GM-Signal in the sky! Need help reprimanding character

[selphil]

Hey all:

I need a little help with suggestions how to "reprimand" a character. Here's the situation:

In my current supers game, one of my players is playing Nikola Tesla -- he's time-traveled to our time. He's kinda like a steampunk gadgeteer.

One of the things he's done is created "wireless electricity" and has powered buildings in the downtown area of the city. As a natural response, the city's officials have given Tesla a "cease and desist", citing how the technology is unsafe/untested and how it's cutting into DWP profits.

The player refuses to cease the free power.

It's not a huge story point in the campaign, but what would the next step of the city administration? How would they reprimand the character? I'm also thinking that if they issue a lawsuit, the player will just ignore it. Anyone have any good ideas for this subplot?

And FYI -- there are no other superheroes in the city besides the PCs.

[Paragon]

If they issue a lawsuit and he ignores it, they'd send police to bring him in on a bench warrant. If he resists arrest, successfully, I'd have to ask what the other PCs are doing during this? If they're all willing to let him do his own thing while ignoring law enforcement, I think your campaign is taking a turn you need to talk to the players about on a meta level if its not what you want; my observation has been that otherwise, any in-game solutions will just turn into progressive escalation.

(Though at some point, if you had someone who's essentially put himself above the law, I'd expect NPC supers from elsewhere would come in to--reason--with him. But that's really just in the same escalation case.)

[freeclint]

Yeah, sue him (the regular power company should too).

The government will serve him (or try to) and might go so far as to try and neutralize his "free" power (think when they shut down the ghost holdy thingy in ghost busters, don't understand and don't care). Could lead to some cool feedback or build up type scenarios (and further warrants for his arrest).

If they have trouble serving or bringing him in voluntarily, use the free threat report for the Power Corps, paid for by the power company (who is losing big bucks) to bring him in.

Just some thoughts.

[Arkrite]

Rather than punish him for pulling a real idea Tesla had come up with you could proceed with what the others have suggested, cease & desists notices and threats to escalate to police and criminal charges

But...

Bring in an NPC from the government who sees Tesla's technology as a nessessary step towards the future. This new benifactor could set up a test location to help prove Tesla's technology, help him get it approved by the government, but it'll require time and effort to proceed with making Broadcast Engery available publicly.

This then gives the player a little pat on the shoulder for bringing the idea in, and now gives him a couple of new story hooks for later. I can't imagine that the power companies would like this technology too much, and the concept of electric cars that arn't reliant on batteries would send the oil companies into a frenzy.
Having them attempting to sabotage the testing site, the equipment, or even attempting to poison the innocent civilians who are testing the technology.
After all if this Broadcast Energy kills or hurts humans it would never be approved.
Failing that they might put out a bounty on Tesla hoping that a super villain might take him out before this technology can proceed.
Or they might try to steal it for themselves so they can reproduce the technology and benifit from it themselves.

Also the Benifactor might need assistance on occassion. The villains might realize taking him out would cripple the attempts to get Broadcast Energy accepted by the government.
Or maybe the Benifactor knows another guy in Tesla's situation who's had their equipment stolen, or has been kidnapped, or is the target of attacks.
Maybe the Benifactor has just offended to many energy companies with his extreme views (which arn't extreme but are costing them money), or has just made too many enemies in the government and bussiness and somebody wants him rubbed out.

Maybe that Mad Scientist they're fighting is just a guy who was trying to help out people like Tesla was trying to before people started trying to shut him down and sabotaging his work!

Honestly I don't think saying a flat out "no" in this situation is the best solution. Obviously the player is having fun with the concept and I wouldn't want to hurt that when it's not a huge deal in game terms.
Of course in a realistic world the Broadcast Energy would be shut down immediatly with threats of legal action and criminal charges appearing immediatly.
Of course this is a superhero game, so we can hand wave reality a little bit to keep things interesting.
This would allow him to still keep his Tesla concept intact, allow him to keep his technology in the world to help progress Science(!) (and let him have his fun) but allows you to keep the world realistic to a certain degree.

Also it never hurts to just talk to the player outside the game and hash it out with him. Tell him the truth, you don't want to hound him and you like the idea, but you're trying to keep the world realistic and people would try to shut it down. Ask him for suggestions on how to proceed. He might surprise you.

Just my two cents though.

[AVGN fan]

Well, why not have someone volunteer to run the tests to prove it is safe. I don't think it would be FUN for the players to do, but might be something for some NPCs to do. (Chance to introduce some new NPCs.)
AND you can have any kind of result you want. Maybe the CITY can switch over to wireless power, OR it does have problems. (Little: takes twice the energy that wires do. Big: Summons extra-dimensional electricity creatures.)

[Geremy]

Why I think all these suggestions are good, if you don't want it to be a major part of the game, you could have the city just keep sending threatening letters and never do anything about it. Witty social comentary and a solution. If the player takes this as a sign and begins... expanding his wireless power, you know it's something he's really into, and that you have to take a suggestion from one of the other posters.

[mrdent12]

The response depends alot on the setting. If the city officials are corrupt they might go with the lawsuit and send the cops if the lawsuit is ignored. If the city is really good they might work with the PC in the back ground, so it does not distract from the plot you had in mind, to get the power tested etc. The power solution can be added as a complication to the PC so that something with the broadcasting power station goes haywire and the PC has to deal with it at the same time of dealing with some other issue.

[Omega Girl]

You might also consider showing him that the city's concerns aren't entirely unwarranted and his new system actually could cause harm. He is, after all, using a very new and untested technology to shoot huge amounts of energy into the surrounding area.

