Attorneys at Law

Whether it was your fault or not there are times when you just cant help but break the law. Those who do often end up on the wrong end of a rope but that doesnt have to happen to you. With the expert services of the lawyers at Dewy, Cheetem, and Howe you too can enjoy the freedom guaranteed to all men under the constitution of both the United and Confederate states. Put your defense team on retainer today and let us start defending you!

Everybody needs a lawyer at some point and these guys only employ the best. Well mostly anyway. You could defend yourself but we really wouldnt recommend it.

Heres how you can go about getting the best legal (or otherwise) defense possible.

Dewy, Cheetem, And Howe have regional offices in most major cities in the east and most of the ones in the west. If there isnt an office in your town the lawyers will travel to you by rail, stage or air if necessary. There are some other law firms that offer this service but DCH is the best.

Retaining the best legal defense on the continent is not cheap. Standard retainer fees start at $500 and go as high as $3,000 depending on the quality of lawyer you want. Then when you get arrested or put before a judge or are anticipating doing either just telegraph the nearest office and a lawyer will be dispatched to your case.

When your Lawyer arrives roll a 1d8 on the Lawyer types table to see just what kind of legal eagle they sent you. Every $500 past the original retainer lets you add +1 to your roll up to a max of +5.

1: Bad 5: Old Country
2: Drunk 6: Clean Marine
3:Unprepared 7: Slimy
4:Tinhorn 8:Good

Bad Lawyer: There isnt really bad in Lawyer but this one is horrible. He has some aura that judges hate and prosecutors love. Even if he wins youll still hang, of course on the bright side he’ll probably hang with you so it isn’t all-bad.
5 Mishaps, 4 Problems, 1 Trick
Professional: Lawyer 0d4, Bluff 1d4

Drunk Lawyer: He’s never won a case and lives in a bottle. On the plus side he’s Cheap. He may have a trick up his sleeve if you can work around the frequent trips to the bar.
3 Mishaps, 1 Trick, 2 Problems, 1 Defense
Professional: Lawyer 2d4, Overawe 1d6, Bluff 1d4

Unprepared Lawyer: He’s covered in paperwork and can’t find anything. If he does win your case it will be by accident.
2 Problems, 3 Mishaps, 1 Trick
Professional: Lawyer 1d6, Bluff 2d6

Tinhorn Lawyer: The words this boy uses will cost you more than his legal time. He uses more Latin than a courtyard full of statues. Though he may sound like a nitwit he has more fancy moves than a Russian chess master does.
2 Defenses, 2 Tricks, 1 Problem
Professional: Lawyer 4d6, Persuasion 4d4

Old Country Lawyer: Darn but he’s old! This guy was in the graduating class with Moses. He knows a thing or two about the law and may even be hunting buddies with the judge, just don’t let him nod off in court.
2 Tricks, 1 Mishap, 4 Defenses
Professional: Lawyer 6d10, Persuasion 4d8, Bluff 3d6

Clean Marine Lawyer: His teeth shine like a beacon and he looks like the angel of god but has all the scruples of the US army. He could be your best friend or the lawyer from hell depending on just how guilty you are.
1 Defense, 2 Tricks, 1 Mishap
Professional: Law 3d8, Persuasion 3d6, Overawe 3d10

Slimy Lawyer: He oozes under the door when he comes into a room. He looks like scum but will do anything to win. He’ll keep up the tricks until either you hang or the whole town quits in disgust. He may not have the best image but he doesn’t like to lose.
5 Defenses, 2 Tricks, 3 Problems
Professional: Law 2d12, Bluff 5d8, Persuasion 3d10

The Good Lawyer: The Good lawyer is not necessarily good in court. He’s just a nice guy. He won’t do anything underhanded or illegal but that means he won’t get caught doing those things either. Your choice, you can either be free and suspect or dead and innocent.
1 Problem, 1 Mishap, 3 Defenses
Professional: Law 4d12, Persuasion 2d10, Overawe 3d12

The Jury
Here’s how you handle the trial itself. First you need to know how much of the jury is with you and how many want to hang you and get back to life. Roll a d12, this is the percent of the jury that are currently against you this is called the jury number. The Marshal may feel free to modify this roll if the posse has any points of enemy, wanted, outlaw, renown, or legend chips. In the end you need to have at least three fourths of the jury on your side or you suffer the consequences of your crime as listed in Lawdogs.

The Trial
During the trial the Problems, Mishaps, Tricks, and Defenses that your lawyer has all come into play.

Tricks 1d10
1: Plant Evidence- Make a Bluff roll TN 5
Add +3 to your next Professional: Law Lawyer roll.
Just like it sounds, Your Lawyer plants some fake evidence to help clear your name.

