Writing an Investigative session Advice - OG Myth-Weavers

Notices


Gaming Discussion

For all things gaming related.


Writing an Investigative session Advice

   
Writing an Investigative session Advice

Greetings all

I have recently started running my first attempt at an ongoing chronicle - and incidently my first attempt at face to face GMing - set in White Wolf's new Hunter: The Vigil setting. The overall story arc really doesn't matter at the moment, in this thread at least, but more the idea that due to my inexperience in general I have really only ran or planned out a Monster-of-the-Week type encounter and a session of gathering information for key plot points.

Anyway, I'm planning on running one or two investigative type sessions during the chronicle but lack the knowledge to write up or run one. I have an initial idea, plot and reasonings behind it but I don't know how to go about leaving clues for Players that will lead to an eventual solution.

Can anyone provide any general advice for writing and preparing investigative or rescue the victim before the murderer kills them and how to pull a session like this off?

Also, any RPG sites with columns or articles on GMing advice would be greatly aprpeciative too, not just WW related but also D&D or D20 in general as I have ideas for those I may yet bring into fruition.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Investigative sessions are noted primarily for the difficulty you make them. You can make them as easy as hidden letters that form out a message to some pretty brutal enigmas the players will have a difficult time in forming.

Couple things to keep in mind:

1. Know your players. I've been fortunate in my gaming history to have players that understand even the most obscure trivia, and so I've been able to put together some pretty high-level investigation, requiring PCR analysis, linguistic clues, and obscure things. Know if your players expect to connect the dots via dice rolls, IC problem solving, or ther own creativity.

2. Clues. Make sure your clues make sense. Plan the situation out in your mind and think of what clues would be left behind. In addition are red herrings. Whether intentional plants or mere interesting knick-knacks, red herrings can frustrate a player if they spend too long on them. If you think about using them, make sure the players are aware that any (or all) clues may be faked. Use logical progression. One clue may lead to another, after all.

3. Improvise. The players will look for clues in places you will not expect, and follow leads you don't anticipate. Roll with it. Try to work it on the fly.

4. Give them a hand, if necessary. Players might have contacts or status in relevant areas. Reward them for this by giving them additional insight.

5. Don't forget NPC's. The players are not in a vacuum. Witnesses, experts, and published articles can all lend helping hands.

6. Don't get bogged down. Unless your game is investigation-themed, the primary theme should be rewarding the players for creative thinking and setting a different tone from an action scene. No one has fun getting bogged down in a hopeless puzzle. Take as much time as you feel is necessary, and puzzling the characters is not always a bad thing, but the entire thing shouldn't be: "There's no clues in a locked room. We've searched everywhere and we've wasted a session."

A few things.

1. RPGs aren't novels, tv series, movies or anything of like, and shouldn't be treated as such.

2. The rule of seven: You should have at most 7 named NPCs, 7 key clues, and 7 important concepts. This is because roleplayers generally don't have the time to remember and piece together more pieces of the puzzle than that.

3. Plan for advancement: Every scene should move the plot forward, either short term or long term. This way, the plot is not too drawn out and the game keeps a reasonably fast pace. In addition, this allows the players to feel they are accomplishing something.

4. Always provide your players with at least one clearly visible path. This doesn't mean railroading, but it never hurts if named NPC #2 mentions he thinks named NPC #5 knows something about important concept #4.

Wow I didn't expect to get such golden advice straight away!

Lady of Pain - would you mind expanding a bit on your second point about the rule of seven, what is it you mean exactly by 7 important concepts?

Sicarius - I think I'm lucky enough to have a player who, while he enjoys traditional hack 'n' slash, is also quite knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects, so I feel that he could comfortably handle any degree of difficulty fairly well. However, I'm not so well versed and I'm concerned that I will make the session way too easy for him or not give him enough of a challenge :S

Seven important concepts include: Motives, new ideas about how the world works, new methods of finding clues, and the like.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkPirate View Post
Wow I didn't expect to get such golden advice straight away!
This is Myth-Weavers - This is Myth-Weavers community.


You may find this site has some articles you could use.

One important thing in investigative plots is to give the players more clues than you think they need to solve it. Sometimes they won't realize the importance of a particular clue, sometimes they won't follow up on something they should, and sometimes they won't even find the clue in the first place. How many extra clues you plant depends on your players, how curious they are, how organized they are, and how hard you want the puzzle to be.

Remember that any situtation you plan will look easier to you than to the rest of the group because you've planned it.

Thank you for all the sound advice guys!

Ziggy - that site was an amazing help, bookmarked and constantly open on a tab. An almost infinite source of advice there!

Just finished session no.2 of the chronicle and have 2 weeks to prepare the next major event so I think I will try and introduce the investigation then, I'm going to start working backwards from the point when (hopefully) the PC will kill the bad guy and save the girl, drop as many clues as I can (I discovered this session just gone that no matter how many great NPCs, with valuable information, you make....the Player is going to go STRAIGHT to the most important guy and never know about the others ). Hopefully I will place so many clues that he will be nigh on tripping over them!

Just a thought, there are 2 free Hunter:the Vigil modules available from RPGNow. While you needn't use them as is, they would likely offer some useful tips and hints no matter what direction your game is going in.





Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Last Database Backup 2024-03-28 02:17:53pm local time
Myth-Weavers Status