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Old 04-15-2017, 07:17 AM   #31
starslayer
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip View Post
Sorry if you've moved on from this, but hey, here's 2c...

I've been thinking about ethical but *cough* legally dubious*cough* methods of making money. My favourite (courtesy of The Wire), is ripping off drug dealers. If these NPCs can take on monsters, they can take on a bunch of ne'er do wells.

As long as they don't run into any vampire drug dealers... (hey, it's a natural lifestyle fit).
But if they can get about as much, or even more, money from knocking over a vampire drug dealer, and they actually have the skills to knock over a vampire drug dealer- why go for a mundane drug dealer?

Or depending on their view of things ANYONE who preys on society is a monster and deserves both death and to have there accounts drained, as you mentioned the differences between a drug dealer and a vampire are minimal.
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Old 04-15-2017, 08:00 AM   #32
Luke Bunyip
 
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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Originally Posted by starslayer View Post
... as you mentioned the differences between a drug dealer and a vampire are minimal.
The metaphoric vs the literal blood sucker. Not meaning to metagame (OK, maybe a little bit) but having a potential foe for a group, perform some form of constructive social role, IMHO gives an additional tension emotionally to a campaign.
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Old 04-15-2017, 09:29 AM   #33
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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Well, you need something that is enforcing the secret, but MiB aren't really the best choice. The basic problem with MiB is that entities powerful enough to prevent the secret from getting out tend to be powerful enough to have no reason to need the secret to be kept.
MiB are humans. Not "entities"
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Old 04-15-2017, 09:37 AM   #34
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

Well, to tell the truth, it is not too hard to imagine that monster hunters would leap to criminals too. I imagine that many would feel tempted. However, there are a few extra complications in the mix:

- Criminals are humans. That means that killing them gets the attention of authorities
- Criminals are MORE dangerous than monsters. To begin with, most of them are part of organizational, who may be displeased by people disposing of their grunts. Monsters are fantastic, but they are usually only one; criminals are several.
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Old 04-15-2017, 10:07 AM   #35
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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...Criminals are humans. That means that killing them gets the attention of authorities
- Criminals are MORE dangerous than monsters. To begin with, most of them are part of organizational, who may be displeased by people disposing of their grunts. Monsters are fantastic, but they are usually only one; criminals are several.
Omar Little seemed to cope with that just fine. But then, he did do his "Robin Hood" / "Fish in the sea" trick rather well. It's a bit hard to track someone that no one will rat on.

EDIT: Yes, yes, yes; I'm using a cinematic reference as a justification for a course of action in a hypothetical situation, namely MH, in all it's gory splendour. But hey, the metagaming approach for the OP. If this fits for him(?her?), the player group, and the setting, woohoo; "Suspension of Disbelief" TM has been achieved.
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Old 04-15-2017, 10:12 AM   #36
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip View Post
Omar Little seemed to cope with that just fine. But then, he did do his "Robin Hood" / "Fish in the sea" trick rather well. It's a bit hard to track someone that no one will rat on.
He is also a fictional, as in, "non real", character.

Batman fights against armed thugs using his fists. It doesn't mean that any other real life person could do the same.

Have you ever heard of people that steals from the mafia?

Well, I know the history of a guy in the USA who did that. They killed him and his wife.
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Old 04-15-2017, 10:20 AM   #37
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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Originally Posted by KarlKost View Post
MiB are humans. Not "entities"
“Entities” can also refer to organisations or similar bodies, which would definitely apply to MiBs.

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How about, instead of being an official branch of the local police, why dont have this as a private company that in theory hunts down dangerous Wild animals? That gives less need for contability to the goverment
Yes, as long as they have a pretext to carry their equipment. I was thinking their “front” would be something more akin to a park ranger than a local police force.

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One of the members can be a evangelist church priest.

With the correct background he may have an obsession or personal vengeance, may be a little deranged and single minded enough to patron for a bunch of monster hunters with a certain common background.

The priest may have lost his family to the monsters and some of the other hunters maybe lost loved ones. The priest may have had a vision (schizophrenia or stress from the loss and reveal of the monsters reality induced) and he think it is a God send task.

