Hello all, been playing MotW for a while as the GM and ran into a weird question. I was directed here from someone on Reddit, and was hoping you all could possibly fill me in.
I got into a deep conversation the other day with someone over how much extra work I put into my mysteries, and we then discussed ‘if it was true to the spirit of MotW/PbtA Games”.
For a quick example, let’s say I decide to have your standard ‘serial killing monster’
At the very least, I will have a small ‘info dump’ on the monster, including what I call a ‘hard clue’ and a ‘soft clue’.
The hard clue will be an incontrovertible bit of evidence about the monster that I ‘pre plan’
The soft clue will be a short ambiguous description that I will directly pull from the players, or their interactions, or their playbooks.
So, let’s say I make a monster, and say it’s killing people to feed off them, and the gimmick of this monster is that it eats people that are drunk.
So one of my info lines will say something like:
* monster kills victims to FEED OFF THEIR LIVERS
* monster ‘hunts’ for victims at
And so on. The all-caps is a ‘hard clue’, and the bit in angle brackets is a ‘blank’ for a soft clue. So, maybe when they investigate they say “hey, this dude seems to be drunk, is there a bar nearby?” And then I can say something like “maybe, what kind of bar?” And then whatever they respond with, I can then put in the blank of the soft clue like a ‘mad lib’.
This also allows for different players and settings to kind of flesh things out. Like, if they said “dive bar” instead of “posh club” or “dance club”.
My friend feels like I’m kinda breaking the rules as the Keeper, as I shouldn’t be planning out anything past what shows up on the mystery sheet. I’m arguing that if I’m actually letting them /investigate mysteries/, I’m going to need some sort of cheat sheet to refer to, in order to keep all the various clues/‘rules of the monster’ in mind.
This also makes everything flow a lot better narratively as my cheat sheet has just enough specifics to cover any sort of weird CSI type idea the table comes up with investigating (like searching for droppings in a ‘nest’). Seriously, they really enjoy investigating.
Now, I rarely have much actual planning past that. Just a general idea on some of the areas I might need to have on hand, maybe a half-scribbled map or information on the area, and then one or two half-filled pages of NPCs I can crab from when they need one. The rest of it is standard mystery worksheet stuff.
My friend assured me I’m doing it mostly wrong, even if I’m not planning out the entire plot, as I’m already railroading the table by having specific clues/data decided upon before the game even starts.
I say that it’s pretty much impossible to have a lot of decent ‘investigation’ or ‘puzzles’ or ‘cases to solve’ unless you can honestly answer most questions the players might send my way.
So, my question to you guys is: “do you prepare ahead of time for any investigation heavy mysteries, and if so, how deep do you go?”
If you have time, my follow up questions would be “Why do you do it this way” And “Do you think your way is abiding behind the spirit of MotW/PbtA Rules/gameplay?”
Thanks in advance