Hey everyone! I’m a few sessions in to my first MotW campaign and was wondering how others handle characters that want to get a piece of information, but their question doesn’t fit into the list of questions that accompanies the “Investigate a Mystery” move and they don’t roll a 12+.
So far my MO has been to allow them to stretch the interpretation of a question to fit what they’re asking, as long as it seems plausible enough. However, if they’re unable to justify the stretch, then I’ve used GM fiat to decide whether or not they can find the answer based on how they’re trying to learn the information, and how likely it is that that information would be available to them.
Is that alright? Or is there something in the rules (or spirit of the rules) I’m missing? Thanks in advance for the feedback!
1. Given the hunter and situation, would they be able to work it out? If yes, answer (and don’t bother rolling).
2. Otherwise, the player should work out which listed question they want answered. Picking the closest question is fine.
So yes, you are following the spirit of the rules 🙂 I also like to stick to a policy, of “if in doubt, give the hunters some information”.
Can’t do much better than getting an answer directly from the author. Thanks a bunch, Michael Sands! 😄
It took me a while (and a response from Michael Sands) to really get that MotW isn’t really about solving mysteries. It’s more about figuring out what to do with all the info characters have. So it’s not “Is there a monster here?” but “Oh no. There IS a monster here. What do we do?”
To that end, if what the player wants to know can’t be gotten by one of the Investigate a Mystery questions? I just give them the information.
Listening
Another thing I’ve had to adapt to is that my players seem determined not to use any of the avenues I provide or hint for them to use for info (such as mentioning a survivor/witness of a monster attack) and immediately trying to track and kill the monster.
Don’t get me wrong, I find other ways to give them the bare amount of info they need to not get stuck, but I find a lot of my bystanders go to waste and I end up having to introduce new ones on the fly when necessary.
J.T. Dimino that’s fine, let them lead the investigation. you may want to adjust your prep to that style and not build in things they are likely to ignore.
You may want to consider building some mysteries where they are going to need to understand things better rather than just wade in and kill everything… e.g. something where killing the monster in the most obvious way will cause bigger problems.
Michael Sands That’s what I figured. Great suggestion for the mystery design – I may use that after the current mystery wraps up (which should be our upcoming session this weekend). Thanks again. 😊