HF RPG 2.5: Discussion

Thak's ability to buy his way out of jail is kind of similar to something I've been planning behind the scenes for Rotor and XPlode's profiles, but theirs is a two-guy deal to explain what happens with them in the show. However, I reckon it's only fair to ask that Thak's money not be used as a free escape from jail every single time for every single crime, since he's a player character, not an NPC, and even in the case of Rotor and XPlode their plan wouldn't work if both were arrested (or even if just XPlode was). I don't want to go into detail of issues he could face because I don't know much about this kind of thing, but I don't think he'd be able to flash money to get out of any and all jail time. Small offences, maybe, but not really big crimes.

The others have approved him and while I have my reservations about the money thing and whether it would be even possible for him to have little to no jail time, I won't ask he not be approved, but I reckon it's only fair for the get out of jail free card to have limitations. Also, I don't think that it should become a regular thing for villains to be rich and able to buy their way out of trouble. XPlode's established to be rich in canon, and it wasn't something anyone mentioned could be an issue before Thak popped up, but I'll be keeping an eye out from now on in regards to player characters. Just a head's up about that.

I don't think money's going to be much of a get out of jail card anyway. The events of the Breakout episodes seem to suggest that Hero Factory itself reserves the right to hold villains in lockup for as long as it feels like.

No one's going to be able to buy their way out of anything until they get transferred to another facility.

I wouldn't call him rich. Well off, sure, but he's not loaded.

Then I'm not sure how he's getting out of jail time using his money. I'm really confused now. The profile suggests he's loaded and that's how he pays his way out of jail, but if he's not rich, then I'm not sure how he's regularly not only getting very little prison time but also not getting warrants, which suggests he's not bribing guards to let him slip out and escape and is instead making bail or has a really good lawyer- but if he breaks the law regularly, he'd need to be loaded to regularly make those payments. I'm really confused now.

Are his crimes just really minor and only require him to pay fines? But even in that case, if he kept doing them I think they'd start giving him harsher punishments like jailtime because he's not showing any will to stop, but the profile mentions he gets little if any jailtime so it can't be that unless he's not done that many crimes. I'm racking my brain for an explanation but so far I'm coming up blank. Could you go into a little more detail about Thak's situation, Scorp? I think I must be missing something.

I guess if he's doing very minor crimes either infrequently or only started recently that might be a bit easier to understand, but that's not going to last him very long. And it can't be infrequently because it mentions he does them very frequently, so I guess he must be a new villain who does minor crimes? He's still gonna run out of money pretty fast.

Obviously this is not only a fictional setting, but one that also has countless possible forms of government/judicial systems. But, if we assume for a moment that the general setup across the galaxy is one close to ours, then Thak should be aware that posting bail necessitates a retrial. And that's assuming he doesn't have capital punishment awaiting him, which is almost never bailable. Plus, if he has any record whatsoever of fleeing before trials/after posting bails, then he forfeits any future bail.

I'm fine with his profile as-is, so long as all of the above is taken into account.

Shoot, I forgot to clarify this here, but off-site Scorp and I went through what bail even was and he's decreed that the money probably instead goes to a fancy lawyer.

I'm not sure what definition of bail you're using and I'm not well versed in law anyway, but according to an official Australian guide to it, bail is when you pay money to not sit in a cell until your court date. It doesn't need a retrial because it's before the trial itself, and you can't do it if your crime is serious enough and you have no reason that you shouldn't be locked up until the trial. You might need a hearing to give a reason for getting bail, if your crime is serious enough to warrant that or I guess you have a history of not going to the trial date or something. Sometimes you don't even need bail, if your crime is minor and some other factors that come into it like not being a threat to society and junk.

I don't think it needs a retrial? Excuse me if I'm wrong on that though. I'm a biologist, not a lawyer.

So, basically, we found out it'd do little for Thak to post bail to get out of jailtime, because he'd still have to go to trial for his crime.

I'm not sure what definition of bail you're using and I'm not well versed in law anyway, but according to an official Australian guide to it, bail is when you pay money to not sit in a cell until your court date. It doesn't need a retrial because it's before the trial itself [...]

Aye, you're perfectly right. Despite posting bail, the defendant still has to appear in court for the main trial. Don't know why I had the word 'retrial' on the brain, but that's what I get for trying to post at 3 AM, haha.

Also, pardon if I go radio silent anymore than usual for a bit; I'll be out of state again for the next week or so.

The first mission is finally, officially, about to begin.

Bout time.

Sue me. 

Oh, I will. You can count on it. And when I'm done, and you're lying in ruins, I will have your seat on the council!

You use that .gif way too much. 

Don't exaggerate, I've only used it twice now.

Case and point

Anyway I'm glad I joined in time to partake in the mission. So that worked out well for me.

Sorry for the quiet time, everyone! As I've mentioned before, most if not all the GMs are in some form of school or uni. Currently, I'm in crunch time with a lot of stuff due in in a small amount of time, myself. I'll start PMing around reminders to players for replies soon. Remember to check if you have something being waited on!

Should we get into any old ship then?

Yeah, any one you want, really. Jade's there, ready to take people, and there'd be a couple of pilotless ships owned by the Hero Factory you could borrow to take others on. There's also Nimius' ship, I'm sure he won't mind random Heroes climbing in.

