The campaign thus far: The Acolytes were dropped onto the shrineworld of Reshia to investigate rumors of something calling itself the Night Cult. Being Ordo Hereticus, this is more or less their stock-in-trade, so they figure it'll be a walk in the park. Their Inquisitor, Havelock, says they have a month to find out what they can and, if necessary, exterminate the cult if it is found to be exhibiting Heretical tendencies. During this month they encounter the first few adherents of the Night Cult, complete with the Sarcosan devices on their chests. By hook and by crook they manage to remove the cult with great prejudice and in so doing secure one of the Sarcosan Wave Devices as evidence for Inquisitor Havelock. I can elaborate on that if anyone is interested, but there's a spanner in the works that is the result of bringing back the device, which is being played out currently.

After leaving Reshia and heading to Scintilla for another Conclave, the group is met by Inquisitor Hex of the Ordo Xenos, who claims that they have something that belongs to Ordo Xenos; i.e. the Sarcosan Wave Device. The group insists that they own it by right of conquest, beyond the simple fact that it's considered evidence from their investigations. Hex then leaves them with a subpoena, saying that the device will be his. The group's Arbitrator spent most of the following session researching precedent in both Adeptus Arbites and Inquisitorial libraries (those he had access to, of course), and the actual trial is forthcoming.

Have I presented the group with an opportunity for intricate roleplaying, as they argue in the Courts of the Inquisition, or am I just being a huge jerk? I don't want the whole trial summed up with a few abstract dice rolls, so instead I've scribbled out summations of the trial records that the group has accessed, and assigned a modifier to each established precedent, so that if they still insist on a roll at the very end, it can be done.

Not to bump my own post, but as I was doing the aforesaid scribbling I happened to be reading through the official timeline of the Calixis Sector. I was initially looking for a rough starting point for case history (i.e. starting with the official founding of the Holy Synod on Scintilla, or at least the official founding of the Sector government itself) when I happened upon this little gem from 808.M41: "The 'Dance of the Dead' on Kalf: Mysterious cult activity on Kalf forces a notorious clash between differing Inquisitorial factions, leading to bloodshed and acrimony within the ranks of the Ordo Calixis." That's only seven years before the current timeline, and works in perfectly with what I have planned.

I don´t think that you have been a jerk and would say that this is a good RP opportunity.

You could help yourself in running "the trial" if you run it similiar to the U.S. law system: with a "judge" but although a "jury" (a smaller number of Inquisitors, say three, five or seven). Thereby, the whole afair is not only "about the law" but additionaly about winning the jury over. Which in turn will give additional weight to what are the opening words and final words of your pc.

Gregorius21778 said:

I'll definitely second Gregorius21778 here: you're not a jerk The way I see it you have just introduced your group to the wonders and dangers of Inquisition politics. I like the idea of modifiers on the precedents they have discovered and you could do the same depending on the quality of the arguments that they give before the court.

Years ago I ran a trial in another SF game and for each piece of evidence the players discovered and used they got a bonus to the NPC prosecutor's final dice roll that was then matched against the defence team's roll. So even though a roll decided the trial they all felt it was their work that would determine the outcome.

Let us know how it all turns out!

DW