OK. So I ran my second (fairly short) session of MotW last night and I’m really struggling with the “Investigate a Mystery” Move. As I consider myself a decent * World GM/MC (I run Dungeon World and Monsterhearts mostly) the fact that I’m not getting this move bugs me. Can someone help? Here’s the setup from last night for context.
I’m running the sample Mystery from the MotW book. The one about the O’Connell house. After getting the case file from the Agency Director and then discussing for a bit about how to approach the Hadley family, the Hunters finally drive to the house. The information they have so far (contained in the file they were given) is that about 45 years ago, Marie O’Connell disappeared and two years later her husband, Damian, committed suicide in the house. It’s been empty since then, until the Hadley’s moved in about six months ago. The Hadley’s have called the police three times about break ins and missing items, but in every case the police found absolutely no evidence of anyone entering the house. The “stolen” items were also always found a few days later, simply having been moved to a different location in the house.
The Hunters asked about connections between the O’Connells and the Hadleys, and as they probably have (or can obtain) access to all sorts of records, they discovered that Andi Hadley is the daughter of Agatha Blackthorn, who was the younger sister of Damian O’Connell. So they realize there’s a family connection, as Damian O’Connell was Andi Hadley’s uncle.
When they get to the house, the Professional, the Spooky, and the Wronged try to talk their way in, running up against a skeptical Mark Hadley. Meanwhile the Flake walks to the side of the house and, using the information in the police reports contained in their case file, Uses Magic to observe the master bedroom around the time the item was stolen. They see a large leather-bound book float off the shelf and slide under the bed, before a multitude of tiny red eyes block out the vision. The other three Hunters manage to talk to Andi, the Spooky rifles through her mind with telepathy, and discovers that every item that has been moved is connected to Marie O’Connell. Also, simply by talking to Andi, the find that the family moved here after her mother died a few years ago, leaving the house to the family.
The convince Mrs. Hadley to take them to the master bedroom. The Spooky pulls the big leather bound book from the shelf and flips through it. It’s an old photo album, obviously belonging to Marie. The player ask to make the Investigate a Mystery Move to look for clues. Here’s where the game ground to a halt. Which was OK, because we had to call the game to make our last trains home.
That was a longer setup than I intended, but I wanted people to see exactly what clues the Hunters were dealing with before they made the IaM Move. Looking at the list of IaM questions, I am confused. Firstly, I don’t see how the Hunters can answer any of the IaM questions based on their current actions. Leafing through an old photo album will not be able to tell them what happened, what type of creature they’re dealing with, what it can do, what can hurt it, where it went, what it was planning to do, or if anything is being concealed.
I’m not trying to stonewall the Hunters (or the players) here by not providing them with clues. But I kind of felt like I was. On the other hand, it seems very unsatisfying if the Spooky was able to leaf through the photo album, make the IaM Move, ask “What sort of creature is it?” and just get a direct answer from me. If this were a TV show, only about 10 minutes would have elapsed so far. Should the Hunters really know, with absolute certainty that they’re dealing with a [monster] that early in the episode? That feels kind of cheap.
Which leads me to the questions the Hunters can ask via the IaM Move. It seems like each of those questions, will simply end the investigative part of the mystery. As long as the Hunters (and players) can provide a reasonable explanation as to how their actions allow them to get an answer to the question they are asking, they should get the answer. That seems to be how the move works.
So am I missing something here? Can someone help me with this?
