Cargo and Bounties

[darthauthor]

So I was doing some reading of Northern Gun

The adventurers have come across a battle field. Xiticix bodies litter the landscape. Someone remembers kingdom / governments pay a bounty for Xiticix heads.

How do they move mass cargo of xiticix heads?

Ideas:

They have a hover-vehicle but there are space limitations.

The Xiticix corpses will decompose, right? Animals and other insects will eat them right?
So if the players come back for more heads they will be gone or eaten? Do the Xiticix carry their dead back?

I think it is 50 credits a head on Xiticix bounties.

Trying to be fair.

[Grazzik]

Assuming the battle has been a while back and the various chem trails released by the dead Xiticix have degraded away.

I don't see any references to Xiticix retrieving their dead. So, GM choice I guess.

* Strap the heads into netting on the outside of the hover vehicle

* Scoop the goo out of the head, wash them, and wear them like a helmet

* Scoop the goo out of the head, dry them out over a fire, put them in sacks, netting, or bags, and bury them or hang them in trees. The chitin of the exoskeleton should last a reasonable time before degrading as long as they've been dried out and kept away from moisture and chitin eating bacteria and fungi. If bags aren't available to keep them dry, pack them in sphagnum moss - ancient diaper material that is super absorbent. In soil unprotected, half will have been broken down in about a month as this is roughly the half life of chitin in normal soil. Since they are MDC, it could be argued that it might take a little longer.

Don't forget any Xiticix weapons lying around and that Xiticix plating and other body parts can be repurposed as well.

[ShadowLogan]

So I was doing some reading of Northern Gun

The adventurers have come across a battle field. Xiticix bodies litter the landscape. Someone remembers kingdom / governments pay a bounty for Xiticix heads.

How do they move mass cargo of xiticix heads?

Ideas:

They have a hover-vehicle but there are space limitations.

The Xiticix corpses will decompose, right? Animals and other insects will eat them right?
So if the players come back for more heads they will be gone or eaten? Do the Xiticix carry their dead back?

I think it is 50 credits a head on Xiticix bounties.

Trying to be fair.

Animals and insects are unlikely to eat them, at least if you are in 'bug territory since they seem to drive everyone else out one way or another. Though they are SN, so I don't think they are going to be eaten, at least by mundane animals and/or insects.

As for how many heads can they transport:
1. you will need to work out how much volume you have in the hover vehicle you can dedicate to storage of the heads, then you need to determine the volume of their head (in both cases I'd keep the shapes simple). Then divide one value by another to get the number of heads you can fit in.
2. you will also need to watch the mass of the cargo, both for internal or if you carry them externally (as suggested above). If you exceed the payload mass, you should impose some penalties (and presumably at some point you won't be able to move at all).

For additional ideas on how to transport them (w/o knowing their capabilities):
-create a "trailer" (wheeled, drag it along) with available materials. (if they can use available materials)
-create a "tailgate" with available materials to give you more room, to secure stuff to
-create a trebuchet/catapult to fling the 'bugs in the general direction, bring the catapult with them as they move forward and keep flinging the 'bugs repeatedly (I doubt this will be viable given they won't have the skills, and it might be faster to just leave the excess behind and come back later).

[Grazzik]

Finally a practical use for WP Siege Weapons!

[darthauthor]

I forgot,

Can necromancers use Xiticix body parts for their powers. Attached to their bodies or something.

Raise dead Xiticix?

Zombie Xiticix?

[Grazzik]

I forgot,

Can necromancers use Xiticix body parts for their powers. Attached to their bodies or something.

Raise dead Xiticix?

Zombie Xiticix?

Yes. See WB23 pg 104-108.

[Shorty Lickens]

In a normal campaign I find 50 credits a head to be completely worthless as a baseline. Those things are a pain to kill, even just one. Armor repair is expensive. Ammo is expensive. Grenades even more so. In the game world I dont think anyone with the skill to take them down would do it for less than 500 credits a head. And in the middle of the war they're actually more of a nuisance so local governments would probably offer 1000 a head as well as medical and repair facilities.

After the war they are just as troublesome as raiders and bandits and other opportunists, so use whatever bounties they get. I think I saw numbers in Aftermath but now I want to go check.
And yes, the things are huge, their heads are heavy, you would need giant bins as well as a cargo transport. Since fuel costs so much you may have to factor that in. If someone in a nuclear powered vessel does the job they will want lots of cash simply on principle. Closer to 1000 a head than 500. I see no reason why flying P.A. couldn't drag a sack behind them, but it better be sturdy, they cant take a whole lot at once, and it would reduce airspeed 20 percent.

[Shorty Lickens]

OK so yeah I was correct. In Rifts Aftermath (Siege on Tolkeen 7) you have coalition bounties on pages 16 & 17. But like I said the numbers are garbage. I'd multiply everything by 10. I would also say local governments cannot afford quite the same prices as the CS but they'd have goodies and loot to trade. Old-fashioned barter has always been the preferred system and its probably the standard in post-war Minnesota. No one needs credits, they need STUFF. Again, ammo and armor repair would be the most precious rewards for professional killers. We could also say the market has been flooded with gems and metals but someone always wants to know WHY. Magic items would be scattered around and used for trade, the problem of course is the average civilian and soldier don't know what they do or how they work, so lots of people are going to be ripped off. Either they acquire something worthless or give away something insanely valuable, and they would not know the difference. But yeah professional killers can not possibly survive on the bounties noted in Aftermath. You use up too much stuff taking down one person or monster.

OH! VEHICLES! I FORGOT!
Vehicles and even just parts would be ridonculously precious in post-war wastelands. And there's plenty of them laying around. Major jobs to the tune of one million credits or higher would likely be paid in vehicles, or repair and maintenance. Page 46 of Aftermath has numbers for black market goods and smuggling. Again, I don't like the numbers. Multiply by 10. OR somebody with special talents or connections could exchange services instead of paying. Pets or work animals are another option. Of course if the players have appropriate alignments, there's always slaves and "food".....