I am planning to DM an Eberron campaign that will feature legal intrigue plots, and so would like to know if you are aware of law related elements in Eberron. The only ones I know of are the fact that the Sivis house works with legal documents and offers legal services through their barristers, but certainly the fact that the nations have their independent judiciaries and that the house likely will charge a high fee makes the existence alternative barristers and lawyers necessary, as for instance shown in the shard axe novel. On the other hand, the sentinel marhals and dreadhold are related to law enforcement and punishnent, respectively, and embassies and the treaty of Thronehold have to do with international law. Do you have ideas on other aspects related to lawyers and legal thriller-style adventures? Thanks!
As a word of warning, I will tell you that most modern cop movies and TV shows have it totally wrong so I wouldn't look to those for inspiration on how things work internally.
What you can do for the players if you desire legal intrigue is embroil the characters in both criminal and civil investigations.
Since it's a fantasy game, either the players could be contracted as enforcement officers, hired to investigate a kidnapping, robbery or murder. Have your list of suspect NPC's prepared with various clues that give motive to each one but there should be some clue, (Obvious or subtle depending on how difficult you want to make things for the players.) which sets one apart from the others.
Let's say they catch the bad guy(s).
Their investigation is now scrutinized by a judge and/or jury along with attorneys for both the defense and prosecution.
I highly reccommend Joseph Wambaugh's book, "The Onion Field" the bulk of which takes place in a courtroom. While this book may seem "dated" it is an incredible read and the courtroom drama should make you want to tear your own teeth out.
From this you should fully understand just how long something can be dragged out in court & would make for some intense roleplaying sessions of you have the right group of players.
However, if they become easily bored with so little action, you may want to step things up a bit and throw in a judge or magistrate who after hearing a case, bangs his gavel and boldly announces, "Bring in the next guilty person!"
(There was a mayor who declared this in his court time & again back in the day.)
Make the judges, court officials and jury members quirky, have them fall asleep during the proceedings, shout out random thoughts during the trial and even have the players forced to live under witness protection which at first may seem glamorous but in reality is like being in custody. They are plagued by boredom, bad food and stoic guards who have little interest in being there to protect them when they could be doing something more interesting & productive.
Crooked cops (I have seen few in my career but it does happen.) crooked judges, (They're probably some of the worst sort of people considering the amount of power they have.) and attorneys who will do and say anything to win a case. All this can be added to the mix.
Acting as officers, the players will discover that most of what they do is very tedious. Tedium is the medium. (I just came up with that.) Every lead, clue and statement must be followed with nothing dismissed outright excpet for the most crackpot theories which come flooding their way. (In a fantasy world, even these should be given their due regard in my opinion.)
With the benefits of magic, some facts may be easier to obtain. (Spells like "speak with dead" and "locate object" come to mind if those even exist in Eberron and if the players have access to such arcane knowledge.)
As a DM, you would play the part of the defense and you could easily conjure up ancient laws which foil all the hard work the players have put in to bulding their case. (Look up some real laws that are still on the books and you will be surprised. Our town actually has a law against "servicing a mare on a public street" which is still in effect today and thankfully, I never had to write a summons for that particular violation.)
On the flip-side, if you want your players to be the suspects, you could have them become noticed by the local constabulary by violating some local ordinance in the city they're visiting. (Nothing too serious, just a misdemenaor which includes a fine. Servicing a mare on a public street comes to mind.)
At first, especially if they have loads of coin, they may only be midly annoyed or even amused at this as they pay off their fines rather than pay for the cost of a trial or spend time locked up.
However, as they continue to commit these violations, their funds could quickly become depleted.
One of the best misdemenaor violations I can think of is the carrying of weapons.
Again, I know nothing of Eberron but what I do know of most feudal systems is that commoners were forbidden from owning weapons. A peasant in feudal Japan would be immediately put to death if he was caught with so much as a knife.
Most adventurers, especially low to mid-level, are not even land owners, with players giving more value to hard currency and magic-items since those things give fuel to further dungeon explorations and level advancement in a sort of Catch 22.
