A fitting punishment

[Cessna]

Originally posted by Lt.Khrys Antos

I'm leaning towards a formal reprimand and 15 days in the brig. Though I believe it would be too lenient. Anyone have experience with modern day penalties or maybe they have dealt with such a situation?

How about a brutal flogging by the ship's Chief Bosun? Scar his back with the lash? Break out the cat-o-nine tails?

Oh, MODERN day penalties...

[Sarge]

Holy crap, Cessna, what would you do if you were REALLY mad at him? Keelhaul him at warp speed? That's gonna leave a mark...

I think the punishment should be thought out to lead into the direction that the campaign is going. If you want to run something dark with lots of intrigue, the S31 angle would be excellent. If you're going for a war movie, a one-man dirty dozen mission would be appropriate. For a classic Trek boldly going series, definitely play out a court-martial and possibly make the player roll up a new character.

I'd also recommend that you have a one-on-one talk with the player about what kind of campaign you're running and how you expect characters to behave. This isn't D&D, and there are a lot more restrictions on a character's actions than in most RPGs.

[calguard66]

Actually, I would need more detail to decide.

Endangering the lives of some crewmen in order to save the entire ship is perfectly fine.

Was he aware of the other crew actions, or was he cut off and unaware, and simple doing the best he could with what he had?

Crewmen taken by the Borg enjoy no special protection... why should these? Shooting an infected crewmember simply must be done in order to protect the rest. If you can, stun them... if not, then too bad.

OTOH, if the crewman in question was simply a loose cannon, then by all means string him up. If you think he can be saved then a demotion and probationary period are suitable punishment. If not, boot him out.

The best way to handle it would be a "court of inquiry", let the crewmember explain his actions... have the other players testify, and then decide.

[calguard66]

Did the CMO have the right to give him the order? In most campaigns the CMO isn't a line officer, and therefore isn't in the chain of command.

It sounds to me that the CSO was the senior line officer present, and therefore was the acting commander.

Diverting the power from the emergency shelters was justifiable if it could possibly have resulted in saving the ship. Destroying the ship and everyone on it would have been preferable to letting it fall into emeny hands, so risking the lives of a few crew in shelters was justifiable IMO.

Besides, the shelters have self-contained resources, even if the entire rest of the ship is dead they would have had battery power for a few hours at least... and probably emergency vacc suits after that. Diverting ship power from them would have had little effect.

Not having been there it is hard to say, but I could as easily interpret his actions as "taking initiative" as reckless.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

His actions to me put the nail in coffin being prepared since the day he started shooting and asking questions later.

The whole ship had only minimal power and very little life support systems left. The infectious crew was diverting everything towards "growing the hive cocoon". Now, the emergency shelters were where the uninfected crewmen were hiding and trying to avert the spread to me. They needed the power resource since they were trying to create a cure which the CMO was doing when power went off at the crucial point ( he still managed, he just wasn't sure about the side-effects). The CSO had contacted the CMO, but this one refused to answer when ensign Ramirez told him that it could be a ploy by the infectious crewmen to locate them. Internal sensors were offline at the moment (taken out by the crew to prevent their detection).

He was acting without knowledge of what the rest were doing. He willfully showed disregard for the lives of the crew in the shelters and his reckless behaviour could have cost lives, fortunately, it didn't.

My current campaign has been running for almost 2 yrs. As of now, their ship is involved in frontline skirmishes with the klingons. Chancellor Martok has been assassinated by a Romulan spy which is now helping to reveal to whole plot and how "far the rabbit hole goes". They have recently freed crucial klingon dissidents from the Romulans and are now rallying support from the friendly house leaders. Chancellor Chang is seeking ever more help from the Romulans who aren't interested in a protracted conflict with the feds.

The whole story culminates when in the end, the PC's win, they hold peace talks on a shiny new refit-Niagara Class ship at the Barzan Wormhole.

The Barzans have managed to create "experimental wormhole stabilizing technology", General Tor'q of the Klingons meets the Federation to reinstate the Khitomer accords and create the Barzan Accords in their new age of exploration.

Unfortunately for them, the opening of the wormhole stabilizes near a borg sphere out in "neverland". They enter and begin attacking the Barzan surveyor ships, the Negh'Var capital ship rams the Sphere in an effort to stop them and show the feds they are willing to die for them. The Niagara is damaged, fends off the Borg which flee through the wormhole with the Barzan technology. Mr.Tanko is assimilated (he wants to narrate next, his character will return though), aloong with other crewmen. The captain orders the ship through to pursue the Borg stating that they must not get that tech..

Once across, they must collapse the stabilized opening, retrieve the tech which turns out is not the cause of the stabilized wormhole. Therefore, they did all that for nothing, are stuck somewhere out in the middle of nowhere far away from home.

Back to the character of Tanko, he has agreed to work for section 31 so I can see alot of good storylines unfolding in the future. They own mind, heart and soul and they ain't gonna let him get away. Especially since one of my characters despises Section 31.

I'd like to thank everyone that helped me figure out and brainstorm a proper punishment. Particularly ghosty who gave me some damn good plot ideas.

Keep the ideas coming, this thread could help other narrators with unruly Pc's or the occassional mishap. Punishments in line with futuristic standards is hard to think up, especially without a death penalty. I do think that maybe starfleet should include a ritual flogging of all insubordinate crewmen j/k

Phew....rant mode off.

[ghosty]

The CMO is not a line officer but due to the idiocycracies of their authority they have a lot of power and authority when there is a medical emergency and I believe this qualifies as a medical emergency and the CMO is every right to give a legal order and expect it to be obeyed.

