tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post5730641378958413681..comments2024-03-27T10:43:30.532+00:00Comments on Known World, Old World: The Information GameAndy Bartletthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683770320671028815noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post-79010046712618807452014-05-23T10:59:54.102+01:002014-05-23T10:59:54.102+01:00While I've not read Gumshoe, I've read a l...While I've not read Gumshoe, I've read a lot about Gumshoe, and its pretty much how I run games (such as B/X D&D and their variants) that do not have 'information gate skills'. I want to provide the players with sufficient information to make a meaningful decision about what to do next.<br /><br />The problem I run into is with games in which 'information gate' skills are treated equivalently to, say, combat skills. If a player could sink their skill points into 'search/notice/observe/perception/etc.', they've got reasonable grounds for expecting to be able to spot important things, not just pick up the extras. After all, if PCs have high combat skills, they can defeat monster X, if they don't, they can't. Certainly in a sandbox, it feels a bit of a swizz if every potential combat encounter is set at the level of the PCs, regardless of skills/levels/etc. (Or maybe we shouldn't feel that...*) However, if PCs have high 'information gate' skills, they get all the necessary information, and if they don't have those skills they also get everything they need. <br /><br />*I say this because if a game is a straightforward, relatively linear 'quest', when there is a mechanical challenge the PCs need to be able to reliably overcome it, else failure is down to the fall of the dice, rather than player choices. This goes whether the mechanical challenge is combat or searching for clues. In a sandbox, in which a quest or a mystery can be abandoned and the game will continue, the purely mechanical challenges need not be such slow balls. So they don't solve the series of grisly murders in Threshold/Blacksand, wherever? Well, they pick up on a different adventure hook, and when the murders start up again next Mid-Winter's Eve, they can have another crack at it. Andy Bartletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06683770320671028815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post-13220477586900925532014-05-23T06:26:24.145+01:002014-05-23T06:26:24.145+01:00I just picked up 'Trail of Cthulhu' on the...I just picked up 'Trail of Cthulhu' on the humble bundle. It uses a 'gumshoe' system which is actually quite clever. I think that I (and probably many GMs) manage to identify and pass on critical clues (by fudging, moving the clue, or presenting in a different way) to the players to allow the game to progress.<br /><br />The gumshoe system explicitly states that a critical clue will automatically be given to the PCs as long as they have a given skill/background/whatever. No rolls. Rolling is for dramatic times where the investigation won't be stopped by a failed roll (i.e. combat, escaping from villains, etc). <br /><br />The interesting thing in an investigative game is what the players do with the clues. Will they draw the right conclusions and get to the bottom of the mystery in time? Or will they face the fully manifested (enemy) over the body of (victim). <br /><br />Realizing there is no problem with giving the clues away and in fact is necessary feels a bit liberating to me at this point. davebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07531919635590898334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post-34129982491942310662014-05-20T17:24:12.887+01:002014-05-20T17:24:12.887+01:00I agree. But I think that the DM also needs to fin...I agree. But I think that the DM also needs to find ways to remind the players of just how much of a 'informational vacuum' that they are in - and that a major part of the game is acquiring the information required for their own, particular, possibly unanticipated plans. <br /><br />Perhaps my situation is different from that of most DMs. Most often, the players I DM for haven't played, or haven't played since they were teenagers. All too often they presume that a brief 'picture' of the situation contains all the information relevant to their plans. But the tactical infinity of RPGs means that the DM cannot provide this entirely, even likely courses of action might be anticipated.Andy Bartletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06683770320671028815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post-49578926751918589422014-05-20T15:44:08.709+01:002014-05-20T15:44:08.709+01:00It'sd a a two way street but DM's really h...It'sd a a two way street but DM's really have to remember PCs are in an information vacuum most of the time as they aren't being bombarded with all the sensory information and relational knowledge a person would actually have if doing something crazy like going on a adventure.JDJarvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691101939920824546noreply@blogger.com