Hiya all. Quick question regarding the research move.
To trigger it: ”When you investigate a person, place, object, or service using a library, dossier or database (or combination of them), ask a question from the list below and roll Mind.”
Now how about simply walking around streets/clubs and asking for rumours? The Fixer and Hunter and Reporter have moved that imply that research could also be done like that, without libraries or dossiers.
But should it be saved for only those playbooks when those moves have been bought?
I know declsre contact is one way of representing ”word on the street” but then again those specific moves hint towards resesrch being able to be used like that.
Assess in my opinion is a bit different thing. So do you allow resesrch to be done through ”social hacking”in addition to files and databases?
Personally no. Streets/clubs are not libraries, dossiers or databases.
If my PCs need to research they need to either obtain a useful database or buy the info directly from a contact.
Oh and the public ‘internet’ in my games is usually pretty shoddy when it comes to sensitive data.
Given the way that the Hunter’s move (for example) is worded, I would infer that other playbooks wouldn’t be able to do research by consulting people on the street/in clubs/etc. Part of a Hunter’s strength is being able to glean information from random passersby or to ask the right questions to get what they need – I think of the scene in Blade Runner in the dressing room where Deckard impersonates someone operating in an official capacity. Without his skills and knack for fast talk, he wouldn’t have been able to do that.
Richard Smithson
That is the way I have done it too but reading for example Fixers move ”Word on the street” trugger ”When you research by listening to or recalling street level gossip, take an additional [intel], even on a miss.” It could be interpretated that you can do research by other means than libraries and dossiers to begin with, but with that move you are guaranteed additional intel, even on a miss.
Hopefully Cameron could drop in and explain what was the intention with research: strictly files etc if you dont have additional playbook moves or can anyone try it without databases and dossiers
The wording of the basic move is explicitly to rule out “I talk to (unnamed) people in bars”. The Hunter’s move grants an exception. If you want to get intel by talking to people, the default method is to declare a contact and hit the street.
1. In reality, it takes two or three privates several hours to canvass an area. More if it’s a particularly densely populated area, like The Sprawl.
2. On the other hand, if the clue CAN conceivably be found by pounding the pavement, you have to give it to them, if they do it. In fact, you never want to withhold a clue in a mystery game. The challenge should be solving the mystery, not finding the clue. Pounding the pavement is just a desperate last ditch move, because it takes forever.
3. If you want to add excitement and game it up, remember that when the POLICE pound the pavement, they send uniformed rookies to knock on doors. Some people don’t trust the police, so they don’t open the door, or they clam up. And that’s uniformed cops. Sprawl PCs are way more sketchy than the police. Have them Act Under Pressure to not call down the local protection racket — the police, the gated community’s rent-a-cops, corpsec, the local street gang, etc.
4. If you’re like me, and you hate PCs pounding the pavement, and want them to use it as a desperate last resort, advance the Legwork clock automatically any time the PCs do it. There’s no way they can keep their Legwork secret when they’re talking about it with literally dozens if not hundreds of strangers.
5. When presented with the reality of how long it takes, the risks it carries, and how much it reveals what they’re up to, smart PCs will take a shortcut. They can Reveal Knowledge, and just say, “well, Mary in 4B told me she snapped a pic of the shooter’s car, and even got the plate.” Or they’ll declare a contact and just say, “we could knock on doors all day, but I know this is Killers turf. Let me call my contact in the Killers and see if her corner boys can dig something up for us.”
6. Double check with your player. They might not mean they want to pound the pavement. They might mean they want to interview witnesses or go to contacts to get the word on the street. These are very VERY different things. “Interview witnesses” means there have to be witness NPCs. Ask them “which witness do you want to interview?” If they want to go to a contact to get word on the street, the can Declare a Contact.
7. Last, but not least, the obvious answer: You can frame a scene and just run it from there. “Three hours into pounding the pavement, you’re at Lucky’s, a bar two blocks down La Brea. Lucky, the eponymous proprietor, is a cyborg – a crappy VA job. You’ve seen poor schlubs like this before: Combat cyborgs who get kicked out of the service. The army repossesses all their badass ‘ware and gives them cheap VA crap in place. Anyway, Lucky tells you he ain’t seen nothing, but you get a sense that’s bullshit. He’s looking at a screen showing an order confirmation for one of this year’s new Sonytachi cyberarm models, and it can’t be because this shithole is making any profit.” Now it’s a Play Hardball or a Fast Talk.
EDIT! 8. Hey wait, maybe the PCs are using Research because the one asking to do it has high Mind. OK. Well point out that the move doesn’t trigger unless they search a database, but remind them that facebook, nextdoor, and google groups are “databases” and those are all things you can social engineer your way into with ease. If a witness saw something, they might have complained about it on cyberpunk future Nextdoor, and that is a database, and that triggers the Research move. But first you have to spoof your way into these, and that might be an Act Under Pressure if the MC wants to make the PC sweat a little (the pressure is the target catching wind of you joining the neighborhood Facebook group — i.e. advancing the Legwork clock).