Organized Crime

[JAFARR]

Check out Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steet Rat" stories for a good Hi Tech Crook.

Andre Norton also has a underworld background for many of her stories.

I once played with a moody guy who was just learning how CT tech levels affected equipment. He decided to do something foolish on a low tech, low law world so he could "compare the effectivness on his armor & weaponary in relavative safety" due to his perpeption that his superior equipment would protect him. The ref made a D100 roll and showed it to a spectator and had the PC roll D100. The rolls matched so the ref dropped a TL 15 swat team in full battle dress on an Imperial drug bust into the game. After the player got mad and left the session, we persuaded the ref to pretend that the past hour and a half never happened. Funny thing, I saw that same person playing a D&D illusionest charge into battle and rescue the entire party with only ONE hit point. Get him in the right mood and you couldn't ask for a better role player.

 

[Ran Targas]

IMHO there would come a point where the shadow empire would be indistinguishable from the busy clutter of Mega-Corp and House business interests.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Andy Fralix; Post #20:
Check out Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steet Rat" stories for a good Hi Tech Crook.

Originally posted by RainOfSteel; Post #16:
They're a bit dated, but Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books are great stories about a criminal (turned hero). Lots of caper ideas.

 

[Straybow]

The time travel parts were odd.

 

[Hal]

The one thing about crime is that sooner or later, it has to organize itself if it is to remain "successful". Prisons are filled with criminals who were just too plain dumb to avoid being caught. The other thing about organized crime is that it is neccessary for those who wish to engage in piracy within the Imperium if they intend to make a credit. As noted, criminals can and do manage to escape police jurisdictions by fleeing them - which involves starships. Doesn't that make a tramp freighter captain feel good?

But for my traveller Universe, these criminal types often look like highly placed citizens within the society they walk amongst. They make a profit from what they do, and it is essentially a monopoly (within limits) of violence and the like. These "leaders" pay protection money to those who are corrupt enough to take the money, and they try hard not to run afoul of any organization who stands to profit by the removal of the crime leaders (those pesky idealistic Imperial Law enforcement types!).

I've run two campaigns where the criminal organization was behind things (well, only one for my players, the second would have been the Piracy campaign). In it, the crime bosses were kidnapping Vargr from a Tech level 5 world, training them up to become Vargr pirates, and then basing them in regions where the Imperial Navy was having a hard time chasing after them. There was an Imperial Noble who was playing this game in a manner such that he would be appointed to go after these pirates and clean them out. This was the 1077th fighter squadron aboard the Blue Lightning (Azhanti class carrier) job - to hunt down the Vargr. If they failed, this Noble would be assigned the job. If they succeeded, this Noble's plans for all these years would go into the fusion incinerator and all that time and credits would be wasted. It was a fun campaign while it lasted

 

[jatay3]

Organized crime of the godfather mode is a function of the presence of a more-or-less powerful state that forces such organizations to go underground or at least pretend to do so. Granicus would take a different form if there was no Federation of Heron.
If such constraints are missing the criminals become the state by default. Thus on the frontier it is likely to take the "robber-baron" or "barbary pirates" mode operating openly rather than the "godfather" mode operating more secretly. That is a pirate lair beyond the reach of the Imperium might have it's location concealed, but within that location the pirates would be the government. The difference is subtle. On Granicus the cartels influence the government scandalously but the government theoretically has enough force to suppress them if it wishes.
On a planet controlled by Vargr corsairs it would be different.
On the Spinward Marches(say) there would be so many unstable governments that the distinction between a crime lord and a lord would often be near meaningless. Deeper into the Imperium the two species would often collaborate with one another but the distinction would be greater.

 

[Spiderfish]

A good point.

Their were a great many robber barons in Feudal England. At least that is what Terry Jones told me.

 

[robject]

Originally posted by Klaus:

Slavery would be a heinous crime, but with a good economic return (rounding up colonists and shipping them to a hellhole mine for instance).

Apparently, slavery doesn't make any sense economically in the real world. The reason appears to hinge on "Happy Workers are Productive Workers".

Now, if you need to get rid of undesirables while making a little money at the same time, well that's another thing.

