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Old 01-11-2014, 12:27 PM   #1
JCurwen3
 
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Default Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

In a game I'm GMing, I want to include some courtroom drama. In one scenario, a PC will be on trial facing criminal charges, and will have a defense attorney; there will be a prosecutor, a jury, and a judge. In another, it will be a civil trial (a divorce proceeding), in which the PC and his lawyer will be duking it out with his NPC wife and her lawyer.

Social Engineering has a little bit of useful information regarding trials, influence rolls, and the role of various skills. I understand the central skills will be one or more specializations of Law.

I just don't have a clue how to play this out in a fun and engaging way... one where the player is participating in such things as opening and closing arguments, presentation of evidence, and other such "lawyer-ings". I don't want this just to be decided based on one or more dice rolls, and I also don't want, as the GM, to be doing all the talking, running the NPC lawyers and the judge, while the player just sort of sits there watching me roleplay an elaborate social interaction between these NPCs. The relevant skill rolls should be important - in fact, essential - to the outcomes, but rather than just one or so, I'd like the rolls to be spread out over the trials. Sort of how combat isn't resolved as one Quick Contest of combat skill, but rather gets resolved discrete action by action.

Any advice?
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Old 01-11-2014, 12:33 PM   #2
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

Givre him modifiers based on how well he talks, be generous and take his abilities into account of coures.
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Old 01-11-2014, 03:20 PM   #3
JCurwen3
 
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

​​The idea is I'd let the player play his own lawyer, as well as his character.

My starting thoughts:

1) Start with a base Lawyer template. Are there any good ones published?
2) Base skill of the lawyer on their rate. So the PC can find a really good lawyer and pay through the nose, or can get a cheap lawyer with lower skill (or court-appointed public defender that may have quite low skill).
(a) Cap max relevant skill(s) of lawyer based on their rate.
(b) Give character points to the player to build the lawyer based on their rate, to further flesh out the lawyer above and beyond the Lawyer template, within the constraints of the skill cap in (a).
3) Use Influence roll mechanics, and roll after each discrete action, having the attitude of the jury and the judge (separately) wax and wane based on results, ultimately ending in jury deliberation. The judge (and any antagonist lawyer) will be NPCs played by me; decisions about when the judge allows objections and such will be influenced by their Reactions.

I'm trying to figure out some good places to start for a relationship between a lawyer's rate and their max skill level / total points in useful areas. I like the idea of the player having at least some input in building the lawyer character, to represent that the PC could have "shopped around" for the best representative.

Defining some TDMs based on evidence (positive and negative), eloquence of character speaking, jury composition, judge, etc. seems a bit tricky.

I'm thinking of treating the lawyer character as a sort of NPC that the PC controls, but they're still more constrained than an actual PC. So the player will be forced to roleplay on occasion based on things like Reaction Rolls made by their lawyer character.

This is all just rambling and a very rough outline of my current ideas. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, especially pertaining to any of the issues above would be much appreciated!
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Old 01-11-2014, 10:34 PM   #4
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

The best way to play this out would be to have the PC be a lawyer, but that doesn't work mid campaign. I do like your idea. I think, instead of letting them make the lawyer, actually have them go and meet the lawyers (is they shop around) and once they find one they like, have them also roleplay the lawyer in court, telling the player what personality traits to keep in mind, and secretly make the rolls (or let the player make the rolls and keep results or modifiers hidden).
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Old 01-11-2014, 10:36 PM   #5
David Johansen
 
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

I actually wrote an article about that for The Guild Companion a few years back. I'll have to see if I can find it.
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Old 01-11-2014, 10:53 PM   #6
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

I started to try to work up something like that for GURPS Social Engineering, but I decided there wasn't adequate space. I could have done something for common law/adversarial trials, but there are other legal systems, and covering all of them would have eaten up space. It would make a good Pyramid article, maybe.

I would suggest starting out with the debate rules in GURPS Social Engineering. Modify the rolls according to the evidence for or against, maybe. Or allow supporting skill rolls against Interrogation to get good testimony. You could maybe even do contests of Interrogation to get the other side's witnesses to reveal evidence against the side that called them, or to make them look unbelievable.

I might also suggest looking at the rules on Manipulation to find ways to maneuver the witnesses into this, or the jury into believing your arguments. Propaganda or Psychology (Applied) could be relevant.

I'd try to set the trial up so that you went through a series of supporting rolls first, to represent the testimony of the witnesses, and then did the main skill roll at the end, with modifiers for all the testimony.

Bill Stoddard
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Old 01-11-2014, 10:58 PM   #7
David Johansen
 
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

AH! There it is! I love static manuever tables!

http://www.guildcompanion.com/scroll...derthelaw.html
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Old 01-13-2014, 01:15 PM   #8
JCurwen3
 
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I started to try to work up something like that for GURPS Social Engineering, but I decided there wasn't adequate space. I could have done something for common law/adversarial trials, but there are other legal systems, and covering all of them would have eaten up space. It would make a good Pyramid article, maybe.

I would suggest starting out with the debate rules in GURPS Social Engineering. Modify the rolls according to the evidence for or against, maybe. Or allow supporting skill rolls against Interrogation to get good testimony. You could maybe even do contests of Interrogation to get the other side's witnesses to reveal evidence against the side that called them, or to make them look unbelievable.

I might also suggest looking at the rules on Manipulation to find ways to maneuver the witnesses into this, or the jury into believing your arguments. Propaganda or Psychology (Applied) could be relevant.

I'd try to set the trial up so that you went through a series of supporting rolls first, to represent the testimony of the witnesses, and then did the main skill roll at the end, with modifiers for all the testimony.

Bill Stoddard
Thanks for the advice, the sections you mentioned will be very helpful. I also must say a Pyramid article about this would be very welcome!
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Originally Posted by David Johansen View Post
AH! There it is! I love static manuever tables!

http://www.guildcompanion.com/scroll...derthelaw.html
Thanks for this, I can see using some of the modifiers as inspiration, and it really is a great step by step process. Quite applicable to GURPS, with some tweaking.
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Old 01-13-2014, 01:35 PM   #9
JCurwen3
 
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

Oh, and if anyone was wondering, I did find a couple of good templates for lawyer characters, in both Mysteries and Horror.

I'm now trying to decide on how max skill levels in relevant Law and other skills will, on average, relate to the rate that the attorney will charge a client. This is an important logistical element because it will determine what quality of legal defense a PC will be able and willing to purchase.
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Old 01-13-2014, 11:30 PM   #10
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Default Re: Advice on Courtroom Drama Roleplaying

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Any advice?
IIRC, GURPS Cops has a little about handling courtroom conflicts. Maybe 1/6 or 1/4 page.
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