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Best Detective RPGs You've Never Heard of

1 of 7

by John Robson

Role-playing games have been around long before today's offerings of dynamic, immersive adventures featuring beautiful vistas and gloriously-rendered, high-definition characters. Some have naturally been very successful and spawned multi-million pounds / dollars franchises. These are naturally popular with many people and will continue to be popular for a long time.

The goal of this article is to list five detective RPGs, which aren't quite as popular as today's successful franchises. Actually, perhaps the appropriate word might be obscure. Because technology has moved on so much, as detailed in the opening paragraph, it's unlikely you've heard of these detective RPGs -- which are of the paper-based variety.

But regardless of their relative obscurity and lack of technological prowess, the following games are uniquely interesting and definitely worth a go, if you're inclined.

Games like Mutant City Blues and Technoir are just two examples of the aforementioned detective RPGs in the list. And after that they become more unpredictable and their associated scenarios become really quite bizarre. Examples include Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu, which demonstrate a more horror-orientated approach with lashings of mystique -- and another, Hillfolk, doesn't seem like a detective RPG, but features a clever system, introducing definite similarities. Really, many of these are significantly different from the conventional and super popular paper RPG, Dungeons and Dragons -- and that really keeps things nice and fresh.

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1. Technoir

Technoir is a cyberpunk science fiction role-playing game where technology and gritty realism combine to create an experience like many crime novels. Here, the protagonists are high-tech couriers, unrelenting investigators and hackers, attempting to create a beneficial reality for themselves in an extremely difficult world.

The intention with this game and system is to create an experience where freedom is paramount and nothing is too restrictive. Technoir lets players fight, sneak, and attempt different approaches in a difficult and dark future. Various locations exist in the game which give players information on quests via billboards. Here, game masters uncover various plots which continue to develop as players proceed through the game.

2. Mutant City Blues

Mutant City Blues' story is remarkably similar to Heroes, that television program involving several people with superpowers. Where it differs, however, is the fact the protagonists are actually detectives, policing the streets of a world forever changed by mutant powers. While it might only be 1% of the population, that single percentage point is presumably enough to wreak considerable havoc, and the mutated adversaries featured within are definitely troublesome. People can read minds, travel through walls, shoot energy and even fly. What's not to like?

The player's squad is equally as mutated as the various denizens of the metropolis. And whenever any mutation-related killing occurs, the detectives are on the case, utilizing their mysterious super powers to even the odds. Players are capable of using genealogy to uncover who is potentially a mutant by using a clever diagram, linking powers together. Investigating residue from grisly murders and similar forensics is also possible using advanced technology, demonstrating this experience is both about high-tech goodness and incredible super powers -- a match made in heaven.

Mutant City Blues uses the GUMSHOE system, which is a system specifically designed for investigative approaches. It ensures a more frenetic approach than some systems and easily allows game masters a simplistic method for writing and running various scenarios. It always provides enough investigative information to be compelling, and that nearly always leads to a compelling ending to a case.

3. Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu features a more grounded scenario for players to ingest than many RPGs. Without nary a dragon and flaming, jewel-encrusted claymore of doom in sight, this adventure is a more realistic affair -- at least partially -- featuring various different characters who are relatively normal individuals. Normality really is the premise within this adventure, as demonstrated by the various classes available. Players can be academics, dilettantes, journalists and detectives.

So, yeah, relatively normal chaps.

But that's where the normality ends, as their purpose within this world isn't quite as ordinary as the protagonists seem -- rather, it's considerably the opposite. Here, the scenario is one of terrible darkness and suspense where insanity and fear combine to create a suspenseful, horror-filled scenario. Players are attempting to defeat a cruel evil that is beyond space itself, which is invulnerable and will drive them insane. All of this is based off of H.P. Lovecraft novels, putting the cherry-on-the-top of a spooky cake.

4. Hillfolk

While is not typically a noir-based RPG, in the conventional sense, Hillfolk is, compared to the others, fairly unique. Here the scenario is one of low-tech, simplistic equipment. The world is straightforward and industrial techniques are basic. Players control various characters who use spears and similar equipment for conflict. They plant crops and use simple agricultural techniques to build their village's supplies. Players can increase their village's size and even improve productivity.

