[Ok so I ran this by Nadir in-world and it was suggested I post this here to see what everyone thinks. I made some additions/changes from the in world NC for background/explanation purposes. ]

There is always the question from new lawyers to the Den (and even the ones we have now) of how to RP out plea deals with the HPD/ADA without a "legal system" in place. I know there have been proposals made before and they were good ones, but I was trying to think of something simple, that focused more on the RP itself and the relationships that created icly (whether good or bad) and less on what the outcome is going to be. And after RPing here as a lawyer for like, well a year and a half I think, and seen many lawyers come and go, the biggest issue I've seen has been when the attorney and cop/ADA are trying to work out a deal. Sometimes the parties cant agree on an outcome--icly and/or oocly. So I thought of the following idea. Here goes:

Since we don't have a courthouse, and well since there is sometimes frustration in trying to plead out the cases...what about if the parties RPing (whether its the lawyer and cop, or the lawyer and ADA, or whoever) used those RP dice things or something along those lines. (Note: I've never used dice in RP, only seen it done here by others, and in other sims--mainly in fight situations. So Im just using them as an example of a "chance" like system, If someone has a better idea than dice, please suggest it since I'm kinda clueless on the tech side of things and how things like that actually work in SL)

Anyways, the idea would be like this: each side would RP out what they want. And the outcome would be decided by the dice. Since its all by chance, no one would know the outcome and it would all be, well, unpredictable, leaving no side able to accuse the other of "always getting their way" or one side having to "give in". It also might solve the "no courthouse, no judge" problem. The RP between the parties would guide the RP, but at some point, the parties involved may come to an impasse and that is when the dice could be used. For example:

Atty X may want his client to only get probation and the felony charge to be reduced to a misdemeanor. But Cop Y may disagree and want the criminal to get jail time and then probabtion when he is released. The scene would be RPed out per usual and then, when the decision couldn't be agreed to icly, the parties would "go in front of the Judge", and the NPC Judge (ie the Dice) would make the final decision. Whoever rolls the higher number gets whatever deal they put forth.

The main reason I think this might be a good idea is due to its simplicity. It's really really simple and it doesn't leave really any room for arguments or disagreements OOC, since it would all be by chance. It also doesn't leave the decision of whose side 'wins' to just one person. Sometimes attorneys would prevail, sometimes the cops/ADA would prevail. Leaving everyone happy and fulfilled RP wise 😆 Well, hopefully! Most importantly, there would be a resolution and it could pave the way for more RP. Cause icly, if cop Y gets his way, that might piss off Atty X, and vice versa, opening up the possibility of issues/tensions/rivalries/payback etc between them etc.

I'll be the first to admit it is not easy to RP legal stuff in any sim. Some have tons and tons of rules and guidelines and systems which can be cumbersome and overwhelming for people to RP out. Some have zero guidelines/structure which is just as frustrating. But a simple system like this would give minimal guidelines for the players while focusing on the more important aspect of the RP iteself--which is the interactions of the characters. As is often said about RP, it's not about who wins or loses but the content and quality of the RP and the story that is created. And this would certainly make the focus be on that, and not on who "wins" or "loses" the case. If there was a "winner" at all, well that would be determined by a throw of the die and well, there ain't no use arguing with dice. 😀

As a side note, I don't see this having to be used often, since often people don't call CD attorneys, or the player decides to just serve their time, or something else comes up where the criminal doesn't hire one, etc. But when this type of RP does happen it would make it a bit more unpredictable and would maybe spur some more interest in the legal side of criminal RP. Since there are only, I think, three or four of us at the moment (though Greenlee isn't doing much atm), this would at least give a bit of direction to those in the HPD and the CD lawyers when they are interacting in regards to plea deals etc, as well as for anyone who comes to the Den in the future to RP the law side of things. And lastly it gets rid of the judge role (since we don't have any really anyways) leaving people to RP either prosecution or defense and then let "Judge Chance" decide. (Course the die wouldn't need to be used if the criminal, attorney and cop all came to an agreement to the eventual outcome, this would just be for those situations where the parties couldn't agree or wanted the RP to be unpredictable/spontaneous.)

As for the Dice, I know they aren't used much anymore. When I first came to the Den I would see people using them in fights on occasion and I know some other sims use them sometimes. So as far as the techie/script/actual using of the dice side goes, I have no idea how that works. I'm just ideas girl for this one : D I leave the techie stuff up to the smart people!

So any thoughts, questions, additional ideas on this?