GUMSHOE One-2-One

GUMSHOE One-2-One is a system for designing and playing investigative roleplaying games and adventures for one player and one Game Moderator (GM). Together, you create a story that evokes the classic solo protagonist mystery format.

In a GUMSHOE One-2-One game, the player character discovers something which triggers their investigation, and then the (GM) guides them through a number of scenes, during which they use their Investigative Abilities to gather the core clues they need to move the narrative forward. They must then put the clues together to uncover the secrets behind the mystery.

GUMSHOE One-2-One links and resources

• A summary of the GUMSHOE One-2-One system rules
• GUMSHOE One-2-One, Playtest Feedback, and Acceptable Enjoyment Parameters – Robin D. Laws on incorporating playtest feedback into One-2-One
• What’s Changed in GUMSHOE One-2-One – Robin D. Laws on the differences between regular GUMSHOE and One-2-One
• GUMSHOE, the original multi-player investigative mystery-solving system
• All articles about GUMSHOE One-2-One

GUMSHOE One-2-One Games

Any RPG which uses the GUMSHOE One-2-One system redefines it for that setting, and so there is no “GUMSHOE One-2-One book”. Each of the RPGs below contains the full GUMSHOE One-2-One rules for creating characters and playing in that world, as well as guidance on designing your own investigations for that particular setting.

Follow the links below to find out about our GUMSHOE One-2-One games:

• Alteregomania: The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice.
• Cthulhu Confidential: Langston Wright is an African-American war veteran and scholar in WW2-era Washington, D.C. Vivian Sinclair is The New York Herald’s most determined scoop-hound in 1930s NYC. And Dex Raymond is a hard-boiled private detective with a nose for trouble in 1930s Los Angeles. Each is a lone investigator, equipped with smarts, fists, and just maybe a code of honor, uncovering their town’s secret truths. But what happens when you scratch the veneer of human malfeasance to reveal an eternal evil—the malign, cosmic indifference of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos? You get Cthulhu Confidential.
• Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops: You used to be a spy, backed up by the full strength of the shadow state. Then you asked the wrong questions, discovered things you shouldn’t know about who really rules the world. You found the vampires – and got burned. Now, you – Leyla Khan, an ex-MI6 officer – are all alone against them, and you must confront your own half-remembered past as a thrall of the vampires.
• The Paragon Blade: Play a hero in a fantastical land, still scarred by the evil of the fallen Hellbound Empire. Mystery and magic collide in tales of conspiratorial wizards, monstrous foes, and arcane intrigue. In the wilderness beyond the Gloamwood, barbarian hero Conn the Unslain must race against time to seek a cure for a demonic curse. Magic is considered a crime in the Empire of Hekte – so Aletheia the Scholar must conceal her powers from her father the magistrate while helping him investigate the mystery of The Isle of Death. Mysterious thief Puc is master of the shadows in the great city of Tyros Ashem. A necromantic cult seeks to unleash a deadly plague and bring about the end of the world, so Puc must steal the jar of doom before it’s opened.