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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Trail of Cthulhu cover posted
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="Byrons_Ghost" data-source="post: 3651713" data-attributes="member: 7396"><p>I've got Esoterrorists, I might be able to field a few questions.</p><p></p><p>Essentially, major clues are defined as things which lead to the next scene or allow the players to continue to play, not necessarily things which solve the plot. The interpretation of the clues is supposed to be where the mystery comes from.</p><p></p><p>For example: in your traditional Cthulhu scenario, the players might have to make a Spot Hidden check to find the journal that tells them where the evil ritual will occur. If they don't make the check, then they don't get the journal, and they don't find the ritual in time.</p><p></p><p>In Esoterrorists, the clue leading to the next scene might be a matchbook to a particular club. The characters know where to go, but don't know what it means. They would then go to the club, come up with some ideas as to how to investigate, and discover that the club is important because it is where the evil rituals occur. This discovery would in turn lead them to the next clue that needs to be interpreted.</p><p></p><p>Note that the clue doesn't always have to be of the "go here next" variety, that's just an example. The main point is to give the players enough information to always keep them moving, and then let them discover the details through their own actions and ideas.</p><p></p><p>Mechanics-wise, the game defines a long list of investigative skills (about three times as long as their "general" skills, which cover everything else that a PC could possibly do). Players put ranks in these skills, and these ranks give them pools to spend to find additional clues through the game. The main clue is usually free, but side clues that can help with interpretation cost spends. This brings a bit of resource management into the game.</p><p></p><p>I still haven't read the book all the way through, so that's about the best I can do right now. The essential change is the way in which the mystery structure is changed. The structure outlines the progress and then challenges the players to determine <em>how</em> they're going to solve it, rather than forcing them to randomly hunt for magic keys to see <em>if</em> they solve it.</p><p></p><p>This might sound a little bit like giving the players an automatic win, but there's sitll plenty of stuff that can go wrong. They can get hurt or killed in combat, they can miss clues that lead them to the final scene unprepared, the can stop the bad guy without knowing about the overall conspiracy, etc. Essentially, what GUMSHOE does for mysteries what starting at the entrace of the cave does for D&D- it gets the players to the core game without wasting any time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Byrons_Ghost, post: 3651713, member: 7396"] I've got Esoterrorists, I might be able to field a few questions. Essentially, major clues are defined as things which lead to the next scene or allow the players to continue to play, not necessarily things which solve the plot. The interpretation of the clues is supposed to be where the mystery comes from. For example: in your traditional Cthulhu scenario, the players might have to make a Spot Hidden check to find the journal that tells them where the evil ritual will occur. If they don't make the check, then they don't get the journal, and they don't find the ritual in time. In Esoterrorists, the clue leading to the next scene might be a matchbook to a particular club. The characters know where to go, but don't know what it means. They would then go to the club, come up with some ideas as to how to investigate, and discover that the club is important because it is where the evil rituals occur. This discovery would in turn lead them to the next clue that needs to be interpreted. Note that the clue doesn't always have to be of the "go here next" variety, that's just an example. The main point is to give the players enough information to always keep them moving, and then let them discover the details through their own actions and ideas. Mechanics-wise, the game defines a long list of investigative skills (about three times as long as their "general" skills, which cover everything else that a PC could possibly do). Players put ranks in these skills, and these ranks give them pools to spend to find additional clues through the game. The main clue is usually free, but side clues that can help with interpretation cost spends. This brings a bit of resource management into the game. I still haven't read the book all the way through, so that's about the best I can do right now. The essential change is the way in which the mystery structure is changed. The structure outlines the progress and then challenges the players to determine [i]how[/i] they're going to solve it, rather than forcing them to randomly hunt for magic keys to see [i]if[/i] they solve it. This might sound a little bit like giving the players an automatic win, but there's sitll plenty of stuff that can go wrong. They can get hurt or killed in combat, they can miss clues that lead them to the final scene unprepared, the can stop the bad guy without knowing about the overall conspiracy, etc. Essentially, what GUMSHOE does for mysteries what starting at the entrace of the cave does for D&D- it gets the players to the core game without wasting any time. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Trail of Cthulhu cover posted
Top