[Atlas] Crime and Punishment - coming in August

[JohnNephew]

While Dynasties and Demagogues is at the printer, we haven't waited for it to come out to work on more goodness -- the next book in this player-oriented Penumbra sub-series is already in editing, and was authored by the Big Setting Contest Winner himself, Keith Baker. Here's the info sheet that has gone out to distributors:

The PENUMBRA Line Presents
Crime and Punishment
The D20 System Player's Sourcebook of the Law
by Keith Baker

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

Law is one of the defining elements of civilization. But it’s too often overlooked in a fantasy setting. In a world where high-level characters can single-handedly defeat armies, how can any powerful individual be captured or imprisoned?

Just as Dynasties and Demagogues deals with political intrigue, Crime and Punishment takes an in-depth look at campaigns that focus on the forces of the law. Players can take the roles of bounty hunters tracking down mystical renegades, justicars seeking to restore order in a cesspool of corruption and crime, mage hunters, itinerant justices, the local sheriff’s men, or even spies for the crown.

And consider that even an innocent adventurer may find himself hunted by the law if he doesn’t know what to watch out for. If the characters are on the wrong side of the law, this book provides information on what they may be up against, including new magical methods of law enforcement and imprisonment.

Crime and Punishment includes:

• Extensive rules on conducting investigations, including new uses for old skills, new forensic spells, and specialized equipment. Plus new classes for agents of the law and those who work against them.

• A detailed look at different systems of justice, from common law to divine law, with an emphasis on how such systems can provide opportunities and challenges for adventurers.

• Information on running campaigns based on the law, showing players how to bring together a party of bounty hunters, a royal justice and his entourage, or a group of investigators solving crimes in a gritty metropolis.

• Floor plans and descriptions for a variety of prisons, ranging from an extraplanar cell, to a stone garden filled with petrified prisoners, to a full-fledged mystical fortress.

Stock Number: AG3223 • ISBN 1-58978-039-6 • SRP $29.95 (US)
Description: 160 pages, hardcover

Shipping to Distributors in AUGUST 2003

 

[annadobritt]

Cool!!! Another book I've been looking for.

 

[Nightfall]

Sweet! Definately something I'll pick up along with Dyns & Dems. You guys rule!

 

[Voadam]

Does it have stats for Raskolnokov?

 

[JoeGKushner]

I don't want to say this is a revolution in gaming, but it is an expansion to the way D&D is traditionaly played and will hopefully allow a broader style of play to reach different circles who only thought that dungeon crawling was possible with the rule set previously.

 

[JohnNephew]

Well, we're trying to bend and twist the usual fare. We really wanted to expand Penumbra in more player-oriented crunchy directions -- but without making YADwaB (Yet Another Dwarf Book).

The goal with these books is to make player- and GM-friendly source material. A book like Dyn&Dem or C&P can be used as the basis for a whole campaign theme -- something to lay over your favorite campaign setting, whether homebrew or some published world -- or it can be pillaged for useful bits to use as part of any game. E.g., you might make a bounty hunter character for a traditional dungeon-crawl oriented game; or your GM might use the hook of appointing all the PCs to a jury (medieval-style*) as the way to launch a game, as an alternative to the usual "you meet up in a bar."

*Medieval-style: The earliest juries were way different from the ones today. Since their job was to determine the facts as well as to render judgement on a criminal complaint, they actually played the role of investigators, not just passive sit-and-listen-and-render-judgement. So a medieval-style jury is the ready hook to insert a group of strangers (i.e., PCs) into an investigative situation together. And circuit justices, who wanted to stamp their approval on jury findings and move on to the next town on their circuit, were known to frown upon jurors who didn't attend to their duties promptly. (Deadlocked juries might be thrown on a wagon and hauled around with the traveling court until they rendered a verdict!)

 

[CCamfield]

Dang, another book from Atlas I'm going to have to buy

I don't suppose the book covers more than the typical fantasy/medieval period?

"In general, in Greek and Roman society a man was expected to execute through private means many acts which are now done for him by the state. As we have seen, he had to defend himself, with the aid of his neighbours, against those who violated his household. If a man wished to bring his adversary before some judge or arbitrator in order to get redress for a private wrong, it was up to him to get his opponent there, however serious the office." (_Violence, Civil Strife and Revolution in the Classical City_, (Andrew Lintott)

Lots of opportunity for bounty hunter work there...

 

[roninuta]

just curious

I was just wondering if this was taken from the standpoint of Cesare Beccaria's book "On Crime and Punishment" or on Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment"?

I am a criminologist in my daytime hours and was just curious.

Thanks

 

[CaptainCalico]

I really have come to reley on Atlas for books that help me take my games exactly where I want them to go. Keep it coming!!

 

[JohnNephew]

Re: just curious

I was just wondering if this was taken from the standpoint of Cesare Beccaria's book "On Crime and Punishment" or on Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment"?

Nope, no connection, just a cool title.

In fact, "Law & Order" would probably be a better title (since it's a sourcebook focused on the forces of the law), but we didn't want to run afoul of trademark and identity issues vis a vis the TV show. I don't think Dostoyevsky is going to give us any hassle...