In the Forgotten Realms, Storm Silverhand is a high-power NPC who gives counsel to powerful nobles and rulers of kingdoms when in reality, she only owns a small farm in Shadowdale.
Historically speaking, I doubt many farmers were ever invited to court to counsel with the king.
So you have this ragtag band of adventurers who have no land or permanent holdings and they suddenly find themselves going up against the full brunt of the judicial system.
I don't think many homeless people carrying swords would fair well in a courtroom today.
But this is fantasy and a lot is going to depend on how far you want to push things.
But let's say that these miscreants are now known to the authorities for their multiple violations of local laws and one night, they are involved in a tavern brawl. Let's say they defend themselves admirably and put a hurt on all who attacked them & are about to sit down for a celebratory ale when one of the serving wenches lets out with a bloodcurdling scream.
A man lies dead with a blade in the back. The dead man is recognized as Akastilan Greyspire, a local noble of some means, the mayor's son, the youngest son of the king or however high & hard you want to go with this, and he frequented this tavern so often that he was seen merely as a regular and not who & what he really was.
One of the players notices his blade is missing.
That's when the constables walk in.
Will they be arrested?
I should think so.
As they try & build their defense, you can have them victimized further by the endless bureaucracy which is the justice system. There are forms to fill out, witnesses to be rounded up, evidence to be gathered and examined and of course, other parties who are more interested in bleeding the players dry of all their funds rather than mounting any successful defense.
Will they have such a thing as bail in your Eberron?
Back in the day, jail was pretty much where one waited until one was executed.
The concept of jail as reform is a relatively modern idea comparatively speaking so the clock could be ticking.
Eberron could be very modernized in their approach to the invetigation and prosecution of crimes and from your descriptions, it certainly sounds like it is so this would give the players the time they need to prepare for their day in court.
You could limit the swordswinging since in all likelyhood, even of they were to be freed on bail, their weapons, magic-items & spell books would be stripped from them. So now they have to rely on their wits and whatever weapons they can improvise in case of a fight.
Months from now, I plan on running the Slave Lords series and the last module begins with the players as prisoners in the dungeons of the Slave Lords. I love the idea of the players stripped of all their goodies and having to fashion prison shanks and becomes involved with bullying guards and psychotic prisoners in order to effect their escape.
(Granted, they're Slave Lords so it won't be like a real prison but it's a chance to do something like that.)
Now let's say the players prove themselves innocent but the family of the victim demands restitution. After all, they may prove themselves innocent of the murder but that doesn't mean they get the bad guy. And of course a judge could see some civil liability on the characters since they DID take part in a tavern brawl (Multiple misdemeanor charges there.) And one of them had his weapon stolen and used to slay this man of substance. (They shouldn't have been openly carrying weapons in a tavern now should they? After all, they HAD been warned before.) The judge may very well order that the players pay a VERY stiff fine which includes resititution to the family for their part in the slaying of their loved one.
(Even though ultimately, his own family hired a contract killer to dispose of the little snot for whatever reasons. Money and/or jealousy are always good motivations for something as sinister as that.)
Whatever the case may be, it sounds like a neat idea for an adventure & a real test for the players since they will have to think and roleplay vs hack and slash in order to succeed.
Well done!
Hope I was of some help!
Dungeonmaster314
Hope I was of some help!
Dungeonmaster314
You certainly helped a lot! Thanks for your insights and ideas. I like the idea of making the PCs suffer as a result of judicial procedures, which reminds me of Kafka's great book entitled 'the Trial' (and how legal procedures and State prosecution, alegorically or literally ones, can stifle and destroy lives). On the other hand, spells such as speak with dead may not be used in Eberron, because churches as the Church of the Silver Flame frown upon that, deeming it contrary to their tenets (the Legacy of Wolves novel, if I recall correctly, says this). I research on public international law, and so your experience complements my theoretical international one. I have to admit that because of my background I'm inclined to deal with international crimes and diplomatic conflicts in the campaign, being both quite relevant in Eberron, the former because crimes committed during the last war can be prosecuted and offenders pursued by the Sentinel Marshals (who operate as a transnational force not bound by States) and the latter in multiple contexts. After a brief and shallow comparison with other campaign settings, I confirm that Eberron has highly developed legal systems and procedures, from what I gather (based on professional lawyers/barristers, regulations on use of force and annexation of territories, the existence of legal documents, transnational law enforcement, prisons for international criminals, law of treaties and international norms, etc.).
