freakboy6117 Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Over in one of the authority threads we had a little off topic discussion on the modern desire to create new names for crimes like carjacking and date rape made me wonder in a world where super powers are relatively common what new crimes would come into being. Strictly speaking there is only about a dozen actual crimes all the many others are variations in severity application and combination of those Theft Assault Murder Rape Fraud Extortion Destruction/damage of property Public nuisances Kidnapping/wrongful imprisonment Smuggling Selling contraband Treason Possibly espionage Anyway have you come up with any good terms for super villain crimes, mental powers like mind control, mental torture etc especially seem ripe for new crimes with new names. The old chestnut of stealing WMD and threatening the city unless a ransom is met should really have a cool media friendly name like ‘Metrocide’? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Over in one of the authority threads we had a little off topic discussion on the modern desire to create new names for crimes like carjacking and date rape made me wonder in a world where super powers are relatively common what new crimes would come into being. Strictly speaking there is only about a dozen actual crimes all the many others are variations in severity application and combination of those Theft Assault Murder Rape Fraud Extortion Destruction/damage of property Public nuisances Kidnapping/wrongful imprisonment Smuggling Selling contraband Treason Possibly espionage Anyway have you come up with any good terms for super villain crimes, mental powers like mind control, mental torture etc especially seem ripe for new crimes with new names. The old chestnut of stealing WMD and threatening the city unless a ransom is met should really have a cool media friendly name like ‘Metrocide’? In mygame using mental powers has been dubbed things like "Mind Rape" "Psychic Assault" "Psi invasion" (for Unlawful Telepathy interrogation) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Theft "Vault Busting" or "Safejacking" for those Brick Villians that tend to rip the door off vaults and safes. Destruction/damage of property "Zonal Valdalism" since they seem to destroy large areas at a time. Kidnapping "Swoop & Snatch" for those that fly in, grab the victim, and fly away with them. Those are just off the top of my head. Can't think of any more right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterhawk Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: naming super crimes I can't remember if its mentioned in Champions, but we use "committed with superpowers" as a factor in sentencing, much like many states Hate Crime or Gun Statutes. So if Ogre breaks into a bank, slugs the guard, pulls the vault door off and obsconds with the money, when caught he would be charged with Assault with Superpowers, Armed Robbery with Superpowers, Destruction of Private Property with Superpowers, etc. I've also run some cop stuff ala Powers, and added an X to police call codes to indicate metahuman involvement. So a 187X would be a homicide involving a metahuman. As far as crimes that would emerge because of the presence of powers, haven't thought of a good street names for these: A brick who simply pulls an ATM from its moorings and punches a hole in the cashbox. Theft by telepathy: A quick mind scan gets PIN numbers, passwords, etc Unlawful Entry by Shapechange, Invisibility or Desolidification Rape by Proxy: When one participant is not actually "who they are", either via Shapeshift, Mind Control, Possession, etc. Its rape because the other participant is consenting to the person they think they are having sex with, rather than who it actually is. Got the idea from the "Small Potatoes" episode of X-Files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Over in one of the authority threads we had a little off topic discussion on the modern desire to create new names for crimes like carjacking and date rape made me wonder in a world where super powers are relatively common what new crimes would come into being. Strictly speaking there is only about a dozen actual crimes all the many others are variations in severity application and combination of those Theft Assault Murder Rape Fraud Extortion Destruction/damage of property Public nuisances Kidnapping/wrongful imprisonment Smuggling Selling contraband Treason Possibly espionage Anyway have you come up with any good terms for super villain crimes, mental powers like mind control, mental torture etc especially seem ripe for new crimes with new names. The old chestnut of stealing WMD and threatening the city unless a ransom is met should really have a cool media friendly name like ‘Metrocide’? Speciecide = killing a whole sentient species Planecide = destroying the whole biosphere of a planet containing a sentient species Cosmicide = destroying the whole Universe and/or all of its sentient life Omnicide = destroying the whole Omniverse and/or all of its sentient life (alternatively, killing all the known sentient life in the setting) Thus, Mechanon would be guilty of attempted human speciecide (since its well-known in 21st Century CU that humans are not the only sentient form of life). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Rape by Proxy: When one participant is not actually "who they are", either via Shapeshift, Mind Control, Possession, etc. Its rape because the other participant is consenting to the person they think they are having sex with, rather than who it actually is. Got the idea from the "Small Potatoes" episode of X-Files. Something like that is actually already acknowledged in RL legal codes, as "rape by disguise" when you committ rape by adopting a false identity (classic case is when you enter a darkened bedroom and you act being the real partner of the person that welcomes you). I wouldn't wish to be prosecutor bringing such a case in court, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: naming super crimes ON I remember catching on was "Blazing"...assault with an energy beam, usually as an accidental injury....named after Blazer the hero who constantly blasted innocent bystanders..."Shes filing a suit alleging blazing" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexraccoon Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Anyway have you come up with any good terms for super villain crimes, mental powers like mind control, mental torture etc especially seem ripe for new crimes with new names. The old chestnut of stealing WMD and threatening the city unless a ransom is met should really have a cool media friendly name like ‘Metrocide’? You dont need new names or crimes all you need is a little imagination and creative use of the existing criminal codes. Take your city of one million inhabitants, when the villian is captured he gets charged with one million counts of extortion, conspiracy to committ murder etc. If all sentences run one after the other then hes going away for a very long time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Might need a new law for "Nonconsensual Transformation," that is, turning somebody into something else without their consent. Severity would depend on how permanent and how disabling the transformation is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbsousa Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Use of Real Estate as a Deadly Weapon Global Extortion ("one million