I remember all three of these books having a pretty detailed discussion trials and the legal system GURPS 3/e FANTASY, GURPS 3/e TREDROY, and GURPS 4/e BANESTORM. Granted , BANESTORM recycles much of the earlier third edition Fantasy stuff - but there was just enough detail that I knew what would happen if my players crossed the line with local authorities.

Over the years I have been strangely blessed with players who DON'T tend to piss off the local authorities when they hit towns and villages - in both Futuristic and Fantasy settings. My usual group of players is a pretty smart bunch on average. They prefer shmoozing with local authorities whenever possible or using deception and guile to get things done instead of killing every town guard encountered.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Claudius;377373I for one liked it. I loved how belonging to the nobility gave you a higher bonus than being actually innocent.

It was fun, but rather crud.

Aces and Eights has a micro-game to handle trials.

The micro game is  a lot of fun when combined with role-playing and a PC's life is at stake.  Jury tampering. Lawyering up. Hanging Judges.

It's especially fun if a player steps in as the lawyer or as a witness on the stand.

Although it's tailored for the old west I think you could easily adapt it for modern era RPGS.

YOu can download the Jury Mat here: http://www.kenzerco.com/aces_n_eights/downloads.html

The Jury members are placed on the mat and then 'swayed' by the evidence/lawyers leaning toward guilt or innocence. Jury members enter the process with their own biases and so forth making it tougher to swing them one way or the other.

As a lawyer you want to sway as many jury members toward your side before they go into final deliberation.

Quote from: RPGPundit;377162Which RPGs have them, and how good are them?
I can think of only a few....

Judges Guild did this back in 1975 or 1976. I think it's in the City-State of the Invincible Overlord, and it's pretty well done overall.

Now that I think of it, Hackmaster also had one, with some very elaborate tables of crimes and levels of punishment.

RPGPundit

I seem to recall that GURPS had something along the lines of jury trials being Appearance contests between like the Defendant and the Plaintiff Attorney or something (it wasn't formal rules... I think it was an example of some kind)... I may be misremembering but I thought it was wonderfully cynical!

There's a good possibility I'm getting something wrong here, though.

Cheers,
-E.

Quote from: RPGPundit;378201Now that I think of it, Hackmaster also had one, with some very elaborate tables of crimes and levels of punishment.

RPGPundit

Doh!! And I wrote that section. Can't believe I actually forgot about them.

We'll most likely be dusting those off giving them some spit and polish for Advanced HackMaster btw.

Quote from: JollyRB;379254Doh!! And I wrote that section. Can't believe I actually forgot about them.

We'll most likely be dusting those off giving them some spit and polish for Advanced HackMaster btw.

Good stuff!

RPGPundit

FTL2248 (the most recent edition) has an extensive section on how to simulate court actions in any number of worlds.  It was a complex set of modifiers and a number of rolls to resolve.  It worked fairly well once you got really familiar with it.  It was okay when you weren't.

Quote from: MoonHunter;379448FTL2248 (the most recent edition) has an extensive section on how to simulate court actions in any number of worlds.  It was a complex set of modifiers and a number of rolls to resolve.  It worked fairly well once you got really familiar with it.  It was okay when you weren't.

I've never heard of this game.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;379668I've never heard of this game.

RPGPundit

It is one of the Tri-Tac System games published by Tri-Tac back in the day. it was originally published as two books... a player's guide and a GM book, and they had a neat dual-cover that formed one big picture when laid side-by side.

I played a bit of it back in high school, when my group went through a Tri-Tac system phase (Bureau 13, Rogue 417, Fringeworthy, Incursion, etc.).

It's OOP, but still available electronically.  Here's a link to its page, on one of the most eye-crushing websites in the game space.