Investigations impede immersion?

[ExploderWizard]

Good suggestion. I pared down my post so it wouldn't be a long gaming story but apparently I pared down too much. The campaign is a Star Wars with all jedi characters. My character is an older, sagely force using seer. The investigation was a side quest assassination investigation that is unrelated to our characters' primary motivations. During the investigation I noticed that his personality fell into the background and I started playing more tactically like I would in a roleplaying-less video game.

It's like going from Yoda with his cryptic and wise,

to Sam Gerard with his direct and comprehensive,




Because I'm more interested in playing as my character than solving mysteries. I guess ideally I'd like to play through the investigation scenario that the GM threw at us as my character without going Full Sherlock. And maybe that's as simple as consciously staying in character but it can be hard to not go Full Sherlock.

I spoke with the group and the other player suggested that it could be a symptom of this specific investigation. Because it's a side quest investigation that we got wrapped up in and really has no specific connection to our characters, it doesn't readily provide any character specific situations or circumstances that I can play off of. The GM has yet to chime in but maybe if we have more character-specific investigations it will accomodate staying in character better.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far!!

Umm.. Troubled you are. Calm yourself and search your feelings. Approach the situation like a jedi. Going full Sherlock is the path of one who does not have the force as his ally.

Playing a jedi and remaining in character through any situation is challenging. Remember the basics. A jedi is wise and does not act rashly. When the action gets intense it becomes easy to get caught up in it and switch the brain into tactical mode. For a jedi, this is reckless. A jedi's thoughts should be more inclined to strategy. Once the character is approached from the proper mindset, no situation can distract you from the path.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I won't fail you. I'm not afraid.

(Thanks for the insight. Maybe simply being conscious about staying in character is what I need. I'll give that a shot this week!)

 

[Hussar]

Investigation is a tricky thing to run. And very difficult to run well.

I think your point about moving things along is well taken. Instead of letting the players entirely set the pace, which can result in a very slow game, keep things moving along. There's nothing wrong with occassionally just telling the players, "Ok, you investigate this and realize it's a dead end" when you the DM, know that this is a the wrong path to take.

Not that you have to do it every time. But, keeping things moving is the best way to keep immersion, IMO.

Game like Trail of Cthulu do this sort of thing well.