Rough Justice by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with Cepheus Engine. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 21 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that on a farming world on the edge of the Sonora Sector – the adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space – an alien has been arrested for killing a human. His conviction and execution seem a foregone conclusion, especially as all lawyers who might represent him have been chased off, and the characters are hired to do so.
Patrons has details on those locals who have hired the characters.
An Experiment explains this adventure is different from the author’s usual fare, having role playing rather than violence.
Complications are things that can go wrong or which aren’t known.
The Defendant has details on the alien.
The Victim has details on them, being, rather pointlessly, stats.
The Charge details the charge and the details the prosecution must prove.
Investigation has the chances that the characters can uncover helpful evidence.
Interesting Facts… If Discovered… has details on evidence that will help the characters’ case.
Potential Witnesses has one.
The Locals has 4d6 NPCs who might try and lynch the accused.
Events has some that might happen.
Trial Procedure lists this.
Rules of Evidence lists those that are important for this case.
The Prosecution Case details this.
The Judge covers him.
The Jury lists them.
The Prosecutor covers him.
Skills looks at how these could be used.
The Trial explains how it works in the game.
The Verdict explains that the jury is predisposed to believe the defendant is guilty, and how to determine the result.
Mission Completion explains that the characters get paid, win or lose.
Author Note explains this is a bit different.
Rough Justice in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is okay.
As is not uncommon, there are too many NPC stats; it’s not necessary for The Locals to cover all 24 NPCs in that level of detail when two or three would have sufficed. Thanks to prejudices on the part of the judge, jury and prosecutor, the trial is definitely rigged against the characters, not counting the fact that the locals might resort to extra-judicial means. Fortunately, all the characters need to do is try, not win. Rough Justice can be found by clicking here.
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