2: Bribe Witness- Your lawyer bribes someone to lie for you. This one will cost you a little dough and a persuasion TN 7 toll. Subtract –3 plus another –2 for each raise to the next roll made by the Prosecution. 7: Accuse Someone Famous- Bluff TN 3 +2 for each point of renown difference between your posse and the target outlaw.
If you succeed add +5 to your next jury persuasion.
Everybody knows this is the work of the Boston Strangler.

3: Know The Judge- Tn3 Persuasion reduces the TN for all professional Lawyer Rolls by 1
He’s an old Hunting Buddy. 8: Change Of Venue- Persuasion TN 11
If it works, get the hell out of dodge while you can. You gain a 1 point outlaw hindrance if you do, If you go to the next venue reduce the jury number by –3.
The jury here is biased can we move the trial to the next county?

4: Blackmail The Judge- TN 11 Overawe
The next time the judge would make a ruling against you he instead makes it in your favor.
He has skeletons in his closet just like everybody else. 9: Sway the Jury- Persuasion TN 7 + the current Jury number.
The same as another jury persuasion. Just harder in the middle of a trial.
I’ll just be real persuasive.

5: Out Lawyer the Lawyer- Professional Lawyer opposed roll against the Prosecution to always has a skill of 5 unless otherwise stated. Negate one Professional: Law roll made by the Prosecution.
He’ll never know what hit him. 10: No Contest- Bluff TN 15
Don’t worry nobody ever makes this one.
The trick to this is no judge expects somebody to accept the charges, most times you can just walk out while they are still stunned.

6: Plea Bargain- Persuasion TN 9
Reduce the charges by one step for each raise.
We’ll take A harsh fine if you please your Honor.

Mishaps 1d10
1: Legal Error- Your lawyer messed up his heabus corpus with his closing argument. Add +2 to the jury number.

2: Really Bad Joke- You know you’re gonna hang when your Lawyer starts his argument with “Stop me If you’ve heard this one…” Add half the current Jury number to the total. You just lost half your support. If the number is already at 12 then all persuasion rolls are made at –2. 7: Forget the Details- You lawyer consistently forgets details of the case, like evidence, witnesses, and your names. This is a real dozy. The jury notices your frequent reminders and you lose five of them. Add +3 to the jury total.

3: Alienate the Jury- There is nothing worse than making Texan jokes in El Paso. Somehow your Lawyer has gotten on the jury’s bad side. All persuasion rolls are made at –3. 8: Prove the Case for the Enemy- Your lawyer seems to forget what side he’s on and makes points for the other side. The jury is at +4 you lose 1 defense and gain a problem.

4: Perjury- Getting caught lying on the stand is bad news. One of your tricks fails because somebody doesn’t have a poker face. 9: Late for Court- Your lawyer doesn’t show up until the trial is half over. See “A man Who represents himself for details”

5: Caught Red Handed- Your Lawyer gets caught trying to slip the system. Two of your tricks fail and the add two to the jury number. 10: No Cross Examination- Your lawyer forgets that he needs to question the other witnesses. All your tricks are canceled without effect. Your summation roll is made at +5 difficulty.

6: Won’t Stay Bribed- An honest man is one who stays bought. Somebody isn’t honest around here. If you bribed it fails, if you didn’t then this will cost you your next persuasion roll. Negate the effects of one trick.

Problems 1d10
1: Drunk in Court- Your Lawyer is Three sheets to the wind while trying your case. All rolls are made at –2. If he goes bust the jury total is raised to 12.
“Yesh, Yer hnonr, I’m a real Layer.”

2: Squeaky- His voice is faintly reminiscent of rubber tires. If the jury isn’t rolling in the aisles then they will get tired of hearing him talk real quick. Raise the TN for all rolls by one cumulatively each time he fails one.

3: Long Winded- He can talk up a storm and put the jury to sleep while he’s at it. If he gets a raise on any roll, roll a d4 on a 1 he rambles on for hours and loses all his raises. Ignore this result if it occurs more than once.
“And I’ll never forget the time I was in the Jungles of Africa, hunting Tiger, or was it lion?”

4: Where’s my Briefcase? – Your lawyer can’t keep track of his papers. Every time evidence is used, or a witness is called he has to remember where he left it this time. Roll a d6 on a 6 or 1 he’s left it somewhere else and has to run and get it. You’re on your own for that one roll. See “A man who Represents Himself”. Ignore this result if it occurs more than once.
“Your Honor I protest this affidavit clearly says, Oh hell now where’s my briefcase?”

