I’ve run and played a number of MotW campaigns now – and I found myself in a position where I was starting to like…
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.