Bone Lock: What am I missing?

[Ineti]

Page 107 of the NG states:

Bone Lock

In conditions preventing normal transporter operation, it is possible to lock on to a person’s skeleton by detecting the calcium in their bones. This can only be attempted on someone who has previously used the ship’s transporters. To get a bone lock on someone, the transporter operator makes a System Operation (Transporter) skill test against a TN 10. For every degree of success, reduce the TN to transport the subject according to the following: Marginal success –5 TN, complete success –10 TN, superior success –15 TN, extraordinary success –20 TN. If the test fails, the transporter is unable to obtain a sufficient transporter lock onto the character to commence beam out. If the transporter operator still attempts to beam the character aboard, the subject suffers 2d6 points of damage. A skeletal lock cannot be attempted on the same person twice under the same circumstances.

Is the listed TN to attempt the bone lock too low? If I get an extraordinary success, the TN would be -10. Shouldn't the initial TN be higher?

Or are the modifiers I need to add to the test to make it more challenging?

[Ergi]

IMHO, the bone lock should better be forgotten, as all the future technology Janeway brought back from the delta quadrant.
At least in its current form, I wouldn't allow my players to use a bone lock procedure, because they will only use it against you, the narrator. Otherwise, the players will be beaming out the hostages, while you are still patting yourself on the back for your ingenious TN+20 dampening field generator.

A(n alternative) solution would be to make a bone lock only useful under very specific circumstances. It has been a long time since I have seen the Voyager episode, in which the procedure was performed, but I don't believe they gave a specific explanation, why targetting minerals should be easier than obtaining a normal transporter lock, which implies that a bone lock is an all-purpose procedure. However, this also allows the reverse conclusion, that a bone lock makes only sense, when there is very specific interference, which makes obtaining a transporter lock more difficult, using standard procedure.
Looking at the scene from this perspective, B'elanas' System Operation (Transporter) target number was increased due to the circumstances. So she tried to increase her test result with some techno-babble, rollled high and successfully beamed her comrades out of danger.

[Tricky]

Setting aside game mechanics for a moment, I always thought that the whole 'bone lock' concept was waaaaay to sketchy for me.

Yes, our bones are mostly calcium, but I can't believe that rather than locking onto my skeletal structure, someone couldnt just 'try real hard' and maybe throw some courage points at the roll!

[Phoenix]

I think it's a matter of (a sketchy understanding of ) physics, the denser the material the easer it should be to detect. But going by that logic the com-badge should have been easy to detect. My thoughts, if you go for a 'Skeletal Bone Lock' transport you get every one's bones good guys, bad guys, indifferent guys (and I'm not talking about leaving the other tissue behind) and parts of near-by structure like parts of the ground the people were standing on. making a very big mess for someone to first explain and then clean-up.

[Pericles]

I'd never allow something like this despite what happened on Voyager, except as a means to teach the players a lesson. I'd make it clear that the procedure was extremely dangerous and if they succeeded with a bone lock that is exactly what they'd get, the person's skeleton. Not the most pleasant way to go and I'd have to recommend a closed casket at the furneral as well.

[Phoenix]

No Don't allow it to harm or kill a target, there will be a situation any PC will try it.

[Tobian]

To be honest, all this really is is a complicated manouvre where the transporter operator is tying multiple sensors into the transporter sensor array to try and get a positive lock. It is thinking outside the box, but in the same essence it shouldn't be some sort of standard modifyer, so I disliked it in the way it was included in the core rules, with emphasis, and not just a sideline.

To try and get a lock the operator was trying to find something unique to lock onto because of specific inteference generated by the Borg cube. There is no reason this manouvre would work on just any kind of interference, she could equally have said "I will lock on to the melaflourine in her uniform" But she knew that thy would not have (likelly) removed her bones in this instance (leave that to the Hirogen!)

Creative solutions, which involve a specific piece of knowledge gleaned for clever scanning or insightful research should be simply awarded a bonus. For all we know B'elana could have run a scan to realise they were not effectivelly blocking a scan for her bones? A similar example was "Angel One", where Data turned up a unique piece of evidence, that Platinum did not naturally occur on Angel one, allowing them to shave days off scaning time.

IMHO coming up with a clever solution to bypassing a problem should ot be about getting a bonus, so much as reducing or cancelling out a drama related penalty. If I was running it as a GM I would have simply made the players roll a skill test related to bypassing the effect, either sensors, engineering or research (if similar things had happened in the past) to determine if they could find a hole to beam through, or a way of bypassing the problem.

[Ineti]

Thanks for your creative responses, folks.

I'm going to raise the TN for my game and will see if any of the players bother to make use of the procedure.