#RPGADAY2020 - 20 - Investigate

Day 20.

Investigate.

Investigative games are the ones that really float my boat; it doesn't have to be something like Call of Cthulhu (indeed, these days I'd prefer it wasn't) where the game is entirely focussed around an investigation, it just has to have elements where I need to start to connect the plot together to find our way through it. I get far more satisfaction from the connections towards a solution than I get from combat and battles.

Google Keep solution - minor spoilers for Mercy of the Icons.

My weakness as a player is that my characters will tend towards behaving as investigators; this came to the forefront during the recent Coriolis campaign when we were investigating a murder. My character was more of a Han Solo type, but in the end, I ended up starting to push the investigation because we weren't getting anywhere. I felt that I'd failed from a player because of that, but it was necessary to drive the plot. I started to address this through a simple shared Google Keep file so we could all see the plot threads and it wasn't my character who was always pushing it.

Scapple investigation (minor spoilers for Profane Miracles for the Esoterrorists)

When playing more complex investigation focussed campaigns, I've also tended to use Scapple as a tool to connect the threads of the investigation in a way that everyone can see. It's quite flexible as a way of organising your notes for an adventure. I've used this heavily for The Esoterrorists during the multiple campaigns that I've played.

These days, I'd rather be playing The Esoterrorists, Vaesen, Liminal or Delta Green over Call of Cthulhu. I enjoy the game engines more. I do think that Gumshoe's conceit that 'you will always get the clue' is just how decent GMs have run investigative games anyway; the mechanics should not block progression. I do have a hankering to try something mad like running Eternal Lies for Trail of Cthulhu using the Cthulhu Hack. Having run Cthulhu City at Furnace using the game, I think that it would work well. However, I suspect that the challenge of finding a group that has the commitment to play a campaign that large and also to try it in a different system will prove difficult.

I tried out 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu at Continuum and enjoyed the game. I do think that the tweaks to the engine have improved it, but it was very much the classic 'you all investigate something you have no idea about and go mad or die'. I look at the two large core rules books on my shelf and then compare them to the boxed set of 2nd Edition that sits beside them, and the enthusiasm wilts. I think the Delta Green game engine is significantly slicker and better than 7th edition. I enjoyed running it for my Stranger Things / Delta Green mashup at North Star. It also held up from a player perspective.

I'd always rather investigate rather than fight. Although the latter does become necessary.

20 August 2020