Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #41: Law, Crime & Punishment in Fantasy Role Playing Games _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ SENT BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY With Compliments From: Johnn Four, http://www.roleplayingtips.com mailto:feedback@roleplayingtips.com CONTENTS: --> Overview & Summary Of Tips In This Week's Article --> A Brief Word From Johnn --> Guest Article: Law, Crime & Punishment in Fantasy Role Playing Games --> Readers' Tips Of The Week: Figure Storage --> Privacy Policy, Sub/Unsub & Contact Information _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ OVERVIEW & SUMMARY OF TIPS IN THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE 1. A good and easy way to create laws in your games is to base them on the social customs and religion of your game world's societies. 2. Most societies have a small number of key "laws" from which crimes are derived and labeled as such. Use these to create your laws. 3. Each crime has a relative severity. Not all crimes are equal. 4. The relative social importance and reputation of the criminal and victim affect punishment. 5. The facts of the crime tend to affect punishment. 6. Most laws can be created with very little information about the society but serve to add terrific detail to a society. Excellent return-on-time investment for details on your societies. _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ A BRIEF WORD FROM JOHNN A couple of quick words about Brennan O'Brien's excellent article "Law, Crime & Punishment in Fantasy Role Playing Games." First, don't let the title fool ya. I think the information is great for GMs of all systems & genres--not just FRPGs. Sci-fi, modern & cyberpunk games all have primitive cultures which need laws. And, modern and future laws often have their roots in earlier, simpler times so you can use the info to form a core for more complex law systems. Second, I try to avoid including game mechanics in articles because you all play so many different games. But Brennan has come up with a nice and simple generic mechanic which you should be able to use without hassle. If the nicely spaced tables don't come through very well, I'll be formatting them in a web page by midweek at the RoleplayingTips.com site: http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue41.html On another note, I've been reading through the new D&D 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and thought I would pass along a good tip that I just came across last night: Photocopy your maps. Use the copies to write notes on how the area changes (i.e. the PCs break down a wall), or to write helpful reminders to yourself (i.e. using highlighters, colour-code the map by inhabitant type). There are lots of other things you can do with photocopies of your maps but you get the general idea... Regards, Johnn mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ LAW, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAMES Written by Brennan O'Brien veilheim@yahoo.com Law exists to maintain a social structure. Without law, there is anarchy. Anarchy tends to lead to social failure, because a society cannot successfully marshal its capability against threats. Law Is Based On Custom & Religion --------------------------------- In general, Law is based on Custom and Religion. Custom and Religion define for each society what is "right" and what is "wrong". Obviously, these factors vary tremendously between various cultures, and the crimes of your society should reflect the normative behavior based on what you view the customs and religious beliefs are that dominate your society. At the core, however, most societies have between 3-10 significant "thou shalt not" rules governing social behavior. The Basic Rules Of Law ---------------------- In general, these rules resemble the following: * Do not kill people. * Do not speak a lie about your neighbors. * Do not steal or destroy the possessions of others. * Do not have sex with some society defined group (varies by society and custom). * Do not challenge the rule of law/authority (typically seen in older societies). * Do not commit heresy against the predominant religion of the society (varies by religion). These tend to form the basis of criminal law for a society. Most of the laws that we have on the books today can, in some way, trace their origins back to one of these six key laws. These, then, can be considered "felonies" for most societies. Punishment for committing a felony in most early medieval societies tends to focus around retributive action. For example, killing someone tends to result in the offender being killed. Stealing tends to result in some sort of physical deformation. How Social Status & Circumstance Affect Punishment -------------------------------------------------- Two elements strongly influence the application of punishment to the crime. The first element is the level of relative social stratification between the "criminal" and the "victim". A noble killing a slave, from a society perspective, is a lot less "bad" than a slave killing a noble. Secondly, the number of factors which aggravate or mitigate the commission of the crime itself influences the punishment of the crime. This second class of factors, though, does not supersede the first set -- that is, even if you're defending your own life (a mitigating factor), killing a noble if you're a slave probably won't save your life. The 4 Steps For Creating Your Own Crime & Punishment System ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. Determine the society's crime categories and assign Punishment Levels 2. Assign effects of social class as modifiers to Punishment Levels 3. Assign effects of circumstance as modifiers to Punishment Levels 4. Determine punishments for Punishment Level A Sample Crime & Punishment System ---------------------------------- The following generic mechanics can be used to address crime and punishment in your own campaigns. Obviously, change whatever necessary to adapt to your own environment. Each of the major crimes has a generic "punishment" level. Remember these are just examples, and can serve in a pinch - but you'll probably want something a bit more tailored to your campaign world. Crimes of Example Society X --------------------------- * Killing People is Outlawed - Punishment Level 11 * Stealing/Vandalism is Outlawed - Punishment Level 9 * Treason, Sedition and speaking against the