I’ve run and played a number of MotW campaigns now – and I found myself in a position where I was starting to like the game less that I would wish to. I love the concept, I think it’s one of the great first-generation PbtA designs.
But I also think it’s starting to show its age (revised edition notwithstanding) and I had begun to sketch out the design of a complete replacement game. But that seemed daunting and I asked myself, “What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work? What could you change about MotW that would have the biggest impact on your satisfaction with the game as both a Keeper and a player?”
The answer was obvious: Investigate a Mystery. I estimated that fixing IaM would address 60% of my problems with MotW, so I decided to undertake that first.
Here’s a link to my revised IaM move: https://app.box.com/s/3v47vtjjxb9bm0f3gmzxzen8mcb07ho6
The text is, as much as possible, verbatim from the existing book. I felt that a great deal of the trouble was from interpretation by both Keepers and players, so I tried to highlight the great advice that was already there.
But I also wanted to bring what I’d learned from years of playing GUMSHOE games to the solution and make the roll more varied – I was tired of King Sharp – there are lots of ways to get information!
My goals were:
* Keep the investigation phase from bogging down
* Avoid duplicate rolls
* Give players some control of the situation when investigating
* Keep investigation consequential and exciting
Questions and constructive feedback are welcome.
This is interesting. I have to think about it more but it’s definitely a cool concept.
It seems to have been removed from Reddit
Well, that was pointless. Can you briefly summarize what the idea was?
Jeb E, Felix Girke Try this.
Interesting, I’m keen to hear how it works in play.
Ah, okay, a pretty direct Gumshoe port. I think it would work fine, to be honest; and I don’t even disagree that IaM is the Basic Move I have seen players struggle with most. Hmm, hmm. Mulling it.
I like your revised IaM move and I think it’s a step in the right direction.
I agree that MotW is starting to show its age. I’ve personally toyed with the idea of changing the Act Under Pressure move to where the rating rolled is based on the fiction similar to your revised IaM. I also think eliminating all the advanced from the basic moves would declutter things.
Thinking it over more, I feel like the options for the players to choose could be refined, but (and I apologise for not being very helpful here) I can’t quite put my finger on why or how. I think in part it’s because they don’t really move the story forward but just prevent the Keeper from making certain moves. Does it mean then that whatever the player doesn’t pick happens automatically, every time Investigate a Mystery is triggered? That seems somewhat problematic to me as well, and potentially crosses the “line” that John Harper talks about re: custom moves in Apocalypse World, shifting the balance of authorship from how it usually works. Or maybe it’s just that the options feel a little boring to me.
I really like the clue idea, tho I’m curious about how the “token” idea works in play, since basically getting +1 ongoing feels really powerful. I haven’t played any games in the GUMSHOE system yet but I’ve really wanted to. It definitely seems like ideas about investigation could be borrowed to make investigation more interesting in MotW, particularly since some players really do like the chase more than the showdown. I certainly wouldn’t mind a more interesting investigation mechanic, and this seems like it could be a good place to start.
Jeb E importantly, clues are tokens spent for +1 when the fiction supports leveraging knowledge gained in investigative, not ongoing.
Jason Kottler I understand, I guess just struggled with terminology since they fall in a new space.
Jeb E the choice the player makes is about controlling what success looks like. The keeper is free but not required to create any of the circumstances the player didn’t exclude.
This is really good. Thanks for sharing.
I have some games this weekend, some with new players, some with vets, and I’ll houserule in this and see how it pans out.
Right now, in most of my games, it’s not too big of a problem, but I’m realizing that it might be due to me “leading the question” a bit harder than some keepers do.
The one issue I have with IAM as written is that it forces me to say a whole lot of “No, you can’t” in response to the players, which seems counter intuitive to most other MotW/PbtA moves.
After some feedback and consideration, I’m going to try to hew more closely to the principle of “The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work” and rewrite Clues as hold, in line with other hold in the game, rather than introducing a new currency / mechanic.
That might work best honestly and there is no reason to not phrase as that the holds represent clues.
Jason Kottler I’m excited to see your next draft, please do share with us!
Michael Sands I am too! I will ask my current Keeper if she wants to try it out or not.
Lil Johnny Halfbreed That would be awesome – please let me know how it goes! There’s a new revision already, and you can access it here: docs.google.com – Investigate a Mystery Revisited
Jeb E There is another post with a link to an editable, commentable google doc version. Here it is for you in case you haven’t seen it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_qXPHlR8MfWUZ7MPVQVY2qmcVe989P16_0cZb0erJDs/edit?usp=sharing
Richard Rogers I know from listening to your ETU actual plays of MotW that the topic of revising MotW has come up. I figured you might be interested in this.
Brandon Mila Thanks, Brandon, I’ll check it out!
I’m not often on here because I work a lot, and Google sites are blocked by our filters….+Jason Kottler has a pretty good idea here… I appreciate his sharing.
Lil Johnny Halfbreed they block Google but not Reddit? I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of such a thing! (This is tacobongo from Reddit btw)