5: Contempt of Court- Whether it’s running off at the mouth, offending the judge or just being an ass your lawyer gets himself locked up for contempt. He gets a nasty fine, (which you have to pay) and he misses the next roll he would make. Roll a D8 on a 1, or 8 he’s gotten in trouble again. Ignore this result if it occurs more than once.
“Frankly your honor I don’t give a damn, I’ve always wanted to say that.”

6: Randy Ole Goat- Your lawyer has a passion for the ladies. Particularly the ladies of the evening. If he hasn’t blown all of his money and yours you’ve managed to keep him on a short leash. His antics have turned the town against you and all his rolls are made at –4.
Hey, baby.

7: Foreign Law Degree- Your lawyer got his training in another country. The laws in that country may not be the same as the ones here. Any ones he rolls on his Professional: Law Rolls are counted double for determining busts but don’t add to the total number of dice.
“Anybody ever hear of the University Del Cubana?”

8: Slippery Eel- Your lawyer looks guiltier than you do. Though he may not do anything wrong he still looks guilty and as such people don’t want to believe his clients could be innocent. Too bad he’s your lawyer. All rolls made to persuade, overawe, or bluff in your favor instead work against you.
“Don’t worry, I’m the Bes-s-s-st.”

9: Annoy The Judge- The judge isn’t always a pleasant fellow but your lawyer just gets on his bad side for some reason. Any attempt to sway the Judge is met with harsh repercussions. Namely automatic contempt. This may occur multiple times.
“But your honor, you can’t do that, it says right here in the law books.”

10: Too Famous- You Lawyer has tried some high profile cases, and won. Unfortunately the people he was representing were not well liked and or liked at all and that stigma has rubbed off on him. The jury doesn’t like him, the judge doesn’t like him but the prosecutor likes him just fine. All rolls made against either the jury or judge incur an automatic –3 penalty. For every point of wanted, outlaw or renown your posse has increase this by one. Ignore this result if it occurs more than once.
“I last represented three spies, and a communist.”

11: Suit Case Full of Newspapers- Your lawyer doesn’t really know anything about law. He’s a faker with a lot of big words and as you can guess A suitcase full of shredded newspapers. He has no skill other than 3 points in bluff, if asked any legal questions he simply shrugs them off. He has automatic extra 3 mishaps, and 1 problem, Ignore this result if it occurs more than once.

12: Take the Money and Run- Your lawyer knows that the case can’t be won and decides to high tail it for greener pastures. He absconds with your retainer and any loose money the posse has lying around, and leaves in the middle of the trial. “A man who represents himself for details.

Defenses 1d12
1: Ignorance- You didn’t know it was against the law to put squirrels down your pants for the purpose of gambling but then again who does.

2: Self Defense (Drunk)- You didn’t really know what you were doing because you were honestly three sheets to the wind. When you came to you were deeply sorry of course.

3: He Just Needed Killin’- This only really works in parts of the deep south but you are welcome to try it just about anywhere.

4: Heabeus Corpus- This is better when you are falsely accused because it forces the judge to examine the evidence against you.

5: Line of Duty – If there are any duly authorized law men (or women) in the posse you may claim that it was in the performance of your duties. If you don’t lets hope you’ve got some fake badges. 11: Self Defense (Self)- Your life was in mortal danger and you had to defend yourself from attack.

6: - Entrapment – The trick to this one is that the law must have been present or a participant in the act that got you in trouble. Though this could be hard to prove if the town sheriff is sufficiently nosy or ill liked then the trial becomes a snap. 12: Blame the Other Posse Members- This is a very tricky defense, if you don’t want to try it reroll on the table. What it amounts to is your lawyer blaming the entire thing on somebody else in the posse this works best if that person is dead but he is fully willing to sacrifice one of your friends to get you off.

7: Diplomatic Immunity- If this works you can walk away Scot-free. The only catch is that somebody in the posse has to have either the Furner hindrance, or be Indian.

8: Mens Rea- The guilty mind, In this case your lawyer will prove that you didn’t intend to do the deed it just happened.

9: Insanity- If you have a party member with the Loco hindrance this could work well, If not you had better have some great performin’ skills. Of course being put in a mental institution in the weird west can be as bad if not worse than prison.

10: Self Defense (Others)- Widows and orphans that were in the line of fire. Some shops were about to be blown up or burned down either way you were acting to save somebody.

The marshal should find the problems, defenses, tricks and mishaps all before the trial starts, this will allow for any cancellations and additions before the trial begins.. Then allow the posse to plan their use with their legal counsel. The trial is broken up into several distinct sections where different actions may be performed.

