29 thoughts on “How much load to move a human body?”

  7. The real question is, do you still blend in with everyone else on the street (light load) if you’re only carrying a 3 load corpse around? Is there some Weekend at Bernie’s shit going on? “Oh don’t mind me friend ‘ere, guv, he’s the silent type”

  8. Narayan Bajpe This sounds like something that requires a roll to get away with, and with a devil’ bargain of “people will piece it together after the fact, they will be embarrassed , but someone will be able to put two and two together and find out you carried a dead guy across the street, eventually, +1 heat.”

  10. Narayan Bajpe related to that, so mid-score you pick up a 3 load corpse. Aside for how conspicuous you are, how will carrying the body affect your load capacity?

    If you selected a light loadout, then you’re no longer quick (4/5) and maybe slow (6) if you have selected or want to be able to select three items.

    If you selected a normal or heavy loadout then you’re encumbered (7/8 or 9): overburdened such that you can’t do anything except move very slowly.

    I assume you can dump some items, either ones you’ve already selected used or ones you haven’t selected, to reduce your loadout. I’m thinking stripping off your heavy armour, dropping your climbing gear, etc. and leaving it behind. Probably at the cost of heat and maybe some downtime activity or coin to recover depending on what you drop.

  11. Oliver Granger so yeah, all those choices.

    Also, if you’re dropping item off the list, then I think you’ve fictionally dropped them somewhere. Note that next to the item. If you want the items back, you have to arrange that somehow, or they’re gone and you have to replace them via downtime. Or maybe it’s a fortune roll to see of the items are still where you left them, more dice if you carefully hid them, less dice if you just dumped them, gave them to a ‘good friend’ to hold on to them for you – surely he’s still got them, right?

  12. Narayan Bajpe nothing like leaving evidence at the scene of the crime to give the inspectors something to add to their case files (+heat).

    “…Ullo, what this lying by the jeweler’s smashed window. A leather-backed jacket, cut for man of medium build, fine Skovland cloth, knife strikes here and here but no blood. Aha, but there’s a betting stub in the right pocket made out to one Mr Bajpe…”

    “Elementary Watson, but the more interesting matter is the corpse.”

    “What corpse?”

    “Precisely, Watson. There is no corpse. I believe this entire case hinges on the lack of a corpse.”

  15. I don’t think “load” is meant as an encumbrance rule.

    It’s just to determine which of his standard items are available to a character on a score, in the spirit of reducing the planning phase to a bare minimum.

    If moving a dead body requires an action roll, someone with light load has simply a better position and more effect than someone with heavy load.

    So, unless you want to create a new playbook “undertaker” with “a dead body” on the item list… 😉

  16. Jörg Mintel load is also to emphasise how scoundrels are already prepared for the score, so of course the Lurk brought her climbing gear to scale the Red Sashes tower, etc.

  20. I like how the the rule nit-picking and edge-case pondering side of the BitD community adds to the fun of the game rather then detracts from it. It really brings a tear to my alignment-argument-thread weary eyes.

    Now I’m pondering how an undertaker playbook would work.

  21. When the entire game is about scumbags who live in the shadows, edge cases tend to crop up more frequently than you’d otherwise expect. 😀

  22. Jörg Mintel though there are no specific rules on this point, I think the rules clearly support that load extends to things you pick up along the way after loadout.

    Of course, load limits how many items on your character sheet you can have on hand. But what about the Encumbered load? You can’t pick that at the start of the score, yet it is a level of load you can reach. It’s clearly meant to be used to cover when you want to carry things that overload you, beyond your initial load, that you’ve picked up mid-score.

    For example, 1 Coin always equals 1 load, not just at the start of the score, but anytime. That limits how much you can actually carry in your arms if you have to make your getaway at the end of a score. I see no reason to think load works differently for Coin than bodies, gadgets, or anything else with a load rating.

  23. Oliver Granger you are right, I had completely forgotten about encumbered load and coins being equal to 1 load!

    Although I still think that detailed bookkeeping about stuff picked up on a score is usually not worth the effort and better just winged in the fiction 🙂

  24. Depends I think. I have done it a couple ways which I feel are more direct about the problem. The load isn’t the problem at that point; it’s the presence of a frickin Body I think lul. Similar to when you mark load for a gun, and then later display it. Doesn’t matter that you are “light loaded” once that happens; you look like a criminal anyways.

    Once, I told my players their characters obviously get spotted on the way back with a bloody beaten up person draped over their shoulder (they were literally running across the districts with the body, completely unconcealed lul). They were told I would roll the highest Security & Safety they passed through to see how it went. [I was basically using There and Back Again, but the hazards along the way were additional heat, and the something of value was some dropped loot along the way]

    But last session, the Tempest had already laid mist down, so I suggested they Prowl to grab a nearby cart and Sway to look convincing as they moved a frickin body across town. They’d KOed the poor guy with drugs, so that was good. But yea, they did that, and it used it to travel to a nearby district, then broke into the Radiant Energy Farm with it (!) and later murder the high-profile spy while he was literally stuck to a tree (!!).

  25. Jörg Mintel & Mark Cleveland Massengale I agree with you both about using the right tool for the job.

    What’s sparked my enquiry is I’ve a crew infiltrating the Sparkwrights massive workshop/factory in Coalridge to find and possibly retrieve Roric. So it’s the impact of their load on the crew’s speed that will likely matter more than whether they look scoundrelly. Because in this case, whether they’re obviously a scoundrel, carrying a body, both or neither; they’re trespassing and if the Tier IV guards spot them they’re in trouble.

    Also, carrying out Roric is a major point to the plan. He’s worth Coin afterall. So I’m thinking ahead about their decision to carry Roric out or not and ways to make that choice interesting.

  26. jealous of your group 🙂

    I am not sure how I would rule that. I am torn between the part of me that wants to stack all the cards against them for this crazy move – and the part of me wants to make it just hard enough to be dramatic.

    Toughest thing is how to make it even possible at all for them (they should have zero effect against a Tier IV in their base). Lots of setups I suppose!

    But yea, so I might start with “So carrying a body tends to slow anyone down. Heck, even with two of you it’s slow-going, but certainly easier on the back. So being slow is a given. Harm is dependent on whether or not one of you tries to move him alone” They can resist what they don’t like (the slowness, or being strained or whatever).

    Also, if they are willing to be slow, let’s be honest: they are going to get caught and heck – they must want that to happen at that point. So just tell them that unless they resist, they are caught right now (desperate consequence) and go from there. Since the opposition is Tier IV, it makes sense to me they should have to resist first to even act.

  28. Mark Cleveland Massengale having a Lurk with Infiltrator should make a huge difference. Bypassing security measures, no matter the Quality, is their gig. That obviously includes doors, windows, vaults, traps, and other security systems. But conceivably could also cover bypassing guards, dogs, crocodiles, electric eels, hulls, and other autonomous security personnel. What counts as bypassing is up for interpretation, of course.

    Either way, if they want to drag the rest of the crew along, let’s just hope they have some stress to burn.

  29. Oliver Granger yea that actually invalidates most if not all of the reasoning for the lowered effect – so that’s a big deal in their favor

    lul Josh McGraw my fault. But the damage is done now. I guess you better just.. ensure the Lurk is destressed all the way (and your not-the-Cutter too, in case backup is required). You’ll be fi~ne 😀

Comments are closed.