It's possible to take the characters in the game and venture into other territories to battle for control of other territories, or venture elsewhere and form friendships with others. The particularly interesting aspect of this game, however, is an interpersonal one, which allows players to question each-other's motives, introducing that almost paranoid, detective-like angle. Players can actually choose to ally with each-other, or attempt to be more competitive and claim as much territory and resources as they desire. This uses the drama system rules to create the aforementioned affect.

5. Trail of Cthulhu

Trail of Cthulhu is another detective-orientated Role-playing game and is actually based on the first game on this list. Figured it out? Yes, it's based on Call of Cthulhu. Here, things are similar to the game it's based on and therefore everything is suitably atmospheric and tense. Again set in the same H.P. Lovecraft-orientated universe, unknown alien horrors are about and Gods up to no good also exist. Couple those things with cults of goons who worship those Gods and things are suitably challenging and grim for the game's heroes.

This game uses the GUMSHOE system, which is perfectly suitable for everything detective-orientated, allowing a focus on investigative approaches. It possesses many different features, like sanity measuring a character's ignorance of the real nature of reality and stability, which measure one's resilience in psychologically-taxing situations

This is similar to Call of Cthulhu in many ways, but features different scenarios, with mysteries in libraries and bloody crime scenes. Players can also patrol the mean streets of Chicago or wander through jungles in the south pacific,

That's all, folks, for the best detective RPGs nobody has heard of.

Are you personally aware of any others that could be considered even more obscure? It doesn't have to be paper-based, specifically -- we would love to hear about any and all obscure detective RPGs. The more obscure the better!

Leave your responses in the comments.

Published Jul. 1st 2016

Featured Contributor

Favourite games include, Perfect Dark, Perfect Dark Zero, Final Fantasy 8, TES IV&colon; Oblivion and Resident Evil 3&period;

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Related Topics

Games call of cthulhuHillfolkMutant City BluesTechnoirtrail of cthulhu Genres AdventureBoard, Card, and DiceRPG Platforms Board GamesPen & Paper Tags hp lovecraft rpg
Source gameskinny.com

Detective RPG: tips for the author

Detective is popular with developers of live action role-playing games. But not everyone knows how to approach this genre. A few tips on how to make a classic detective in a live quest for 8 - 10 players.

Hermetically sealed detective is like an armchair role-playing game: a dozen characters are locked together, each with their own secrets, but there is a common problem - finding the killer. In fact, the detective cabinet is a genre with a catch. The trick is not to reduce the role-playing game to a puzzle.

There is a temptation to spread the evidence around the room - and that's it. After collecting evidence and thinking, the players will restore the picture of the crime. The game can be done that way. But it will not be role-playing: there is too little attention to the characters and their stories.

It is important to remember that in a role-playing quest, players mostly talk. An emotional story about oneself, about others, about the world is acting out. This is the specificity and charm of the genre.

How to “pull out of the detective” the speech of the characters? In the detective story, the characters interrogate witnesses, check their suspicions, participate in confrontations, convince or fall under someone else's influence, expose, bluff. It is also interesting to be under suspicion, to make excuses, to shift the blame on someone else, to lie or tell half-truths, to confess. This means that the player must be both the investigator and the accused.

The basic principle of a detective role-playing game is that everyone has suspicions and everyone is under suspicion.

Detective Game Scenario

Don't expect all players to automatically get carried away looking for the criminal. For a literary detective, one bright villain is enough. In a role-playing quest, all characters, without exception, should be bright.

The following plot structure would be successful: a crime is not the act of one villain, but a manifestation of a conflict in which many are involved.

Behind the crime lies a tangle of interests and secrets. Or crime is the last straw that overturned the whole bowl of problems. Everyone is guilty of something. Someone has done even more than the criminal - it's just that his guilt has not been revealed. Like in a Stephen King horror movie: a monster comes and it turns out that ordinary people did monstrous things.

As for the structure of the investigation, everything is simple: the criminal is the one who has a motive and no alibi.

Motive

Motive: who benefits from the crime? In a good detective story, there are no unmotivated crimes, that is, accidents and actions in a state of passion.