Pretrial: During this phase of the trial you don’t really have to worry about the judge or jury but you can take some actions that will change the way the trial will go. Your lawyer may use a number of tricks up to his professional law skill. Don’t use them all at once or you will get reamed in the later parts of the trial. Also the marshal may choose and activate one mishap. At this time all of your lawyer’s problems activate. If he is late to court you may use the tricks yourself. See “A man who Represents himself” for details.

Opening Statements: There are two halves to this portion. The persecution err I mean prosecution gets to go first. He will make a big flowery speech to the jury about how guilty you are, or he could just yell hang em. Either way make a

Professional: Law roll for the prosecution, if the jury number is at half or lower subtract it from his roll, if it is higher than half add it to his roll. The prosecutor has a Professional law skill determined either by marshal’s choice or by the size of the town. For each success raise the number by one.

The Defense: Then your lawyer gets to make another speech, (assuming he is actually there.) You may use one defense at this time. You then make your professional: Law roll against a TN equal to the current jury number. For each success you get lower the number by one.

Motions: Here is just another point where you may use tricks. Only one this time. Also another mishap will occur.

Case for the Prosecution: Now the real trouble starts. For every witness against you, (manufacture some if there aren’t any) the prosecution gets to make another professional: Law roll, then the same for each piece of evidence, there are at least 1d4 pieces. Each success and raise raises the Jury number by one. Now your lawyer isn’t silent at this point. He gets to say a few things of his own. The roll for the prosecution is opposed against your lawyer’s professional law skill plus 5.

You may also employ one of your defenses at this time. The marshal may choose to use another mishap here or save them for later. If at any time the jury number reaches 12 the prosecution rests and you may move on to the next portion of the trial.

Case for the Defense: Here is where you will make real headway. Your Lawyer arrives if he was absent, or leaves if he was going to take the money and run. Then he gets to argue that you didn’t do it. He gets to make 1 professional: Law roll plus one for each witness and piece of evidence. But here’s the tricky part, he only gets to use the witnesses or evidence that the prosecution failed to succeed on. So pick your battles carefully. The result of the roll is just like the prosecution’s roll but with the opposite results, every success and raise you get lowers the jury number by one. Again you get to use one of your defenses. If you’ve run out by now you don’t get any more, them’s the breaks kid.

The Closing Arguments: This is the wrap up part of the trial. Your final chance to prove that you are innocent, to just to buff the system. You may use your last defense here if you have one. The both sides get to make a final professional: law roll, this one is unopposed. Any last mishaps that the Marshal wants to throw in here will cause the most trouble. The TN for the roll is equal to the difference in the current jury number. E.g. if the jury number is at 8 then you would take 12 and subtract the current number. Giving you a TN of 4. This applies for both the prosecution and the defense. Again the Prosecution gets to go first. Each success and raise for the prosecution raises the jury number by 2. Each success for your lawyer lowers the number by 1.

A man who defends himself has a fool for a client- If you either can’t afford a lawyer or he for some reason becomes absent from court you must use your own skills to effect your release. If you don’t have the needed skills you must make the rolls as default knowledge rolls, enjoy those penalties.

A Quick note On PC lawyers:

If by chance you have a player who wants to be a lawyer, (and who wouldn’t after all this?) use the following for determining what amount of tricks and such to assign to them.

For every 2 points the PC has in tests of will type skills (persuasion, overawe, ridicule, and bluff) give him 1 trick. For problems allow the PC to chose his own hiderances and then play off them to the best of your ability. Ferner type PC’s would have the forign law degree problems in addition to the problems brought on by being a furner in the american justice system.

Mishaps are sorta self explainatory, it might even make for an intresting adventure explaining why your PC lawyer couldn’t make it to court. Abducted by cultists, had to solve a land dispute and diliver a baby on the way to court.

To determine the number of mishaps to “award” draw a card from a fresh deck and assign the same way you would for character creation. But with 2 slight differences. A red joker means 0 mishaps, and 1 additional trick. A black joker means 5 mishaps and 1 additional problem from the table. Marshal’s choice.

A few real world applications for lawyerin’. As a professional lawyer you can gain a large ammount of fame by joining the ranks of the national agency Dewey, Chetem, and Howe. D,C and H tries high profile cases all over the county. As a member of our elite group you can gain renown! And some serious Deniro defending clients around both the USA and the CSA. Every case you try brings us one step closer to becoming the single largest legal firm on the continent.

Pay rate for high profile lawyers:
Amount of Renown Pay Scale
0 $500 per case
1 $1,000 per case
2 $1,750 per case
3 $2,250 per case
4 $3,500 per case
5 $5,000 per case + limited partnership

A PC can gain 1 point of renown (purchased normally of course) for each case she wins where the DA had more professional: lawyer skill than she did.