travel liner responsiblities

[jasper]

Travel liner obligations
Situation
A member of crew tries to hijack the ship. You are now 4 parsecs off course. The passengers made it safely to the Star port. The current port is D and only gets a company ship once a month.
The ship while being patch up does not have the crew to fly. The survivors will have to recruit a new crew or hold in orbit until a replacement crew can be send.
What is the responsibility of the liner?
A. Let the passengers fly free to the original port of call.
B. Pay tickets to next trip off course.
C.

You can go to enworld and read the story hour Tukera Tour of terror for the first night game write up.

 

[Drakon]

It depends on the specific contract that is written on the ticket, and subject to the laws of the Empire (or whoever the local interstellar government is)

Well, that and, if they give the impression that they screwed the passengers over, regardless of the contract, the PR problem it would generate could adversly affect the line's health, i.e. its bottom line. They may have to go a bit beyond what the contract says.

At the very least the passengers have to be compensated for the of delay. They would be flown free of charge from where the liner stopped to its original destination. They may include a free ticket for later travel as part of a PR thing, to smooth over any hard feelings. Costs have to be looked at, and how much of a hit the liner company can absorb.

 

[aramis]

IMTU, it depends upon WHY the liner is off course.

if you misjumped due to crew error, crew is responsible for getting you back to either source (with refund) or destination (without refund). No personal losses covered due to lost time, unless a time-on-target clause is included.

Due to Hijack, the hijacker is liable for the whole ammount of the entire ship's return to course. Of course, this may be a tad difficult to obtain... and the line is obligated as above. Plus, the hijackers are liable for any personal injury and/or loss by all crew, the line, and the passengers.

If the hijack was a repo, instead, they passengers are SOL. they might be able to sue the line for cost of tickets and return travel... assuming the line still exists.

Due to enemy fire... IMOTrade usually sees to it that the passengers get where they're going. Not 1st class, of course, and assumes they used IMOT Travel Coupons to pay for passage.

 

[Straybow]

The travel line should have insurance of some sort to cover their own liabilities on passenger delivery for any causes other than war. Losses due to war are not insurable, but probably covered by contingency funds.

 

[jasper]

Thanks for the help. As it was the sole survior of the crew is currently in parking orbit above the planet of the system the pilot jump them into. The pilot punched in the wrong course and was going to help hijack the ship.
As it was the players "found" a ship repaired it to get into space, then the survivor paid them for the fuel refill and two jumps worth of low and middle passenger fees to get them back into friendly space where it would be the local rep of tour company problem.
Read the story hour on Enworld on what is happening
Suggestions are welcome since it now twice they have advanced the game two sessions in one.
Even with one of crew being arrested for felony assualt (they found out what happens when a 'gentle' living bulldozer tail slaps a human across a bar) and then misjumping.

 

[Drakon]

I think Aramis has made some interesting points. However, you have to look at the bottom line.

Regardless of why the ship was hijacked, misjumped, lost or shot at, the line has to insure the passengers and crew. While as a legal distinction, Aramis is correct, however as a business, it is bad news.

You got hijacked on one of our ships? The legal option is to tell your passengers to file lawsuits against the hijackers. The PR option is to handle it yourself, THEN bill (sue) the hijackers once they are caught.

If you are too much a jerk about such problems, soon your passengers will go elsewhere. While the line's legal liability may be limited, going beyond those minimum might be better business, and far more likely to keep passengers.

 

[aramis]

The bottom line is that any line with more than one off-course ship in a quadrant is, likely as not, going to lose passengers hand over fist...

off course means poorly crewed, poorly maintained, or poorly defended. It also menas at least two weeks lost to the passengers, if not more.

Even under TNE (most misjumps statistically), very few ships actually wind up off course (Most TNE mishaps are time errors, not off course, a smaller chunk are off course in target system). Under MT, it's routine.... so unless you use unrefined fuel, jump from within a planetary gravity well, or have exceptionally low skills, you don;t mishap... and unless doing two or more of those, you ony have a 1 in 12 chance of misjump on a mishap...

so, those lines having misjumps are doing things WRONG...

 

[jasper]

like having the pilot sell them out. Which is what happen imc. That the good doctor who release the a maddness combat drug didn't help. It also didn't help that all the characters mad their saving throws and most of npcs didn't. Grumple grumple grumple.
Also last game they misjumped in their new ship. luck was with and Squish only put them a day's travel off target.

 

[kaladorn]

First, the reponsibility of the *line* isn't the same as that of the *liner's surviving crew*. The Line has a corporate responsibility to see these people get where they are going and are compensated enough to keep them from saying terrible things to everyone and suing (if possible) the company. So, free tickets, a free ride, even cash compensation, all are possible.

But the *crew* have a first-off responsibility to see to the safety and security of their passengers. They have a responsibility to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible and to get in touch with their parent corporation as quickly as possible to get agents empowered to deal more fully with the situation on hand rapid-fast-quickly. In the meanwhile, free food, free drinks, careful oversight, having the doctor treat anyone who is showing signs of stress or upset due to the situation, etc.

 

[aramis]

Again, the amount of resposibility varies by circumstance...

although the crew has vastly different needs than the line.

