AOV holds host to a variety of different casing and gaming formats, from simple Ace Attorney-inspired murder mysteries to hellish 18 hour, multi-victim investigation and courtroom combinations and everything in between. This page features the more well-known and played formats, but many more varieties can be found on the Templates page. Note that player numbers and play time are standard averages and can differ wildly between variations. Looking for an archive of previously played cases on AOV? Take a look at our Case Archives.
What is "Improv"?
A note on AOV's main format style
"Improv", short for "Improvisation", is the primary style of format played within Attorney Online Vidya. While other Attorney Online servers focus on "pre-written" formats - in which witness testimonies and verdicts are pre-determined and cases are treated more like competitive puzzles -, AOV focuses on the freedom for players to create and improvise their own testimonies, characters and stories to allow for freeform and spontaneous storytelling using any elements provided (case premise, evidence etc.). While this can sometimes lead to a messy crash with an unsatisfying conclusion, the improvised nature of casing on AOV can also often lead to unexpected and engaging player-driven twists - resulting in a true turnabout. AOV is not competitive. Verdicts are not a case of "winning" or "losing". It is important that all players in a case work together to create a fun and unique story, whatever the outcome.Normal Courtroom / "Improv"
5 - 12 Players, 4 - 6 Hours
The most common format on AOV, it's the closest to how the original games' trials play out. It features the two standard benches, Defense and Prosecution, usually a detective, and usually two witnesses. Each witness and the detective give a testimony and the Defense asks questions and tries to spot a contradiction so they can OBJECT! The Prosecution's objective is to try to shut down any bad theories or questions from the Defense and make rebuttals to points they bring up. Remember, a guilty isn't always bad thing here, as long as it's a natural conclusion.
Example Case: Turnabout Gant's Roomate (2018)
Investigation / "AAI"
6 - 10 Players, 5 - 10 Hours
AAI is a format based off the Ace Attorney: Investigations games, where you take the role of an investigator who attempts to figure out the truth behind the crime. This format, while it shares similarities with regular cases, has several notable differences. There's no judge, so it's up to the Detective to decide if an investigator gets penalised for mistakes, and witnesses don't give testimonies, but rather they have topics instead, providing the investigator with options to allow the questioning to go smoother. Along with these witnesses can use a variety of gimmicks such as psyche locks or logic chess. Finally, there are rivals whose goal is to impede your progress and provide counter arguments after you've questioned a witness. They aren't as present as a prosecutor would be during a case, but the investigation may end if you cannot make a rebuttal. An investigation ends when you find the truth or fail to find the truth, leaving you with a "result" rather than a verdict.
Example Case: The Turnabout Before Christmas (2017)
Lightning Trial
5 - 12 Players, 1 - 2 Hours
A vastly sped up version of standard Normal / Improvised coutroom cases. Focusing on speed over accuracy, Lighting Trials enforce a hard limit on how long a case can be - often 2 hours at most. Players cannot dawdle and must get straight to the point, whatever that point might be. Though still improvised, these cases are often conciously made less complex than standard cases to allow quicker testifying, examination and discussion.
Example Case: The Simple Turnabout (2019)
Jury Case
12 - 18 Players, 6 - 8 Hours
Jury Cases are similar to standard cases, except several players take the role of the Jury who must be convinced of the defendant's guilt or innocence, rather than the Judge. The case proceeds as normal, though Jurors can chime in at any time to update their personal verdict. If all Jurors vote Guilty, the Defense must present a Closing Argument, arguing against the Jurors' reasonings for their verdict in an attempt to change the majority of the Jury's minds for the trial to continue - otherwise it's game over.
Example Case: Turnabout At 10 Knots (2018)
Chaos Trials
As Many Players As Possible, As Many Hours As It Takes
Welcome to Die.
Example Case: Ye Ol Wizened Chaos Trial (2019)
Class Trial
6 - 12 Players, 3 - 4 Hours
The format that's closest to the Danganronpa Class Trials. Each player is given a character document by the Case Manager giving their various accounts of what they did and their truth bullets. Truth bullets are information that can be fired at any time so the other players can discuss it. One player is given a document matching the blackened, I.E. the person who actually did it. Their goal is to avoid having the crime pinned on them and misleading the rest of the players. After a certain amount of time passes, Monokuma, or whoever is presiding over the trial, will force the players to vote for who the Blackened is, and they better hope they get it right.
Example Trial: A CSS-Friendly Class Trial (2018)
Decision Game
6 - 9 Players, 4 - 6 Hours
The format loosely based on the third game in the 999 series, Zero Time Dilemma. In this format, players attempt to outwit Zero's Decision Game, since most of the choices would result in death, or something else that'd be painful for the character. Like Class Trials, every player is given a character document, and that player must try to act as their character would. In some cases, a character may also infact be Zero, or an accomplice. This format is a lot more story heavy and GM reliant than the others listed.
Example Game: A Fistful of Decisions (2018)
Arcade Games
The Arcade areas are a place where you can run games that are not considered a casing format - popular ones such as Mafia, Whose Court and various tabletops are often hosted there, with a variety of different stories and systems. Each game has a different set of rules, so make sure to ask the host about the game and read the document. Take a look at the Game section on our Templates page for more Arcade formats.