 January 7, 2014 - 8:55am | So Star Law can commandeer a star ship in pursuit of interstellar criminals or sathar agents. Imagine a marshal commandeering a vessel but the captain and crew are engaged in some illegal activity and plan to kill him after the void jump. Their acting nervous and twitchy in the meantime, can the marshal figure it out before the jump him and space his body? System for start of adventure would need to be one without a militia so that he cant call on the militia to send an assault scout to halt the vessel he's pursuing. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 7, 2014 - 8:58am | Crew would also break or fake breaking the subspace radio to prevent him from radioing in to report his situation, thus no one would no he was on this ship. Or the ship lacks a subspace radio and the regular radio is on the fritz. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 7, 2014 - 11:55am | Since most of the starships are owned by the megacorps, Trans Travel in particular, I wonder what kind of compensation deals are worked out. After all you are not grabbing a car for a chase around town. We are talking weeks minimum and maybe months if they have to make a few jumps. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 7, 2014 - 6:52pm | @Rat T: Ive thought about this. All a PC needs to know is: "You be compensated for the use of your vessel" unless of course the PC is the vessel owner. Its probably something we should adress but I would not really want to get into the nitty gritty of fuel expenditures, crew wages, overhaul and maintenance costs and associated fees. Instead I'd prefer something like ".69 cents a mile" something like X/ hull size / light year travelled - easy to compute and apply and no need to really dig into the costs of running a star ship. That is unless we want to dig into the cost of running a star ship in order to vallidate the formula. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 7, 2014 - 8:42pm | Cost of ship would definitely be a factor for the starlawman. If a ship takes on cargo and/or passengers and has a limited budget/fuel supply for the destination and all of a sudden the lawman needs to make an extra haf dozen or so jumps in the opposite direction...suffice it to say it isn't going to be free or easy. Lawman had better have a First PGC Bank platinum card at his disposal or that ship isn't going very far. Not to mention the cargo/passengers will need some form of compensation, it's worth nothing if they're late to their destination. That will ruin any ship captain's reputation. |
January 7, 2014 - 8:56pm | All good points so I would imagine they have some guidelines like avoid commandeering big ships, avoid star liners etc. There is probably a review and it could have serious impact on the agent's career if the commandeering is not warrented this in itself is probably enough give most agents pause. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 7, 2014 - 9:17pm | Sounds like one of those cheesy cop shows where a Cop commandeers a vehicle to chase down a perp, despite that cops cant legally do that, and the police department would have to pay for any damages, as well as the cop getting into trouble for theft and reckless behavior. But there are a lot that those cop shows get wrong... And get, we still love them for all the action and suspense. |
January 8, 2014 - 2:20am | Am I the only one who thought he read this in the cannon matterial? perhaps one of the dragon mags on STar law? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 8, 2014 - 11:39am | Let's assume Starlaw can and has done this in the past... Government Compensation: is always too bad too sad this is what you get which is usually a % of what it really cost to do blank or replace blank, usually the little guy get's hosed (once in awhile they don't). Government Paper Pushers will often deny claims 100% of the time the first time Paperwork is submitted often with an accomping nasty threat letter, if claim is denied a 2nd time it is often becuase "you filled it out wrong" they will not volunteer what is wrong (could be wrong box checked or that you did not dot an i or just their whim). If paperwork is accepted and being processed, expect it to get lost at which point despite 100 leteres between you and the agency you will be told "This is the first we have heard of this claim." Delay tactics are usually money motivated meant to make claiment go away, change application date, draw out claim so less can be legally paid or nothing at all. Government agencies will do this to each other as well or demand new forms invented just that week be filled out. "Oh, I see you filled out TR-S45 form but as of 4/12 our time sir you needed to fill out TR-S45A and G2967 must be submitted with the TR-S45A by 4/20 sir seeing as the vessel was commendered on 4/1. I know tomorrow is 4/20. If you go to our website... Oh, you did and the site is down, well you can get a form at any... Oh your in deep space, sorry sir I can not assist you further, have a nice day." Needless to say anyone operating a ship in SF who has gone through any of the above will try their hardest to get rid of StarLaw and get out of port if they suspect StarLaw needs a ride. I doubt StarLaw cares about cargo, so that will be a too bad too sad situation and in the right situation they might demand it spaced. The attitude is "Your Insurance will cover it. It does not matter if your cargo is live Triad Chickens, cargo is cargo! Space it!" Passengers will be kicked off/put off at nearest port convient to StarLaw. StarLaw nor the Company nor the travel agency will be legally held responsable. Too bad to sad passangers figure out your own way to where ever, but you can't hang out at the port either, till you can get a ride, they will call security. "Oh they did not give you your luggage? Well it will be unloaded at your destination when they get there I am sure. Next." So I can see StarLaw could result in PC's getting stranded at a port or space station. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 8, 2014 - 5:06pm | So I can see StarLaw could result in PC's getting stranded at a port or space station. I can also see the possibility of a Star Lawman floating home without a vacc suit. It won't take much pushing and business abuse before a bunch of ship crewmen decide their odds look pretty good... |
