Crime & Punishment in Odradek's Drift
Problem Statement: Classic Traveller players are always breaking the goddamn law. '77 Traveller is pretty vague about how to handle planetary justice systems.1 I know that later versions do flesh it out, but I like tinkering, so I have written my own quick & dirty rules. These are meant to (mostly) elide the process of arrest and trial while affording some opportuntiy for players to affect the result.
Note: Currently untested. I will make tweaks and update this note once I have had a chance to try it out in game.
Law Encounters
Law Encounters are rolled as 2d6 + Planetary Law Level. 2 A DM of +1 per recent police encounter is appled (decreasing by 1 per week), and a further DM of -2 to +2 may be applied for situational factors relating to the security of the destination location.
| 2D + LL + DMs | Result |
|---|---|
| 2-8 | No law enforcement presence. |
| 9-12 | Law enforcement passively present but do not accost PCs. |
| 13+ | Law enforcement stop and question PCs. Roll reaction (below) and add +1 to future Law rolls. |
On a roll of 2 on the dice (snake eyes), there is no law enforcement presence regardless of DMs. On a roll of 12 on the dice (boxcars), police are present and get an automatic 2 on the reaction roll.
Patrols consist of 1D cops, armed as follows:
| TI | Loadout |
|---|---|
| 0 | Club |
| 1 | Pike, Jack |
| 2-3 | Halberd, Jack |
| 4 | Truncheon, Revolver, Cloth |
| 5+ | Automatic Pistol, Cloth |
If "Police" are rolled as a Random Person Encounter (p. 19), they always stop and question the PCs unless the fiction suggests they are investigating or harassing someone else.
Questioning
If the PCs are wanted for any reason or are openly carrying contraband, they will be subject to immediate arrest regardless of roll. The Bribery and Forgery skills can be used to negate (almost) any Police interaction, using the rules provided in Book 1. Otherwise, if the law check indicates that the police stop and question the PCs, roll Reaction:
| Reaction | Result |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | PCs subject to a search, and shaken down for a bribe or fine (CR 1d6*100, exploding) or roll Bribery? |
| 5-6 | PCs subject to a patdown search. |
| 7-11 | PCs questioned about their origins & business and surveilled for remainder of foray. |
| 12 | PCs given perfunctory questions and allowed to leave. |
- The presence of a PC with SOC 8+ applies a +1 DM, +2 for a PC with SOC A+, and +3 for C+. (Only one PC SOC DM applies per group).
- The presence of a wounded PC applies a DM of -2.
- Openly carrying guns (even if legal) applies a DM of -2 UNLESS the PCs are better armed than the police patrol, in which case the DM flips to +4.
Arrest
Police always have handcuffs or manacles. Something akin to the Miranda rights will be recited only on worlds with Government Type 2, 4, 8, or 9.
Police are typically equipped with medium-range communicators (if the world is of sufficient TI), and will call for backup if arrest is resisted.
PCs who successfully resist arrest but leave witnesses or survivors behind are wanted. Subsequent police encounters will lead to automatic arrest attempts.
Trial & Punishment
Adjudication of legal proceedings varies by government type.3 In general, trials are elided using a die roll. The base roll is as follows:
| 2D | Result |
|---|---|
| 2-6 | Harsh sentence |
| 7-10 | Lenient sentence |
| 11+ | Exoneration |
Crimes incur a DM by severity.
| Crime | DM |
|---|---|
| Petty theft | 0 |
| Serious theft | -3 |
| Public disorder (brawling, drunkeness, dueling) | 0 |
| Murder | -6 |
| Mass Murder | -8 |
| Possession of Contraband (minor -- a single firearm, drugs for personal use) | -1 |
| Possession of Contraband (major -- a shipment of illegal guns or drugs) | -4 |
| Arson | -4 |
| Piracy | -7 |
| Forgery | -2 |
- In systems where the accused are allowed to defend themselves, each piece of exonerating evidence (or successful attempt at muddying or poisoning the plaintiff's case) generally applies a +1 DM.
