QoL thoughts for PCs

[Southernap]

So this came up in my gaming group while playing another game system. The idea of Quality of Life and the need for the player's characters to have those QoL items to be happy and healthy.

I was just thinking about the T2k world, where supplies are almost non-existent. As well, just my own experiences this past year without the ability to do things like get razors, haircuts, or even easily get out to replace some clothes that either fell apart or I out grew.

How important would things like having a good pair of boots, having a good razor to shave the fuzz off, or get a haircut to feel more human like would be to the motivation of the PCs?

Has anyone as a GM tried to pull off having an NPC who might be a traveling barber? Or had a village provide a good, clean, and solid housing for the PCs to live in for a while with a real bed. Heck even a place to get laundry done or a shower?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Lurken is running a game where one settlement has hot showers, a cinema, a barber and a brothel and I think a laundry as well.
The moral dilemma for the PCs is that the settlement is run by a group using slave labour to mine coal... the heat for that hot water's got to come from somewhere, coal... mined by slaves...

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Something else I remember, from many, many years ago...
Jim Lawrie ran a T2k game titled Schlachtbrücke (literally, Slaugher Bridge). There was still enough NATO command & infrastructure left that supplies could be irregularly sent to forward units but these supplies were typically sourced locally. If I remember his campaign right, the war had stagnated into fixed lines more akin to WW1 than to the situation in the BYB.
So our characters, along with all the other troops were actually able to get fresh cooked food from base but... most of the time, the main meal was cabbage soup.
Jim made sure to mention that most people were fed up with cabbage soup and a lot of people suffered from flatulence because of the soup. But there simply wasn't enough of any other food source.

So to put that into context of the QoL question, the situation Jim created meant that the troops were not going hungry but their food was the same thing day after day after day... After eating almost nothing but cabbage soup for months, just about any other fresh food was desirable and ration packs would be highly prized above their normal value.
The impact on morale if the unit had been able to get even just potatoes, carrots and some meat would have been enormously positive.

So in terms of the game, if the Referee creates that sort of background, it emphasises the QoL issue without being overbearing about it and it also makes any of those things that improve the QoL, something to be treasured.
From there, you have a range of options for making any item that improves the PCs quality of life, the object of an adventure (or at least, a side quest).
It makes trading a whole lot more personal when you have to make the hard decision between trading for more ammo or new clothes (or anything else the PCs have been living without and has been making their lives less enjoyable).

[Raellus]

Since an abscessed tooth could prove more fatal in 2000 than immediately before the war, dental hygiene products would be more than a luxury, they'd be a necessity. But I imagine proper toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, and toothbrushes would be increasingly difficult to acquire as the war wears on, so locally-sourced ersatz substitutes would become high priority supply items.

-

[wolffhound79]

once found a loot generator for trains from a vampire rpg, Used it when the players where searching an abandoned rail yard in the middle of nowhere. one of the rail cars was full of women clothing and another had a pallet of toilet paper. The player ended up donating the cloths to a nearby friendly town thus gaining the trust and admiration of the locals as they where happy to recieve new clothing and the players where invited to stay whenever they needed to.

I wish I could find that again, it had a huge amount of random loot you could roll for.

[Ckosacranoid]

First post.

about the loot tables. If you look at drivethurrpg there are tables for looting things from stores, cars, dead bodies. There are lots of d100 tables and I have bought a few of them. I know they were only a couple of bucks and there were even bundles that might help.

[Tegyrius]

I have a few low-probability QOL-type encounters in my expanded generator. Went looking for an example and RNG served up this one:

https://i.imgur.com/dz6MAN0.png

Personally, I'm suspicious of any priest traveling with a minigun...

And then sometimes my smugglers break the fourth wall:

https://i.imgur.com/Qxcg0jr.png

- C.

[Southernap]

Something else I remember, from many, many years ago...
Jim Lawrie ran a T2k game titled Schlachtbrücke (literally, Slaugher Bridge). There was still enough NATO command & infrastructure left that supplies could be irregularly sent to forward units but these supplies were typically sourced locally. If I remember his campaign right, the war had stagnated into fixed lines more akin to WW1 than to the situation in the BYB.
So our characters, along with all the other troops were actually able to get fresh cooked food from base but... most of the time, the main meal was cabbage soup.
Jim made sure to mention that most people were fed up with cabbage soup and a lot of people suffered from flatulence because of the soup. But there simply wasn't enough of any other food source.

So to put that into context of the QoL question, the situation Jim created meant that the troops were not going hungry but their food was the same thing day after day after day... After eating almost nothing but cabbage soup for months, just about any other fresh food was desirable and ration packs would be highly prized above their normal value.
The impact on morale if the unit had been able to get even just potatoes, carrots and some meat would have been enormously positive.

So in terms of the game, if the Referee creates that sort of background, it emphasises the QoL issue without being overbearing about it and it also makes any of those things that improve the QoL, something to be treasured.
From there, you have a range of options for making any item that improves the PCs quality of life, the object of an adventure (or at least, a side quest).
It makes trading a whole lot more personal when you have to make the hard decision between trading for more ammo or new clothes (or anything else the PCs have been living without and has been making their lives less enjoyable).

