GUMSHOE, how does it play.

[Fri]

Okay, I've been interested in GUMSHOE for a while, and I guess there's not really much reason why I shouldn't check it.

I think I kinda know the gist of the game's premise, but anyone who actually have played it summarize it to me how the game actually plays?

[Knaight]

The core system side thing is that the basic investigation rules where at least some baseline amount of clues are always found if you search the right place and skills dwindle tends to produce some particular effects. The biggest of these is that the mysteries often work out to the feel of a race, with closing in on the solution and running out of resources often neck and neck until one or the other happens.

[Raimun]

My experience is limited but here goes.

Skills are resources. Pretty much all of your stats are resources. To investigate a scene means using up these resources.

Different ways to obtain information include persuasion, crime scene investigation, fast talking, research, information gathering (human intelligence), prior knowledge on certain subjects, dealing with institutes, psychological eye, technical know-how, autopsies and so on. So, you need to first decide how you are going to approach any particular conundrum and which skill to use.

The next step is to gauge much effort you put to a one leg of investigation. You always get some information but the amount and detail of information you get depends on how much of your resources you use. So, if you go all in and persuade someone with all 4 (out of 4) of your relevant skill, you will certainly win their heart and get pretty much as much information as there is available. Of course, that means you won't be doing even nearly as well with the next person you try to sweet talk. Also... it's certainly possible that person you persuaded with "all in" is just a red herring and knew nothing relevant.

That's the basic gist of it.

Of course, it might be still a dangerous world out there and the game does have a rudimentary combat system. While combat is most of the time a bad idea and certainly not the focus of the game, it's still there. Unsurprisingly, I were the one who got to test them first but I swear the other guys started it! Also, during all that chaos one of us managed to leg it after grabbing some clues. It seems the game is closer to Philip Marlowe than Hercule Poirot.

All in all, it's a good game and I were positively surprised after playing my first session. I kind of expected that it would not be my cup of tea but I had fun.