Where Mutant City Blues nerdtropes the police procedural by mashing it up with the superhero genre, the new NBC series Grimm does the same thing with a dose of urban fantasy. In the premise-establishing first episode, police detective Nick Burckhardt discovers that he’s a hereditary fighter of evil creatures obliquely referenced in fairy tales. With […]
Category Archives: News
Following the release of the pre-order print version of Lorefinder, here is the character sheet to download. Lorefinder is, we hope, the first of many future GUMSHOE mash-ups. It keeps the d20 Pathfinder system but seamlessly weaves in the investigative mechanic of GUMSHOE. Download a PDF of the 2-page character sheet. You can pre-order the […]
I received an email from Ben Monroe, who had urged his friend Matt Steele to try Invasive Procedures, a disturbing adventure for Fear Itself. Matt’s comments are below. Matt also told me “As the Terror Rabbit and host of the Dead of Winter Horror Invitational, Invasive Procedures will be the scenario I bring to run”. […]
At first glance, the survival horror cable series “The Walking Dead” would seem clearly procedural, devoted as it is to the efforts of a small band of people to tough out a zombie apocalypse. Certainly, many of its most memorable scenes pit characters against practical problems: finding a missing party member, snagging needed medical supplies, […]
We have new releases, a host of articles, and the traditional See Page XX poll in the latest Pelgrane Press Webzine. Check it out here.
October brings new playtesting opportunities, in particular Owl Hoot Trail, but we are shy of a few takers for the Esoterrorists adventures. Anyone signing up for those will get a sneak peak at the latest iteration of GUMSHOE – Esoterrorists 2.0 Each playtest has its own email link. Please click the link to send the […]
Last week I presented a series of synopses from the in-house Hillfolk playtest, to show the sort of narrative you might develop over the course of a DramaSystem series. This time I thought I’d zoom in a bit with a detailed account of the action that unfolds during a single episode. This is from our […]
As with other GUMSHOE games like The Esoterrorists and Mutant City Blues, Ashen Stars GMs are encouraged to look to the news for episode inspiration. Like the writers of the various Treks and the nouveau Battlestar, they might use the space opera form to examine issues of the day. Alternately, they can start with pop […]
For a look at sort of broad-strokes narrative that might emerge over longterm DramaSystem play, I thought I’d provide you with the following synopses. These cover the first distinct chunk of episodes, analogous to a season of a serialized drama. The system doesn’t impose a particular arc on the group; rather, it provides a framework […]