GURPS - 4th Edition - Mysteries.pdf - GURPS - RPG

MYSTERIES

An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS ® from Steve Jackson Games

GURPS , Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games

Incorporated. Pyramid , GURPS Mysteries , e23 , and the names of all products published by Steve

Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games

Written by LISA J. STEELE

Edited by ALAIN H. DAWSON and SCOTT HARING

Additional material by ALAIN H. DAWSON, ROBERT O'CONNOR,

HEATHER OLIVER, SEAN PUNCH, WILLIAM H. STODDARD,

JONATHAN TURNER, and HANS-CHRISTIAN VORTISCH

Template checking by DEVIN GANGER AND BRIAN HOGUE

Playtesters: Bill Collins, Robin Holly, John Perreault, Andrew Wardell,

Viola Wardell, and Allen Wilkins

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any other means

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STEVE JACKSON GAMES ®

Stock #82-0104

Version 1.2 April 19, 2005

CONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . 4

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

About GURPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1. T HE I MPERFECT C RIME . . . 5

S OME G ROUND R ULES . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Mysteries Are Not Like

Real Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

RPG Mysteries Are Not

Like Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

RPG Mysteries Are Not Like

Other RPG Adventures . . . . . . 6

D ESIGN P RINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Keep it Simple! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Information Management . . . . . 7

The Path of Least Resistance . . . 8

Writers’ Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Information Management:

An Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

A T AXONOMY OF M URDER . . . . . . . . . 9

Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

To M u r der, or Not to Murder? . . . 9

Matching the Mystery

to the Characters . . . . . . . . . 11

Plot Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Single Adventures and

Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Is Failure an Option? . . . . . . . . . 14

Is There a Shortcut? . . . . . . . . . . 15

D EEP B ACKGROUND :

T HE C RIME ’ S S TORY . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The Adversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The Mark of Cain . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The Least Likely Person . . . . . . . 17

The Victim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Supporting Cast . . . . . . . . . 18

Killing Victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

The Curtain-Raiser Scene . . . . . 20

G OING FOR THE R IDE : T HE

I NVESTIGATION ’ S S TORY . . . . . . . . 21

Using Your Chosen Format . . . 21

The Great Mysteries . . . . . . . . . . 21

Cozy Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Hard-Boiled Format . . . . . . . . . . 22

Procedural Format . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Thriller Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Improvised Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Stirring Up Trouble . . . . . . . . . . 26

Hiding Clues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

T HE C ONFRONTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Drawing-Room Speeches . . . . . 28

In the Lair at Gunpoint . . . . . . . 28

In the Interrogation Room . . . . 28

The Villain’s Response . . . . . . . . 29

The Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

2. “A L ITTLE R EDDISH

M OULD . . .” . . . . . . . . 30

H OMICIDE I NVESTIGATIONS . . . . . . . . 30

Describing the Scene . . . . . . . . 30

Crime Scenes and Criminals . . . 31

Cause, Mechanism, and

Manner of Death . . . . . . . . . . 32

Time of Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Homicide or Suicide? . . . . . . . . 32

Dramatic vs. Realistic

Forensics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Causes of Death . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Disposing of Bodies . . . . . . . . . . 34

Identifying a Body . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Other Crime Scene

Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

GM Note: Game Mechanics . . . . 40

N ON -H OMICIDE I NVESTIGATIONS . . . . 40

Arson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Kidnapping and Blackmail . . . . 43

E XPANDED I NFLUENCE

AND R EACTION R ULES . . . . . . . . . 53

Working with Police . . . . . . . . . 54

Optional Modifiers to

Investigator’s Skill Roll . . . . . 54

Detecting Lies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Subsequent Interactions . . . . . . 56

Using Social Skills on PCs . . . . . 56

4. O ATHS AND O RDEALS –

L OW -T ECH M YSTERIES . . 57

L OW -T ECH M YSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The Low-Tech Investigator . . . . 57

Amateur Sleuths . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Adapting Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

The Low-Tech

Crime Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Other Times and Places . . . . . . . 59

The Low-Tech

Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Why Can’t I Invent

Fingerprints? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

The Veil of Night . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

The Confrontation . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Gossip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Undercover Investigations . . . . . 63

Punishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Sample Organization:

The Inquisition . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Sample Organization:

Victorian Thief-Takers . . . . . 65

3. T HE D EADLIEST OF

R EVEALERS . . . . . . . . . . 44

W ITNESSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Solving Mysteries . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Handling the

Talking Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Who is a Witness? . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Perception: What Does

a Witness Know? . . . . . . . . . 46

Sense Roll Modifiers . . . . . . . . . 47

Memory: What Does

a Witness Recall? . . . . . . . . . 49

How Reliable is the NPC? . . . . . 49

Getting People to Talk . . . . . . . . 50

Accomplices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5. T HE M ODERN

D ETECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . 66

M ODERN M YSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

The Modern Investigator . . . . . 67

Adapting Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

GURPS M YSTERIES

Adapting Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Magical Trace Evidence . . . . . . . 84

Investigations Using Magic . . . . 84

Time Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Questioning the Dead . . . . . . . . . 85

Spells and Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Magical Confrontations . . . . . . 86

Gods of Thieves and Secrets . . . . 87

Fantastic Punishments . . . . . . . 87

Sample Organization:

The Guild of Seeker . . . . . . . 88

A C OMPENDIUM OF U SEFUL

GURPS S PELLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

For Investigators . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

For Criminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

H ORROR M YSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

The Horror Investigator . . . . . . 93

The Horror Crime Scene . . . . . 93

Adapting Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Monster Hunting . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Monsters as Investigators . . . . . 94

Does Cthulhu Have

Fingerprints? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Confronting Monsters . . . . . . . . 95

Closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Sample Organization:

Dana Detective Division . . . . 96

P SIONIC M YSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Four-Color Mysteries . . . . . . . . . 98

Psionic Investigators . . . . . . . . . 98

Psionic Crime Scenes . . . . . . . . 98

Investigating Psis . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Adapting Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Confrontations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Sample Organization:

Tau Station Public

Psi-vestigators . . . . . . . . . . . 99

The Modern Crime Scene . . . . . 68

The Modern Investigation . . . . 69

Can I Invent

Fingerprints First? . . . . . . . . . 70

Confrontations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Defense Investigators . . . . . . . . . 71

Lawyering Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Punishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Sample Organization:

The Pinkerton Agency . . . . . 73

S CIENCE F ICTION M YSTERIES . . . . . . 74

The Science Fiction

Investigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

The Science Fiction

Crime Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Adapting Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

“As You Know, Bob . . .”

– The Perils of Exposition . . 76

The Science Fiction

Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Bio-Tech and Other

Genre Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

1984 and the

Death of Privacy . . . . . . . . . . 77

Confrontations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Alien Outlooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Sample Organization:

Universal Coverage

Insurers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

T IMELINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

7. C HARACTERS . . . . . . . . . 100

P RIVATE E YES AND P OLICE . . . . . . . 100

C HARACTER C ONCEPTS . . . . . . . . . . 101

Defense Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Another Day, Another

Dead Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Fire Marshal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Untraditional Detectives . . . . . . 102

Genius Detective . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Hard-Boiled Detective . . . . . . . 103

Investigating Mage . . . . . . . . . 104

Medical Examiner . . . . . . . . . . 104

Police Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Private Psi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Specialist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

That Darn Kid . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

A DVANTAGES , D ISADVANTAGES ,

AND S KILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

New Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

New Combat Technique . . . . . 112

E QUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Binoculars (TL5+) . . . . . . . . . . 113

Body Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Cameras (TL5+) . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Crime Scene Equipment . . . . . 114

Defensive Sprays

and Tasers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Flashlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Handcuffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Weapon Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

B IBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

I NDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

6. P ARANORMAL

M YSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . 82

F ANTASY M YSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

The Fantasy Investigator . . . . . 82

The Fantasy Crime Scene . . . . . 83

Technomancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

GURPS M YSTERIES

INTRODUCTION

“Yeah, that’s me, Tracer Bullet. I’ve got

eight slugs in me. One’s lead and the rest

are bourbon. The drink packs a wallop,

and I pack a revolver. I’m a private eye.”

