and equipment stripped from mangled foes. Its just considered Unheroic.

The exception - if a player's weapon or shield is destroyed or somehow otherhow lost he can check with a referee for permission to replace it from a fallen foe. The Only Exception!


hope that helps,

LaBoss

2nd exception (at least in my world): a 'Heel' character would try to loot a bad guy. Not every one, but if there was a chance to really increase his rep.... well thats what heels do. I had one who chopped off the horns of a bad guy who was down... but not dead. then he mounted them on his helm!
I had an invisible hiding thief who would take the arrows from fallen orc archers to replenish the party after combat when the party would head out tot he next room, but before the cleaners would arrive.

tentoes wrote:2nd exception (at least in my world): a 'Heel' character would try to loot a bad guy. Not every one, but if there was a chance to really increase his rep.... well thats what heels do. I had one who chopped off the horns of a bad guy who was down... but not dead. then he mounted them on his helm!
I had an invisible hiding thief who would take the arrows from fallen orc archers to replenish the party after combat when the party would head out tot he next room, but before the cleaners would arrive.

Hey if you don't get caught you don't get caught!

In the very early days of my Xcrawl home campaign I had a player who wanted wanted to use a dead body from a previous room to try to stop an escalator . . . you can thank Sellsword for the
"no looting" rules.

be well,

LaBoss

I think it varies from crawl to crawl.

In Phoenix Crawl (an adventure of my own design), players were allowed to take whatever they wanted from the bodies of their enemies, but only certain items could be kept as "loot" after the level ended.

The adventure was exceptionally hard since it straddles the line between division 3 and division 2, however, so the special "House Rule" on looting was added to give the players a small edge in certain encounters.

It worked out pretty well.