Court martialling a PC

[ghosty]

One of the PCs really F'ed up and well the PC Captain not only chewed him out, the Captain decided to level charges and the matter has been referred to the Judge Advocate General.

The long and short of it is that the PC is now facing charges of negligently causing the death of another crewman. The evidence is actually quite strong but I would like to play out the court martial.

The whole problem is that I have to play judge and prosecutor and the jury...and as the only trained lawyer in the group it'll hardly be fair...any suggestions?

[Lancer]

No imediate solutions come to my mind, except maybe bringing in some "guest-player" for this occasion who would then take the part of the judge. That way both sides would really have to present their statements and evidence and you would have an impartial judge.

If that's not an option maybe on of the other players wasn't too involved in the going-on's and could take part of the burden of your shoulders.
If everybody involved understands that this is just roleplaying and not something to be taken personal, whatever comes of it, that could be possible.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

We've been down this road a couple of times. What works for us is to have each player take a role in the court-martial. One player will prosecute, another will defend. Then a group of three people (GM, co-GM, and one player who can be considered neutral) will retire to make a determination.

It actually works quite well, and has lead to some great role playing. Having your players run different characters, for the purpose of the court martial may also be worth considering.

[Lancer]

That's a nice idea. I'll have to try it out myself one day and maybe sooner than later.
In our last game (hostage rescue mission) one player went ahead and acting all on his own without informing anyone of what he was about to do. While it had more positive than negative consequences in the end he clearly broke several regulations and jeopardised the whole mission. I think a court-martial would be a very likely consequence for that character.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

I had one court martial episode, I chose to have the PC's defend their friend if they wished and if any of them wanted to, they could act as prosecutor.
Its actually a great episode and provides alot of opportunity for excellent roleplaying. Although my group usually always tries to use the "Chewbacca Defense"

[Commodore 2]

What's the Chrwbacca defense?

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Originally posted by Commodore 2
What's the Chrwbacca defense?

Hey, I was gonna ask that

[Evan van Eyk]

I would it make that way. Give the other players the role ( with a new character ) of the defenders - it could be two, e.g. so they can help their friend. Should one player be convinced of the other player's guilt give him the JAG lawyer. You then can play the judge. Should it be neccessary to play the JAG Officer for you yourself, do not worry it could be unfair because of your experience - I would assume that it makes the whole thing more fair, because you know what is allowed and what not. After all you can give the characters an edge with their skills - e.g. Persuasion and the like.
Make it a mixture. If a player argues well, do not weigh the roll to much. If you have a player who is not comfortable with that sort of thing, give it a chance to compensate that with skills - after all its only a game.

[Lancer]

Maybe it's something like: "If the Wookie doesn't like the verdict he usually bites of the prosecutors head"???

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Well when we've done this, after the actual trial phase has ended, the people playing the Court Martial board retire to a private room to discuss the findings. Each time we've done this, the discussiion of findings has actually gone on for about an hour. We'll usually base our findings on the evidence provided, and on how well both sides have argues their case. A really good argument, and a good presentation of the evidence will usually sway the findings. And it's important to give the person being court martialed a fair chance to make their case.

And most importantly, remember it's supposed to be fun

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Alright the "Chewbacca Defense" appeared on South Park on one of their many episodes. Basically, Chewy was there, and they started by saying;

-"This case doesn't make sense, the defense doesn't make any sense..."

Basically nothing makes sense and Chewy is mentioned many times in the monologue. It culminates in all the surprise witnesses coming back to the stand for further cross-examination. One of my players knows it by heart and he always uses it when things look bleak.

If he was here he could give you a complete run-down of the Chewbacca Defense, but I don't know it by heart.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, a South Park reference.

Well that makes some vague sort of sense now

[ghosty]

Actually the problem is that the group is too small for any fair distribution of court room duties without someone ending up cross-examining himself...

I would like to play this out but the numbers just don't allow it.

The evidence is sufficient to convict the PC of all the charges and specifications which would put him in a penal colony for some years...I'm inclined to tell the PC to plead guilty and maybe we can make a deal with the prosecution. But whether he can remain on active duty even if he does make a deal depends on the Captain and well she's not too thrilled about keeping someone who killed two crewmen through negligence and dereliction of duty.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

You haven't heard the half of it Capt.Hunter, after a while they infuriated the judges and the prosecution so much that a riot started after one of them made a comment on the resemblance of Wookies to some of the judges!

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

I'll have the remember that the next time one of my more bone-headed players gets themselves up in front of a court martial.

A South Park meets Star Trek trial could be fairly amusing

Then again, maybe not........