I've done some searching but haven't been able to find a topic on this. Has anyone ever had to deal with their PCs being arrested? Particularly for a valid reason rather than something that's plot driven.

How did you handle it? Assuming the PC(s) can't or won't escape, what's the next step?

Taking it a step back, how can players approach interactions with honorable law enforcement that doesn't involve murder?

Yep. Guilty as charged. ?

When on an illicit mission, the party got sighted, cornered, and had a chance to surrender to the local authorities. They were led before a magistrate, sentenced to life in a dungeon, and it turned into an attempt at "The Great Escape" thereafter. Of course, being escapees, the party members couldn't show their (unmodified) faces in that area anymore. Such was in a fantasy campaign.

I handled it as I just indicated. If they can't or won't escape? Then there is a problem. I'd say this could be the end of the current campaign. Perhaps a couple of new characters could try to break the original party from jail/prison colony/detention camp or whatever. If the just punishment isn't death, or life imprisonment, but 'only' months or years, the campaign could develop the plot without the characters being able to interfere. Setbacks, coups that could have been prevented, and what not. I see opportunities instead of difficulties here. ?

I don't really understand your last question. The players should probably approach interactions as they would any social interaction in the game? With thought and tact? Roleplay it to the point where they might immediately prove their innocence, or where they realize they can't fight circumstances and surrender?

It's not going to be a common solution, but for minor crimes, it might be best to just let them serve their time and pick back up with a few months or even a couple of years of time served off-screen.

My thoughts on this are that consequences should follow any behavior that is a) illegal and b) noticed. I would also say that you should be free with reminders that the PCs are not the center of the Galaxy, just where the camera is most of the time.

Having said that, I think the story of what happens to them when they get captured by law enforcement can go a lot of ways. They can easily make their situation worse by escalating murderous or vile behavior while in custody. The law enforcement or government forces that have them would certainly either put them in more restrictive confinement or execute them.

I would say that if their goal is to escape you should try and make that possible. You can also do the Dirty Dozen thing and have the authorities recognize the PCs capabilities and have them released on the condition they serve the arresting entity for a specific mission or term.

Couple of options as I see it.

First, whether being arrested was originally a plot point, now that it's reared its head it kind of becomes one and you sort of have to deal with it in some fashion or you have a whole session where your players sit around "doing time", and like doing real time, that's rarely fun.

First option.... swipe the scene. If they refuse to participate in a breakout or have no Intentions of doing so, just move on. Fast forward to the end of their sentence and get back on track, with all the repercussions that might entail.

Second and related option. Obligation.... in eote everyone owes someone. Have a local crime Lord or "honest" business man post their bail.... in exchange for them working off their debt

If you want, have the prison riot and force the players to get involved. if they help suppress the riot, maybe they get out early for good behaviour. If they side with the rioters.... see obligation above.

There are a number of options, but staying static in one place is a campaign death sentence.

1 hour ago, Xcapobl said:

I don't really understand your last question. The players should probably approach interactions as they would any social interaction in the game? With thought and tact? Roleplay it to the point where they might immediately prove their innocence, or where they realize they can't fight circumstances and surrender?

Interactions was maybe to light of a word. I mean if the cops show up to arrest the players, how can they escape without murdering clean cops (assuming that they are unable to successfully run away)?

1 hour ago, warchild1x said:

Second and related option. Obligation.... in eote everyone owes someone. Have a local crime Lord or "honest" business man post their bail.... in exchange for them working off their debt

The seed of my original question actually came from some thoughts about obligation. Specifically, what happens when the cops come calling because of that obligation. That led to the more general question about arrest.

So yeah, I could maybe convert that criminal obligation into debt or favor. As a general solution for arrest, I do like it. Let's them get out "legally" but still has a cost.

1 hour ago, warchild1x said:

There are a number of options, but staying static in one place is a campaign death sentence.

Unless it's one of those Far Horizons "Homestead" campaigns, which a prison colony could certainly lend itself to.