Government is Outlawed - Punishment Level 7 * Assaulting A Guard or Soldier is Outlawed - Punishment Level 5 Effects of Social Class and Reputation on Crimes of Society X (PL = Punishment Level) --------------------------------------------------- * Slave/Outcast commits crime against Commoner: +1 PL * Slave/Outcast commits crime against Noble: +3 PL * Slave/Outcast commits crime against Society: +5 PL * Commoner commits crime against Slave: -1 PL * Commoner commits crime against Noble: +2 PL * Commoner commits crime against Society: +3 PL * Noble commits crime against Slave: -3 PL * Noble commits crime against Commoner: -2 PL * Noble commits crime against Society: +1 PL * Criminal has an awful reputation: +2 PL * Criminal has a poor reputation: +1 PL * Criminal has a neutral reputation: +/-0 PL * Criminal has a positive reputation: -2 PL * Criminal has an exemplary reputation: -4 PL * Victim has an awful reputation: -2 PL * Victim has a poor reputation: -1 PL * Victim has a neutral reputation: +/-0 PL * Victim has a positive reputation: +1 PL * Victim has an exemplary reputation: +3 PL Effects of Circumstance on Crimes of Society X ---------------------------------------------- * For each aggravation making the crime worse: +2 PL * For each mitigation which lessens the crime: -1 PL Generic Punishments ------------------- Level 13 Execution of Criminal, their Family and their Associates and Friends. Level 12 Execution of Criminal and their Family Level 11 Execution of Criminal Level 10 Massive Deformation (Leg, Arm, Tongue, Eyes removed) Level 9 Major Deformation (Hand, Foot, Sex organs, Single eye removed) Level 8 Minor Deformation (finger, teeth removed) Level 7 Extended Imprisonment (Tens of Years) Level 6 Imprisonment (Several Years) Level 5 Short Imprisonment (Number of Months) Level 4 Significant Fine (Several Decades of Average Earnings) Level 3 Fine (Several Years of Average Earnings) Level 2 Minor Fine (Several Months of Average Earnings) Level 1 Crime Overlooked Applying the Example -------------------- Let's say Frederick, a Nobleman with an exemplary reputation in Society X, kills a social outcast with a poor reputation. He can demonstrate that it was self defense (a mitigating factor). In Society X, killing is a punishment level 11. The act, though, was committed by a Noble against an Outcast, reducing the level by 3. The victim had a poor reputation, reducing the punishment by another 1 level, and the Noble has an exemplary reputation reducing the punishment by another 4 levels. The mitigating factor further reduces the punishment by one level. The final punishment, then, is (11-3-1-4-1 =) 2. Frederick must pay a fine to the society/government amounting to several months of funds. Expanding This System --------------------- Other elements can easily be added to this system, such as the effect of magical spells, reaction modifiers, representation by counsel, or whatever catches your fancy. The key element to defining crime and punishment in your fantasy world is understanding what major activities constitute crimes. Identifying and differentiating these elements from each of the various cultures in your game world can add tremendous depth to your campaigns because the laws can be sketched out based on what you already know about your various cultures. In other words, a great bang- for-the-buck in terms of increasing the depth of your campaign without costing you a lot of time. Copyleft İ Brennan O'Brien veilheim@yahoo.com Details on copyleft can be found at: http://www.xania.demon.co.uk/copyleft.html Tips Request ------------ Do you have any crime & punishment tips to share? Send them on in to feedback@roleplayingtips.com. Thanks! _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ READERS' TIPS OF THE WEEK: Figure Storage Tips From: Ralf Tschulena Hello I was reading your article "Never Forget Your Dice Again" in Roleplaying Tips Weekly #19. I use an old computer game paper box. I lay a precisely cut foam mat in the underside, a second mat in the lid. Then I get my Miniatures in the box, lay a third mat over this, close the lid and use a rubber band to hold it closed. The rubber band presses the mat together, and the figures are held securely inside. This doesn't work for figures with arms or wings that stretch out from the miniature (especially all glued things). But most figures are relatively 2-dimensional, and this works fine. ==== From: Mike I use a fishing tackle box to carry my figures. It has about 4 individual plastic boxes (drawers in the tackle box) subdivided into smaller sections. I've cut up an old wool army blanket and hotglued it inside each of the individual sections, and another piece to the lid, so that a figure has four sides, top and bottom of padded (no chipping) wool. For some of the odd shaped figures that don't seem to fit... a drider, an ettin, etc... I've sectioned off a portion of the large top compartment and carefully cut up a large block of foam with an exacto knife so that the odd shaped figure fits in snugly, and topped it with another piece of foam for a lid. I can take out individual drawers and take just a portion of the figures that I'll need for the upcoming session, or if playing at my place, just drag out all three tackle boxes to provide the maximum amount of figures. When all else fails, we end up with each player having their own figures and using M&M's or gummy bears for the critters. _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ That's it for this week's issue. Have more fun at every game! Johnn Four mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com _______________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ MY PRIVACY POLICY & HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE "Roleplaying Tips Weekly" is provided to you free of charge by RoleplayingTips.com. It is sent only to those who have specifically requested to receive it. My subscriber list has never been and never will be available to any third party. EVER! Your privacy is very important to me, therefore it receives the respect it deserves. SUBSCRIBE TO "ROLEPLAYING TIPS WEEKLY" mailto:subscribe@roleplayingtips.com UNSUBSCRIBE FROM "ROLEPLAYING TIPS WEEKLY" mailto:unsubscribe@roleplayingtips.com SUBMISSIONS Submissions & Articles may be sent to: mailto:submissions@roleplayingtips.com Copyright İ 2000, Johnn Four, RoleplayingTips.com. All Rights Reserved. email: mailto:feedback@roleplayingtips.com web site: http://www.roleplayingtips.com