January 8, 2014 - 5:33pm | On the other hand we might be overthinking this. What if they only meant a Starlaw Rangers on a mission could board the first ship burning the way he/she/it needs to go Flash the badge and get a ride without pay or with only the promise of pay later. After all its not like the Ranger would take the ship into combat and force the crew to do a boarding action OR would they? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 8, 2014 - 6:02pm | Could go either way... I based the PW hell, the dumping of cargo and even the stranded passanger on RL. That is the one extreme. (Now the reasons would not be the Law in RL.) But rattraveller makes a good point it could be simply the first/fastest ship going that ah way. Deepends on what the ref needs... It might be a good adventure challenge to have StarLaw aboard a pirate/smuggler ship, the PCs can't space him without drawing attention on themselves and their bigger operation/problem, so the whole goal would be to keep Dudley Doright from finding out their illegal cargo, while helping him and making their delivery... could be hard and fun. Worse what if they a Law Unit takes your ship and leaves you behind! Argh. Space Filth (Fuzz)! "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 8, 2014 - 10:15pm | Feh, it wouldn't be hard for smugglers to rid themselves of him. He has to sleep sooner or later, evacuate the deck and depressurize. Problem solved. Star Law dude might even have a bounty on his head at the smuggler's destination.  |
January 9, 2014 - 5:25am | I think that the most likely scenario for commandeering is a ship headed in the right direction where the astrogator has already started the jump calculations. After all it takes less time to accelerate to jump speed than to calculate the jump. If a marshal was in a hurry than he go with what was going in the right direction with the least time delay. Now lets say he's found a ship going in the right direction and the astrogator has a start on the jump calculations and the ship in not due to depart for another 10 hours and thuse some of the passengers that are booked are not on board? If that 10 hour window plus the time to accel to jump speed is more than the remain time to calculate the jump then the marshal would order the ship to leave immediately otherwise there would be no harm in waiting so the ship doesn't lose those booked fairs. I think I need to reread the 2-3 Dragon articles on Star Law. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2014 - 5:35am | What if there are Space Marshals on passanger ships? There might be a Star Law Marshal on certain important research ships too. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 9, 2014 - 10:24am | What if there are Space Marshals on passanger ships?
Its far more nikely that armed personnel on starliners are corporate security or Galactic Task Force contract personnel. I dont see Star Law assigning a marshal to a ship as general security in case something happens. Their mandate is to go after targets that are guilty of something. That said you could have a marshal on a vessel undercover hoping to identify someone in the crew or passenger compliment as the target he's after. There might be a Star Law Marshal on certain important research ships too. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 9, 2014 - 2:23pm | Part of this discussion should include how common starships are in campaign. The rarer the ships the more extreme the reaction. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 9, 2014 - 3:37pm | Kim Eastland wrote the first star law article and even mentions the "unexplored and dangerous Rim systems" in it, I didnt have time to check but I dont think Zebs was out at that time. To clarify its only a Ranger who can commqndeer a ship and this is actually a very advanced rank. Far superior to a deputy officer (rookie) or city officer or planetary officer. So commanderring is in all likihood extremely rare and most officers this high in the food chain have become a little political being mindful that there are only limited opportunities to advance to commander and will not likely do something that could blow up in their face and cap their career, at least not without good cause. Further it might actually be smarter for him to use his authority to commandeer but dispatch an action team so that he has a level of insulation (or scapegoat) against splash back over the commandeering because something this unusual will come under scrutiny and there better be a criminal in custody afterward to point to as justification. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 10, 2014 - 7:37am | No Rangers are never political. They are tireless servants of Justice who pursue criminals everywhere and anywhere. Star Law Ranger Walker never let politics stand in his way and he is the shining example of all Star Law. (Do not take this to seriously) Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 10, 2014 - 3:22pm | No Rangers are never political. They are tireless servants of Justice who pursue criminals everywhere and anywhere. Star Law Ranger Walker never let politics stand in his way and he is the shining example of all Star Law. (Do not take this to seriously) That is the case only in bad holodramas. Its not as bad as it sounds, its just that the higher you climb in an organization the fewer the positions and those that hope to advance need to both punch their ticket and keep their blotter clean. Its just the way it is and it unfortunately leads to politics. And if your an ass to back stabbing and undercutting but Duddly Dowright would never... I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 10, 2014 - 4:51pm | Actually you would be surprises how early politics start. In the Army there is the Majors list which is the unofficial list of Majors who they want to make Generals. So if you weren't politicing as a Lieutenant or at least Captain you weren't getting anywhere. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
