Crime, Punishment, and You
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Kraegus Thune was often accused of abuse of power. In one case, he accused a halfling of pickpocketing, even though PP wasn't available In Game. This led to a hilarious series of events that revealed his character and personality. In another case, he strongly suspected a character of a crime, but had zero evidence. So he carried out a very very public arrest in the middle of a huge crowd under trumped up charges and hauled him into the tower for questioning. As luck would have it, several criminal PCs decided to attempt a rescue, resulting in an open battle in the Sheriff Tower. The end result was that he had "all the proof" he needed to execute the fellow he arrested. And that fellow was pretty much innocent of all charges, except he quested with several criminals. So why was he executed?
It was a series of unfortunate events. A spy comes up and says X Y and Z are a team. X and Y are impossible to find, but hey, Z is right here. Lets arrest and interrogate Z. Holy shit. X and Y are attacking the tower! Defend the Flag! Ok. Alls much quieter now. Hello Z. Confess Z, and rat out X and Y. You won't? If you don't talk I will have you x-zkuted, Sheriffs died when X and Y attacked the tower! Fine, have it your way, Huge Public Execution!
K. Thune started the Penal Legion. Hilariously, someone he DIDN'T want to put into the Penal Legion was put into the Penal Legion by the DMs. That person, like maaany other PL convicts, would just carry on daily life and keep questing with the same crowds without much of a stop. Back then, the key to the PL was sentencing people who had a chance at redemption, not hard core criminals who would never be redeemed, because literally there was nothing to prevent them from turning around and FDing you once they were released. And thats what happened. K. Thune was murdered by a Penal Legionnaire who was uncontrollable and unredeemable, who ended up joining the Shadovar.
Law Enforcement PCs have story arcs just as important as Villain PCs. Playing a Criminal of Militia PC, you sign an unwritten contract that your character's life is on the line, and can be snuffed out more quickly than others. My opinion is criminal punishment should be a series of escalations. First minor, then serious, then several serious, followed by capital punishments. IE. Fines. Then Stocks. Then Pit. Then Legion. Then Execution. However, while this is the ideal, it is rarely possible. People often resist arrest for very minor crimes, which escalates and leads to heavier charges. In addition, most criminals can be found with contraband, which bumps up the charges. A single, first arrest, with Bloodtones and Resisting Arrest, can become a criminal charge fiesta. Ironically, that is because Militia PCs usually only go after established criminals with a growing reputation. A reputation means pride means resistance. Establishment means access means bloodstones.
I do not see many solutions here. One possible scenario is to let off criminals with lesser charges, so long as criminals aren't violently resisting. Or otherwise turning a blind eye to things that would result in that criminal PC being canned. I've done both many times. The problem is that your effectiveness and your faction's effectiveness will get questioned and result in accusations of corruption, incompetence, or something similar. This has never been adequately addressed. The more chances Militia PCs hand out to Criminal PCs, the more likely they are going to die, become corrupt, or become ineffective.
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Please note, escalation is important. Keep in your pcs mind at all times, "Is this worth a fight, a bigger fine, and a possible pit sentence? I am better off handing this stuff over and being fined." You can negotiateā¦to a degree.
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I don't think anyone in the militia currently has not negotiated with a criminal so that they could walk away with lesser than deserved charges. Some have even been deputized as part of the negotiation. For real. We want to push the stories. I promise. It's just hard to do when one side of the party, be it us or the other, gets caught up in the moment and begins seeing every situation as binary.
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I mean, the Private has to confront heavily armed, psychotic adventurers who kill things for a living. We really do not want a fight with you guys if we can help it. You guys are insane and batshit nuts!
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I'd be curious if you'd be satisfied with being FD over as minor reasons as you give in examples 1 & 2 Thune. I don't know though, being a law enforcer, is, always has been and always will be a very hard road to follow when you want to be fair IC without showing too much OOC leniance as to be immersion breaking.
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I don't think anyone in the militia currently has not negotiated with a criminal so that they could walk away with lesser than deserved charges. Some have even been deputized as part of the negotiation. For real. We want to push the stories. I promise. It's just hard to do when one side of the party, be it us or the other, gets caught up in the moment and begins seeing every situation as binary.
I tried the 3rd party option as a concept and it failed miserably.
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I'd be curious if you'd be satisfied with being FD over as minor reasons as you give in examples 1 & 2 Thune. I don't know though, being a law enforcer, is, always has been and always will be a very hard road to follow when you want to be fair IC without showing too much OOC leniance as to be immersion breaking.
No, he was just being very racist against kender in the first example, no executions happened! The second one DID result in an execution, in a way that was not exactly fair to the PC in question. But it was very hard to just let him go since a huge battle had taken place over rescuing him, resulting in several FDs as I recall (Might not have been FDs, just dead NPCs). Truth be told, he wasn't guilty.
But guilt is subjective, and the law isn't supposed to be fair. That entire regime wasn't fair. It was the most corrupt and political law enforcement era.
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I think a lot of this stems from more aggressive players returning. I'm not saying "bad" or "mean" players. In fact they're really talented. We all fell into a more Mello CoA. That's alright. We just have to adapt. Use that Cha your character has. Utilize their intelligence to diffuse a situation. Role Play out of the fight. I see people get in a spat, and then act as though their entire sense of honor has been disparaged. As though an insult worthy of death has been delivered. This is on both sides, and it is the minority. It still happens more often these past few weeks than before. Take a pill. Get searched. If the militia is getting heat from NPCs for being too soft, well, screw you NPC! I enforce the law how I want! Just role play, try to get consent for an FD is it something less than capital, or even serious, and remember to have fun!!!
From, the guy who won a single PvP encounter, by committing suicide In front of his foe just to spite him.
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Fraid to say, if you walk into the citadel with illegal goods, then your risking being arrested. If you get searched, then you took the risk.
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Also safe to mention . martial Law!!!! Holy War!!! Half the militia is dead!!! Cats and dogs living together!!! Mass Hysteria!!!!
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I agree with the NPCs. Militia and Purple Dragons need to be a bit more hard core. You don't need to FD every infraction, but some things require it. And likewise team Criminal, you don't want a militia death on your head, but eventually they are cutting into your business too much.
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Reading all of this makes me really want to finish all this RL stuff up and get back in.
I love every last one of you. <3