4 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

It's not going to be a common solution, but for minor crimes, it might be best to just let them serve their time and pick back up with a few months or even a couple of years of time served off-screen.

For anything short of Death-sentence or Life crimes, I totally support this.

Nothing wrong with fast-forwarding a few years and resuming.

Fines. Most Criminal Justice systems just wanna dispense with things quickly and clear case loads.

2 hours ago, Ghostofman said:

For anything short of Death-sentence or Life crimes, I totally support this.

Nothing wrong with fast-forwarding a few years and resuming.

Hey! It works in Trailer Park Boys.

5 hours ago, ddbrown30 said:

Interactions was maybe to light of a word. I mean if the cops show up to arrest the players, how can they escape without murdering clean cops (assuming that they are unable to successfully run away)?

Lots of different options, a lot depending on the campaign. If the "cops" are the town guard, the wizard might charm them into believing their innocence. If there are others they can put the blame on (within reason) the character might use social skills to bluff their way out of it in almost any setting. The imagination is really the only limit here. In one Shadowrun session, the Lonestar police force almost arrested the party when they were found on private property. One of the explosives expert character had planted a bomb in an empty building nearby, and through a cybernetic transmitter link that was activated; instant distraction no police force would dare ignore. Just simple examples, of course.

Ugh! My Players got two of their characters arrested recently.

They were "caught" trying to hire labor to install smuggling compartments on their ship. And yes. They hired the local law to do the install . . .

Story wise, fighting is a very bad option because they are scheduled to meet their contact the day after the arrest. So "blasting their way off of the planet" is going to be a non-starter.

As the GM I gave the PC's the option to bribe the arresting cops. (No go).

OKay.

My next thought is "Better call Saul." Hire a local lawyer. The sleazy desperate kind who knows who to bribe. Mind you the group is on a world that IS rife with corruption so . . . corrupt options are on the table.

Or just hire a local lawyer to make their case. (Some have already cited the "fines" option for lesser infractions like the one my players are accused of). And a good lawyer should be worth their rate, earning a slap on the wrist with 'time served.'

Prison Break! It could happen.

<edited for spoilers> GaHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can hardly wait to be able to reveal this one.

Don't want to pay the fine? Are you dead set (no pun intended) on serving the time? Do you have a backup character handy?

We also have some force sensitive acolytes who may be able to do some hand waving.

We also have a sensitive force wielder who may be able to get similar results with a different type of hand waving. Brute force that is.

But mostly I'm going to see what the players come up with. It ought to be interesting.

It's funny that way. As soon as one even suggests a character part with money for a favour, most of them clam up harder then fort knox. As if losing an arm is preferable to losing cash. XD All the best ventures requires a stake in before the reward is received.

20 hours ago, ddbrown30 said:

Interactions was maybe to light of a word. I mean if the cops show up to arrest the players, how can they escape without murdering clean cops (assuming that they are unable to successfully run away)?

In Star Wars lots of weapons have a stun setting. While adding "Resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement" won't look good on their rap sheet if they get caught again in the future, there are non-lethal fighting options in this setting.

If they go this route the first time, then maybe the second time the officers are allowed to use lethal force to try to bring them in.

If using Obligation, remember it's a meta-currency used for buying your way out of situations just like this. The GM sets the cost, the player and GM work out which flavor of Obligation fits, and getting out of prison fades into the background to be replaced with adventuring and dealing with the new Obligation.

As an aside, I happened to be reading Scum and Villainy, which is a source book for the D20 Saga Edition. Starting on page 100, they have a breakdown of law enforcement rules, all the way from the call for help to incarceration. It's the typical simulationist stuff that's common to D20, but it's still useful.

As a second aside, I would definitely recommend grabbing a copy of Scum and Villainy if you can manage to find a copy. It's a great resource for fringe campaigns.

20 hours ago, Mark Caliber said:

Ugh! My Players got two of their characters arrested recently.

They were "caught" trying to hire  labor to install  smu  ggling compartments  on th  eir shi  p.  And yes. They hired the local law to do the install . . .

