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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 8418355" data-attributes="member: 6993955">To be fair, AW's version of 'investigate a mystery' is pretty, um, IDK, maybe aggressive is the right word, because the game indexes that kind of play. What AW doesn't do is more contemplative investigation (a phrase that's at least close to what I mean). Perhaps that second case might also be indexed as 'clue focused' (setting aside the scriptedness of those clues). However, the fact that AW doesn't do the second should surprise no one since that kind, or style, or manner of play wasn't the goal of AW's design.The post above ([USER=99817]@chaochou[/USER] ) illustrates nicely, IMO, that mystery can indeed work just fine within AW's design, and also should serve as an excellent index to how well the PbtA design philosophy could accommodate that same style of play when the design choices are made more specifically to support it.The take home here is that PbtA design in many cases is as much about types of conflict as it is anything else. There's nothing one way or another in that which obviates the idea of a mystery, with one exception. As mentioned above, if you want a scripted mystery, one where the clues and solution are all prepped and set by the GM prior to play, then you will inevitably be disappointed. That said, I think it's important not to conflate that one kind of investigative play with investigative play more generally, or, worse, talk on as if that kind of play is somehow the pure goods while everything else is a muddled reflection. What we're really talking about with, just to pick an example, CoC investigative play is that the mystery is entirely within the agency of the GM. In even a straight PbtA adaptation of CoC (see Mythos World) that agency gets shifted. Not everyone is happy to let go of being in charge of all the fiddly bits.</blockquote>

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