RP wise, they are very good for plot and story development.

Player wise, they are very long and tedious. And I have a theory that most people that play online RP fantasy games are on average quite intelligent, so it's hard for them to not contribute to the chaos that is a trial.

Couple suggestions to help DMs/Councilors and to speed the thing up.

1. Post the trial date, time, defendant and crime somewhere. Perhaps a locked thread by DMs informing us of this info. Maybe have the Herald make a sending every hour or somehing like that. Or do both. In a frontier type community, trials of this sort would be big news. If too many people want in, then that's a great RP situation to figure it out.

2. Have the Prosecutor present his case in these forums, and give the defendant time the chance to defend it here as well. You could even have the judge ask questions in the forum. DM call how much is in the forum and how much is in-game.

That would get the bulk of the time of the trial out of the way. Then ICly, after the trial starts, you can get right into the judge asking questions or go right to the sentencing phase, after some quick pretend *defendant Joe takes the stand, ....talks....defendant Joe goes back to his seat*

3. Anyone involved in the trial should get SOME XP. Just my opinion. If you sit there and do very little you are contributing to the RP. Especially if you participate subtly every once in a while. People that testify should also get SOME XP. Of course it's DM discretion as to how much.

4. Results of trial and/or time of stoning should also be posted in the forums, sending by Herald or on a bulletin board around town, or at least in Town Hall.

Just some suggestions to make what seems to be tough on the players and DMs go a bit easier....

Two things.

1) Trials often need to be handled on the spot, otherwise not all necessary parties and/ or DM are available.

2) Make it an ingame-goal, rather than posting it on the forums as a suggestion.

Gwydion 1. Post the trial date, time, defendant and crime somewhere. Perhaps a locked thread by DMs informing us of this info. Maybe have the Herald make a sending every hour or somehing like that. Or do both. In a frontier type community, trials of this sort would be big news. If too many people want in, then that's a great RP situation to figure it out.

Trials, particularly of adventurers who haven't even been in the city for half a year, aren't really "big news." Stonings are, and executions are indeed generally announced publically.

Whether or not a trial is announced, or open to the public, is entirely at the IC discretion of the judge. Experienced judges on the Council are well aware that having many heavily armed adventurers in the Courtroom during the trial of an adventurer can be a very bad thing. Experienced judges also know that they can order the Watch to kick out anybody who finds it too hard to not "contribute to the chaos that is a trial," and will do so regularly.

Gwydion 2. Have the Prosecutor present his case in these forums, and give the defendant time the chance to defend it here as well. You could even have the judge ask questions in the forum. DM call how much is in the forum and how much is in-game.

That would get the bulk of the time of the trial out of the way. Then ICly, after the trial starts, you can get right into the judge asking questions or go right to the sentencing phase, after some quick pretend *defendant Joe takes the stand, ....talks....defendant Joe goes back to his seat*

Handling the trials via the forums would be very bad for several reasons. It would be absolutely confusing for anybody watching events in-game. It would be rife with opportunities for OOC preparation and coordination, which is really terrible and unfair and to a certain extent goes on even now, with people sending Tells back and forth during trials to decide on their defense and make sure their stories match up. Finally, it would make trials drag on far longer than necessary. Since the suspect would have to be in jail the entire time, or otherwise prevented from logging on while the "forum trial" was taking place, it would mean less playtime and more forum paperwork. I suspect that this would actually be contrary to your stated objective of making trials less "long and tedious."

Gwydion 3. Anyone involved in the trial should get SOME XP. Just my opinion. If you sit there and do very little you are contributing to the RP. Especially if you participate subtly every once in a while. People that testify should also get SOME XP. Of course it's DM discretion as to how much.

I try to give out XP regularly to people at trials. It is not my highest priority. Generally I reserve it for people who deliver particularly eloquent and appropriate speeches. Simply grunting, smirking, clapping, or just sitting on a bench like a rock generally mean that you're less likely to receive XP than the main people involved.

Gwydion 4. Results of trial and/or time of stoning should also be posted in the forums, sending by Herald or on a bulletin board around town, or at least in Town Hall.

Trial results are posted to those people who would have reason to know about them. Again, this is really something you should pursue in-game rather than OOCly.

I echo what Arkov said, and emphasize that giving XP is not the top priority for DMs and if it -does- happen it should go to the players who role-play in a meaningful way and not just sit around on the benches (note, random emotes or interjections from the people on the benches is even worse, since it just clutters the screen).

If you don't enjoy them OOC'ly, don't go. I sure wish I didn't have to sometimes.

Forum work is definitely a bad idea, sendings would just clutter up the courtroom more I think (and take more time), and so on.

For my own trials, I do plan on keeping a tighter and more organized schedule, with time limits and the like for each side.

Hmmm, good responses.

I certainly don't have all the answers, and you guys due to your experience brought some things up I didn't think about due to my lack of.

And I appreciate the thoughtful, amicable tone of the responses to as opposed to one of "listen up, dumbass" coming through the words.

Not sure how I would have gone about this ICly, but I got the general gist of why it is what it is.

Thanks DMs.

Just out of interest, is there a designated time for my character's trial? Its been over a week now.

yes,

Craddoc would like to come and throw rat turds at him....

I'm sure Arto wouldn't mind killing Craddoc then animating him as his eternal slave, either :wink: