How to handle mundane authoritys?

PenitentDemon · 08-17-2016, 08:44 AM

Any ideas how Celestials handle confrontations with Mortal authoritys.

It probaly really steams Dominic to see a Celestial or Soldier in Jail for something that was necessary in the context of the war, but that is from the PoV of hardworking law enforcement professionials blatantly illegal.

Which do you think he'd prefer between perverting the justice system, or violently freeing them

Another option, of course, is simply give them an indefinite assignment of "Monitoring this prison for traces of diabolical influence"

cptbutton · 08-17-2016, 01:00 PM

Non-violent escape will be an option for Celestials. Soldiers may be trickier but there are likely ways to manage it. Though both of these run up against the question of how what is allowed in public obviously supernatural or mysterious events.

But Roles will be damaged or at least changed if the Role is a hunted fugitive.

And what about that poor prison guard who gets in trouble for claiming a prisoner "just wasn't there anymore"?

Adventure Seed: A Soldier is busted out of jail and given a new identity, since the old one is on wanted posters. But he can't bear to be out of touch with his family...

Whitelaughter · 08-18-2016, 06:26 AM

Mortal justice feed Essence to Judgement and The Game. A smart demon will arrange for a lawyer to get them off on a technicality, thus ensuring that the local Gamesters will approve of them - bribing the police and so forth would also be acceptable options. Simply going celestial from a prison cell would be likely to get the demon arrested by The Game and executed.

Many angels would see the advantages of being convicted. Going through the court case will enable them to ensure that everything was done in a just fashion; the process will strengthen their Role; prisons are a great place to help humans, community service is an excuse to help the community, while paying fines helps balance the government's budget.

Good question BTW.

Drop Bear · 08-18-2016, 06:43 AM

Also a BS charge can help modify a Role to give it a solid reason for a Civil Rights kick for something like business type or some ones who's role would normally be associated with a Moderate/Centralist bent or even Conservative leanings.

Jason · 08-18-2016, 04:52 PM

I think the short answer is: What kind of game do you want this to be? I used to run it as "realistically" as possible, with never giving the PCs a break, constantly running into conflict with the law. Then I watched a couple seasons of Supernatural and realized that while it's fun and tense to have "the law catches up with you" episodes here and there, if that's not a major theme in the game, it just gets to be a drag. If they have a Role as a cop or even just decent Lying skills, then they can sneak their way onto a crime scene, escape from the cops, or whatever.

That said, I do still really like the occasional episode where "the law catches up with you" is the theme. Here's how we played that on purpose once:

The angel PCs were caught on security cameras breaking into a museum and murdering the security guards. They thought they were killing demons who were going after the same relic as them – Thor's hammer! – but the whole thing was a prank/distraction so Loki could steal it himself. The rest of the adventure focused on eluding the cops, retrieving the hammer, and stopping Loki from doing whatever it is that trickster gods do.

Finally, at the end, the Archangel who commissioned the operation posed the question to them: Were they willing to accept imprisonment for their crimes to preserve their cover? This was AGONIZING for them, but they finally decided that as angels, it was the right thing to do.

Then Odin showed up, thanked them for helping out his boy Thor, and made lifelike ethereal-figment duplicates of them to serve sentences in their stead. They had to take new Roles and face the music with their Superiors for killing a mortal, but they got to keep their characters (because what fun would the alternative be?).

08-17-2016, 08:44 AM	#1
PenitentDemon Join Date: Aug 2008	How to handle mundane authoritys? Any ideas how Celestials handle confrontations with Mortal authoritys. It probaly really steams Dominic to see a Celestial or Soldier in Jail for something that was necessary in the context of the war, but that is from the PoV of hardworking law enforcement professionials blatantly illegal. Which do you think he'd prefer between perverting the justice system, or violently freeing them Another option, of course, is simply give them an indefinite assignment of "Monitoring this prison for traces of diabolical influence"

08-17-2016, 01:00 PM	#2
cptbutton Join Date: Jul 2007	Re: How to handle mundane authoritys? Non-violent escape will be an option for Celestials. Soldiers may be trickier but there are likely ways to manage it. Though both of these run up against the question of how what is allowed in public obviously supernatural or mysterious events. But Roles will be damaged or at least changed if the Role is a hunted fugitive. And what about that poor prison guard who gets in trouble for claiming a prisoner "just wasn't there anymore"? Adventure Seed: A Soldier is busted out of jail and given a new identity, since the old one is on wanted posters. But he can't bear to be out of touch with his family...

08-18-2016, 06:26 AM	#3
Whitelaughter Join Date: Jun 2011	Re: How to handle mundane authoritys? Mortal justice feed Essence to Judgement and The Game. A smart demon will arrange for a lawyer to get them off on a technicality, thus ensuring that the local Gamesters will approve of them - bribing the police and so forth would also be acceptable options. Simply going celestial from a prison cell would be likely to get the demon arrested by The Game and executed. Many angels would see the advantages of being convicted. Going through the court case will enable them to ensure that everything was done in a just fashion; the process will strengthen their Role; prisons are a great place to help humans, community service is an excuse to help the community, while paying fines helps balance the government's budget. Good question BTW.

08-18-2016, 06:43 AM	#4
Drop Bear Join Date: May 2012	Re: How to handle mundane authoritys? Also a BS charge can help modify a Role to give it a solid reason for a Civil Rights kick for something like business type or some ones who's role would normally be associated with a Moderate/Centralist bent or even Conservative leanings.

08-18-2016, 04:52 PM	#5
Jason Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Boston, MA	Re: How to handle mundane authoritys? I think the short answer is: What kind of game do you want this to be? I used to run it as "realistically" as possible, with never giving the PCs a break, constantly running into conflict with the law. Then I watched a couple seasons of Supernatural and realized that while it's fun and tense to have "the law catches up with you" episodes here and there, if that's not a major theme in the game, it just gets to be a drag. If they have a Role as a cop or even just decent Lying skills, then they can sneak their way onto a crime scene, escape from the cops, or whatever. That said, I do still really like the occasional episode where "the law catches up with you" is the theme. Here's how we played that on purpose once: The angel PCs were caught on security cameras breaking into a museum and murdering the security guards. They thought they were killing demons who were going after the same relic as them – Thor's hammer! – but the whole thing was a prank/distraction so Loki could steal it himself. The rest of the adventure focused on eluding the cops, retrieving the hammer, and stopping Loki from doing whatever it is that trickster gods do. Finally, at the end, the Archangel who commissioned the operation posed the question to them: Were they willing to accept imprisonment for their crimes to preserve their cover? This was AGONIZING for them, but they finally decided that as angels, it was the right thing to do. Then Odin showed up, thanked them for helping out his boy Thor, and made lifelike ethereal-figment duplicates of them to serve sentences in their stead. They had to take new Roles and face the music with their Superiors for killing a mortal, but they got to keep their characters (because what fun would the alternative be?).