I'm going to play Night's Black Agents for the first time -- what do I need to know?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

After years of trying to find a game, I'm getting to play NBA this year at GenCon Online. The idea of the game is amazing but I have zero actual play experience with either the game or Gumshoe.

Any advice?

 

[MGibster]

I've run one game of NBA as well as Trail of Cthulhu and Mutant City Blues which uses the same basic system. Here's my advice.

1. Remember, if the character has the pertinent Investigation skill then they don't have to spend any points to get the core clue. i.e. If they need Architecture to find the hidden alcove where the body was hidden so they can advanced to the next scene, they don't have to spend a point to do it.

2. Only have players spend their Investigation points if they're going to get anything out of it. They might be rewarded with additional information that allows them to skip a scene, a clue that will tell them the vulnerability of an enemy, or whatever you decide. If there's nothing to be gained by spending points, just tell the player.

3. Don't be afraid to tell the players when they've found all the clues. i.e. Just say, "You have found all the useful information to be found during this scene." It will help prevent them from wasting a lot of time looking for clues that don't exist.

4. Don't forget about Stability. For the first few sessions, I completely forgot about it, but it's an important part of the game.

 

[Piratecat]

Google and grab my "GUMSHOE 101" one page cheat sheet.

Also, check out the short PbP encounter I ran here called COUNTDOWN. It makes for a great fast tutorial on mechanics and tone.

Mostly, I think it's useful to remember that you're running a movie, so skewing to cinematic logic over tactical may make sense at times.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Thank you, @Piratecat!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, just finished the game, which was taken from the Dracula Dossier.

It was fun -- much more freeform than I anticipated, despite having a highly detailed character sheet. Normally, when I play a loosey-goosey game, I'm used to the character sheets being extremely spare, with only a few stats, while sheets with lots of stuff on them tend to be, in my experience, much more locked down in terms of what a player character can do.

The rules definitely support the fiction, though. Everyone was clearly a badass in their particular roles and, despite the fact that the enemy is very powerful, it did feel like we had a chance to make a difference. (I do think, if we weren't limited in time by this being a convention game, we likely would have lost all or part of our group after escaping the scene of our successful caper.)

I definitely want to get a chance to look at the pyramid designs in the game, even if only for use in other games in future.