A ship's Master (Captain, Owner Aboard, Coxswain) has, by naval tradition and statements from a variety of CT and MT sources, an obligation to protect the crew and passengers first, the ship second, and the cargo third. (Historically, passengers often rated as cargo pre-19th century...) As to which takes precedence, crew or passengers, most captains will favor the crew... even if the law says otherwise... IMTU, the IMOT and IMOJ regulations put the safety tiers a little more complexly:

1st) Sophont pasengers from crew action or ineptitude...
2d) Crew from Passengers and Cargo
3rd) Passengers from outside threats
4th) Survival of the ship
5th) Living Cargos
6th) Recoverability of the ship
7th) other cargos

If you've been attacked unprovoked by pirates while jumping and misjumped, that's one thing...

If you've misjumped due to bad op procs... you've already abrogated your responsibility to the passengers in the first place, and the ship's master should lose his ticket. The passengers have every right to be upset, and if the IMOT and/or IMOJ finds out, the crew have bigger problems than the passengers. Like beng able to avoid a prison planet...

If you've misjumped due to unforseen threats, like certain cargos, faulty repairs by external facility that didn't warning light, etc, you're not liable for getting them back, but might offer to take them to the original destination at reduced rate (IE, let them keep one or two of the usually 2-12 tickets IMOJ will award them), as IMOJ goes after the responsible parties...

aside from combat damage, under CT and MT, misjumps almost require active negligence by the crew... And under MT, only about 1 in 10 mishaps are misjumps of the "Off Course" variety... (1in 12 of the 2d6 mishaps, almost half of the 3d6 mishaps.)

 

[Drakon]

You've raised some very good points. However it gets complicated in the real world.

If you lose the ship, you lose the passengers, crew and cargo. So, in a kinda sorta kind of way, the ship has to come first. By protecting the ship, you protect everything else.

Also, again, I have to reinterate, regardless of the cause of the misjump of the off course variety, the liner is still going to be awful nice to their pissed off passengers. Passengers don't care about your problems. They got their own stuff to deal with. And as Captain, you are there solely to solve a problem they have, you are a means to an end. Failure to provide that end, regardless of the reason, is going to cheese off passengers, and you are going to lose business.

It may not be fair, or just or anything. But that does not matter. If they refuse to fly on your ship, you can't stop them.

 

[aramis]

Originally posted by Drakon:
You've raised some very good points. However it gets complicated in the real world.

If you lose the ship, you lose the passengers, crew and cargo. So, in a kinda sorta kind of way, the ship has to come first. By protecting the ship, you protect everything else.

Hardly... there are times when you abandon ship to save passengers and/or crew. For example: if the ship is suffering from a radiation leak... yu bundle everyone up, grab some batteries and a broadband broadbeam transmitter, tie everyone together, and leap... if the radiation would kill everyone before the ship could make it to safety.

Also, aside from the tramps, I can see no reason why the crew would EVER let irate and/or hostile passengers meet the captain. Vidmail him, maybe.

Real world, you don't get to tell the crew off, becuase then the crew has reason to lock you up; if you get huffy about it, they lock you up "For your own good", and put you off "For the safety of the ship" next port... and you may hav problems finding travel from there.

Now the exampel above, the captain should have shot the navigator,,, and IMTU, would have been justified.

Y'see, in a misjump, goal one: Keep people from panicking. So, you don't tell them until day 8... unless you don't have enough food for day 14, in whcih case, you tell them when you have to start rationing.

Goal 2: Keep them alive. Getting them to destination is unimportant for the crew. Keeping them alive is. (Criminal liability if they don't try to keep them alive.)

Goal 3: keep the ship from being destroyed. This is usually a non issue; either the ship's already toast, or it will exit jump relatively intact. Fuel rationing may be needed.

Goal 4: Get the ship back to route... this is usually a contractual obligation... as part of the mortage.

Goal 5: don't lose this batch fo potential repeat customers... usually a non-issue FOR THE CREW, as most people will make one round trip in their lives, perhaps 1 per year for those of soc 9-10. Those who travel often are NOT the "Normal Folk". (Most people have never travelled more than a week's distance from home, historically... in fact, few travelled more than a day's travel without religious reasons. then again, historically, most pre19th centurty people were serfs or peasants...)

And, given that under CT/MT, misjumps are usually signs of mal- and/or mis-feasance by the crew and/or line, well... they really aren't worth keeping... unless you're legally obligated too and the punishment is more expensive than the fix.

Heck, my PC's have refused to get back on board ships which misjumped... my players, however, aren't quite as realistic.

 

[Straybow]

I agree on that last. In CT proper maintenance and proper fuel = no misjumps. I never had one.

 

[Drakon]

Yes, there may be specific circumstances that demand abandoning the ship. However, especially in space, this is a last resort kind of action. And usually a "Hail Mary" kind of thing as well.

As for shooting the pilot or navagator, who programed a misjump on purpose, with the intent of hijacking the ship, yeah, you got to do it. First off, as crew, he has put the owners, the line, in liability for his actions. (If a lowly seaman boot discharges oil in the bay, who pays the fine? The Captain, even if its a naval vessle.) He needs to set an example for his actions.

But second, lets face it, he's a hijacker. That means he is a constant and potential threat to the passengers and remaining crew. If you are near some populated world with a high enough law level, then binding him and handing him over as soon as possible might be an option. In deep space, it very well may not be, and as Captain, you have to protect the ship, passengers and crew first. So the traitor gets a bullet.