In a detective RPG, every character must have a motive, except for the investigator. I repeat: everyone. The story of the character, his drama is well revealed just through the motive. Motives can be overt and covert. An example of a clear motive: killing a rich man is beneficial to his heirs. Clearly and a hedgehog, this can start the game. But the interest is in discovering hidden motives in characters who, at first glance, are not involved. For example, the wife of the murdered man knows that he recently broke up with his mistress. Did his ex-lover kill him out of jealousy? Or did the wife do it to take revenge? The mistress does not advertise her relationship with a married man. And the wife does not chatter on every corner about family problems. But one of them could share it with a friend - she would tell everything to the investigator.

Every character must have suspicions about other people's motives. The investigator's question to the player: "What do you think, who benefits from the crime?" - should bring to light non-obvious and interesting information. If the player answered "I don't know", something in the game is going wrong.

Alibi

Who could not commit a crime because he was at that time in another place? Give exact information about when and where the crime was committed.

Witnesses confirm the alibi. Witnesses can lie. For example, a wife will lie to protect her husband. But this is not interesting, because it's a no brainer. Much more interesting, for example, like this: a man is lying because the mafia kidnapped his child. If the child is saved - find out where he is being held and send the police there - the witness will gladly lay down the mafia.

The suspect may withhold an alibi. Give reasons: own little secrets. On the day and hour of the murder, the suspect was selling weapons to mafiosi. The mafiosi could confirm his alibi, but it is beneficial for both to hide the fact of the meeting. And what will happen if their little secret is revealed? Give game consequences: it turns out that the suspect is selling weapons, and the police will seize his accounts. He will have to play without money. But it's better to be left without money than to go to jail for murder. He will reveal a little secret for the sake of an alibi.

Check that during the game, the characters should have reasons to stop lying.

Evidence

Evidence - objects and circumstances that testify to someone's guilt. Don't expect players to find the culprit based on clues. There are many clues, they point to different characters. It is difficult to judge that one is more important than the other. In addition, it is difficult to predict what players will want to do with the evidence. Lose? Hide? Conduct an examination? Use for its intended purpose? And how they interpret. These stains on the wall that the presenter painted with paint: is it blood, paint, or cherry juice?

The investigation should be built not from the question “who is definitely guilty, because of the evidence?”, but from the question “who is definitely not guilty, because of the alibi?”.

When you plant a clue leading to a character, you give that character a word. Give everyone the floor.

If you want to use evidence in an investigation, consider the following. Key evidence for an investigation should be information, not items. Information can be duplicated: two characters know the same fact. The item will be hidden in a pocket, and it will never get to the investigator.

Evidence-objects should not be hidden, on the contrary, they should be placed in the most visible place.

Detective RPG detective

I used the word "investigator" a lot. In fact, every player, except for the criminal, should be in the position of the investigator. Each character (except the criminal) has a goal: to solve the crime. So write.

The role of the detective in the detective quest is needed to prevent the rest of the characters from hushing up the story for the sake of everyone's peace of mind. Therefore, the detective is an outsider who is not connected with the rest by any interests and secrets. His only goal: the triumph of justice.

But a brilliant detective like Sherlock Holmes should not be included in a detective quest. Otherwise, it seems to the players that it is the brilliant detective who should solve the crime, and the rest are secondary characters. When the Sherlock Holmes player starts to get confused, they laugh at him: “You are Sherlock Holmes, why are you stupid ?!”. It is better to make a young detective and his first serious case.

In general, the detective is a "weakened" role because, according to the canon of the genre, he cannot be under suspicion.

The criminal in a detective role-playing game

The goal of the criminal is to avoid being charged. Or rather: shift the blame on someone else. Write in the legend exactly like this.

The problem with the role of a criminal is that it is beneficial for him to remain silent, not to draw attention to himself, not to answer questions - so as not to give himself away for sure. And that means not participating in the game. Therefore, the goal of the offender should be precisely “to shift the blame on another”. Better for someone specific, even better: two or three to choose from, so that the goal does not disappear if someone is unequivocally acquitted. This will give the criminal player a field for active action: to accuse, to convince. Don't set the goal for the criminal to destroy the evidence, otherwise he will easily break the game for everyone else.

The criminal must know that he is a criminal. A plot where several characters doubt whether I committed the crime? is not a classic detective story.

No one but the criminal himself must know exactly who the criminal is. Just suspect. If two people committed the crime, they must be equally guilty.

Crime solved: what's next?

Usually nothing. Players do not have time to come to a consensus on who the criminal is. Detective role-playing should be limited in time and in the post-play discussion, ask everyone who, in their opinion, is guilty and why. Don't wait for players to find the real culprit.

