On GUMSHOE

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Or Why the GUMSHOE Investigation System Isn't Doing What Everyone Thinks It Is Doing But Is Actually Doing Something More Amazing

In an episode of the podcast _Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff_, they discussed a situation where an innovation in game design is first reviled and then dismissed with "I've done it that way all along." The innovation they were discussing was the GUMSHOE investigation system, and Simon Roger was understandable a little perturbed by these reactions to it.

I like Simon. He's a great guy and one of the folks in the industry who really, really understands good customer service. (Fred Hicks is another one, but I digress.) Nevertheless, my first reaction was a mental "Er, I'm sorry, Simon, but I _have_ been doing it all along. Really -- since before there was a GUMSHOE system." And this is perfectly true, but it misses the point.

Actually, it misses two points. The first, if less important, point is that Simon is probably not thinking of individual GMs who have been doing this for years. He is probably thinking of companies whose staff claim that they have been selling games that do what GUMSHOE's investigation system does all along. Simon, Robin, and Ken are all correctly skeptical of this claim.

When it comes to investigation in a Call of Cthulhu scenario -- and, likely, in scenarios in most other gaming systems -- I think there will be one of the following two situations:

1. The scenario calls for a Find Clue roll. Maybe the author has solving the mystery hinge on making a Cthulhu Mythos roll, which is extremely foolish, as the odds of an entire party missing such a roll is great. Maybe the author calls for one or more Spot Hidden or Idea or Know rolls, where the odds of at least one person in the party making the roll is great -- but it is still possible for everyone to miss the roll and the clue.

This is the situation that those who write for and run and play GUMSHOE loudly proclaim that GUMSHOE solves. If the choice is between Find Clue and Game Stops Dead In Its Tracks, in GUMSHOE, you will always Find the Clue. And, this is as it should be.

Yes, for years, I and any other GM worth his salt have done essentially what GUMSHOE claims to do. Perhaps this means that the GM winces, but says, "All right, I'll give it to you anyway." Perhaps this means that the GM decides that whoever rolls best finds the clue. This is generally what I do, as I have only rarely run Call of Cthulhu scenarios with the BRPS system. I used a homebrew version of R. Talisorian's Stat + Skill + d10 vs eyeballed difficulties for my first Cthulhupunk campaign, and I used Over the Edge for my second. For my third, I eventually just stopped calling for Find Clue rolls and either maneuvered players to ensure their PCs would find the clue (e.g., "Do you eavesdrop on the conversation?") or just tell them outright (e.g., "As you walk away, you notice...").

But, this is what we all, as individual GMs do to fix something that is broken. The fact that we are all extremely talented individuals who have quietly patched a faulty system so that we all have a good time does not change the fact that, in this regard, the system is at fault.

I know that there are some people who don't believe that it's a problem to have everyone blow the Find Clue roll, and that the correct thing to do is to let the group founder. There are probably even some groups that enjoy this sort of thing. But, I do not, and I think that the majority of gamers do not. More likely is a case where players and GM alike think that they must stick to the system as written, even if it makes the game suck. And, here, the Indie movement has a point.

I do not believe that RPGs can be equated with board games, but I do agree that if a particular application of a rule will often produce an undesired result, changing the rule so that this application does not come up and does not produce an undesired result is probably the way to go.

2. The scenario has nothing hinging on a Find Clue roll. Yay! And, there are some scenarios like that, though I suspect many of the ones I'm thinking about merely have so many possible ways to roll for Finding a Clue that, statistically, one of them will come up. But, let us assume that we've got a scenario that actually does not depend on anyone ever making a Find Clue roll.

Hey, it's just like GUMSHOE, right? Well... actually, no.

What's happening is that the scenario author, like the GM, is patching the system, or working around it, or perhaps gracefully working so that the system uses its strengths, not its weaknesses. And, for the purposes of creating a workable mystery scenario, this is fine. It is completely understandable that I assumed that this was all there was to the GUMSHOE Investigation system, because this is what all GUMSHOE's stout defenders praise.

Actually, there are two lines of defense for those who have issues with the GUMSHOE Investigation system, and this does not help matters.

First, we are told, GUMSHOE is Completely Different, for never again will an adventure come to a screeching halt because your Investigator missed a Find Clue Roll. Next, we are assured that GUMSHOE is Completely the Same. The player still has to specify where the PC is searching, and IF the investigator is searching in the right area, and IF the investigator has the appropriate skill, then and only then does the investigator find the clue. Those who are now thinking, "Oh, great, so it's a game of 'read the GM's mind'" can be forgiven, I think, for this _is_ what that second argument says.

