Category: Monster of the Week Roadhouse

Investigate a Mystery – Revisited v0.3

Again, thanks for your interest – I really appreciate the feedback and discussion!

Now that I’ve figured out what kept getting it deleted from reddit, you can follow the discussion there in /r/monsteroftheweek as well if you like.

I’m just keeping everything current by noting that v0.3 is up now:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_qXPHlR8MfWUZ7MPVQVY2qmcVe989P16_0cZb0erJDs/edit?usp=sharing

If anyone has a chance to put this on the table, I’d be very glad to hear how it goes!

Investigate a Mystery – Revisited v0.2

Hey everyone – thanks for the feedback and interest! I’ve got a new revision of the move available for comment here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_qXPHlR8MfWUZ7MPVQVY2qmcVe989P16_0cZb0erJDs/edit?usp=sharing

Here’s the changelog:

* Rewrite Clues as hold to stay with the simplest thing that could possibly work

* Specify that taking hold can be selected as often as desired

* Fix keeper notes regarding information on a miss, move trigger, etc.

* Reformat to more generally resemble moves from the book

Thanks again for reading and especially trying the move out in your games!

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.