Loot rules should be stated at the beginning and when any new person joins.
You can make up your mind whether to abide it or not - up front.

This concept of the person who can personally best use the item having more
"rights" to it or even rights to roll for it than other's prolly developed
from regular groups and/or guild groups. If you are consistently grouped
with players, it benefits the group (or guild) to ensure that everyone is as
well equipped as possible. But in pick-up groups, or if you have "guests"
(non-guild or non-reg group), then I think (imho) that everyone deserves the
right to roll for any loot. It is their compensation for the risk of being
in the group. Now you can modify that rule to everyone can pick any item
they want to roll for and once they win a roll they are out of the rolling
until everyone has an item. This allows some choice and you avoid winning
something you don't want.

This business of casters should not get Yk's or melee should not get SMR's
(or even the chance to roll for one) is unfair because it deprives them of
their fair shot for compensation. You can't ignore the player based economy
(trading of items.) The really good items are simply not sold - trades only
(or long, hard camps.) And it's foolish to think that people should have
"only one" char. So people want items they cant use in order to trade for
things they (or their other characters) can use.

Like I said - determine what the loot rules are at the outset and decide
whether that suits you or not.

Sylly

p.s. Yk = short sword of the Ykesha; SMR = Shiney Metalic Robe; FBSS =
Flowing Black Silk Sash; TBB = Thick Banded Belt - some of the most prized
loot items out side of the planes.

p.s. I stopped by outside Ogg early last night and saw 2 casters working the
bouncers. Found out that they could use some extra help and joined 'em.
Surprizingly, they were doing alpha loot order (normally, someone master
loots and sells and splits.) Well, after a few kills we had totally lost
track of the loot order and were forgetting to loot. Hehe, when you got xp
on the brain and more cash in the bank than stuff to buy - minor loots are
really - well, minor. Then the swarm of newbies arrived and started
vultching the loots not to mention blocking our view and whining for us to
buff/heal/give them bags. Hey bud, you just ninja looted stuff you can sell
for 10-15pp (ok, you are an oger with really crappy cha+ so maybe 6-9pp) go
buy yourself a damn backpack if you want one! And no bards/enchanters cant
sow!

p.s.s. in order to make some room in my bank, I destroyed a no drop wep I
looted in Kithikor. They really missed the mark on that zone. Right idea -
poor execution. Danger zone -- where the compensation (neither loot nor xp)
simply does not match the risk and now it's virtually ignored.

-----Original Message-----
From: kim@... [mailto:kim@...]
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 12:34 PM
To: 'eqbards@onelist.com'
Subject: RE: [eqbards] Gypsy Lute Fun

From: <kim@...>

Yeah, and what I was saying was that in most groups I've
been
in, the decision would've gone: Drum. Bards use drums.
One
bard in the party. Bard gets drum.