Mind, when I talked about my doubts to Ken and Robin when I first purchased Trail of Cthulhu, they explained that one is by no means supposed to make the players guess which skills are necessary. The GM should tweak the adventure so that the skills required to Find the Clue are the ones the Investigators have. If your PC has Art History, then, by gum, Art History should be useful in scenario after scenario in finding clues.

And, many of the better GUMSHOE scenarios are written in just such a way, saying, essentially, "Okay, the Core Clue is X. Here are some examples of how to phrase the PCs discovering it based on what skill gets used, and if your group has different skills, then use this as inspiration to figure out how to phrase it. But, make sure they get this Core Clue."

So, okay, GMs are supposed to fit scenarios to their groups, which is what good GMs always do. No matter how good a scenario is, it's likely any GM will have to do some customization. And GUMSHOE helps keep the plot from coming to a screeching halt because the investigation system says, "Don't let the plot come to a screeching halt."

The creators and authors and fans of GUMSHOE make it sound as if that is all the system does. This led to a conversation between myself and Bill White which I suspect has been had many times. Bill said, "GUMSHOE is answering the wrong question," and I agreed.

The question we _thought_ GUMSHOE was asking, the question all of the PR about GUMSHOE indicates that GUMSHOE is asking, is "How do you keep the plot from grinding to a halt when someone blows a Find Clue roll?" And, too often, any time someone starts to phrase a critique of GUMSHOE, before the criticism or question has left the speaker's mouth, GUMSHOE's defender answers this question -- even if it isn't the one asked -- with "You use the GUMSHOE Investigation system!" For me, the answer to that question is, "Don't do that, obviously!"

But, honestly, if that truly were the question GUMSHOE was asking, there would be no need for GUMSHOE. All anyone would have to do would be to take Call of Cthulhu or whatever their system of choice for running mystery scenarios is, and stick a post-it note on the cover of the book, and write on that post-it note: "Never Let the Plot Grind to a Halt Because Someone Blows the Find Clue Roll!"

That's all you'd need to do, no extra rules, no nothing. But, that isn't what GUMSHOE is really correcting for. That isn't the question it is really answering.

The main question it's asking is, "How do you write and run an investigation scenario where it is a given that the PCs will find all of the clues?"

Or, if you want to take a step further back, it is, "How do you emulate the genres of investigation where there is no real possibility that the PCs will fail to solve the mystery in such a way that this failure makes them miss the plot?"

You write a scenario differently when you start from the position that no rolls will be necessary to find clues. You are not trying to find specific ways to give clues to the players. Oh, sure, you may have some ideas, but ultimately, you're providing the core clues in such a way that any GM can tweak the delivery of information.

I'm not getting into a question of railroading here, given that there are good and bad forms of railroading, that there is some debate on what truly constitutes railroading, and that we all know that Call of Cthulhu and other systems can produce railroad scenarios just as easily.

The fact that the clues will come out also allows GUMSHOE to play an emotional game. Horror after horror is revealed until the final horror shatters the fragile mental balance of the investigator. This is the assumption for the Lovecraftian story of Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu, of the more action oriented Night's Black Agents, and of the conspiracy and horror games of Esoterrorists and Fear Itself, as well as of the other GUMSHOE games I am not familiar with, such as Ashen Stars and Mutant City Blues. The various GUMSHOE games are trying to emulate their chosen genres both intellectually and psychologically.

When I playtested Eternal Lies, I fell in love with the content (or at least, with as much of it as I had access to). Josh fell in love with the Investigation system. It did what it said on the can, and he never had to deal with the frustration of not finding a clue.

This is why I get impatient whenever anyone praises the Investigation system of GUMSHOE as if it needs defending. Yes, I have issues with the GUMSHOE system -- but with that part of the GUMSHOE system which is everything that isn't the Investigation system. I do not grok the General Skills system. I do not understand the pacing. I've read an article that has what I think is probably terrible advice -- or, at least, I'm fairly certain my PC would not have survived the Night's Black Agents tournament if I'd tried to play that way, and if the GM and players _do_ play that way, then the General system feels a little pointless.

All of this may be obvious to other folks who've read GUMSHOE. I was bouncing my thoughts off Rob Donoghue, who nodded vigorously, having obviously thought about GUMSHOE a lot and come to many of the same or similar conclusions as I had.

Josh's take on the General system is that it's too flat. He proposes a solution here.

Will Hindmarch said that Gumshoe's General system, including the combat system, worked great, except when it totally sucked, and that there should be a way to explain how to make it not suck.

The folks at Evil Hat will be coming up with their own solution and working on two Gumshoe games, Revengers and Bubblegumshoe. Fred Hicks describes what he sees as the problem with the resource allocation system that is the General system here. More details on Revengers and Bubblegumshoe are here. I'm looking forward to both of these, especially Bubblegumshoe, but not holding my breath as yet. Evil Hat has a very full plate.