Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Passive Investigation?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 6385874" data-attributes="member: 54707"><p><strong>That Peculiar Mental State of Awareness</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">As a former PI who still occasionally helps out with cases I can tell you that the idea of<strong><span style="color: #00ff00"><em> passive investigation</em></span></strong> (although in my opinion it does not exist in the Real World in the way described by 5E rules as I'll explain in a moment) really refers to a very vital observational capability.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">In real life, and the way I play it in games, it is the ability opt spot and notice and make certain basic deductions about the things you observe which may or may not have any direct relation to what you seem to be currently investigating but are either important enough in themselves to make note of or to further investigate (at a later time), or seem unrelated but either through intuition or practiced habit or what I call "<strong>the clear sense</strong>" you realize are important, and related. Things everyone else would either overlook as being non-germane or might not notice at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">That is the way passive observation really works. And it is passive in the same sense that, let's say, a passive detection system works upon a submarine (or a passive investigation technique works in a detective's mind) - which is to say you must first be listening or observing. If you are not listening, watching, observing or paying attention then your odds of discovery are much worse, but if you are in that de-fault mental attitude or outlook I would say that you odds are not only much greater but it is extremely likely you will make such a discovery. (This takes a lot of practice and what you are actually able to successfully observe is not really a controllable phenomenon, but the state itself is controllable and becomes a natural mental state with much practice.) In certain mental states you almost guarantee it and in non-attentive states you make such discoveries almost impossible. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">You must enter a sort of de-fault state (either intuitively or through many years of practice) of being observant for or about any and everything that might even possibly be important (either to your current line of inquiry, a related line of inquiry, or to simply anything "<em>that shouldn't be there and is</em>," or to something that "<em>isn't there and should be</em>." That's how it actually works. In the Real World. You must be "actively passive" like a submarine that is silent running but still attentively listening to be passively capable.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">In games I've never exactly played this way (though we get pretty close) and I’ve never played the 5E rules before (I’ll stick with our current method) but as both a player (because those who DM me know I am naturally observant and well practiced in this area) or when my players are playing and they have an exceptionally observant character then I stay in this de-fault observational mode or I allow their characters to if they so wish or say they intend to do so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">In cases like that I/they either observe what is normally missed, or make associational deductions/inductions, or I/they might discover something of real importance in the area that has nothing at all to do with their current investigative pathway but that is of equal or even greater importance to another adventure or campaign.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">That is to say I will sometimes plant in an environment something either related to what they are investigating but is difficult to discover, something that is only seemingly indirectly related, or something that is unrelated to their current activities but will lead them to a much larger adventure, campaign, or discovery. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">I have done this often in the past and many times they have made such discoveries in places ripe for passive discovery and investigation, such as libraries or in certain ruins.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'">That's my take on how it really works.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jack7, post: 6385874, member: 54707"] [b]That Peculiar Mental State of Awareness[/b] [FONT=verdana]As a former PI who still occasionally helps out with cases I can tell you that the idea of[B][COLOR=#00ff00][I] passive investigation[/I][/COLOR][/B] (although in my opinion it does not exist in the Real World in the way described by 5E rules as I'll explain in a moment) really refers to a very vital observational capability. In real life, and the way I play it in games, it is the ability opt spot and notice and make certain basic deductions about the things you observe which may or may not have any direct relation to what you seem to be currently investigating but are either important enough in themselves to make note of or to further investigate (at a later time), or seem unrelated but either through intuition or practiced habit or what I call "[B]the clear sense[/B]" you realize are important, and related. Things everyone else would either overlook as being non-germane or might not notice at all. That is the way passive observation really works. And it is passive in the same sense that, let's say, a passive detection system works upon a submarine (or a passive investigation technique works in a detective's mind) - which is to say you must first be listening or observing. If you are not listening, watching, observing or paying attention then your odds of discovery are much worse, but if you are in that de-fault mental attitude or outlook I would say that you odds are not only much greater but it is extremely likely you will make such a discovery. (This takes a lot of practice and what you are actually able to successfully observe is not really a controllable phenomenon, but the state itself is controllable and becomes a natural mental state with much practice.) In certain mental states you almost guarantee it and in non-attentive states you make such discoveries almost impossible. You must enter a sort of de-fault state (either intuitively or through many years of practice) of being observant for or about any and everything that might even possibly be important (either to your current line of inquiry, a related line of inquiry, or to simply anything "[I]that shouldn't be there and is[/I]," or to something that "[I]isn't there and should be[/I]." That's how it actually works. In the Real World. You must be "actively passive" like a submarine that is silent running but still attentively listening to be passively capable. In games I've never exactly played this way (though we get pretty close) and I’ve never played the 5E rules before (I’ll stick with our current method) but as both a player (because those who DM me know I am naturally observant and well practiced in this area) or when my players are playing and they have an exceptionally observant character then I stay in this de-fault observational mode or I allow their characters to if they so wish or say they intend to do so. In cases like that I/they either observe what is normally missed, or make associational deductions/inductions, or I/they might discover something of real importance in the area that has nothing at all to do with their current investigative pathway but that is of equal or even greater importance to another adventure or campaign. That is to say I will sometimes plant in an environment something either related to what they are investigating but is difficult to discover, something that is only seemingly indirectly related, or something that is unrelated to their current activities but will lead them to a much larger adventure, campaign, or discovery. I have done this often in the past and many times they have made such discoveries in places ripe for passive discovery and investigation, such as libraries or in certain ruins. That's my take on how it really works.[/FONT] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Passive Investigation?
Top