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Weimann
2017-06-29, 06:28 AM
Does anyone know of any RPG explicitly set in a court of law? It seems like a fruitful setting for conflict that isn't normally dealt with in RPGs and that doesn't easily escalate into swords/guns/violence. It also seems to have interesting dichotomies to explore: personal circumstances vs common good, legal vs moral right, law vs politics and the list goes on.

There must be some Ace Attorney RPG out there, mustn't there?

Koo Rehtorb
2017-06-29, 07:10 AM
Sea Dracula.

Lacco
2017-06-29, 10:23 PM
What do you expect from such system? I am not very familiar with Ace Attorney, only courtroom drama from Matlock and the other guy...y'know, chubby with a cane...:smallbiggrin:

I do not know if there already is one...but I would suggest Fate and looking up/adapting Burning Wheel's Duel of Wits mechanics.

Give each case Aspects ("Unfriendly Jury"), Stress Track (Jury and Evidence) & Consequences. Rework skills a bit, maybe use the Duel of Wits mechanic for courtroom scenes. Fate will also allow other characters to help out (setting up "retrospect" scenes of DA's assistant questioning someone previously, etc. during the courtroom scene).

Still, it will be "Main Character and Supporting Characters" game...only if you give the cast several cases at once and limited time for preparation (e.g. each can have 2-3 scenes before start) it could work.

Still, sounds like interesting concept.

Fri
2017-06-30, 03:12 AM
Yeah, as much as I dislike recommending Fate for everything, Fate works here because its social combat work exactly the same (as complex or as simple, with the same stats) as physical combat, so you could just make a Fate Campaign that don't focus on physical combat but social combat instead.

I used to try to dabble in Exalted 2e, and I think there's complex social combat mechanic as well there, and I think you might be able to have a campaign revolving around exalted court combat instaed of physical combat, though I can't be sure on that since I never play it much and only dabbled.

I'm also pretty sure you could hack Apocalypse World for this, if an Apocalypse World for Phoenix Wright hasn't existed yet (I find there exist Apocalypse World hack for anything)

Vogie
2017-06-30, 11:32 AM
If your world is similar to KJ Parker's Colours in the Steel novel, then normal D&D is a court RPG... because in that universe, lawyers are fencers-at-law, and all trials are trials by combat.

Weimann
2017-07-01, 10:28 AM
Thanks for your comments! Cool ideas about Fate, as I've been wanting to try out Fate Accelerated for a while. This could be a nice theoretical application.

Like has been said, though, I'm a bit surprised there's no Apocalypse World option mentioned. This seems like something right up its alley.

Anonymouswizard
2017-07-01, 10:58 AM
If your world is similar to KJ Parker's Colours in the Steel novel, then normal D&D is a court RPG... because in that universe, lawyers are fencers-at-law, and all trials are trials by combat.

Might want something a little more duel based than that, in D&D it would resolve into 'I hit you and you hit me'.

I am vaguely planning an RPG set in royal courts, but that's more politics than law. It involves oddities like no HP at all but several reputation meters, duelling rules and army rules but nothing in between, and a system for spreading rumours (which is the primary way to affect reputations, although in person verbal duels are a secondary method). It's difficult to work out, there's no physical attributes, mental and social attributes are used for everything, and players have to both advance their agendas and avoid being disgraced at the same time (it's only semi-cooperative, players are expected to work against each other some of the time).

Jormengand
2017-07-01, 02:22 PM
I vaguely remember SIFRP's social combats as being a good mechanic you could steal, even if you're not actually in the SIF setting.

Fri
2017-07-02, 11:29 AM
Thanks for your comments! Cool ideas about Fate, as I've been wanting to try out Fate Accelerated for a while. This could be a nice theoretical application.

Like has been said, though, I'm a bit surprised there's no Apocalypse World option mentioned. This seems like something right up its alley.




I'm also pretty sure you could hack Apocalypse World for this, if an Apocalypse World for Phoenix Wright hasn't existed yet (I find there exist Apocalypse World hack for anything)

:smalltongue:

Weimann
2017-07-03, 05:51 AM
Okay, I guess it was mentioned. :smalltongue: I was more expressing my surprise that there wasn't already a finished Apocalypse World game, though.