03-17-2015, 06:24 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
|
Status For Outlaws
OK, for an upcoming Banestorm game I figure that one of the character types my players are likely to run across a lot are outlaws, brigands and the like, one question I need to answer is what is the status of these guys? Are they -1, like peasants? Or -2 like slaves? Or even worse? Or do they have Status 0 with a reputation?
|
03-17-2015, 06:26 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Feb 2013
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
I think they can have any status, but also have social stigma. Some versions of Robin Hood have him a noble, for example.
__________________
Leave this space blank. |
03-17-2015, 06:26 PM | #3 |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
I'd go with the 0 and a Reputation. Depending on their actual actions, they may even have a positive Reputation with civilians, while law enforcement wants their heads on plates.
|
03-17-2015, 07:02 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Vermont
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
"Outlaw" is sort of the standard by which all Social Stigmas are gauged. An outlaw was literally outside the law--no rights, no legal protection, and if someone decides to murder you it's perfectly legal for them to do so.
__________________
My ongoing thread of GURPS versions of DC Comics characters. |
03-17-2015, 07:05 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
Enemy (Law Enforcement) seems to be the key trait of outlaws, IMO. Effective Status tends to be 0, even if, like some depictions of Robin Hood, they have Courtesy Status 2+.
__________________
"Life ... is an Oreo cookie." - J'onn J'onzz, 1991 "But mom, I don't wanna go back in the dungeon!" The GURPS Marvel Universe Reboot Project A-G, H-R, and S-Z, and its not-a-wiki-really web adaptation. Ranoc, a Muskets-and-Magery Renaissance Fantasy Setting |
03-17-2015, 10:15 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Sep 2011
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
If all you want is an approximation, I'd go with 3rd Edition's ruling. In 3rd Ed., outlaw was specifically called out as a -3 Social Stigma disadvantage for -15 points. Outlaw no longer appears as a specific listing in 4th Edition Social Stigma, but given that the specific social stigmas that are called out are mentioned as some examples (B155 paragraph prior to first example in second column) and given that the point values for Second-Class Citizen and Valuable Property are unchanged in point value and reaction penalty from 3rd Edition, I'd go with that.
As far as actual Social Status goes, it wouldn't change from whatever it was prior to being declared an outlaw, with one possible exception. A noble (whether minor [gentlemen, knights and baronets] or major [barons and above]) might have been subject to attainder prior to being declared an outlaw, which would drop him to freeman status at best. Last edited by Curmudgeon; 03-18-2015 at 12:24 AM. |
03-17-2015, 10:36 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
Do they still use outlawry in the setting?
|
03-17-2015, 10:55 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Mar 2015
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
It probably also depends on what they're outlawed for and what the penalties are for their crimes. Wealthy pensioners who the government would like to collect back taxes on are a little different than chainsaw hobos who like to dismember school children.
If it's not obvious that they're outlaws by their dress, speech, equipment, etc. then I would let them keep their original status and just give them the appropriate Disadvantages (like Enemies). If "outlaw" has a distinct meaning in the world, like "all outlaws are wandering vagabonds in the area of the Storm Sea" then it should have its own associated Status ranking. |
03-17-2015, 11:35 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
Quote:
|
|
03-17-2015, 11:50 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Mar 2015
|
Re: Status For Outlaws
Quote:
Would a random person talking to them think, "hmm, these must be some of those infamous bandits I keep hearing about" or would they think "this fellow seems to be from one of the middling-prosperous trades families in the south"? |
|
Tags |
banestorm, status |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|