This is the perfect opportunity. The local magistrate, tired of dealing with smugglers and their ability to sniff out an undercover officer has had his men step up to install the compartments so that they could arrest and wrangle some folks into helping them in exchange for the charges being dropped. If the players agree to help them break up a smuggling ring they'll make the charges go away, etc. BUT, it of course turns out the the same folks who the players were going to smuggle for are the ones that they're being used to arrest. Or perhaps it turns out that one of the smugglers is a friend of theirs, and now they have a hard choice to make. Maybe they discover that the ring is actually owned by the Hutts or Crimson Dawn and crossing them will put their lives on the line. Of course not crossing them would mean turning on the authorities and becoming wanted criminals.

So many opportunities to put the characters between a rock and a hard place and keep the story going here. ?

On 10/3/2018 at 11:02 AM, ddbrown30 said:

I mean if the cops show up to arrest the players, how can they escape without murdering clean cops (assuming that they are unable to successfully run away)?

Is that really your problem? If the PCs want to murder their way out, it's on them, and they truly become outlaws. The only thing on the GM is making it clear what the consequences are, and maybe that will convince the PCs to switch their weapons to Stun.

And if they do get arrested, it's time for a prison breakout...

As said by multiple people here, just be prepared for your group to either submit or go out guns blazing. If either should happen, you can either let them do a prison break, or they can be released by a shady character who is doing it for a favor. (IE a Hut Lord gets them out because he want's them to go recover a macguffin for him, so they can either decline and stay in jail or accept and be forced to go do the mission). It just depends on what your group wants to do and what they see as fun.

23 hours ago, whafrog said:

Is that really your problem? If the PCs want to murder their way out, it's on them, and they truly become outlaws. The only thing on the GM is making it clear what the consequences are, and maybe that will convince the PCs to switch their weapons to Stun.

And if they do get arrested, it's time for a prison breakout...

Not so much a problem as a thought experiment. I've been reading through some adventures that touch on the possibility of arrest without discussing the solutions.

I would like to avoid putting my players in a situation where they feel like they have to be murderers just to keep playing, which is why I was looking for advice on how to handle it.

I don't understand that : " players in a situation where they feel like they have to be murderers just to keep playing, ".

For me it reads like your players think they can do whatever they want without facing any consequences, and if you try to to get their characters under arrest they'll feel compelled to kill everybody just to stay free so they could continue to play.

If i'm right then there's something wrong at your table.

59 minutes ago, WolfRider said:

I don't understand that : " players in a situation where they feel like they have to be murderers just to keep playing, ".

For me it reads like your players think they can do whatever they want without facing any consequences, and if you try to to get their characters under arrest they'll feel compelled to kill everybody just to stay free so they could continue to play.

If i'm right then there's something wrong at your table.

Player characters routinely engage in "adventures" that involve things we would consider illegal. If you play an AoR campaign then by the definition of the Imperial (ruling galactic body) your players are hardcore criminals who can be held without trial and summarily executed in the field. Yet nobody is going to stop and surrender just because Imperial Authorities come to arrest them, instead they're more likely to kill people.

The same applies for Edge of the Empire groups. Most of the time they don't even have the thin veneer of respectability that working for the alliance of the restoration of the republic would give. Instead they're just borderline criminals who routinely work for gangsters, rob criminals or hunt people (living or dead) for monetary compensation. They're as likely to surrender to an arrest warrant as they are likely to accept a mobster taking their ship in exchange for defaulting a debt.

FaD characters are the most likely to attempt to surrender, since they gain conflict from resorting to violence as well as murder. But if they have someone in the group with Influence they're likely to just roll some force die and then say that they're free to go since the arresting officer is convinced they're actually innocent. If that's not an option they're probably going to resort to violence, since being a force sensitive is one of the few things even more illegal than being a rebel. Being arrested means an execution or being sent to the inquisitors for training, and if they're likely to accept the latter option then they're probably going to refuse being arrested anyway.

