Ace Attorney Rules/FAQ

What is this?
It's a thread where a few individuals are acting as the prosecution, defense, and judge for a fictional court case that takes place in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic universe. All of the victims, defendants and witnesses will be taken from FiM, but everyone else will be from the Ace Attorney universe.


How does it work?
The case has been pre-planned by the prosecution team and none of the details have been shared with the defense or judge when the court case starts. The prosecution will present the case and all relevant evidence, then call its first witness.

The first witness will planned out by the prosecution, and once the testimony has been given, the defense will begin its cross examination. The witness will need to give answers to questions posed by the defense during the cross-examination, but objections can be raised by either side during this, and some questions can be overruled if they don't appear to pertain to the case at hand.

After the first witness though, this is where the rest of /mlp/ comes in. A number of witnesses have been planned out by the prosecution, and after the first one, the prosecution will call them to the stand by name, and set them up with WHERE they were and WHAT they claim to have seen. From this point, an anon will need to assume the role of the witness and rename themselves after the witness and give themselves a trip code. The first anon to respond with properly formatted witness testimony is from that point on that witness, and will be asked questions by the defense during the cross examination.


What is "properly formatted witness testimony"?
It's relatively simple. All you need to do is post a picture of the witness, and format your testimony into greentexted sections containing a dozen or so words.

For instance, we would set you up by saying "We have a witness that claims to have seen the moment of the murder from inside the bakery. The prosecution calls Mr. Cake to the stand!"

Then you would respond with something like:

Mr. Cake !Tripcode (Mr. Cake #[codehere])
[mrcake.jpg]

>[WITNESS TESTIMONY]<
1. I saw Pinkie kill the victim! She hit Rainbow Dash with a frying pan...
2. It was so brutal. After she hit Rainbow Dash I saw her run away.
3. She darted out the front door before I could stop her.
4. Then I checked to see if Rainbow Dash was okay, she wasn't.
5. That's when I called the police.

If you formatted your testimony like that, uploaded an image containing the witness in question, used the proper name and trip, and were the first person to post it, then you are officially that witness, which means you need to be the one to answer the questions posed by the defense.


What if the defendant is called to the stand?
Unless we call the defendant as the first witness, which is highly unlikely, if you successfully volunteer, you should believe that you didn't do it regardless of evidence. Don't make a confession, even if it's undeniable, as the verdict by default will mark you guilty unless the defense can disprove it.


How does the "game" end?
Three ways.
1. If the defendant is proven BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that they are the ONLY ones who could have killed the victim, and the defense can make no valid objections, the verdict will be GUILTY.
2. If the defense can prove BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that their client CANNOT be the person who committed the crime, and the prosecution can make no valid objections, the verdict will be NOT GUILTY.
3. True to the Ace Attorney universe, if the case stretches on for 3 days (in the real world), and no clear murderer has been proven to have done it, the judge will need to evaluate the case so far and make a verdict.
4. If the defense gets too many penalties, represented by the occasional Life Bar, the case will end regardless of how the facts look at that point and the verdict will be GUILTY. These life bars are refreshed at the start of each day.


"Isn't this roleplaying?"
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Noooooooooooooo.
We consider it more of a choose-your-own-adventure game in the reverse direction, where the choices are made by one entity (the defense), and instead the paths are provided by everyone else involved. A kind of collaborative storytelling. With that being said, I will advise you to hide the thread if it's not your thing.


Can I be a part of the prosecution/defense?
Sure! During the case, all Ace Attorney characters will be communicating separately on Skype to ensure that everyone is keeping up with the thread. If you want to play a character, add MasterLegend359 on Skype and he will bring you into the group conversation. It is very much appreciated that if you enjoy this, that you contact us on skype to at least keep up with the news. We don't go to 4chan often anymore, due to Scruffy and the >no fun allowed posters.


This idea is still in its early phases. Yes, we have things mostly sorted out, but there may be a time when we need a few more people to cover other people if they get busy.

Plus, we could always use more suggestions from others that are genuinely interested in the idea.


Links to past cases:

FFA:
Case 0 (Trial by Fire) Turnabout Derp:
Day 1 1/2: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/15829024
Day 1 2/2: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/15839091

Case 1 Turnabout Bakery
Day 1: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/15855497
Day 2 1/2: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/S15873208
Day 2 2/2: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/15878083
Day 3: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/15905053

Case 2 Turnabout Gorge
Day 1,2,3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/681178.html

Case 3 Turnabout Aristocrat
Day 1,2,3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/695238.html

Case 4 Turnabout Garden
Day 1,2,3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/714452.html

Case 00 (Trial By Fire) Turnabout Spa
Day 1: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/17063724

CoM:
Case 1: Turnabout Snow
Day 1: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/17094926
Day 2+3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/739915.html

Case 2: A Shocking Turnabout
Days 1-3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/744408.html

Case 2: Retrial
Days 1-3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/747492.html

Case 3: Turnabout Fashionista
Days 1-3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/753363.html

Case 3: Retrial
Days 1-2: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/787141.html

Case 4: Turnabout Vengeance
Day 1: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/765490.html
Day 2+3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/782400.html

Case 5: Turnabout Mysteries
Days 1-3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/804569.html

The Spells of Truth (TSoT)

Case 000: Turnabout Relic
Days 1-3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/871608.html

Case 1224: A Merry Turnabout
Day 1 Part 1: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/21150880/
Day 1 Part 2: https://archive.moe/mlp/thread/21152114/

Case 1: Turnabout Vigilante
Days 1 and 2: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/834073.html

Case 2: Music and Turnabout
Days 1-3: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/839107.html
Day 4 Investigation: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/858334.html
Days 4 and 5: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/863624.html

Case 3: The Repeated Turnabout
Days 1-???: https://mlpchan.net/rp/res/877796.html