Crimes and Punishments?

[gigobyte]

Where can i find a list of crimes and what the punishments are. My players are on Galatea currently and i want to know what the stipulations are for carrying a weapon or other crimes like that. I never took Battletech to be like the myths of the old west where everyone carried a gun on their hip, but I could be wrong...I am just now reading the novels.

So do you need a permit to carry a weapon openly (and legally) or is it open...

[Tai Dai Cultist]

On the face of it, it depends on the world.  In some places, it might be legal to pack LAWs to defend your farm from armored terror beasts native to the planet.  On others they might prohibit civilians from owning any weapons at all.

The true nature of it is to not spoil the GM's preserve.  Do what you want or whatever your story requires.  (Give the NPCs what you want them to have, deny the PCs what you don't want them to have in this adventure)

Personally, I'd see a place like Galatea as a mashup of the Wild West meets Blade Runner.  YMMV, of course.

[The_Caveman]

Legal code in the Draconis Combine:

The penalty for murder is death.
The penalty for theft is death.
The penalty for jaywalking is death.
The penalty for insulting the Coordinator is a very slow death.
All other crimes shall be punished by hara-kiri.

Legal code in the Capellan Confederation:

All crimes shall be punished by having to serve in the CCAF the next time House Davion attacks.

Legal code in Clan space:

*BLAM* Should've presented your hall pass, freebirth.

 :D

[Maelwys]

Crime and punishment is probably going to vary from world to world. What may be acceptable in one place may not be acceptable on another world.

There is some scattered information here and there. The scenario pack, Null Set, details Outreach and at one points suggests crime is low in the capital because alot of the locals and visitors carry weapons. Of course, that's a city that caters to mercenaries, so certain laws like carrying weapon might be relaxed, compared to if you were trying to pull that off on New Avalon.

[gigobyte]

I understand that Galatea might have more lax laws when it comes to weapons, but what if it didn't? For the very reasons that it would become too much like a wild west-like world. They (local authorities) might not want any off-worlder to just come planet-side with a hip full of steel money to spend to start trouble if things don't go their way.

I also understand the golden rule...it is my game, my rules...bla bla bla. I was just looking for some guidelines, if they were already there. I was already planning on using the example above for my game.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

There largely aren't any guidelines beyond "do what you want".  Wherever canonical examples of crime and punishment exist, they only apply to specific worlds.

[Maelwys]

Well, the one we have from the Warriors of Kerensky details the entire Clans for the most part, but in the IS, its going to be a mostly world by world basis.

While lots of people have strong opinions about the various Black Thorns novels, they do spend atleast part of the books on Solaris and Outreach, so that could give you a look at what the world is like, though I seem to recall several people carrying weapons on Solaris (Whether legally or not, I don't recall).

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Clan society can be interstellarly* homogenous in a way the Inner Sphere never can be is because there are only a few million Clanners total.  Everywhere.

Clan administered OZ worlds are going to be case by case affairs.  I'd go so far as to say even the Clan exclaves on those worlds are going to differ from the ways things are done in the Homeworlds in whatever ways the GM's story needs them to.

* yeah I just made up a word.  It still makes sense.

[The_Caveman]

Clan society can be interstellarly* homogenous in a way the Inner Sphere never can be is because there are only a few million Clanners total.  Everywhere.

Actually it's more like a couple billion. Before the wars of reaving, anyway. Afterward is anybody's guess but probably a LOT less.

That's if you count civilian castes. Warriors number only in the hundreds of thousands.

[Iracundus]

There is a Crime and Punishment section in AToW on page 363.  Individual worlds may vary but there can be some broad themes.  For these, see the House Handbooks.  For example, the Draconis Combine imposes draconian (pun intended) restrictions on firearms while being much more relaxed with regards to things like blades.  The Federated Suns has a more gun friendly culture, a fact which the Capellan Confederation faced when it tried to disarm worlds it took from the Suns as the Capellan Confederation frowns much more on individual gun ownership.  The big table of costs/availability/legality modifiers in the House Handbooks is a guide to this. 

[skiltao]

So do you need a permit to carry a weapon openly (and legally) or is it open...

Being a merc world on the Lyran border, I suspect they'd make you buy a license or permit when you debark your ship.

My instinct is to have a very watchful planetary security force who post very large bounties on anyone who gets violent.