Even that sort of the same food after a while can affect QoL, so that the idea of getting fresh meat becomes something important. That is an interesting idea to use for a GM and maybe make an admin session or even a low action session more interesting.

I have a few low-probability QOL-type encounters in my expanded generator. Went looking for an example and RNG served up this one:
[snipped the image]

Personally, I'm suspicious of any priest traveling with a minigun...

And then sometimes my smugglers break the fourth wall:
[snipped the image]
- C.

Well sometimes you need a minigun to help make the points of being a pious and penitent to the masses is important.

That is pretty interesting encounter generator you have there. If it can some up with some interesting or expanded ideas on what

Like I said, just something for GMs to consider as even side adventures or motivations for their players into the next game session. QoL things are important to a person. Think about the classic Maslow's Needs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow-pyramid.jpg

From the time of the 1st adventure which is Escape from Kasliz to where ever the players end up, they are only just hovering around the bottom two portions. That are what is considered our basic needs to be motivated in life. So even being able to tease the players with the higher levels of belonging and building of esteem can do interesting things.

Also, as I started this; sometimes its the simple things that can turn folks around. From a hot meal, to getting a chance to shave with a haircut, sleeping in a comfortable warm bed, or even getting fresh clean clothes. All of that could help build the morale or motivations of the players. Or even risk them as SSC laid out up thread (https://forum.juhlin.com/showpost.php?p=86987&postcount=2), with the idea that to break up the slave labor and the Big Bad can risk your hot meals, hot shower, and warm bed.

[wolffhound79]

I have a few low-probability QOL-type encounters in my expanded generator. Went looking for an example and RNG served up this one:

https://i.imgur.com/dz6MAN0.png

Personally, I'm suspicious of any priest traveling with a minigun...

And then sometimes my smugglers break the fourth wall:

https://i.imgur.com/Qxcg0jr.png

- C.

This program you made is the best Ive found for random things as per above. One of my favs was the k pop band in a merchant convoy.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Toilet roll would probably be deeply appreciated too.

[pmulcahy11b]

Since an abscessed tooth could prove more fatal in 2000 than immediately before the war

-

One of the first fossils of Homo Erectus,, dubbed "Turkana Boy" after the place in Africa where he was found, was later determined to have been about 14 when he died of an infection in the bones of his face caused by an abscessed tooth.

[pmulcahy11b]

Toilet roll would probably be deeply appreciated too.

Oh yes, definitely +1. We never went to the field (or even during Desert Storm) without every squad member having a roll of toilet paper in his ruck. The pitiful toilet paper "samples" in the MREs just didn't do.

[Slar]

once found a loot generator for trains from a vampire rpg, Used it when the players where searching an abandoned rail yard in the middle of nowhere. one of the rail cars was full of women clothing and another had a pallet of toilet paper. The player ended up donating the cloths to a nearby friendly town thus gaining the trust and admiration of the locals as they where happy to recieve new clothing and the players where invited to stay whenever they needed to.

I wish I could find that again, it had a huge amount of random loot you could roll for.

Are you sure it wasn't zombies? Dead Resign has a bunch of decent loot tables for the years directly following an apocalypse. They are spread through 5 books or so, but everything from "what does the corpse have in it's pockets" to "what's in the garage of this suburban house" to "what did the scavengers miss at this military base?"

Dead Reign: Dark Places has the rail yard/boxcar tables.

[Legbreaker]

Oh yes, definitely +1. We never went to the field (or even during Desert Storm) without every squad member having a roll of toilet paper in his ruck. The pitiful toilet paper "samples" in the MREs just didn't do.

Pity the poor Australians who got 10 sheets of "dual purpose" grease paper.
It makes half decent note paper, but for wiping your arse? Yeah, a thousand sheets later and you're still just skating that teflon coated crap over the top.
I learnt VERY early on to carry a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag. Took four years to get through the first roll, but they were GLORIOUS years! (FYI, always use somebody else's roll first before dipping into your own supply - that shit is GOLD!)

[wolffhound79]

Are you sure it wasn't zombies? Dead Resign has a bunch of decent loot tables for the years directly following an apocalypse. They are spread through 5 books or so, but everything from "what does the corpse have in it's pockets" to "what's in the garage of this suburban house" to "what did the scavengers miss at this military base?"

Dead Reign: Dark Places has the rail yard/boxcar tables.

Hey you were right, thanks for helping remember what book it was in!!!!

[CDAT]

Pity the poor Australians who got 10 sheets of "dual purpose" grease paper.
It makes half decent note paper, but for wiping your arse? Yeah, a thousand sheets later and you're still just skating that teflon coated crap over the top.
I learnt VERY early on to carry a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag. Took four years to get through the first roll, but they were GLORIOUS years! (FYI, always use somebody else's roll first before dipping into your own supply - that shit is GOLD!)

We had cases of it, they were the cleaning patches for our main guns on the tanks.

[Adm.Lee]

I've usually found QoL items or concepts are one of the very few things that can get players thinking about their characters existing in the setting. Toilet paper is one of the first things everyone thinks of.

I can recall a PC who had 2 pair of sunglasses. I'm sure there were a few others, but I cannot recall now.