Hey Scoundrels, Scum and Villainy question here!
Under Heat, Killing Hegemonic Citizens adds +2 Heat to after a job in complete. I took “Hegemonic Citizens” as basically a shorthand for people in Hegemonic systems.
One of my players asked if everyone in the Hegemony is considered a citizen. Would pirates, outlaws, rebels, and other rogue elements be considered citizens? Should we make a distinction between killing a pirate, for example, and some ordinary shmoe with a 9-5 job at the local space port?
I tend to think that Heat for killing should be applied broadly to give the PCs a reason not to murder all their problems But it does seem in keeping with the setting that the protections of Hegemonic citizenship would be applied unequally. And I can see a Hegemonic faction putting a bounty on the head of a notorious pirate and not caring if they’re taken dead or alive. What do you all think?
If the group are bounty hunting, then killing criminals should not add heat. Killing a pirate etc. maybe +1 Heat, add an upstanding citizen +2?
Logan Waterman I think that would depend on what sort of criminals you killed and just how obvious it was.
In the beta version of S&V, the additional heat was just for ‘killing’. I guess that the authors decided that that was too broad, and wanted to differentiate ‘killing’ from ‘killing a Heg. citizen.’
Of course, that leads to the question: differentiate from what? Killing a Zarvlaxian Saliva-Beast vs. killing a citizen, or killing an Ur-Bot vs. killing a citizen, or killing a criminal vs. killing a citizen, or killing an undocumented member of the lower-caste vs. killing a citizen, etc.?
In the end, it’s probably up to the GM (like a lot of things). You killed a citizen, but nobody knows because you spaced them in between worlds: +0 Heat. You killed a vicious, alien criminal, but you did it by melting their face into a playground slide at an elementary school: +2 Heat.
Scott Wheelock the heat of killing them in public would already be covered by the base heat mechanic – it would be pretty loud by default. If you used stun weapons, or beat them unconscious, the public will still be pisses that you did it in a school yard. Also, it’s clear in the book that urbots are not officially considered living by the Hegemony, let alone citizens – they are property of the guild. So probably no heat what so ever for killing them, but faction hit for the Guild and the Collective.
I was the player who asked this question, and the best way I could think of it is in terms of a Western: if you get given a dead or alive bounty for an outlaw (literally someone one outside the law), you won’t receive any negative attention just for killing them -ambush them in their hide out or on the trail, no problem. If you duel them in the street, or torch their hideout with them in it, there would be some heat just for disrupting town life or threatening surrounding farms with fire, but again the killing doesn’t get you in trouble. Start a gun fight in a saloon or a busy train, the sheriff or marshal show up because of how loud you are, but again, no trouble for killing them.
Basically, the job would still generate its base heat, but not any extra for killing them. Get a sanctioned dead or alive bounty for pirates and; Latch onto their space ship and kill everyone inside, who cares; Blow their space ship up? Well now you created a debris field that needs to be mapped and maybe have to reroute trade routes. The heat comes from the loudness, not the killing. No one cares about pirate/rebel/slave/outlaw/unbot scum getting taken care of, just don’t disrupt the public while you do it – that’s just impolite.
Jason,
This is going to vary from table to table, but the second paragraph you had (where you outline how you feel) is all the answer you need at yours. There is no “correct” answer.
^_^
Thanks, everyone! Stras, I appreciate you weighing in.