– Calvin,

Something Under the Bed is Drooling

At their root, mysteries are about

man’s quest for knowledge – something

is hidden and must be found out. Order

must be restored. Honor and integrity

must be maintained in spite of corrup-

tion and indifference. Mysteries are

about puzzle-solving. Reason, logic, and

perseverance let investigators triumph

over a criminal’s cleverest schemes and

darkest deceptions.

This universal drive to find the truth

is what makes mysteries so compelling,

and also what makes them so compati-

ble with all types of settings. GURPS

Mysteries delves into the mystery genre,

showing how to structure a mystery

campaign, or layer a mystery plot over

an existing campaign of any type.

A mystery adventure is part stage

magic. It works by sleight of hand. The

audience, or in this case, the players,

expect to be fooled – at least for a while.

GURPS Mysteries lays bare some of the

classic tricks. It explains why some tricks

that work for mystery writers won’t work

for GMs and what tools GMs have that

writers don’t. It also describes specific

challenges inherent in running low-tech,

modern, science-fiction, and paranormal

mysteries, and specific tools that GMs

can use in each of these settings.

For players, Mysteries explains how

to portray experienced investigators. It

describes modern forensics and modern

theories on interviews and interrogation,

as well as low-tech investigative meth-

ods, spells that can help or hinder an

investigation, the use of psionics in mys-

teries, and more. Whether you are play-

ing a forensic expert, genius detective,

meddling kid, or jaded gumshoe, there is

something here for you.

So put your feet up on the desk, and

let’s see who comes in the door.

A BOUT THE

A UTHOR

Lisa J. Steele is a criminal defense

attorney and author based in

Massachusetts. She is a vice-chair of the

National Association of Criminal

Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Forensic

Evidence Committee. She represents

clients accused of crimes ranging from

minor traffic offenses to capital murder.

Ms. Steele is the author of several legal

articles about criminal defense, GURPS

Cops , and Fief , from White Rose

Publishing. She is a contributing author

to White Wolf’s Dark Ages: Europe and

Spoils of War . Her personal interests

range from science fiction to economics

to medieval history to firearms.

About GURPS

Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of the

GURPS system. Our address is SJ Games, Box 18957,

Austin, TX 78760. Please include a self-addressed, stamped

envelope (SASE) any time you write us! Resources include:

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magazine includes new GURPS rules and articles. It also

covers Dungeons and Dragons, Traveller, World of

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and other Steve Jackson Games releases like In Nomine,

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Pyramid subscribers also have access to playtest files

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New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to

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Just head over to e23.sjgames.com .

Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we

do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets for all

GURPS releases, including this book, are available on our

website – see below.

Gamer input. We value your comments, for new

products as well as updated printings of existing titles!

Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at

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GURPSnet. This e-mail list hosts much of the online dis-

cussion of GURPS. To join, point your web browser to

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Page References

Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the

GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Any page reference that

begins with a B refers to the GURPS Basic Set – e.g., p.

B102 means p. 102 of the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth

Edition. Page references that begin with CI indicate GURPS

Compendium I , those beginning with CII indicate GURPS

Compendium II . Other references are BIO for GURPS Bio-

Tech , C for GURPS Cops , CV for GURPS Covert Ops , G for

GURPS Grimoire , H for GURPS Horror , HT for GURPS

High-Tech , M for GURPS Magic , MA for GURPS Martial

Arts , MF for GURPS Modern Firepower , P for GURPS

Psionics , S for GURPS Space , SPI for GURPS Spirits , T

for GURPS Technomancer , UN for GURPS Undead , UT

for GURPS Ultra-Tech , and UTT for GURPS Ultra-Tech 2 .

For a full list of abbreviations, see p. CI181 or the updated

web list at www.sjgames.com/gurps/abbrevs.html .

GURPS M YSTERIES

T HE I MPERFECT

C HAPTER O NE

C RIME

“A person who is tired of crime is tired

of life.”

ize your ideas into an interesting adven-

ture. Subsequent chapters will provide

you and your players with technical

information, rules mechanics, setting

specific ideas, and character templates

and equipment.

This chapter contains essential guide-

lines for how to structure a mystery

adventure. It comes first because it lays

out some vital groundwork for GMs.

