Interesting. So captains don't even have the option of allowing selected passengers to retain their sidearms. That's certainly going to cramp a few plots.
Hans
Weapons aboard ship?
- Thread starter rancke
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Hans
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
In Mongooses Spinward Marches it states:Unfortunately, the trivia of OTU law is beyond me, but I would suggest that, in a logical universe, most ships and starports have a blanket LL which is effectively the LL of the 'Empire Between the Stars'. IMTU that's LL9+, in another poster's TU above, that's LL5. The blanket LL will determine what is allowed aboard ship without official waivers. Private captains will be encouraged to toe the party line. How much encouragement they are given probably depends on the value of that LL.
Considering the cost of a starship, there is presumably a fair-sized group of people that can afford to buy passage on a liner but not to hire/buy their own transport (Or organizations that are willing to pay for passage but not for private transport).
Hans
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Captains can do what they like, but it's their neck on the block if it goes wrong.
Oh, no, Andrew, the text says, quite unequivocally, "Passengers are required to check all weapons (except blades and daggers) into the ship's locker; they are returned at the end of the voyage", with no ifs or buts. It doesn't say 'unless the captain says otherwise' or 'unless the passenger is an Imperial noble' or 'unless the passenger has an Imperial warrant'. So obviously there is no leeway to the law (or custom) at all.
Hans
Or if someone complains to the authorities.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
I'm sure that's what the law says, but it's impossible to enforce. In practice, the captain decides.
The limit posted on the highway sign is the absolute maximum speed You are allowed to operate You motor vehicle as well .
Just because the law has no leeway , dose not mean it is the standard practice .
I can't speak for the fifty-seventh century, but current maritime law does essentially recognize the captain as the absolute dictator aboard his ship - but with that absolute power comes absolute responsibility; if something goes wrong, it's going to be the captain's head on the chopping block.
The game rule doesn't say anything about law or enforcement or authority. It just says how it works. And the way it works the captain apparently doesn't have a say.
Hans
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Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
How can that work?
The same way a captain has no authority over what constitutes Rape or Murder or Racism aboard his ship...
His Master's Ticket comes with an implicit requirement to adhere to the laws of the issuing entity. If those laws include a requirement to allow passengers to bear weapons, either he takes the risk of punishment, or adheres to the laws.
Likewise, a vessel being registered/flagged has an implicit requirement to follow the laws of the flagging entity.
The fun comes when the two conflict...
In the real world, most Ticket applications and registration applications include explicit requirements to adhere to both international maritime law, and (when not in conflict with IML) the laws of the issuing agency.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
So like I said, what the law says and what the captain does may not be the same.
The speed limit may be 40mph, but your car won't stop you doing 50.
The speed limit may be 40mph, but your car won't stop you doing 50.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Not if the captain's a PC, he doesn't. And only a bad Ref would play all NPCs the same.
The Ref Enforces it via the use of NPC's. The Noble who quietly accepts the imposition, verifies the Captain's having seized non-nobles weapons, then has the Captain arrested for unlawful seizure at the next port. The passenger who is an imperial compliance officer in mufti, who yanks the captain's master's permit at the end of the trip. The Broker who points out that he won't let you have passengers because you don't obey their rights. The DM imposed negative DM's for not adhering to the rules. The resultant missing of a payment and the DM hitting the PC's with skipjacks and bounty hunters.
Lots of great ways to pressure a PC for compliance. Things beow the resolution of the rules, but within the spirit (and letter) of CT...
The Captain who disarms all passengers totally, the GM has lots of recourse. Varying from nuisance (No Weapons generates Passenger DM-1 per die if LL of source or destination system less than 6), to megathump (Arrest and incarceration for violation of civil rights under imperial law; break out AM8).
The rules for ships encode a lot of laws, laws which you, as a european, probably think needlessly old fashioned, but laws which, really, are more proof of "Yanks-in-space" model; in the 1970's, one could fly with pocket knives within the US. I did so. Even in the 1980's. The expectation of checking anything bigger than a utility knife was the 1970's standard for travel... and it got coded into Traveller's DNA from the US's.
Enforcement is, however, in CT at least, explicitly the GM's call.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Some captains may confiscate everything bigger than a penknife, others will let you keep sidearms. Some can be bribed, some are too lazy to search you. There are few absolutes.
But you're missing the point, Andrew... the point is that the rules are evidence of standard, regulation, and custom.
GM's can waive them. But a captain doing so can legitimately be punished for so doing. Just like the rules say you can't have double occupancy when in commercial service. The rules don't happen to state the punishments, but quite obviously, there can and will be some or the rule would not be effective, and thus would not be listed.
All human behavioral norms and laws get broken. The rules don't need to model the breaches, only the norms. GM's can model the breaches and remedies.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
That's exactly what I've been saying!
The rules state what *should* happen, but what *does* happen is up to the GM.
And that's also irrelevant to the OTU. The Rules ARE the OTU regs. If the overwhelming majority are not adhering to those standards (for whatever unspecified reasons), then you are not in the OTU.
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