BUBBLEGUMSHOE - Not So Hard Boiled Teen Detectives From Evil Hat

GUMSHOE is an investigation-based roleplaying system by Robin Laws, and used by several games published by Pelgrane Press. Evil Hat Productions is the company which brought you Fate, Spirit of the Century, and the Dresden Files RPG. Together, they fight crime! Evil Hat has announced a GUMSHOE-powered game called Bubblegumshoe - a "teen detective story game". It's coming in June from game designers Emily Care Boss, Kenneth Hite, and Lisa Steele, and will be available as a 272-page hardcover, black-and-white book.

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What types of adventure do Bubblegumshoe character face? Bicycle thefts, sabotaged pep rallies, and Homecoming queen character assassinations, according to the product blurb. The game features teenaged detectives in small-town America solving mysteries. To help with that, it includes a ready-made town called Dewsbury, and an introductory adventure called Hey! That's My Bike!

The GUMSHOE system (which has been slimmed down a little for this book) is focused on investigations. One feature of the system is that the characters pretty much always find the clues they need; the fun part is interpreting those clues. The system powers a range of games, often written by Robin Laws or Kenneth Hite for Pelgrane Press, including Night's Black Agents, The Esoterrorists, Trail of Cthulhu, the upcoming TimeWatch, and several more.

This sounds like the sort of system to run a Scooby Doo game, or perhaps a light-hearted Buffy scenario.

Expect to see it in June!

 

[allenw]

Typo:
"It's coming in June from Emily designers Care Boss, Kenneth Hite, and Lisa Steele".

 

[Umbran]

I've run some playtest sessions of this.

Yes, you can do a lighthearted, Scooby Doo sort of game with this. But you can also bend it to the more realistic, Veronica Mars style of game without effort - there was nothing in the *system* that dictated it be light fare. One of the sessions I ran had runaways from parental abuse, with sexual identity and religious themes.

 

[GMMichael]

Gateway drug...

 

[jaycrockett]

Encyclopedia Brown the RPG. Sounds awesome.

 

[Matchstick]

A good idea for a new GUMSHOE angle, and the first (I think) non-Pelgrane GUMSHOE book. Looks great!

 

[TwoSix]

"Bloodhound Detective Agency. Whenever there's trouble, we're there on the double!"

 

[Celebrim]

Might buy this for my daughter for her birthday.

 

[allenw]

Still typo: "It's coming in June from game designers Care Boss, Kenneth Hite, and Lisa Steele".

Should be: "It's coming in June from game designers Emily Care Boss, Kenneth Hite, and Lisa Steele".

 

[Arilyn]

This looks like a good variation for Gumshoe. It is wonderful to see more and more games that are geared for a younger audience, while still being perfectly playable for the older crowd as well. Will probably pick up a copy.