RP/MM 1619 Tharkad Turn 43. [Complete].

[Daemonknight]

The hallways were choked with gunsmoke and the acrid stench of burnt ozone from energy weapons. The walls were bloodstained and pockmarked by weapons discharge. Throughout the chaos of battle, the throne room of the Archon remained silent. There were a handfull of bodyguards barring entrance to the room from the outside, but a lone figure, clad in the regal attire of the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth stood defiantly within the room.

The figure stood motionless. He held no fear for what came next, his life had been forfeit for quite some time. He had but one last role to play.


The gunfire got steadily louder, the last remnants of Archon Kelswa-Steiner's bodyguards falling just outside the doors.
"He's in here boys. Let's collect that payday!" 6 men in the uniforms of the Tharkad Martyrs burst into the room, sweeping out to ensure no military men were preparing to ambush them. They were somewhat confused when all that greeted them was the nearly empty meeting hall, and the lone figure standing unafraid before them.

Star Captain Jaime Reinhardt of Clan Jade Falcon, bondsman of ilKhan Diana Pryde, smiled at the soldiers bursting into the room. He glanced at the Archon's attire he wore.
"I'm sorry, were you boys expecting someone else here today? The Archon was kind enough to allow me to borrow a few of his things. I can't imagine trying to boost out to the jump point wearing this lot." His unfriendly smile turned into a predatory grin as walked twords the door, the knuckles of his right hand turned white from gripping his sword to tightly.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take up the offer of this Tanuyama fellow and remove myself from the building. You'll understand if I don't stay for the after-action festivities, won't you?" Reinhardt walked past the soldiers, but was keenly aware that he was alone on the planet. That contingency had been planned for also, even if the other players in the game were not wholly aware of it.

((Reinhardt leaves the Kaserne unless you attempt to stop him))

[august]

The eager grins of the half-dozen Martyrs turned to consternation, and then a collection of various sneers. As Jaime Reinhardt took his first step, his body was riddled with the offerings of several hundred automatic rounds. As his mutilated body collapsed to the floor, a young and attractive private, seeming almost feminine despite his uniform, approached only to spit on the corpse.

"This is Leutnant Urrens. Looks like Robert took refuge with the Jade Falcons - he's not in the Kazerne. Other objectives have been met - Estates Delegates neutralized."

(GM Note: The text in orange is temporarily suspended pending game mechanical resolution. Please see my ruling in the next post.)

[Dave Baughman]

Ruling

OOC Note: As this is the second time a situation along these lines has come up, the text of this ruling will be added to the rules thread effective immediately to avoid any further complications. Jamie, who is a recurring POV character, meets the threshold to qualify as a VIP, so while he is "In the Power" of Arc-Royal, he is entitled to make an effort at escape. If he fails to prevent you from attacking him (i.e. if you win initiative against him), you may restore your previous orange-flagged RP (presuming he dies -- see the update to the personal combat rules that will be going up in a second regarding gunplay).


Characters and VIPs

Players may create an unlimited number of characters from their faction to use as narrative devices. Characters may be canon characters, or they may be non-canon; other than the advantage of the notoriety and availability of background information for canon characters, they have no special game mechanical advantage over non-canon player-created characters.

Characters broadly fall into two categories: normal characters and VIPs.

Normal Characters are 'ordinary individuals' created for narrative purposes. Normal chracters are entitled to slightly less built-in rules protection then VIPs but otherwise function in the same manner.

VIPs are particularly important characters who have additional protections under the rules in order to ensure that they cannot be effortlessly killed. To qualify as a VIP, a character must be one of the following:

• A military official in command of a "line item" on the faction's orders sheet.
• A government official who is either head of government, head of a government ministry or department, or the administrator of a planetary or larger region.
• Any character who has become a recurring POV character (i.e. featured in multiple threads or in a large number of posts within a faction's IC roleplaying thread).

At this time, the definitions of VIP characters are somewhat vague. Players are expected to use discretion when declaring VIP status in borderline cases; if this becomes a problem, the GM team will develop explicit, concrete rules and require the tracking of VIPs (an added level of paperwork we are hoping to avoid).


Movement of Characters

Characters of any type may choose to "hitch a ride" on any of their faction's units or any unit of another faction (only with permission in the latter case).
Characters may move on their own up to five hexes per turn.
VIPs may move up to the maximum command circuit distance their parent faction is able to create. This option does not incur command circuit expenses.

The movement of characters is not impeded by Offensive Interdiction, but is stopped by Blockades. Characters may attempt Blockade Running, but if the results indicate their take damage they are considered to be in the power of the blockading faction and may be injured or killed (see Injuring Characters, below).


Activities of Characters

Characters are narrative devices; by default they do not have any special game mechanical abilities - their purpose is to carry out roleplaying. This is an aspect of the rule that may be expanded upon in future revisions.


Injuring Characters

A player may injure or kill his or her own characters at will, as long as it does not involve forcing an adverse action on another player's characters. For example, a faction leader may choose for one of their characters to suffer a heart attack, die in a shuttle accident, or be bitten by a snake, but cannot arbitrarily decide that their character is stabbed to death by another faction's ambassador.

A player generally may not injure or kill another player's character's without that player's permission, unless that character is in their power. Exceptions to this are the game mechanical functions of Assassination, Kidnapping, and certain critical hit results.

A character is "in the power" of another player when:

• The character is on in an uncontested hex owned by the other player, and is not 'hidden' by Clandestine Movement or other game mechanical means.
• The character has been captured or kidnapped by game mechanical means, or by the agreement of the character's owner (such as when a character offers themselves up as a hostage).
• The character's owner explicitly places the character in a location that will be subject to a mass destruction attack such as orbital bombardment or a nuclear explosion.

In these situations, without the permission of the other player, the player who holds the character in their power may:

• Dictate specific injuries or even death for an helpless* character.
• Initiate individual combat with an non-VIP character.
• Attempt to initiate combat with a VIP character.

*A character is "helpless" if they are either physically restrained, held in confinement they lack the means to escape (i.e. in a jail cell or similar imprisonment), or lack the skills or physical condition neccessary to defend themselves (i.e. character has injuries that prevents them from attempting to fight for their life).

VIPs who are not helpless may avoid combat on a successful initiative roll. If they survive the first seven rolls of combat and are still not helpless, they may attempt another initiative roll to escape. Note that this does not allow a VIP to avoid game-mechanical effects such as Assassinations.

[Daemonknight]

well, August rolled a 9 to engage Jaime, so here we go.

[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 6, 4, total 10[/blockquote]