Jades ship can hold a lot of heroes, so feel free to hop on if you don't mind a snarky pilot.

Hey guys, I have a query: If I make a Hero now, can I say he was listening the whole time and therefore part of the mission?

I wouldn't have any objections to that. 

Right, thanks. I'll have the profile up later. EDIT: Profile is up!

Name: Charles Erudite

Character Type: Hero

Abilities/Equipment: Charles carries a chainsaw-sword and a short-range blaster. He is designed for endurance and mobility, the right balance for a Hero intended to be a team leader.

Appearance: Charles is lime green and white, and his quaza core is blue. He is fairly tall, and has an air of authority and knowledge about him.

Bio: Charles is a veteran of countless hero missions. He is an expert at covert missions, and is often sent on high-stakes assignments. Like any Hero, he is not fond of villains, and he can be patronising towards civilians, though he means well. He is stoic and reserved, and his advice is often listened to, as it is usually fairly intuitive. He can appear cold, but he has everyone’s best interests at heart quaza core.

I realize that I should have specified that Ruby was asking to board Jade's ship.

It's cool, I had her respond

How old's Erudite, Kovsorr? If you don't mind me asking. And also you don't have to be specific at all; as a measure, the absolute oldest Heroes- the original Alpha Team- are a hundred years old, so a rough range between one and a hundred works. And I do mean one and a hundred, since Heroes are created as adults so you can easily and viably have an experienced ten or twenty year old Hero. If you don't know or haven't decided, that's fine!

This is more out of interest rather than any issue, though. In terms of the profile, he seems a little vague. Not problematically so, though. Approved (1/3), but if his mobility and endurance is played as OP then I'm gonna ask you to specify abilities more and ask you to tone it down.

Seems fine to me. Erudite Approved x 2.

Erudite Approved 3/3

+1 for the Chainsaw; I've been wanting to see a Hero with one of those.

How old's Erudite, Kovsorr? If you don't mind me asking. And also you don't have to be specific at all; as a measure, the absolute oldest Heroes- the original Alpha Team- are a hundred years old, so a rough range between one and a hundred works.

Erudite's about 64.

 

How old's Erudite, Kovsorr? If you don't mind me asking. And also you don't have to be specific at all; as a measure, the absolute oldest Heroes- the original Alpha Team- are a hundred years old, so a rough range between one and a hundred works.

Erudite's about 64.

 

Still young enough to party, then. Cool. Thanks for clarifying- I thought I'd ask, since everyone's definition of veteran seems to be slightly different.

Also, sorry for the delay in posts! And if Cor and Dallior aren't back soon, I'll PM them about their characters.

OOC: So far, we seem to have three Villains with XPlode and Rotor, so correct me if I'm wrong on that. By a weird coincidence, all three player characters present are organic and are also going to be in an enclosed space with Whipcrack, whose disease is contagious through close contact. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM

MWAHAHA, I manipulated space-time in order to spread my disease as much as possible! And you never knew!

(Jus' kidding guys)

Just so everyone's aware, my laptop's charger cord broke last week, which is why I haven't been on Skype or Messenger much recently.

My uni assignments and exams are all done, so once my replacement cable arrives (hopefully within the next day or two) I can put a lot more time and focus into getting this game moving again.

Apologies again for the delays.

Life happens, unfortunately.

Afternoon, dearies! I'm back from my final out-of-state trip (during which I forgot my laptop), so I'll be spending the next day or so catching up on the latest happenings before I post in the RP. Sorry for the holdup!

Here I am making excuses again.

Sorry for being lax in posting these last couple of days. I recently got an RPG of my own up and running over in the Bionicle RPG forum, so the initial startup process of that has been chewing up a lot of my time and motivation recently. 

It's ok, we all have our things that take up time.  Sonlong as you can spare a few minutes a day for  HFRPG things should be good.

Would the mekron villains be able to contact each other?  I know there was no post about them exchanging numbers for their comms or anything but it seems like something that would happen anyway, without need for a post about it.  I just wanted to make sure so I don't accidently metagame. Also, is there something like the internet that is easily accessed by people?

Hm, I'd imagine both the hero and villain teams might have some kind of localised comms to talk to each other on-world. And yeah, there's probably some kind of internet equivalent that characters can access. 

Do note that authorities may start tracking you by internet signals if they learn that you're active in the area, so be careful with your villain using the internet.

Need to put this up for approval now...

Name: Nimius' dropship.

Ship Size: Small

Pilots/PCs: Nimius Ardor

NPCs: Can hold the same amount of people as a standard Hero Factory dropship.

Communications: That of a standard Hero Factory dropship.

Navigation & Drive: Those of a standard Hero Factory dropship.

Weapons & Armor: Those of a standard Hero Factory dropship. There's a couple of light standard issue blasters in a compartment on the ship for emergencies. Its appearance is pretty much completely that of a normal drop ship, but scorched in places that indicates frantic removal of an old paint job.

Propulsion: That of a standard Hero Factory dropship.

Landing: That of a standard Hero Factory dropship.

Nimius' Dropship approved (1/3)

Approved 2/3.