A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws GUMSHOE core games present the GM with a default scenario structure you can use when creating your own mysteries to challenge your players. By following it you can ensure that the investigators have at least one, and preferably many, routes to solve the adventure’s key question, whether […]
Tag Archives: GUMSHOE
A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Having appeared on GM advice panels for lots of years, I’m always on the alert for changes in the types of questions audience members put forward. These can vary quite a bit depending on the convention. An expensive destination show like Gen Con, or one directed to […]
by Steven Hammond First let me open by saying that https://theblackbook.io is live and taking email addresses for anyone who wants to take part in the alpha or beta tests, or get notified when the new Black Book goes live. You may recall that during the months of September and October we asked all of you […]
Here’s an expanded use for the Sense Trouble ability one of my players, Chris Huth, sold me on recently. The basic principle can apply to any GUMSHOE game that includes this general ability. We’ve reached the Aftermath sequence of our Yellow King Roleplaying Game playtest. In its alternate 2017, landlines remain the basic telephonic technology. […]
[Contains a mild spoiler for the most recent episode of Discovery…] A note on tone in Ashen Stars invites you to think of it as the gritty reboot of a beloved TV space opera show from the past. Enough episodes of Star Trek: Discovery have dropped to see that it is very much reading out […]
GUMSHOE is a system for designing investigative roleplaying games and adventures, emulating stories where investigators uncover a series of clues, and interpret them to solve a mystery. In GUMSHOE, the players always get the clues they need to move the narrative forward. Character Creation In a GUMSHOE game, you create player characters (PCs) by choosing […]
In GUMSHOE,when your character needs to do something tricky and where randomness adds tension, you roll a d6, add points you spend from an Ability pool, and if you make the Difficulty number, you succeed. The number of points you spend on a test can represent the effort a character is making, but usually they […]
In a previous post I laid out the basics of Shock and Injury cards in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game (now on Kickstarter.) Let’s now dive in a bit more detail into the way certain of the cards evoke the sense of a multi-step recovery. Like anything in GUMSHOE, they emulate the way things work […]
The elements of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game Game currently exciting folks who’ve read the preview version are its new, quick, player-facing combat system and the alluring status effects of its Shock and Injury cards. What players who take part in your campaign will most remember about are the interconnections their different characters experience between the […]
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A scenario seed for The King in Yellow Roleplaying Game As heroes of the revolution that deposed the Castaigne regime you’ve been invited to take center stage at the first 4th of July celebration in 97 years. In 1920, backed by the King in Yellow, the Imperial Castaigne dynasty took over the US. Six months […]