Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 6136205" data-attributes="member: 6688937">Basically, yes. Although "copies" of clues which point to the same information are acceptable. The one critique I have of using GUMSHOE ideas in other systems is that the players didn't necessarily sign up for mystery play and usually aren't as good at the "police procedural" mindset as they need to be to solve mysteries as GUMSHOE presents them. (I agree with the article you cite about the "breadcrumb trail" part.)How many conclusions do they need to reach? You originally thought the 6 clues were enough, and if you only need them to draw two or maybe three conclusions about the event, that might be adequate. IME, D&D players have an unfortunate habit of assiduously avoiding the things the DM thinks are obvious. ::shrug::If you GUMSHOE it, and keep any combats very brief or for the climactic conclusion, that shouldn't be a problem.So it looks (to me) like there are a couple of possibly important conclusions to draw for future PC action:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Wild Hunt took/have the weihon kids.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Magocracy of Suleistarn is responsible for the destruction of the town.</li> </ul>So six clues might be enough, if they are blatant enough.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />But then, they also have to understand:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Suleistarnians and Wild Hunt were not working together.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Ley Line has been drained.</li> </ul>So looking at your list of sites and some clue guesses:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Charred Homes - a token/expended component linkable to the mages? "Mage-y" footprints leading to&from the Creek?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fortified Chapel - Some weihon tracks escaping? Lotsa charring uncharacteristic of the Wild Hunt.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Burgomaster's Records - presumably records of families, possibly identifying the "weihons"? Possibly a note about the Druid's warning.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A Peryton's Shadow in a Pixie Trap - ? a what now?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Village Idiot In the Well - an Eyewitness! Should definitely testify that two separate events happened!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Creek / Ley Line - residual marks from whatever the mages used or did to drain the energy? Also, the fact that the ley line has been drained!</li> </ul>That last bit about the ley line is very important. It must be obvious that that was important. Otherwise, I'm guessing my players would instantly conclude that the Wild Hunt have formed an Alliance with the Mageocracy to abduct all the Weihon kids and form a Jedi army to rule the Galaxy.  ...or something equally off-base.  In fact, I'd suggest that the toughest thing is going to be getting the party to separate the two participants and motivations. Leaving subtle clues won't be sufficient (tracks at these sites, but not those will only force the PCs to conclude that they coordinated their efforts.) I might suggest a woodland site, where the kids' tracks disappear alongside the Wild Hunt tracks, possibly with a Druid body close by. If you want them to know how/why the Druid fended off the Wild Hunt, you'll need a new site or two for that.If I have all that reasonably correct, you'll probably be okay. Its really hard to tell, though. Players can come with some pretty wild theories to explain evidence, and often want to fly off without all the clues.</blockquote>

Verification