A famous detective mystery writer said that when you are blocked, have a man walk in the door with a gun. I'm using his idea in a different way, as the start to a story or three.
The Case of the Wrong Business
Running my hands down the densely ornamented contract yet again, I paused on the name of Richard Milligan, from whom I bought my wooden crate filled storefront, and Paul Sanchez, my own name. Drawing strength from that, I reached for another square foot cube which held straw and tiny china teacups. Opening it with my tiny crowbar, a delicate device suited for a shoppe devoted to ceramic knick-knacks, kitschy glassware advertisements from earlier decades, and antique china, I looked up in surpise across the forrest of yellow pine wood crates.
A man walked in the door with a gun in his hand.
"Richard." He said venomously to me, his face contorted by hatred.
"I'm not..." I began, and he raised the pistol, and fired, blowing a crate of ceramic monkeys into meat shards for the ceramic tigers in the crate below them in the seven foot high stack. Desperate, I shoved the largest stack near me toward the gunman, and it toppled, and the next two toward the man swayed and went over as well. I heard a grunt of surprise, and then a gasp.
But I heard this from over my shoulder as I bolted toward the back door.
"You can't escape..." The warning's delivery was cut off as the door slammed behind me. First I would go to the airport, to find Richard, and to shake out of him what was going on. Later, the police would be consulted.
=================
The man frowned as he studied his portfolio in his home office. The first floor of his house stretched out around him, empty and clean, with large pieces of furniture dotting the even larger log cabin rooms. If only the Pimp and the Honest Pol had not messed over Freddie and Fannie, despite the objections of the Namby-Pamby Terrorism Obsessed President, or the flailing efforts of the current Teh One, who managed to be the most idealistic and least effective since Woodrow Wilson had paved the way for World War II. If only, then he would have twice as much to give too his grandchildren, and more than enough to hire several new employees.
A man walks in to the open plan office with a gun in his hand. He stops in front of the desk, and sneers.
"You didn't think to see us again did you, old man?"
"Wrong again." The homeowner said, and pressed a red button on the front edge of his desk. An electri pulse went down to four ignitor caps emplaced in the desk, and four large-barrel shotguns fired off. Each had been laid paralell to each other. The four shotgun blasts tore off the front facade of the desk, and shredded the trespasser.
Even as the intuder lay dying the old man cast his mind back thirty years to where it all began. He had been young, and ambitious.
There's a masked man with a knife who won't let you leave. However, you are completely safe and your wife and family are in the next room. Where are you?
In the living room watching TV?
Put some real thought into it.
An operating room.
On topic:
It's an interesting premise, but sounds more like the beginning of a novel than anything gaming-related, am I right? Especially in this company; I would talk the guy into joining me, A1Nut would just plain shoot him, and MJ... MJ would probably take his gun away and MacGuyver something out of the pieces. It strikes me that mystery games are nigh-on impossible, and with the wealth of resources available to even an average Verser even more so.
So I suppose my question is, what do you mean to do with this?
Very good Osevens.
07,
I also talk about writing novels sometime. And some of the novel writing advice is applicable to story-making for gaming.
And yes, you're right about the diff a verser can create for mystery games. I'm having that trouble right now with Oak. He's trying to use his postcog to solve the problem from the sofa. But I have ways to mess with him. Mwahahahahahaha!
For ex...
1. I tend to rule that demonic entities exist out of time to some degree so that they can respond to someone watching them from the future. Like the Imp of Fire.
2. There is at least one group of beings who have significant mental powers, and naturally they don't like to be spied on. Hence, shields.
3. There are certain people with lots of raw power, like Ancient Mai, who are aware when someone is spying on them. There are others with even more power who might be aware of you if you merely spoke their name.
Of course, I think that saying 'your postcog skills don't work here' is legit.
And another way to handle it is to answer, but in poetry or riddle. Sure...'Dark-horned Cerrunnos has speared the Sun with his horn' is accurate, but what it more clearly means is 'the Senator Sunny Stephens is going to get gored by a rogue deer on her morning jog.'
Ya know what? Back on the topic, I'm watching Death Wish 4 at the moment, and it's exactly what you're talking about. In the opening sequence, 3 guys are beating and abusing a young blond woman, and then Charles Bronson walks in the door with a gun. Yeah, it's a good plot device.
Ever notice though that, in a situation like that, the bad guys always plead for the same mercy that they weren't showing their intended victim? The third guy, he's begging and crying just like the woman he intended to rape was doing.
(Doing Therapy)
Two
Ya know what Eric? You were probably thinking that the man who walked in the door with the gun would be a bad guy. That would be a good opening sequence for a player like me. I AM the guy who walks in the door with the gun. I verse in, I'm a walking arsenal, I hear something, and walk in on a rape, mugging, beating, etc. I AM the guy who walked in with a gun. What do I do then? That could make a good opening sequence for a player.
(Doing Therapy)
There is something of a trick to converting a novel to a game scenario, perhaps, but I've been doing it in the Adapting series, so maybe some of those tricks will come across.
As far as running a mystery in a game, I'll have to track you into The Vorgo, Harry. The first part is pretty much an Army of Darkness clone, but if you come through as the hero there's a second part in which you are suspect in a robbery and probably can only clear yourself by finding the real perpetrator and recovering the stolen goods. Graeme went through it, but one of the beauties of the scenario design is it has six distinct solutions, each of which has its own specific clues set, so it can be run for different players at the same table.
The hard parts of tightly-storied game scenarios mostly relate to hooking the player character into them. I would love to do some of the Teddy London stories, but somehow you've got to maneuver the player character into setting up shop as a private detective in some place like New York City and then dragging him into the story. That's the thing with mysteries: the verser has to have a reason to care. But then, I thought that your murder investigation went pretty well as a mystery, didn't it?
--M. J. Young
I'm doing an Adaptation with a mystery or two in it right now with Oak. The simplest way to turn Oak into a Warden of the Wizard's Council/P.I. with lots of problems was to make Oak's doppleganger the one with the problem and the position.
Edit: That's the opening I use for Northgate City, John.