: Posted by Harley Cartee in USS Resolution NCC-74646 review
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: I am going to attempt to answer everyone's questions and concerns. In doing so, perhaps I will provide a few answers to the Command Problem - Solution format, so bear with me Dippy... :) I'll do my best.
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: Firstly, thank you for all the support. I was afraid in beginning this process that I would be the only member with an interest in this sort of sim. It's good to see that there are others who believe that this has merit.
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: Whoever said that creating an alt-rpg was easy, has never given it a serious try. I began this process more than half a year ago. Some of you may remember the discussion in command. I began with a simple question, was there any interest in a JAG ship? 'Measure of a Man' is my all time favorite ST episode and I wanted to bring the courtroom drama to the club. The consensus at the time was that it would not be feasible to create an entire ship solely for JAG missions. Pretty much everyone who commented agreed. But Gene suggested that perhaps the JAG aspect could be incorporated into a ship which would also take on diplomatic missions. So you can blame him for planting that seed in my head! :P
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: I had inquired of the previous administration about how to proceed, (I don't remember if I spoke with Andy or Brian) but I was told that I had to have an FComm and the entire command staff in place, and a complete charter, before the alt-rpg would be approved. I put my idea on the back burner for awhile, partly because of the holidays, partly because of real life, but mostly because I didn't want to go into this half-cocked. Believe me, I didn't just wake up one day and say "Oh, I think I'll create an alt-rpg today." The process actually frightened me somewhat. You guys can be very critical... as you should be when discussing new ideas... but I'm sensitive... lol.
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: Discussing it with Jen, she believed that we should see if there was support from the club before assigning the command staff, etc. and encouraged me to post the charter or at least start a discussion.
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: I do agree with Jack that there should be an alt-rpg approval process laid out. But, Jack, in my opinion, that would make the process even easier as much of my time was spent trying to figure out how to present an alt-rpg.
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: Terry, to answer some of your questions, yes, the ship would be akin to a traveling courtroom and would go where they are needed. It makes more sense to me to have a ship that could travel to federation planets, colonies, etc. where they could investigate the situation first hand, rather than transfer all witnesses and evidence to a starbase.
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: The CO of the JAG office would preside over a majority of cases. S/he could also appoint JAG JO's to preside over cases as needed. And as established in 'Measure of a Man' Commanding officers can be appointed in absence of JAG staff. Of course, the accused has the right to choose his defense counsel or accept the appointed one.
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: I believe that there is an opportunity here to create some interesting cross role-playing as suggested by Ty and Mike with his CO character. Cases could come from the GM or there might be an incident that happens on another ship that could be played out on the Rez. For example, a character of Linda's, her XO, shot and vaporized her CO who had been infected with a Vampire-like virus. Her character then left the ship for awhile for an official inquiry into the matter. At the time I thought how fun it would have been to actually play out the inquiry in character. The Resolution could be that forum. How this would work in practical terms remains to be seen. But that is the purpose of the trial period.
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: I incorporated Diplomacy into the idea to add variety to the sims. We can't be in court all the time, and the rest of the crew would need something to do. As for the rest of the crew, the GM would be responsible, as on all ships, to make sure that all departments are being utilized. But they could also join in the courtroom fun by investigating evidence, providing expert testimony, etc.
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: Jim, your question is something I've been thinking about for awhile. Of course some things are pretty simple. Murder is against the law...:D. But you are right. Our legal systems are as diverse as we are. How do we decide what is law, how to interpret the law, and what the punishments are for breaking the law? Writing a reference manual to include all of this for every crime or situation that may come up seems to me a nearly impossible undertaking. I must admit I do not have a solution for this problem at the moment. But I am open to ideas!
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: Even if this alt-rpg is approved, there is a chance it could fail. I'm not sure that we can avoid failed alt-rpg's, Jack. But again that is why we have a trial period. No one can know for sure if an alt-rpg will be successful until it is put to the test. Rpg areas like the Ogawa, OED V are great successes. Then we have the Scotty Testing Center and the 403rd Platoon that didn't work out. But I don't think any of us could have looked at these ideas in their formative stages and said with 100% certainty that 'this one will work and this one will fail.' We just don't know. But I think this one is worth giving a try.
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: I want to apologize for such a long post and thank those of you who have taken the time to read it. I hope I have addressed your concerns so far. Keep them coming! I have prepared myself for the backlash... I just hope I know what I've gotten myself into!!
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: -Harley

And really, even some of those ships, like the Scotty Testing Center, did work for some time before they didn't. I was unconvinced about a ship solely for JAG missions, but if that goes along with diplomatic missions, I think that just might be a good idea! Especially since this would not require the speccing of a new class of ship.

Kevin