Prisoner
 Prisoner |
Superiors: Warden
|
Department head:
No one!
Important: Just becuase you are in perma DOES NOT mean you are an antagonist. You are still bound by rule 1. Escaping without reason or a viable threat is reason enough to get talked to by the admins.
For some god forsaken reason, in a Space Station literally filled to the brim with opportunities, you've chosen to be the single job which has a severely constrained pool of options. Well, good for you! In fact, the Prisoner is one of the few roles which can actually work as intended for both new players and veterans, whilst still providing options for conflict.
Basic skills: Roleplay a bit, make up a backstory, converse with your fellow prisoner.
Advanced skills: Spark up a bit of action and conflict while you're at it! Keep Security on their toes.
Welcome to the Permabrig
This will be your home for most of the shift until you get parole or are dragged off by security at shift end or escape (as long as you get the green-light from ahelp). You spawn in here at round start, but will have to walk to security to be imprisoned if you join mid-shift. Depending on the station, there is usually a garden, a basketball hoop, a small laundromat, some sanitary facilities, plenty of dorm rooms, and a fully functioning cafeteria with arcade. There is some food, along with a Microwave in the kitchen, but don't expect Nanotrasen to provide much for you. After all, you ARE a criminal. If you are looking to cause some chaos, get creative with your surroundings to get some valuable crafting materials.
Ideally, since you are the single job without any duties or obligations, you should be making a backstory for yourself to keep yourself sane. If you're one of the poor saps who spawn in without a cellmate, well, no luck in having much fun.
The Case for New Players
Regardless of anything, however, a very strong case can be made for the Prisoner being the single most friendly job for a new player, even above Assistant.
- The role isn't timelocked, so you can just jump right in. Keep in mind that if you join mid-round, you will have to walk from the shuttle into security. Don't expect security or staff to take kindly to you wandering around as a registered prisoner.
- Like an Assistant, you have zero responsibilities whatsoever. But that doesn't mean you can't make some up for yourself to butter up the warden. Make some license plates and show them what a good boy you are.
- There's a good chance that your companion prisoners are experienced, and with nothing to do, they're usually open to showing you the ropes.
- By being in the Permabrig, you're actually protected from the outside station by the rest of the security department. Whilst wandering around as an Assistant, there's a chance that you're going to get shot or stabbed by a friendly roaming Traitor or converted into a Cultist or Revolutionary, which can be disorientating. In the permabrig, you have all the time in the world to learn the controls and the sort.
- Security usually leave you reasonably alone, since the station is probably already degenerating into chaos a couple minutes in. If they're super bored, they might poke you every so often, but you are OOC protected from getting your shit kicked in without reason. If you don't spark shit, Security has their hands tied in terms of tormenting you.
- As an Assistant, in the mayhem and chaos, you often forget that SS13 is actually a roleplaying game. By being chained in a room, roleplay actually ends up being one of the first things that you learn, which is great!
Spawning in
Spawning in as a prisoner is an unusual process. If you join at round-start, you will be where you are supposed to be and have everything you need to have to not get on the Warden's bad side. But if you join in after round-start, you will be on the shuttle as though you are a regular, law-abiding employee of NT. Security and everyone else will be notified of your arrival, so you usually have a small period of time to futz around and get to know the surroundings before you have to rush yourself to security. Don't expect an officer to greet you off the shuttle, but don't screw around on your way to prison.
Make sure to ask your heroic LEOs for a PDA and a headset (or even a station-bound radio). You do not spawn with either of these, and having these will keep you up-to-date on the latest cosmic horror casually snuffing out employees that are only two days away from retirement.
Finally, it isn't like the Prisoner role is devoid of action. You can, along with your fellow prisoners, engineer a jailbreak for example, only if given proper reasoning to. Breaking out because you've been alone for ten minutes isn't allowed, but an officer stealing all of your fun toys for themselves... Or, perhaps a virus happens to bolt open the permabrig for you. Or you can negotiate with a passing engineer through the medium of paper and pen to disassemble your cell windows. Or well, if Security has fallen to the cult or revolutionaries, you might be freed and converted. If this has happened, the station's probably fucked either way, so there's no fear of you being a liability.
If you decide that you do not want to be a prisoner anymore, bring up the possibility of Parole to the nearest officer that can hear you. Make sure that your backstory justifies parole even being a possibility for you. Parole is more likely if you make yourself a low-risk prisoner in for graffiti than a high-risk prisoner charged with genocide.
Things to Do
- Play cards.
- Mock the AI through the security cameras with a piece of paper.
- Watch as the AI hopelessly screeches at you through the Holopad.
- Grow plants.
- Dye your clothes so that you look like a hippie.
- Draw shitty drawings.
- Get to know your friends.
- Roleplay life in prison.
- Get parole and emulate your life as you try and adapt to living free.
- Get creative with the environment as you try and get materials for crafting your escape weapon.