Thanks again!
Stay in touch and let me know how it goes!
Cheers!
Dungeonmaster314
Personally I would not wonder too much about the realism of TV shows. They are what they are for maximum entertainment. The players want to be entertained, so following the TV show mechanics including a prevelence of corrupt cops and judges, is not a bad idea ;)
One thing to remember is that in Eberron magic is more like a science and I feel that people would treat it as such at court. In fact, with the prevelence of magic to muddle eye witnesses or even force people to commit crimes the use of magic in evidence gathering is necessary. Of course, it is also good to remember that magic can be countered with magic much easier then science and that in that regards magic is much more a battle of resources then is true for science. After all, Object Reading is a first level ritual (which is about as reliable as a standard eye-witness report), but a ritual that prevents any scrying is somewhere in the paragon level.
Eberron is not feudal (at least not outside Karnath). The political landscape seems to be somewhat akin to late 19th century Europe. I suspect the court system is more akin to the UK than the USA with the biggest difference with the USA being that there is no true criminal law but all about precedence.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. I am not sure about Eberron's real-world legal parallels, because the fact that there are legal codes (the code of Galifar, for instance) may make it close to civil law/continental legal systems than to common law ones, and in fact the Galifar kingdom may have enacted it for reasons similar to those which led Napoleon to promote the French civil code. On the other hand, the situation in Breland vaguely reminds me of the English Civil War without the religious connotations but concerning the struggle between monarchy and parliament, and thus elements of the evolution of English rule of law and constitutional law are somehow present in the setting; and on top of that the international landscape is akin to both a 20th Century cold war scenario and a more contemporary one (international crimes and transnational law enforcement, regulations on the use of force and territory), while still some aspects are more related to the emergence of nation States, as happened with the weakening of the Holy Roman Empire and the emergence of Nation-States, similar to what happenes with the Treaty of Thronehold in a post-Galifar stage. Eberron is thus quite sui generis, but with interesting legal and diplomatic adventuring opportunities, especially when compared to other settings which emphasize aspects as trials without legal assistance or ordeal 'trials' (some FR fans point out to this). And about feudalism, I'm not sure, since the Eberron Campaign Setting mentions once or twice that the nations are feudal, yet education is widely available and thus the former aspect may be related to nobles being able to have their own armies but still owe allegiance to someone with higher hierarchy to a large extent. In any case, quite sui generis and unique.
Thanks again! and sorry if I make any English mistakes (Spanish is my mother tongue). Any comments by Mr. Keith Baker?
As you yourself concluded, Eberron is its own world with is own unique society. Karnath might be considered feudal in as far that the individual warlords have their own armies, swear fealty to the king and whose support the king needs to rule his nation. Other than that though I find it a bit unlikely to describe the setting as feudal. There is a large industry and as far as I can see a large middle class. The people are also described as being part of a nation, which has never been a big factor in feudal systems where your local lord was a lot more important than some far off king. In fact, the whole presence of a central code clashes with feudalism ;) It are these reasons that when simplifying matters to people not knowing the setting that I point to 19th century Europe. Industry, society, exploration and politics seem to fit that much better than other era's in RL history.
Note btw that I would not compare the current political situation of Khorvaire to the 20th century Cold War. It is much more akin to the tensions between the collonial European powers at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century with several wars that eventually lead to WW I. The potential conflict is not between two super powers, but between a handful powerful nations with no clear ideology seperating them.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. Someone just lent me the book on Sharn (the pdf version of which I will buy as soon as it is available), and it has a section on law and order that offers ideas about legal adventures and even includes rules for determining which lawyer wins a case (involving skill contests and modifiers). And the book on Stormreach also mentions that a gnome from Sivis therein studied international law when young.