The risks the CSO took with the shelters and sickbay were not taking the initiative they were plainly stupid. There are a hundred ways to get to engineering without pulling off stupid stunts and as CSO he must have the manual override codes for the weapons locker. Basically he made a very bad call and deserves to be punished. Calguard saving the ship can justify risking lives but not if there are means to save the ship without risking lives. Anyway from what I see the ship wasn't in danger and the CMO could have well saved the day much sooner if the dumbass hadn't cut the power.

There is a very fine line between heroism and stupidity and well I think he crossed and and well pay the price.

[Cessna]

Originally posted by Sarge
Holy crap, Cessna, what would you do if you were REALLY mad at him? Keelhaul him at warp speed? That's gonna leave a mark...

Hey, I run a strict ship. No slackers here.

- - -

Seriously, though, here's an idea. Run a "one shot" adventure Court Martial.

Don't use the regular player's characters as the judges/jury. Find another role-playing group, or shanghai some friends into the job. Assign each of the new/other group a "character" npc judge/jurist. Role-play the trial, using the regular players as witnesses.

This could also be a great way to introduce new people to role-playing. ANYONE could serve as a one-shot "jurist." What do you think?

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Well I ran a Judicial Hearing on the ship with a guest star "Jurist". Basically, the PC's were trying to defend the CSO, although a few did not make it easy for him. Some even tried to pull a insanity plea, hehe, they didn't know I've studied law therefore I shot down most of their arguments.

In the final scene, outside the courtroom, while the judges decided on a court martial or not. A 'shady' character came up to Tanko and told him he could smooth things over for him if he did them a few favours, for his organisation. He accepted, the judges were told that due to circumstanciel top secret information he would be let off the hook with only a minor reprimand. Obviously, all the PC's became immediately suspicious, one in particular who wanted to see the demise of Tanko has vowed to get to the bottom of this.

Afterwards, Tanko asked the 'shady' agent what he would have to do, he replied; "Oh, nothing much, falsify a few reports, maybe see to it that a few people do not open their mouths, retrieve sensitive data, you know the usual..."
Immediately, Tanko said that he wouldn't want to do anything illegal to which the agent replied; "We own you now, understand? You don't do anything unless the Section tells you."


A fitting end, he received in total:
-10 negative renown
-Disadvantage, Bad Reputation(Discipline -2)
-Disadvantage, Dark Secret(Does work for Section 31)-2
-Disadvantage, Obligation(Section 31)-3

He didn't come off easy and he knows it, all the other characters are also terribly scared that some of their past actions and future one's may be scrutinized like this one. They all want to be good little soldiers now.

Thanks for the help all!

[Phantom]

IIRC the only people on board who can over-ride the weapons locker are the Captain, XO, Chief of Security and the Security watch officer. Unless the CSO was the XO, like Spock, I doubt he would have access to the code.

As to the other situation, sanctions do need to be taken here. I don't think they should be too heavy...As stated he did save the ship and no was serious injured. He just needs to be taught to think a little more in that type od situation.

-reduction in rack
-demotion
-negative renown

Should all be enough.

[ghosty]

Originally posted by Lt.Khrys Antos
Well
In the final scene, outside the courtroom, while the judges decided on a court martial or not. A 'shady' character came up to Tanko and told him he could smooth things over for him if he did them a few favours, for his organisation. He accepted, the judges were told that due to circumstanciel top secret information he would be let off the hook with only a minor reprimand. Obviously, all the PC's became immediately suspicious, one in particular who wanted to see the demise of Tanko has vowed to get to the bottom of this.

In any other game, he'd be dead right now, at the hands of the other PCs...thankfully this is Trek...he'll live for now.

[Phantom]

Director Sloan smiles evilly..."Yes Lt. Tanko, please sign here. Thank you. Now, here is the receipt for your soul...You are now the property of Section 31. (Insert manical laughter here.)

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

I see that many have taken an interest in Lt.Tanko's affairs. So I'm happy to report a follow-up. Lt.Cmdr McGuillan is now seeking to attend JAG training and has accepted a secretive operation from FIS to establish whether Section 31 agents are aboard the U.S.S. Haida.

This is the same character who wants to see Tanko taken down for his infractions. He has the Starfleet Code of Honour therefore he feels its his duty to "get to the bottom of this event and seek out those who would unjustly prevent the judicial system from acting".

I'll post probably in two weeks or so a further follow-up, we should have played about 5-6 epsiodes in that time.

[reimero]

I have to hand it to you, that's a pretty good way of going about doing things. That Section 31 bit can come back to bite him in the wazoo (and, if you're clever about it, it will come back at the most inopportune times )

My one tip on that front is not to overplay the Section 31 bit. Be insidious, have them bide their time with him and simply resurface every so often. And just when he's feeling like he's in the clear for awhile.... WHAMMO!

(Sorry, I'm running a Tal Shiar campaign and evil is running rampant. And I love it. One of my TS agents has pyrokinesis. Normally I'm not a big fan of munchkins, but I like his character because he's clever about how he does things and is real good about trying to gain the upper hand on his colleagues when the situation warrants. He's never really watched Trek much at all, but he's liking this Tal Shiar thing)

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

The first inopportune moment of significant consequence will be during the peace accords at Barza. Hence known as the Barzan Accords. His insidious job will be to poison General Torq of the IKDF to stop the accords. Otherwise, I'll stick to the falsification of reports and manipulation of the duty roster as a reminder that his ass belongs to Section 31.

[J.P. Gill]

I would like to voice the opion for leniency. If for no other reason than that redemption seems to be one main mirrors that reflects of one of Trek's core themes: the value of the individual. Especially the stars of the show.

I'm not saying that gross incompentance and deriliction of duty should not go "unrewarded," but the character should not be taken out of play or be made unplayable.

Just one narrator's humble opinion.