- Each prior arrest incurs a -1 DM.
- The Admin skill can be added to the roll in situations with a formal legal code, and a successful Bribery or Forgery roll grants a +1 DM.
0: No Government
No particular rules, thus judged by the Referee case-by-case.
- Harsh Sentence: "mob justice" (stoning, hanging, burning at the stake, tarring-and-feathering)
- Lenient Sentence: "wergild"-esque payment, mediation by respected local, or exile.
1: Corporation
Fines are almost always leveed in lieu of corporal punishment -- the goal of corporate legal systems is to penalize (and recuperate) damage to property and human capital.
- Harsh Sentence: Fine of MCR 1d6 and permanent banishment.
- Lenient Sentence: Fine of KCR 1d6 and banishment for 1d6 months.
Those unable to afford the fees are fitted with shock collars and obliged to work off the debt.
2. Participating Democracy, 4. Representative Democracy
The accused must defend themselves before a jury of their peers, with the option to hire a lawyer. A lawyer paid KCR 100 provides a +1 DM. KCR 200 provides a +2 DM, KCR 400 provides a +3 DM, etc.
- Harsh Sentence: Imprisonment: 3d6 years for theft / contraband, 10d6 years for murder.
- Lenient Sentence: As above, but months.
3. Self-Perpetuating Oligarchy, 5. Feudal Technocracy, C. Charismatic Oligarchy
The legal system is run by appointees of the ruling class. Success hinges on status, and whether one can get an influential patron to intercede on one's behalf.
DM of +1 per point of SOC above 9. Situational DMs may be applied if Patrons are present to intercede, varying by the Patron's status.4
- Harsh Sentence: 6d6 years imprisonment for theft / contraband, execution for murder.
- Lenient Sentence: 3d6 years imprisonment, with the option to become the indentured thrall of a local noble.
6. Captive Government
Typically a crueler version of the hegemon's legal system (automatic -1 DM to trial roll). When in doubt, default to the patronage-based approach for Governments 3 & 5.
8. Civil Service Bureacracy, 9. Impersonal Bureacracy
In these systems, the accused are subject to endless procedural deferrals. The question is less one of whether one can successfully defend themselves in a trial, but whether one gets a trial at all.
| 2D + DM | Result |
|---|---|
| 1-10 | Indefinitely detained. Roll again next week. |
| 11-12 | Released, but kept under surveillance and disallowed from entering the spaceport or leaving the planet. Roll again next week. Any subsequent police encounter will result in re-arrest regardless of activity. |
| 13+ | Trial Scheduled. Proceed using the rules for Govt. 2 & 4 worlds. |
The crime DMs for the trial roll apply. Each week, a successful Forgery, Bribery, or Admin roll adds a cumulative +1 DM.
A. Charismatic Dictator
Those without a patron in the government are summarily executed after 1d6 * 1d6 days in prison, and all records of their existence are subsequently expunged.
B. Non-Charismatic Leader
50% of resolving as 2 & 4, otherwise as A.
D. Religious Dictatorship
Crimes are judged based on a corpus of religious law. Extreme displays of pious repentance may allow for a +1 DM.
- Harsh Sentence: Imprisonment & torture for 1d6 weeks, then death.
- Lenient Sentence: Penance through 1d6 years of forced labor.
Any sentence may be deferred by renouncing all worldly possessions and titles (setting SOC to 0) and joining a monastery.
Per Book 3, p. 7: "In addition to weapons and arms controls, law levels indicate the general throw for police or enforcement harassment for violations. Thus, a person on a world of law level 4 would have a saving throw of 4 or more [sic] to avoid arrest when encountering an enforcement agent such as a policeman or customs agent."↩
These should be in addition to regular encounter rolls.↩
Note that the following descriptions assume that those being tried are Travellers, and thus outsiders. Locals may or may not be subject to the same punishments.↩
As a rule of thumb, use the Patron's row on the patron table, minus 1 as a DM; thus +5 for a Noble or Playboy, +4 for a Navy Officer, +0 for an Arsonist or Smuggler↩