Players rarely think they will be free of consequences. They do however quite often think they can outrun the long arm of the law, the galaxy is after all a big place.

On 10/3/2018 at 12:09 PM, ddbrown30 said:

The seed of my original question actually came from some thoughts about obligation. Specifically, what happens when the cops come calling because of that obligation. That led to the more general question about arrest. 

I think obligation really is your best and most thematic solution to this, but certainly not your only one. The core book states "Obligation is a power resource that may be spent and bargained with during the course of play. It gives the players an option beyond credits to obtain equipment and services they might otherwise be unable to acquire." (p309 under Managing Obligation Resources). I'd qualify "Freedom from imprisonment" as a service they might not be able to get any other way.

So If the group or a single PC gets arrested they get released but wrack up a new obligation which can come in a few different narrative forms depending on the severity and specifics of the crime:

1. They get released on their own recognizance, and get a 'bounty' obligation if/when they don't show up for trial. (this is basically *exactly* what bounty hunters do IRL: bring in criminals that jumped bail). Or they're simply released with a 'criminal' obligation that will make life a pain in the @$$.
2. A dirty cop doesn't book the charges and keeps the evidence of the crime to create a 'blackmail' obligation.
3. A local crime lord hires a 'fancy, big city' lawyer on behalf of the PC(s) at substantial expense, and to whom they now they owe a 'debt' obligation.
4. The PC can inform on other criminal activity they're aware of, or better yet were involved in, to create a 'betrayal' obligation.
5. This is a weird one, but some organization (Empire, Rebels, pirates, even local law-enforcement) could press-gang the party members into military service, creating a form of the 'dutybound' obligation. The 'dutybound' description on p39 explicitly describes a "legal [...] bind to an organization". A sheriff/marshal could even deputize one or more PCs to get them to help clear out some "real" local criminals.

As described above, you can make it a prison break adventure instead, but even then I'd think that would just rack up a larger criminal obligation.

The passage I quote above also states "Unless the characters frequently ignore opportunities to reduce their obligation, the GM cannot normally force the players to take on Obligation beyond the start. The choice must be theirs, as an exercise in risk vs. reward." And I have some mixed feelings about that. Most importantly, the players really should be involved in selected which of those options to choose, or to choose none of those options at all and not resolve the situation via taking obligation. On the other hand, yeah, a GM can't force players to take an obligation, but I also think if the players really make a mess of a situation and get arrested for major crimes and there are effectively no other options left other than taking obligation, then I don't see a problem with a GM saying "okay, what flavor of obligation do you want to use to get out of this". Also, if a character gets identified but not caught performing some illegal act, I think assigning a criminal obligation is perfectly fine. It's a housekeeping issue if nothing else to numerically track what crimes they're on the hook for.

Okay, I can discuss further now.

So last night we left at the cliff hanger of one of the PC's being arrested.

They went quietly were arraigned under the name of an alias. No worries. I think (as a GM) I see where this might be going . . .

The other players were eager to spring their fellow player especially since they were scheduled to meet their mission contact the very next morning. We can't wait!

So the other PC's try to talk their compatriot out of jail and . . . fail. They then call in the GMPC to 'fix' things. Dang it all! Deus Ex Machina?!? <sigh>

Unfortunately the GMPC succeeded on their charm roll and the prisoner was released on the ship Captain's recognizance with the stipulation that the prisoner show up in court the next morning. And since we had no way to communicate, the prisoner was released under their actual name . . . .

No worries. Defendant has a plan . . .

Next morning, very early the Defendant heads over to the police station with their slicer gear and attempts to modify their arrest record . . . and 1 Despair later . . . their records have already been transferred to the court house and are inaccessible.

So, the scrambled to the court house . . .

And one jacked up clearly corrupt court hearing later, the PC was pronounced guilty and sentenced with a $ 10,000 credit fine.

Fine.

The PC then used Force; Influence to convince the bailiff to let them go . . .

Quick! Leave the planet!

That reminds me. I need to note that "Silver" has a $ 10,000 credit judgement . . .