by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan There are game designers who quail at the sight of a lengthy skill list, who argue that brevity and simplicity is the goal of game design. Such game designers are, of course, cowards. Merryshire’s ability list is enthusiastically baroque. Here’s the very first list, from 2023. And the current list. See, […]
Tag Archives: mystery
This post originally appeared on DyingEarth.com between 2004 and 2007. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws For the past couple of installments we’ve been examining investigative scenario construction from a macro perspective, mostly looking at the way scenes interact with one another. This time let’s zoom in a bit and talk about a […]
The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in April 2008. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Give a Clue The heart of the GUMSHOE system is its method of ensuring that players always gather the clues essential to the solution of a mystery and lots of other […]
This post originally appeared on DyingEarth.com between 2004 and 2007, but could prove useful for the many subsequent GUMSHOE systems. A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws On a fundamental structural level, RPG sessions are their own beast, and are unlike movies, TV, and books. However, these related storytelling forms are always worth looking […]