Know Of Any Good Mystery Resources?
Over on ze Discord, Al Dente wants to noodle on mystery resources:
Hey!
I’m trying to get better at designing mystery scenarios for investigative games like Call of Cthulhu.
I was wondering if you guys could suggest any resources i should check out
@Loz replied:
GURPS Mysteries could be a good source. I remember their splatbooks having rave writeups.
https://www.sjgames.com › gurps › books › mysteries
I also chimed in with:
Robin Laws designed the Gumshoe game system. Characters are agents, investigators, or otherwise are good at getting clues. Check those out.
Night’s Black Agents, for example, has great advice on building conspiracies and linking between nodes.
And here are some tips from the Roleplaying Tips Archives you might find helpful:
- Issue #1211: 11 Ways To Make Mysteries Magnificent
- Issue #1193: What To Do When Players Miss The Clues?
- Issue #1093: 30 Ways To Deliver Clever Clues
- Issue #750: Manic Mystery Mayhem — Three Lessons Learned About GMing Mysteries
- Issue #638: More Mystery Adventure GMing Tips
- Issue #637: How To GM Mysteries
- Issue #400: Mystery Game Tips
- Issue #59: 8 Tips For Creating Good Clues In Your Stories
In putting together the links above, these tips jumped out at me:
- Instead of rolling to see if characters find a critical clue, roll to see who finds it. If a clue is absolutely vital to keeping the adventure from stalling, make it unmissable.
- Because we GMs already know the solution, clues that seem blindingly obvious behind the screen are often completely opaque to players. To bridge this gap, always prep three levels of clue clarity:
- An obscure clue for perceptive players.
- A regular clue that provides standard direction.
- An obvious 2×4 clue bat that spells the situation out in flashing neon.
- Avoid designing mysteries as a linear sequence of events. Instead, design them as concentric circles that players peel back.
- The Bullseye. Place the central conflict, conspiracy, or “Whodunit” at the center of your mystery design.
- The Inner Ring. Surround the bullseye with a layer of 1d3 details explaining the 5W2H of the central conflict.
- Outer Rings. Add 1d3 connected details in each new layer of the onion you want, to start building connected chains of facts and clues.
How about you, Roleplaying Tips Game Master? Do you have any mystery resources you can point Mr. Dente at?
Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!
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