15 thoughts on “Hi guys.”

  3. Filo Becherucci – We’ve talked about this before, but the short version is this:

    Urban Shadows is a game about relationships. You’re free to make up a custom move to handle investigations, but when we think your players should be focused on going to the people they know for information. Like this:

    _MC: Okay, last session you found a dead body. Guy by the name of Jimmy.

    PC: Hmmm. I missed my Put a Name to a Face roll, right? 

    MC: Yeah. You don’t know this guy. Definitely a werewolf, but not one you’ve seen around here.

    PC: Cool. I’ll go Hit the Streets with my werewolf friends and see if they know anything about him._

  6. Filo Becherucci You ain’t gonna solve this puzzle by digging a bullet out of a wall or by a treatise on cigar ash. You’re gonna solve it because someone is loving someone they shouldn’t.

  7. If no other people are involved I resolve these situations without player moves. Is it reasonable? Then I give the information and the story goes on. If not I propose stuff they need to do to make it happen, like get help or equipment. Now its about people and relationships again.

  8. As others have said, it’s all about people. US tends to be less CSI and more hardboiled detective. And most hardboiled detectives don’t actually analyze crime scenes for clues, they analyze people for motives. 

    Vincent Baker did a one sheet for this, for Apocalypse World, at some point. I can’t find it online now, but what he said about clues was this: 

    *A clue is just a detail that casts light on the mystery’s unclear facts. Here are the four main clues:

    [Character] was at the scene at the time of the crime.

    [Character] was capable of committing the crime.

    [Character] had a reason to commit the crime.

    [Character] is lying about something important.*

    Notably, “clues” here are all characters. And to find those characters you’re hitting the streets, putting faces to names, and calling in debts. And when you get face to face with them, Figuring Someone Out. 

    Also, the Aware can pretty much “what just happened here” and everyone else can Let it Out (as you noted). And while Let it Out can be supernaturally, it can also work without it. For example, I’ve frequently had Hunter PCs Let it Out to “extend their senses” by doing Sherlock Holmes style “advanced deduction” instead of magical senses. 

    Hope this helps.

  10. Possibly irrelevant but my instincts say otherwise: you’re going to be hard pressed to extract a Call of Cthulhu type vibe out of Urban Shadows. Call, Trail, etc are all kind of…about different things than US.

    That said, if we can disentangle ourselves from decades of BRP expectations, I think you could run a pretty legit Lovecraftian game with Urban Shadows (which would feel nothing at all like a CoC game).

  12. Filo Becherucci I think Mark Diaz Truman has a point about the focus/theme. The game is set up for relationships and webs of connections.

    To support that, I would just give players all the clues when they ask for them, basically. If they show up, tell them what the fine.

    Don’t hold anything back, unless there is a reason – like they wouldn’t know to look in for Clue Y at Location X until talking to Person Z.

    If you want to run a more investigatory game, though, you could certainly add a move to reinforce that. You could even borrow the move from Dungeon World almost whole-sale.

    Basically, totally modify the game to suit your needs, but it’s always a good idea to ask why it feels like there’s a hole in the game. Might just be you’re carry expectations that aren’t quite in line with the assumed theme.

  13. Every game is GUMSHOE a little bit. What I mean is that all RPGs have a set of things you roll for and another set that you roleplay for. That’s trite, but close. In Gumshoe, your investigative skills determine what clues you find, no roll required. In classic D&D your roleplaying savvy really determined how well you did in social encounters.

    In Urban Shadows, investigation is either about people skills or it’s just roleplayed and clues are given. Why hold on to an important piece of physical evidence when missing it often means the PCs spin their wheels uselessly?

    Think of Dresden. Fiction-wise, even his tome of knowledge is a talking skull. Every time he needs info, he looks to human resources, and seldom to books or just looking around.

    Hope that helps.

Comments are closed.