dollars!") Extraplanar Flight to avoid Prosecution Planar Immigration Violation (There should be a Bureau of Planar Immigration, whose job it is to "deport" demons) Precognitive Stock Trading/Gambling ESP-ionage X-Ray Peeping Hypno-fraud Un-murder (making someone undead) OGRE Violation (Operating a Giant Robot Extra-legally) Resurrection Tax Fraud ("pulling a Jean Grey") Conspiracy to create and/or execute a death trap HENCHMAN Act Violation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted August 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: naming super crimes ooo i like the OGRE violation alexracoon yeah i know most of these crimmes can be dealt with with existing criminal codes but the media and the public are likely to stick a new designation on them as a shorthand for these unusual crimes to differentiate them from mundane crimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperion Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Planar Immigration Violation (There should be a Bureau of Planar Immigration' date=' whose job it is to "deport" demons)[/quote'] I wonder why this job could not fall upon a special division of the INS. Their job is to stop people from entering the U.S.A. from places outside the country. Extraplanar beings would simply be beings from outside the country and treated accordingly. Those that possess abilities that make holding them in a conventional cell not practical or that they could easily get out of could be put into prisons that were designed to contain super villains until their deport date arrives. That does not require making a special division of the government, only using the ones that are currently in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterhawk Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: naming super crimes HENCHMAN Act Violation That is a really cool idea. Any 'normal' comitting a criminal act in concert with a masked/superhuman criminal or aiding and/or abeting a masked/superhuman should have extra years tacked on. I'm totally stealing this one. This also reminded me of a law a friend of mine made up in a Dark Champs campaign...possesion of a grapnel line thrower by anyone other than a licensed mountain climber is a felony. Easy way to get those roof-running types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: naming super crimes ‘Metrocide’? Oh, dude, great name. I read a book called "Metrophage" once. Although a villain with city-eating powers might be very large . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: naming super crimes I've also run some cop stuff ala Powers' date=' and added an X to police call codes to indicate metahuman involvement. So a 187X would be a homicide involving a metahuman.[/quote'] Another really good idea. I tend to think that using a superpower would be treated as an enhancement to sentencing, as put forth earlier. But an entire new crime -- one of the creepiest lines I ever read was from Cordwainer Smith's "Think Blue", where a sleeper ship full of people was taken over by criminals, " . . . and they invented new crimes, and performed them on each other . . . " IIRC. Most crimes are either destruction, or taking over the use of something without permission, without getting into the Pratchett crimes of "breaking and redecorating" and "whitemail". "Murder by proxy" where one mind-controls another to commit murder, would be new. Proving it would be very interesting. If you destroy a sentient robot that you own yourself, and built yourself, that would be a new crime -- not murder as currently defined, but destroying your own property isn't a crime. "Destruction of an individual sentience?" Use of transforms also creates new opportunities. If you buy lead, and transform it into gold, is it counterfeit? Or is it counterfeit only if it "heals"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: naming super crimes INS Division SIX special Immigration extra normal With a field team made up of A former priest who saw way too much whilst trying to council a family who believed their daughter was possessed. Still isn't sure which side the unusual abilities he acquired came from or even if there is a real difference between the sides anymore Billy Ray Jakes former unemployed Louisianan fertilizer technician abducted by aliens and upgraded into a gladiator managed to buy his freedom from the ring and returned home 20 years late losing his wife and family in the process. Very bigoted against extra terrestrials isn't happy about those alien folk pulling that crap on his planet. Al-izzz-ku-pah, a light blue skinned {covered with heavy foundation in the field} extra-dimensional princess with psionic powers and a selection of psionic weaponry. Still doesn’t understand why people find her name amusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Well, creating money out of thin air would be counterfeiting, but I don't see why creating valuables like gold would be illegal, so long as the stuff is permanent. As for henchmen, something to keep in mind is that I imagine most will plead out, since they, by definition, have a "big fish" linked to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Well, creating money out of thin air would be counterfeiting, but I don't see why creating valuables like gold would be illegal, so long as the stuff is permanent. As for henchmen, something to keep in mind is that I imagine most will plead out, since they, by definition, have a "big fish" linked to them. There used to be an act, long repealed, that did not allow Americans to own gold or silver bullion. If bullion could be created, such an act might be re-enacted, and all such precious metals bought by the government. I guess a new detect would be needed, "Detect Substance Transformed Into Gold". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Why, exactly?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted August 25, 2004 Report Share Posted August 25, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Why' date=' exactly??[/quote'] I'm positing that the Government would handle transformed gold as different from regular gold, either because of the danger that it might 'heal' and is therefor counterfeit, or because if you keep track of transformed gold, it wouldn't devalue real gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted August 25, 2004 Report Share Posted August 25, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Why would the government care, though?? Currency hasn't been linked to metals for decades. Besides, completely aside from gold and silver, there's also all kinds of metals and minerals valuable for stuff like electronics, that you could make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted August 25, 2004 Report Share Posted August 25, 2004 Re: naming super crimes Why would the government care, though?? Currency hasn't been linked to metals for decades. Besides, completely aside from gold and silver, there's also all kinds of metals and minerals valuable for stuff like electronics, that you could make. Oh, the government cares about all sorts of illogical things. Especially when there's a gold lobby. The thing about gold is, unlike diamonds, gold is easily workable, and while gold is often used in industries, especially electronics, there's no 'industrial grade' gold, as there is in diamonds. If you take a gold alloy, you can always separate the gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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