Maybe there's no problem most of the time, but the technology amps up normal electrical storms into hellish super-storms. Huge, five-minute long arcs of lightning cause tons of damage to the city, destroy buildings, and start fires. Heck, it could even be a mystery at first where these super-storms are coming from.

Maybe the technology just breaks down or malfunctions in ways he didn't expect, causing the occasional explosions wherever there's a receiver. Or maybe it interacts strangely with other electrical devices brought into the area (annoying if its your smartphone, deadly if its your pacemaker).

Maybe the wireless electricity acts as a beacon for hostile aliens, extradimensional beings, or giant, godzilla-like sea monsters.

Or maybe the technology is causing cancer rates to skyrocket wherever its being used, causing a health epidemic over the next year or so (kind of dark, but also the most likely).

[XLS]

It might be wise to get to the bottom of the situation: why is the PC saying no? If it's out of principle-- "the people must have free wireless electricity, or they aren't free at all!" then he may have to deal with the consequences-- like the police confiscating the equipment, etc.

However, one might also ask why the city is objecting to this "gift". The city has to pay for its power, after all, and so it might enjoy having that expense taken care of. The power companies may object as free electricity may get in the way of its profits, but that's a different story. Well, or it could be a plot point (depending on the nature of your campaign)-- for instance, is the local power company giving bribes to city officials in exchange for their putting the kibosh on Tesla's invention? That's illegal, of course, and the PCs may want to investigate. Perhaps in the course of this investigation, they run into the local power company's new enforcer-- a giant robot, or a man in a battle suit (perhaps invented by one of Tesla's rivals who discovered Tesla's time machine (back in their original time) and traveled through it, etc., etc., etc.

[Thrincold]

Just to point out that this is in no way new or untested technology. The real Tesla used wireless, high frequency energy to power the lights in his own lab. Experiments like those were overshadowed by his 'death rays' and other crazier ideas and eventually lost when he died.

For your character though, may I ask, why is it a big issue? Is it a percieved danger? Have him point out Tesla's (his) work from then, or convince the player to work with the local government.

If you want them to escalate punishment, serve a warrant, when ignored send in the police, if they are resisted or ignored, have the city hire free lancer heros (mercs) as the next escalation. By that point the rest of the players should be taking sides and you can let them hash out how to handle it.

[XLS]

Just to point out that this is in no way new or untested technology. The real Tesla used wireless, high frequency energy to power the lights in his own lab.

But let's be clear: if it were entirely viable and efficient, we'd all be using it now, no? I think when the OP says "unsafe/untested" he's referring to the fact that as of today, the technology doesn't exist to power, say, a major urban settlement's city hall-- via an entirely wireless infrastructure.

A point I glossed over in my reply-- and I'm still not clear-- was if this PC's energy is free, or if his method of delivery isn't controlled by the power company. There's a difference, and that may guide how the game goes. If it's the former, then much of the above applies. But if it's the latter-- i.e. that the Tesla PC can power buildings and machines without wires, but that they still require some standard [e.g. coal, gas, etc.] power sources, then different problems emerge. Part of this is just story-telling, but I think it would be good to know where the PC is coming from, nevertheless.

[poodle]

there was an OK movie with Keanu reeves and Morgan Freeman where keanu creates free power. Might be a good source of ideas. If it works so well why hasn't someone else tried to steal it? I canunderstand tesla ignoring everything else but Geez free power! I'd steal it if I could.

[Unbeliever]

I agree w/ some posters. I'd make this a side plot. The powers that be are trying to shut it down to serve their own interests. Assuming the player is doing his job, it's certainly not insane for his character to think his role in the universe is more than punching bad guys. And, that part of that may be "helping" people in other ways. Is what he's doing illegal? Who knows? The answer is that it probably isn't. But, maybe he'll have to do deal w/ a smear campaign (there was a recent "This American Life" about this sort of thing in Pennsylvania, if you're looking for inspiration), deal w/ PR issues, and the like. His allies will likely get drawn into it.

How does Tesla fight back? He was not notoriously good at PR in real life, so maybe he's terrible at it in the game. Maybe Captain Impossible, his personable teammate will help out. Or, maybe the Captain doesn't want this trouble, as it's interfering w/ their plan to stop Doctor Xeon's death ray. Maybe Tesla will be annoyed that nuisance suits are haranguing him and keeping him from his research. Or, maybe he will see fighting back against a corrupt capitalist state as his next project.

It seems good grist for side plots to me ...

[imfarias]

Is what he's doing illegal? Who knows? The answer is that it probably isn't.

Actually, he's breaking a number of laws. You have to have a number of building permits to put up solar panels (proven, known technology) on your own property. He's using unregulated technology on downtown buildings, probably without the legal owner's permission, and exposing untold numbers of citizens to EM fields that have had no studies done on their long-term exposure effects.

I realize in a 4 color game (which Time Traveling Tesla sounds like) we forgive a lot of the heroes but you would not have to be a corrupt city official or power company guy to be frightened by this. Not to mention the people living/working in those building. Sure it's convenient but am I going to get cancer?

I agree with Unbeliever and the other posters, this is should only be a side plot, not interfering with other heroic escapades. But I think a neat roleplay experience here would be conveying to the players through this storyline that sometimes the things you guys do really scare the mere mortals.

[JThunder]

To really give the city that much more reason to want him to shut it down, have some tech oriented villain start trying to steal the technology... if property damage ensues, there's one more safety issue indirectly caused by his free power.