It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these Page XX pieces. In the intervening months, I’ve been working on a whole host of different adventures, ranging from classic Cthulhu mythos to epic fantasy to political drama to different flavours of weirdness. As part of the process of adventure writing, there are ten questions […]
Tag Archives: GUMSHOE
Some GUMSHOE scenarios give players the opportunity to pick up small temporary pools. In Trail, for example, reading the collected letters of a crazed physicist might give a 2-point temporary pool that can be spent on Occult, Physics or Astronomy. The players can use these points as they would regular points from their character sheets. […]
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We’re happy to announce we were once again part of Free RPG Day 2023 on Saturday, June 24th, 2023, and this year’s free Pelgrane giveaway was an adventure for Swords of the Serpentine, which you can find with all previous years’ Free RPG Day adventures. Swords of the Serpentine is a game of daring heroism, […]
In the latest episode of their cooperatively informative podcast, Ken and Robin talk tight-lipped informants, the 18th century antiquarian spy Philipp von Stosch, mid 90s SF cinema, and dancing plagues.
GUMSHOE, as we always say, is the game system where you always find a clue. If you’ve got the right Investigative Ability, you get the information. When designing scenarios, however, it’s useful to divide those pieces of information into different categories. My usual mental breakdown (building on the Clue vs Lead division) Leads: A piece […]
In the latest episode of their wave-lashed podcast, Ken and Robin talk aha moments in investigative games, Lucian Freud, Winslow Homer, and the triumphant return of Ken’s London book haul.
Ever thought of playing in a 60s cold war version of Night’s Black Agents? Traversing The Gaean Reach modified for Charles Stross’ Laundry Files? Perhaps a Byzantian take on Swords of the Serpentine set in Constantinople is part of your gaming wish list? If so, then look no further. After successful seasons of games for […]
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The War of the Sisters STRANGER: Have you fashioned your masks? CAMILLA AND CASSILDA: Father, they shall not be masks for long. STRANGER: From what have you fashioned them? CAMILLA: From Rodrigo’s red flesh. CASSILDA: From my song of green joy. Cassilda’s Song, a massive scenario series for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, spans all […]
In the latest episode of their 12-sided podcast, Ken and Robin talk randomness vs choice in RPG design, the Chicago Film Festival, Tristan Zimmerman’s Shanty Hunters, and saving Franz Ferdinand.
In response to our scenario design workshop, we were asked to delve a bit further into the distinction between core and alternate scenes in a GUMSHOE adventure. TL;DR: Make sure there’s one path through a GUMSHOE scenario. Those are your core scenes. Add more paths. Those are your alternate scenes. A Core Scene provides one […]