Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[GranFalloon]

My players are about to get themselves embroiled in some legal stuff. I've posted the summary of their latest exploits under Fathers' Day Special, or you can just check out my ever so fancy blog that only gets updated every few months.
http://carrotstickheroes.blogspot.com/2012/06/deadlands-fathers-day-special.html

In short, the group has defeated a Hellstromme Industries retrieval crew tracking a rogue automaton, and trying to leave no witnesses (the Daddy’s Boy one-sheet adventure). 5 of the 6 bad guys are alive, and one of the posse is being cut loose, because he's really just a murderous sonofagun. The plan is to turn them all in to the authorities, but I'm seeing some complications.

First off, Hellstromme Industries will likely try and make their lives very hard. The automaton is now self-aware, so HI is going to want it back, and as far as anyone knows, it's their legal property, even if haywire. So these thugs will probably walk after some money changes hands.

The PC, Jason Shaw, will also be interesting. Basically he tried to shoot a ten-year-old kid. The only witnesses were the kid, the rest of the posse, and the automaton. Shaw’s player was fully expecting to die at the hands of the automaton, seeing as how it inflicted three wounds on him with little trouble, and he was out of bennies, and his allies weren’t too interested in saving him at this point, but he survived. So his player seems to be okay with pretty much any fate that Shaw receives.

Of course, all this takes place in California, where the law is tenuous once you’re out of the major cities. The adventure took place a few hours North of Shan Fan, so kind of a grey area.

Depending how it goes, this may be my first adventure without a single attack roll being made (but, knowing my group, someone will try to shoot something, so I’m not holding my breath). The group hasn’t decided exactly how to proceed, but I’m okay with most outcomes. I’m just trying to figure out how to run this in a way that makes it interesting, but without bogging down the rest of the campaign. What kind of time frame are we likely looking at? Would they have to go to court in Shan Fan or some little podunk village? What sort of weird twists could I throw in for the search for lawyers, witnesses, that sort of thing? Should I just let them drag these folks to the sherriff, go off on another adventure, and then be called back in for the trial?

[ValhallaGH]

Smiling Jack's latest pod cast has a neat trial scene in it. It fills most of the second half. Take a listen and see what's relevant: http://podcast.smilingjacksbarandgrill.com/2012/05/28/episode-12-csisw/

Being in the Maze is actually the biggest complication. There are either too few or too many authorities to hand them over to. Who are they going to give custody to? How corrupt is that authority? How prone to a summary judgement and execution?
Part of this is up to the players, but most of it is up to you. You have to decide which authorities are available, what their attitudes are, and how much they care about a bunch of white folks trying to kill each other.

Being north of Shan Fan means that the major power groups are the Union, Iron Dragon, and the New Tomorrow Society. Oh, and the independent country of California, if you're near Sacramento. The Triads if they head to Shan Fan. Which ones are reasonably close, and which one is your posse likely to choose?
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[farik]

Have you considered Using the " Interlude" system from SW:D to handle the Perod between the current action and the trial?

[otherdoc]

The interesting thing here is that you do have a choice of who to turn these guys over to. If you go with Shan Fan, that means it'll go pretty much how the triad wants it to. Since the Shan Fan Triad opposes Kang's, they might want to let the Hellstromme guys go free as it would be less convenient for Iron Dragon.

Since you're north of Shan Fan, the only other realistic option I see here is if you want to trudge them all the way up to either Sacramento or Fort Lincoln (each of which could be in the neighborhood of 100 miles away depending on the posse's exact location) and let the Union handle it. They might be more interested in serving justice in this case (especially if Union Blue is at all disappointed about how well things have been going for Wasatch lately - this may vary depending on where you are in the timeline, though).

That's also assuming you don't want to just dump them in the Devil's Armpit or Gomorra and let fate sort it out.
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[catalac]

[Cutter XXIII]

Anyone with the Weird Science skill would know a self-aware automaton is a big deal. Then look at the powers involved. If Shan Fan is the closest major destination with readily available courts, your posse will likely head there. But that's as good as handing over the HI crew and automaton to the triads.

Considering Denver-Pacific and Iron Dragon run lines to Shan Fan, as opposed to the rival Wasatch line to Lost Angels, the triads might be interested in holding a trial to make the hangings of the HI crew "legal" before confiscating the hardware. The Social Conflict you use for the courtroom drama could be as devoted to convicting the HI operatives as it is to retaining possession of the automaton, lest it fall into the hands of one triad, be traded to another almost immediately, and so forth.

The whole sordid ordeal could give rise to affronts between triads and Rail Barons, leading to further intrigue, outright murder, and Maze Wars sea battles, with your posse in the midst of it all.
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Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

[Clash957]

Tangential but, if the lawmen the posse are turning over the outlaws to are corrupt this line:

"We give 'em a fair trial then we'll hang 'em."

I always love having the law state up front that their going have a neck tie party, but they'll go the the loops to make it seem nice and legal.
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Playing: Deadlands Noir, Planescape via D&D 4th ed
Running: Nothing at the moment

[GranFalloon]

Thanks for the thoughts, folks. I think my direction has been steered a bit.

The posse wants to try and protect the automaton. There are two Mad Scientists in the group, and they're intrigued at the robot's self-awareness. Currently, they suspect that a human spirit was accidentally stuck in the automaton, and they're trying to figure out how to boost his ability to communicate. It currently communicates by scratching letters in the dirt, but it's not especially literate. Having an automaton ally is also pretty nice.

Father Fergus, the party's Blessed, will want to make sure the bad guys do at least get a fair trial, though he intends to testify quite heavily against them.

And Samuel Kraeger is sort of a junior Agent for the Union, so I'll try to hint to him that he might want the Agency to get their hands on this Automaton, rather than let the Triads have it.

While it sounds like there may be some divided loyalties coming up, we're probably heading up to Sac-town. Which should be interesting, since some of the players live there. Of course, I'll leave the actual decision up to the players, but it looks like some folks may soon be singin' the Folsom Prison Blues. Folsom Prison, by the way, was completed in 1880, the same year The Flood takes place. Learn something new every day, right?

And of course, depending how harsh the sentencing is, Jason Shaw could be locked up until about 1935. I wonder if anything is happening around that time period...

[dstuffle]