The church priest can get a lot of cash from a small community and a lot from a big one and he think that it is a good way of using it.

Some of the hunter may be ex special forces or CIA agents and the rest trained with them.

They don't need tons of money and support to be a menace to a group of players, they just have to be smart and very cautious, specially if in your setting there is not a concerted world dominated monster conspiracy.

A way of justifying there is not such a thing as a world monsters conspiracy is that monsters, just as humans, are just as selfish and unable to work together, not even for their survival, most monsters where humans, so it is not a stretch at all. they may have big secret organizations, and humans may have them too, but don't work together, and this particular, underfunded group can sip between the cracks and strike to what they can (the players), meanwhile hoarding evidence of the monsters conspiracy to make a reveal to the world and start a world ending war for what is good and pure... a single perturbed and suffering man is the key to apocalypses...
Our group so far is mostly the opposite of the deranged priest you mention. I’m not a fan of the crazed intolerant hunter stereotype, I much prefer the more rational, reasoned opponent. They are definitely far more motivated by the desire to protect people than any sense of revenge, so their priority would be avoiding the apocalypse rather than causing it.
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Old 04-15-2017, 10:32 AM   #38
Luke Bunyip
 
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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He is also a fictional, as in, "non real", character.
Are we talking about a challenging setting for a TTRPG, or demonstrating the grim and nasty business of living at the bottom end of the social pecking order? Personally, I'm just trying to suggest a Grey Hat for the OP, as well as a bit of moral complexity for the PCs.

This is not the place for discussion of living on the wrong side of the tracks, at the bottom end of the social pecking order. I don't mean to discount your personal experiences, especially since I do not reside in North America, so my perspective is not personal.

TBH, I found Omar a fascinating character in The Wire. I suppose I'm just trying to help the OP to make his NPCs more nuanced. YMMV.

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Have you ever heard of people that steals from the mafia?
Yeah, but more bemusingly I've seen what happens when you live in the same suburb as someone that stole some dodgy substances from some dodgy members of the NSW Police. A story for another time, perhaps.
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Old 04-15-2017, 10:35 AM   #39
KarlKost
 
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

Do you honestly believe a MiB organization would have no reason to keep the secret? That doesn't make any sense AT ALL. The purpose of ANY MiB organization is about secrecy. All those conspiracies exist EXACTLY for that. That's why those twats on X Files wouldn't do on international TV saying "Aliens..."

In the case of monsters, the revelation would mean Apocalypse. It would open war instead of covert... And that is precisely the ONLY thing that can unite the monsters (even some who may try some form of peaceful coexistence with humanity would be FORCED to fight). And, since the poo has hit the fan, there would be no reasons for the monsters to control their "reproductive" habits.

So yes, even MORE than hunting monsters, MiB MUST keep the world ignorant about them. Thats THE MOST important job (as it is, thats also the case in the movie MiB)
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Old 04-15-2017, 10:49 AM   #40
Varyon
 
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Default Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters

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He is also a fictional, as in, "non real", character.
Looking at his Wikipedia entry, he's based on a number of real life people who pretty much did the same thing. Also, I recall reading (in the preface or similar) that William Gibson based the Keith Blackwell character (from Idoru; he's a guy who used to make a living kidnapping and torturing criminals to steal their illicit funds) off of someone he met who pretty much used to do the same thing, and apparently there was a time when this actually wasn't all that uncommon in Australia (where both the character and the fellow he's based on were from) - the criminals who specialized in this were called "toecutters."

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Originally Posted by KarlKost View Post
Have you ever heard of people that steals from the mafia?
There's a world of difference between going after some random bank robber, drug dealer, or gangbanger and going after one of the largest criminal organizations in the world.

All that said, however, the NPC monster hunters probably have their hands full with hunting monsters, and likely don't have the time to go after other humans. Maybe they occasionally moonlight as toecutters, when they run low on funds and there aren't any profitable monsters around, but I'd expect them to do so rarely.
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