Players may want to skip this chapter

and start with Chapter 2. Mystery adven-

tures are more enjoyable when GMing

sleights-of-hand and misdirection come

as a surprise.

The mystery adventure fits into any

setting, and can be used with nearly any

group of players and characters. You can

use the basic idea in a near-infinite num-

ber of ways: there are puzzle mysteries,

action mysteries, funny mysteries, dark

mysteries, horrifying mysteries, high-

tech mysteries, low-tech mysteries, his-

torical mysteries, psychological myster-

ies, scientific mysteries, computer mys-

teries . . . as many mysteries as there are

settings. What they all share is one of the

most powerful central ideas in story-

telling: something is hidden, and it must

be discovered.

– Horace Rumpole,

Rumpole of the Bailey

So you want to run a mystery adven-

ture in a roleplaying game? Let’s get the

bad news out of the way up front; it’s

going to be a lot of work to prepare and

run the session. However, done well, it’s

worth it. That hard work will pay off

with a rewarding and unusual adventure

that taxes your players’ wits, teases their

imaginations, and leaves them hungry

for more.

This chapter will help you avoid

many of the obvious pitfalls and organ-

S OME G ROUND R ULES

Your preparation begins well before

you actually start designing the adven-

ture. You need to start with some basic

“gotchas” that aren’t necessarily obvious,

even to experienced Game Masters.

shocking and tragic, aren’t hard to solve.

Real people seldom use elaborate fake

timetables, elaborate alibis, or cunning

poisons; if they think about covering up

at all, they generally just try to guard

against witnesses and fingerprints. Even

serial killers tend be lonely, marginal fig-

ures with histories of child abuse and

mental illness, not charismatic geniuses

a la Hannibal Lecter.

In a mystery story or game, that’s a

recipe for anticlimax. The crime itself may

be impulsive or meticulously planned, but

solving it should be a real achievement.

A mystery is rational. Real crimes are

full of uncertainty and loose ends. In real-

ity, if there’s a spot of garden soil on the

carpet by the body, it may merely have

been tracked in by the family dog, and

have nothing to do with anything. It’ll be

put in an evidence bag and subjected to

some fairly routine analysis, which prob-

ably won’t turn up anything anyway.

In a classic mystery, that spot is prob-

ably there for a reason. If it weren’t, the

author wouldn’t have mentioned it. (At

the very least, if the spot is a red herring,

the detective is given a fair chance to

deduce that it isn’t important.) As GM,

you need to use the same principle. Yes,

this is meta-game thinking – and you

should use it! Cluttering up the crime

scene by describing random and unim-

portant details is realistic, but it gives

you bored and frustrated players when

lead after lead comes up dry.

A mystery has a definite resolution,

where the loose ends are tied up. The real-

world justice system is complex and

slow. Criminals can make bargains with

police and prosecutors for lighter sen-

tences. It can take months, sometimes

years, to bring a complex case to trial.

Real detectives have to justify their

methods and conclusions to jurors while

being cross-examined by a skilled attor-

ney. Even after a conviction, a criminal

may challenge the detective’s work in

appellate courts and habeas corpus pro-

ceedings for years to come. And some

questions may never be answered.

At the end of a mystery story, by con-

trast, the investigator usually has no

doubt about the villain’s guilt. The crimi-

nal’s punishment is a nigh-certainty. In

any case, it’s beyond the scope of the plot,

which is completely and satisfyingly

fulfilled by unmasking the bad guy.

M YSTERIES A RE

N OT L IKE R EAL

L IFE

You can use real-life crimes for inspi-

ration. The tabloids, the newspapers,

and the True Crime section of your local

library or bookstore will provide you

with stories of crime and punishment on

a daily basis.

But that’s about as far as you should

go. The mystery genre – for good reason

– has evolved a powerful set of conven-

tions, which have nothing to do with

realism but everything to do with the

demands of drama. If you violate these

conventions, you’ll have a harder time

coming up with a satisfying adventure.

Here are some of the most important:

A mystery has a worthy adversary.

Real criminals usually aren’t dramati-

cally interesting. Their crimes, while

GURPS M YSTERIES

GURPS - 4th Edition - Mysteries.pdf

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