04-15-2017, 10:57 AM | #41 | |
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Brazil
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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If we are to make up completely unreal scenarios, why don't you just say that they could steal the Fort Knox or rob the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and be done with it? There are levels of realism and unrealism that are a good fit for a desirable outcome. But you must start looking at reality to realize how far or how close to it you are drifting. If you take as a premisse some very wrong concepts, like for example, thinking that criminals in real world are a bunch of idiots who are just soooo easy to fool with, or that karate punchs can be safely used against guns, you may end up with a cartoonish story. So, in real life, criminals are both tough, some are smart, but all are dangerous. And, criminal organizations are doubly so. Start elimimating some dozens of them, the word will go to the streets. Real soon, some big and powerful group will be worried that there is some punisher on the streets, bount to take vengence with his own hands. Pretty soon, the hunters will be the prey, as there will be a good sum upon their heads in no time. That's REAL LIFE. And how about in fiction? Well, imagination doesn't need to be constrained like that. Maybe in imagination, criminals only fight back when in the same organizations. No "preemptive strikes" against would be "avengers" (even if it is a clear threath). Also, the criminal groups doesn't work on extensive networks..... Only small, independent gangs, and if one such gang is taken out, the larger group that supplies those doesn't care. Its fine to go like that. It is a fiction, not real world. But you must understand how the real world works to be able to adapt the fiction in a coherent way |
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04-15-2017, 11:09 AM | #42 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Kingdom of Insignificance
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
This is just a table top role playing game. I'm just suggesting some colour for the OP. It's his game; he knows his players, their social backgrounds, and what they are up for in a RPG setting.
The role of organised crime in the black market, and specifically in the organised drug trade is not something I personally feel driven to discuss here, and I suspect is tangential to the OP's initial query.
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04-15-2017, 11:42 AM | #43 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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There are some failed states or states close to that line, where criminal organisations are an alternative of governments and mimic their functions in many ways. This is very much an exception, however, not the rule. And, in any case, those organisations usually aren't dangerous just because they are criminal, they are dangerous because they are seeking to supplant the functions of a state, which includes a monopoly on the use of force. *I'm an attorney. About 50% of my work is as a defence attorney. Quote:
The people who buy from organised groups of thieves usually do not care one bit about what happens to them and, anyway, aren't the kind of people who are very good at keeping track of their acquintances. The same usually goes for people who sell drugs to the street-level dealers.* The average crime movie features more actual organised crime than most US states do in a year. Not to mention that many supposedly realistic crime movies have seen more use of military or fully-automatic weapons in the commission of crimes than the entire US has done for a generation. Stealing from criminals is absolutely a viable strategy. It's what most con men effectively do. But it's not usually a high-income job, because, shockingly, most criminals are poor. Pablo Escobar was no more representive of the typical drug dealer than J.K. Rowling is representiave of the typical writer. In actual fact, most drug dealers and writers struggle to afford Ramen noodles on what they make from their profession and even with the Escobars and Rowlings figured into the stats, working at McDonalds yields a higher income. *Who, however, aren't really people you can fund much through ripping off, as they are generally hungry, sick and their average income is less than minimum wage.
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04-15-2017, 12:18 PM | #44 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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If investigating possible monster activity and finding just human criminals instead of psis or vampires or some other kind of monster (who probably would use criminals as cover)... people are still getting hurt and people still need help, so the monster-hunters would probably be too involved at this point to simply walk away. In which case, after defeating a human criminal, standard operating procedure remains the same. |
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04-15-2017, 01:27 PM | #45 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
If these monster hunters are reasoned and logical, is there any chance that they might work with certain monsters? As has been mentioned upthread, an ancient vampire lord may be able to amass quite some wealth. Is it possible that they don't see all monsters as needing to be hunted down, but only the 'dangerous' ones, or is the possibility that said patron might only be using them to eliminate the competition too much of a risk to take that path?
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04-15-2017, 02:23 PM | #46 | |
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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Generally these hunters are very cautious of the supernatural, they suspect it would have some harmful or corrupting effect that they just don’t know about yet. In their eyes, all monsters will become dangerous sooner or later, but that it doesn’t necessarily follow that pre-emptively taking them out is the right thing to do. If the monster is doing good now, then they would rather it be able to do more good in the time it has left before it’s corruption overtakes it. By forming some kind of alliance with it, they can help the creature to do more good, and be there ready for the day when it needs destroying. They could even form a friendship with the creature, grow to like it, and when the creature inevitably (in their mind) slips towards evil, they will see killing the creature before it hurts innocent people as an act of compassion towards their friend. I think they’re OK with psi powers, and “sanctioned” magic, and with unsanctioned magic they’d hope to “save” rather than kill the magician. But generally I’d say they err on the side of caution when dealing with the supernatural. |
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04-15-2017, 04:59 PM | #47 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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04-15-2017, 05:19 PM | #48 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
If he is just using the hunters against his competition, are the monster hunters oblivious or just working with him until they know they'll have to take him out? Do they both have tons of plans and contingencies for when that inevitably happens? Presumably neither would trust the others completely. Great for a cloak-and-dagger setting, even if the PCs are actually unaffiliated monsters. The PCs would have to deal with trying to figure out the hunters' actual goals and motivation. Lot of potential there, I think.
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04-15-2017, 10:29 PM | #49 | |
Join Date: May 2009
Location: In Rio de Janeiro, where it was cyberpunk before it was cool.
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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I think black market with human interests envolved in getting monster parts, of preventing certain parts from getting them, can be a great way in producing value out of it. |
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04-16-2017, 01:35 PM | #50 | |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Funding semi-realistic monster hunters
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
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Tags |
covert ops, monster hunters |
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