New Keeper here. First mystery started last night. My hunters are having real problems with taking on the investigation phase. Any suggestions on how to guide them without pulling them along?
Help appreciated, thank you all.
..j;
New Keeper here.
New Keeper here.
I always found the soft move/hard move distinction useful. When they don’t want to investigate threaten them softly, they should respond with “Goddamit, how can we protect ourselves” – and then they can roll to Investigate or Read a Bad Situation. First symptoms of a disease (harmless so far), nightmares full of threats, a distant growl from a dark corner – it all raises questions.
On the other hand – if they have problem starting an investigation, maybe they would like mysteries that are more action- or negotiation-oriented? Some players have problem with things they’d like to do, others have problem because they don’t really want to do what we expect them to 😉
Could you be more specific? What exactly are they having problems with?
3 of 5 players are playing passively along the lines of “I am just going to hang back and make sure ‘x’ is safe…”
The other 2, while investigating are going at it by asking to roll moves. Moves are reactions to actions, not a menu to choose from.
I was wondering how folks are first, getting players into the take-action-and-roll-when-asked mindset, and second, how to hint/suggest action without railroading the scenario.
* Meta conversation: Take whatever time the group needs to explain how the game works, including how moves are not just a menu, not all attacks are rolled, etc. Also make sure they know it’s a collaborative game. “Play to see what happens.”
* Ask questions: You can keep them on track and slowly train them by constantly asking them questions. When they say, “I investigate,” you say, “Explain how. What exactly are you doing?” When they say, “I want to manipulate this guy,” you say, “What do you say, exactly?” When they say, “I attack,” you say, “With what? In what manner? What about cover? Where is everybody situated?”
The most important question is “What do you do next?” Force them to make things happen. As Marek Golonka said, use soft moves to guide them or give them motivations to act.
Assuming your group isn’t just disinterested (in which case, time to find a new group), then they may just need some practice. My current group is mostly first-timers. The first few sessions I was constantly grilling them. “Tell me more about this guy you say you know.” “Tell me more about this gadget you say you have.” “You tell me how ‘use magic’ works for your character.” But now they’re more used to it and it’s more natural.
Now with your particular situation, when three guys hold back, that’s when you pull out some keeper moves like “separate them” or monster moves like “appear suddenly.” Force those three guys to deal with something life threatening. Remember your agenda: “Make hunters’ lives dangerous & scary.” A little negative reinforcement may be just what they need to learn that they are safer together than apart 🙂
Maybe you could have them discover a retired veteran hunter (“Rusty”) to show them the ropes that the monster can kill in the second act?
Rusty Shackleferd the retired Flake 😉
I like it.
I’d remind them that they’re bold monster hunters, who need to face the mystery no matter how scary.
In play, you can create mysteries where the monster’s plan will aggressively cause terrible harm if the hunters don’t move quick.