I'm having a love affair with GUMSHOE
- Thread starter Piratecat
- Start date
nnms
First Post
It's definitely worth tweaking based on genre. But even then, I still don't like the idea of an AK-47 getting the best possible hit and the highest damage roll possible and it still needing to be dismissed as either actually being a miss or some sort of graze.
I'd probably make everyone's health above 1 be "luck" or "avoiding harm" and have it only refresh at the end of a scenario. So when your luck is running out, catching a bullet becomes far, far more likely. That way you create the expectation of injury only being described when the gunshot reduces health to 0 or lower. It's already sort of implicit or necessary as far as the normal rules go, so why not make it explicit at the table?
In Trail, That's on page 65. I don't quite think it goes far enough though. Also, if you do manage to scuffle with someone with a gun, the bullet mysteriously does less damage again, reverting to just +2 for point blank and no longer tripled.
In Trail, I only found what happens when you spend it and no real mention of how long it takes. Given that the game is based on scenes and you can only fix what damage was taken in the last scene, I'd probably have it take a lot longer than the instantaneous spend it implies. In fact, I'd probably say it causes a "getting someone medical attention" scene after the fact.
In a sci-fi game where they could have spray-on wound sealant and nano-healers, i can see a more instant approach.
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nnms
First Post
I forgot about that. You don't get very far disintegrating people you need to talk to. Also people will be a lot less likely to be happy to see you arrive on their world if you have a reputation of killing people.
I primarily play/run Trail, but have been tempted by Ashen Stars.
I really like that Gumshoe games are largely not about combat. There are rules for resolving it when it happens, but it seems to take up a very, very small amount of play. However, when it does happen, I don't want to have to re-narrate hits and damage to be misses and not damage. Whether it's from a gunshot, a knife or any other means of causing somone serious harm.
If you want to hear an example of this, check out the actual play of The Big Hoodoo on the Nerdbound podcast. There's a stand off between two people both pointing guns at one another, staring each other down. It ends with one of them pulling the trigger and rolling maximum damage! Everyone is aghast and shocked. And then they find out the person is not even hurt in any real way and have to re-narrate it as actually just a graze. It was such a disappointing tension deflater.
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Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
New combat options for Ashen Stars, all of which seem solid at first glance:
Pelgrane Press Ltd Blog Archive Suppressing Fire in Ashen Stars
Pelgrane Press Ltd Blog Archive Suppressing Fire in Ashen Stars
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
That's perfect timing--my copy of Ashen Stars just arrived yesterday!
Consonant Dude
First Post
So... does that make NBA a slam dunk?
More seriously, my only experience with GUMSHOE was Esoterrorists and it mirrored your initial disappointment. I ruled out GUMSHOE games completely after that.
I think I'm gonna pick up NBA when it comes out hoping once again my experience will match yours! Thanks!
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Thread Necromancy! Unseen, Unknowable forces must be at work! Don't look too closely!
Unless, of course, you want to give me some encouragement. I'm seriously considering shelling out for Trail of Cthulhu, so if any wants to say "no, wait for xxx" or "DOOO IT" then please go ahead now
Cheers
Unless, of course, you want to give me some encouragement. I'm seriously considering shelling out for Trail of Cthulhu, so if any wants to say "no, wait for xxx" or "DOOO IT" then please go ahead now
Cheers
Thread Necromancy! Unseen, Unknowable forces must be at work! Don't look too closely!
Unless, of course, you want to give me some encouragement. I'm seriously considering shelling out for Trail of Cthulhu, so if any wants to say "no, wait for xxx" or "DOOO IT" then please go ahead now
Cheers
Yes, go do it. I'm not familiar with ToC, but PC seems happy with Gumshoe and that should be good enough for anyone.
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
I like Trail of Cthulhu a lot more than BRP, that's for sure. It's funny. I love the idea of BRP a lot. In practice the system drives me nuts, especially when run by a GM who doesn't compensate for some of the system's eccentricities.
While Trail feels different in some ways, it does what I want my Cthulhu games to do: give my players a chance to go insane. Solve mysteries. Be fragile.
I think Trail was the first of the GUMSHOE products to really get things right and earn a home run. Well worth picking up and playing, in my opinion.
Related to this, I've just got Mutant City Blues. This is based on POWERS, the comic book about cops solving super-villainous crimes. It's gotten less attention than expected, and I think I know why. The book is really solid: cool premise, good superhero powers, excellent support materials. For me the problem is that I don't want to run a police procedural. I'm going to try MCB by reskinning it as "You are the world's greatest detectives" -- actual superheroes, not superpowered cops, solving crimes. While no rules changes are needed, I think I'll like the idea of that quite a bit.
I'll report back!
While Trail feels different in some ways, it does what I want my Cthulhu games to do: give my players a chance to go insane. Solve mysteries. Be fragile.
I think Trail was the first of the GUMSHOE products to really get things right and earn a home run. Well worth picking up and playing, in my opinion.
Related to this, I've just got Mutant City Blues. This is based on POWERS, the comic book about cops solving super-villainous crimes. It's gotten less attention than expected, and I think I know why. The book is really solid: cool premise, good superhero powers, excellent support materials. For me the problem is that I don't want to run a police procedural. I'm going to try MCB by reskinning it as "You are the world's greatest detectives" -- actual superheroes, not superpowered cops, solving crimes. While no rules changes are needed, I think I'll like the idea of that quite a bit.
I'll report back!
nerfherder
Adventurer
So glad I didn't read this thread before the NBA game you ran at Gencon!
I bought ToC last year, but couldn't really get the feel for it from reading the book. That was part of the reason I wanted to play in your game (the other being that I had so much fun the last time).
If I didn't have so many games already, I'd be very tempted by AS.
A couple of things that didn't click with me, or where I thought there could be improvement:
1) More graphical separation between investigation skills and general skills - this was more of an issue for me with the ToC character sheet. The skills work in very different ways, and I think it would have helped me to grasp that if the character sheet divided them up more clearly.
2) Stability - I didn't have a clue (no pun intended) whether I should be spending lots, some, or any stability to avoid losing Stability. Maybe I missed something here.
I bought ToC last year, but couldn't really get the feel for it from reading the book. That was part of the reason I wanted to play in your game (the other being that I had so much fun the last time).
If I didn't have so many games already, I'd be very tempted by AS.
A couple of things that didn't click with me, or where I thought there could be improvement:
1) More graphical separation between investigation skills and general skills - this was more of an issue for me with the ToC character sheet. The skills work in very different ways, and I think it would have helped me to grasp that if the character sheet divided them up more clearly.
2) Stability - I didn't have a clue (no pun intended) whether I should be spending lots, some, or any stability to avoid losing Stability. Maybe I missed something here.
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