Working with information

Detective story is sensitive to information loss. Duplicate key information, or better, repeat three times.

Check if the solution depends on one action in the game. For example, one character knows key information - while he is silent, the investigation is stalling. Or one piece of evidence points to a criminal - if it is hidden, he will be acquitted.

How to write a script for a detective role-playing game. Short.

Crime is a manifestation of a conflict into which many are drawn.

Every character has suspicions and every character is suspect.

The purpose of the offender: to shift the blame on someone else.

The goal of everyone else is to solve the crime.

The detective is an outsider who will not let history be hushed up for the sake of everyone's peace of mind.

Nobody but the criminal himself knows for sure who the criminal is.

A criminal is one who has a motive and no alibi.

Everyone has a motive, a character is revealed through a motive.

Witnesses can lie: give them reasons.

The suspect can hide an alibi: give him reasons.

As the game progresses, witnesses should have reasons to stop lying.

Clues speak to the character: speak to everyone. Key clues should be information, not items.

Check if the solution depends on one action in the game.

Detective (RPG) | Methodological development on the topic:

MUNICIPAL GENERAL EDUCATIONAL BOARDING SCHOOL

“Panaevskaya boarding school

of secondary (full) general education”

Role

“Detective”

Prepared and conducted: Bolshakova S.Yu.,

Teacher-organizer and Morge

s. Panaevsk 2011 year

Role-playing game - an entertainment game, a type of dramatic action, the participants of which act within the framework of their chosen roles, guided by the nature of their role and the internal logic of the action environment; Together they create or follow an already created plot.

The plot is based on the investigation of a crime committed in a secluded place where there is a strictly limited set of characters. There can be no stranger in this place, so the crime could only be committed by one of those present.

The work of the guys - detectives is to get as much information about the participants in the events as possible, on the basis of which it will be possible to identify the criminal. Additional psychological stress is created by the fact that the perpetrator must be one of the well-known, nearby people, none of whom, usually, looks like a criminal.

Game progress:

Gathering in the auditorium
Call the three most active on stage
These three choose one person each, etc.
3 groups formed
Detective reading (at this time the characters are walking around the stage)

On Friday morning, Monsieur Bonville did not come out for breakfast.

After unsuccessful attempts to get through, Madame Bonville ordered the valet to open her husband's door with a spare key.

In response to the hostess' order, the valet soon reported that the second key to the master's room had disappeared.

When the door was finally opened, Monsieur Bonville was found to be dead.

A police doctor concluded that 64-year-old Monsieur Bonneville died of heart failure on the night of Thursday to Friday.

Everything in the room was in its place.

According to the valet and Madame Bonville, all duplicate keys are stored in a special box in the valet's room.

The valet claims that in the evening he did housework and periodically entered and left his room, and slept at night and did not hear anything.

According to the maid Pauline Votan, on Thursday Monsieur Bonville had dinner at 21:00 in the company of his secretary, and at 10 pm he went to his room.

Madame Bonville returned home at 11 pm from the theater. The valet opened the door for her.

From Monsieur Bonville's bedroom, a diamond of the rarest beauty, which he once brought from Africa, and which he cherished very much, has disappeared.

All the inhabitants of the house knew about the existence of the diamond.

Mademoiselle Pauline and Monsieur Luc, during interrogations, recalled that Madame Bonville had repeatedly offered her husband to cut the diamond and sell it, and on this basis they often had quarrels.

At 10:30 pm the maid, as usual, brought Monsieur Bonville into the room an infusion of herbs, which he took at night.

The valet remembered that immediately after supper Mademoiselle Wotan called him and said that someone was walking in the garden in front of the house. He walked around the territory for half an hour, but did not find anyone.

Madame Bonville said that on Wednesday morning Monsieur Bonville punished the valet for slowness and threatened to fire him.

According to the servants, Monsieur Bonville had a bad temper and was often rude to his family.

The cook, Marie, said that breakfast was always served in the house at 9:thirty.

The maid Pauline went to the village early Thursday morning to visit her grandmother, with whom she occasionally visited, and returned at about 7 pm.

On Friday morning, the servant girl asked the mistress for an hour, from 8 to 9, saying that she was going to the post office to send a letter.