 

[robject]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Ran Targas:
Having done some research on the web, I've cobbled together a sort of shadow imperium that loosely controls most illegal activities in human space [. . .]

Of course, a Shadow Imperium is going to be ruled by a Shadow Emperor.

Every time an old-school Vilani hears and comprehends this reference, which indirectly impugns the historic Shadow Emperor of the First Imperium, will likely be either irritated or even angry.
</font>[/QUOTE]Old school??

I believe the proper response to that would be

Khe shiinshudish Anguzagin.

"May you be crushed by the Bureaux*."

* A conflation of angi guza-gi na: literally, "the Three Altar Stones", originally a reference from pre-spaceflight days.

 

[jatay3]

A good point.

Their were a great many robber barons in Feudal England. At least that is what Terry Jones told me.
----------------------------
Quite so. Especially during times of civil war. England wasn't the worst though; it had a fairly efficiant central government for that time and place. Germany or Eastern Europe was probably the worst in Europe. I don't want to guess who was worst worldwide.

 

[jatay3]

Quite so. Especially during times of civil war. England wasn't the worst though; it had a fairly efficiant central government for that time and place. Germany or Eastern Europe was probably the worst in Europe. I don't want to guess who was worst worldwide.
-----------------------------------
I forgot; there was also Ireland, Scotland, some of the Meditteranean islands, etc to compete for "Europes most barbaric places"
Want a time machine anyone?

 

[Ran Targas]

^ And you can assume that some members of the Imperial Moot were at one time crime lords in their own right or are the direct decendents of robber barons. How else do you come to control a whole planet's economic and political power?

 

[jatay3]

And you can assume that some members of the Imperial Moot were at one time crime lords in their own right or are the direct decendents of robber barons. How else do you come to control a whole planet's economic and political power?

--------------------
Well a few were leaders of a band of colonist, and a few others gained their authority from the favor of another lord
but in general this assesment is probably reasonably accurate

 

[JAFARR]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Andy Fralix; Post #20:
Check out Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steet Rat" stories for a good Hi Tech Crook.

Originally posted by RainOfSteel; Post #16:
They're a bit dated, but Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books are great stories about a criminal (turned hero). Lots of caper ideas.

</font>[/QUOTE]Yeah! Check the times these were posted. I started the message and got interrupted during the process of checking my libary to make sure I had the author's last name spelled correctly. Your post wasn't entered when I started mine.

 

[mike wightman]

Some would argue that the third Imperium was founded on a great big protection racket...

 

[Maynard]

I have an old Dragon Magazine that has a 'Rogues In Space' character creation article on rolling up criminals, either indies or OC.

Any OC group, just as in real life, will be connected to portions of the local or planetary government or whoever controls the government, either as a result of blackmail, or providing services to the well heeled, etc. Starport authorities are prime targets of influence for OC's that operate on more than one planet, as will be Imperial Navy personel, of course.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Ran Targas, are ye anywhere about?

Do be steppin' an' see a few things along yer way O' thinkin' down on the random static thread,

The Ursula Setting

A quiet Word for O'Rourke.

Methinks ye'll find some criminal activity summat ter yer way O' thinkin'...

--Thomas "Smilin' Tommy" O'Halloran, Sean Riley, & the lads o' the Brotherhood of Meehan, Dunlevy district, Warrens level 2, Hefry [1909]/Regina/ Spinward Marches.

An' fer wheelin' an' dealin yer way ta a fortune in illegal things fer a price, see the workin's of wee Devin Chance Llawe...if'n I do say so meself, aye?

---Devin Chance Llawe, 'small-fish 'smuggler, ne'er do well, an' a ramblin' gamblin' rogue, on yet another shp, 3rd assistant engineer.

 

[Ran Targas]

Aye Liam,

I've been keeping abreast of Ursula and O'Rourke, but thanks for the heads up!

 

[Liam Devlin]

me bows
Sirrah, thank you! And thou art welcome. We hope we're keeping you and other forum readers seriously entertained.

exuent,sans fanfare stage left

 

[Ran Targas]

^ I just wish I was creative enough to have day dreamed such a vibrant TU. You guys amaze me.