Law level in OTU

[apoc527]

Can someone explain to me how law level is supposed to actually work for a planet like Aramis? It almost seems like Travellers are barely allowed out of the star port, let alone any kind of adventuring.

It's also unclear to me if the PCs are able to buy anything on Aramis. I speak of The Traveller Adventure of course--the PCs are on Aramis and are supposed to "buy supplies" but it hardly seems like much is available with a law level of 6, despite the TL11 rating.

Am i missing something? I also can't tell what the PCs can legally carry around with them or what is supposed to happen if they get caught carrying slightly illegal weapons (handguns, not FGMPs).

Any advice from experienced Trav eller refs on handling law level would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Aramis' city (just one city) is underground, sealed off from a lethal surface atmosphere. Compromising the environment is likely to wipe out a large chunk of the inhabitants. There's even a mandatory 'air tax' in place, with everyone required to wear colour-coded bracelets to show they're in credit.

My take on the local law level is that the authorities really don't want heavily-armed people wandering around with enough off-world weaponry to blow a whacking great hole in the city's roof. It's not being 'funny' with the PCs, it's self-preservation...

 

[Golan2072]

Keep in mind that under the MGT rules (TMB pp.175-176), the actual list of items forbidden by the Law Level also depends on the government. For example, Civil-Service Bureaucracies only disallow weapons and drugs (but not, for example, info-tech), Impersonal Bureaucracies (Gov 9) disallow anything according to their law level, and Charismatic Dictatorships don't disallow any item or tech.

 

[Mytholder]

Keep in mind that under the MGT rules (TMB pp.175-176), the actual list of items forbidden by the Law Level also depends on the government. For example, Civil-Service Bureaucracies only disallow weapons and drugs (but not, for example, info-tech), Impersonal Bureaucracies (Gov 9) disallow anything according to their law level, and Charismatic Dictatorships don't disallow any item or tech.

Those aren't hard-and-fast rules, either, just the most likely interpretation.

The Classic Traveller rules only applied law level to weapons, and you should default to that when using the OTU. Really, though, the numeric law level is just an abstract value, and each world's legal system has its own quirks.

 

[rinku]

Law 6 in old book 3 terms is "all firearms except shotguns prohibited; openly carrying weapons frowned upon". This would equate to the situation here in Australia, or the United Kingdom. It might be possible to obtain special permits under special circumstances to use particular weapons, though random adventurer types would not be able to just walk up to the civic centre and get a permit.

Having said that, I expect the bit about equipping in Aramis refers mainly to non-weaponry items such as supplies, vehicles, camping equipment, hostile environment suits (and I'm sure THAT is an item easy to come by on Aramis!) etc.

 

[apoc527]

Thanks everyone, this has been REALLY helpful. The permit rules in CSC also helped out. Finally, if the actual starport is under Imperial law (law level 1 if I'm not mistaken) that means virtually anything goes inside the starport XT line as long as you have a permit for it?

 

[cbrunish]

The only problem I have with the law level situation in Traveller is it takes the feel of walking around with a blaster out. But I keep thinking of Han Solo in the bar at the begining of Star Wars. But that was also a frontier world which probably had a low law level.

 

[apoc527]

Yea, Tatooine is Law Level 2 at most.

 

[Golan2072]

According to the tables on pp.175-176 in the TMB, since Aramis has Gov 5 (IIRC), it would outlaw any TL9+ technology and any guns except for shotguns and stunners. But since this is the Classic-era OTU, the starport is probably Imperial territory with an effective Law Level of 1 or so, so possibly a lot of higher-tech to buy in the starport proper (but you can't take it with you outside of the starport and onto the planet in general).