The valet remembered that Pauline once told about her grandmother, a healer, that she was a great specialist in herbal medicine and passed on part of her knowledge to her granddaughter.

An infusion of herbs for the host was always made by Mademoiselle Pauline.

The valet said that on Thursday evening Monsieur Bonville told him to light the fireplace in his bedroom, as he's not going to bed soon.

Herbs for the infusion were bought by Madame Bonville, for which she often visited the pharmacy in the village.

Madame Bonvil said that her husband liked to go to bed early, and therefore, as a rule, he did not wait for her from the guests or the theater.

After returning from the theatre, Madame Bonville went into her husband's room. The servants claim that the conversation went on raised tones.

Madame Bonville told the policeman that on Thursday her husband made her a scene of jealousy, that he made such scenes for her regularly, because distinguished by morbid suspicion and stinginess.

The maid claims that when she brought the infusion, Monsieur Bonville was dressed and sitting by the fireplace, looking into the fire.

The police doctor said that it was difficult to determine the exact time of death, because a fireplace was burning in Monsieur Bonville's room.

Pauline Votan hinted to the policeman that the 34-year-old Madame Bonville had a regular lover, but refused to give his name.

After dinner with the owner, Monsieur Luc went to his office, where he worked on urgent papers. According to him, he left the house around 11 pm without meeting anyone and locked the front door behind him with his key.

The maid remembered that about a month ago Madame Bonville asked her about various herbs and herbal infusions and their effects. In a conversation with the police, Madame Bonville could not remember this conversation, but she did not deny that she was well aware of the composition of the herbal decoction, because. buys them herself.

Julien Luc, Monsieur Bonville's private secretary, has recently returned to his parents' home without completing his course at the medical college. his father is unable to pay for tuition and lives with his parents in a small house 15 minutes walk from his master's house.

The gardener remembered that around midnight he had seen from the window of his house Monsieur Luc walking quickly in the direction of his parents' house.

The servants claim that the hostess' quarters were quiet all night. And in the morning she woke up late, and when everyone was worried about the absence of the owner, she still did not get up.

According to the cook Marie, Mademoiselle Pauline repeatedly said how she would live well if she had as much money as her masters, that she was as trained in manners as madam and could well become a society lady.

The police did not find the diamond in the house.

Monsieur Luc's father, who works in a small pharmacy in the village, thinks that finding a job as a private secretary is a great success for his son. He does not remember when his son returned home on Thursday, but he remembered how his son said in the morning that he would work late.

Distribute texts and explain the rules of the game.
Teams complete tasks, earn time to chat with the characters and learn something

902 9000 9000 9000 9000 do not smoke

No.	NAME	WHAT TO DO?	Number of minutes
1	Pantomime	0003	1m
14	Aren't you a swan?	Dance a swan lake (on socks, knees, etc.	1m
16	Lotus 9 Yoga	Throw your leg beyond the head	1m
23	Eagle-solution	Twal to throw 3 coins in the same way.	1m
24	Monkey	SPE on the horizontal bar on 1 hand 1 minute	9000 2M
27	Bail joke	1 bail point, tell the expert a joke. Funny and decent - receives 2 points, timidly or indecent - the deposit remains with the expert	1m
28	Water Cup
29	Recognition	I will admit love to any person called an expert (recognition objects can be changed during the game)	2M
9000 9000	10 reasons	2m
31	Good habits	Good habits Name

When the groups have passed all the stations, they gather in the assembly hall, and each group reads its version, and pronounces a sentence (Either imprisoned or shot). At this time, the heroes are on stage.
Reading the correct version of the detective story.

Solution.

A maid prepares a poisoned infusion.

He goes to his grandmother the day before to get ingredients.

Pretends that there is someone in the garden, and while the valet is checking, steals the second key.

Steals a diamond at night.

Hiding it in the morning on the way to the post office.

The result of the game. Students optionally express their opinion whether they liked the game or not, and why.

Literature:

Today is a holiday for everyone! Scenarios and methodology for mass events / ed. N.N. Kugach, S.V. Turygin; thin A.A. Selivanov. - Yaroslavl: Academy of Development, 2007.
Theatrical holidays, KVN. Find your star. 10-11 grades. / author-state E.P. Sgibneva, T.B. Soldatova - Rostov n / a: Phoenix, 2004.
School holidays: scenarios / Alena Filyakova.
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