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Unwritten: System Reference Document/The Art of Gamemastering
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===Crafting Clues=== ====Think about Evidence==== The mystery has ramifications that express themselves through the clues available. When trying to determine what clues you should put in a scene, ask yourself “what effects would the mystery have had?” If an important event happened somewhere, you can walk through the event and come up with ideas of how that affected what was left behind. If someone has passed through an area, there would be traces of their passing. If someone was nearby, they may have heard something. For more abstract mysteries, the evidence may be occurrences that point to a pattern or are notable. ====Tailor Clues to the Characters==== The clues are there for the characters to find, so make sure that it make senses for them to be discovered and understood. Look at characters’ aspects, stunts, and resources to guide you when deciding which clues to use. If none of the characters have experience with medicine, then a clue that requires medical knowledge would not make sense. If you are going to use clues that lie outside of your characters’ area of knowledge, make sure that you have other options for the characters, such as expert NPCs or devices that can get them the information they need. Options like this should be obvious; reveal them in previous scenes. An NPC may make a point of telling the characters that they have the right skills in a previous scene. Maybe a previous investigation already revealed the capabilities of the D’ni device the character found. ====Use Clues to Show, Not Tell==== A good clue doesn’t come right out and reveal its meaning. What piques the character’s interest and entices them to dig deeper. A clue should be descriptive. It implies things. The act of investigation is figuring out how that description fits into the larger context of the scene and the story. When designing a clue, there should always be one mental step from the clue to the meaning. You don’t need a huge leap of deduction for every clue; but there should always be at least a moment of thought required. If there doesn’t seem to be a good way to create that moment of thought, then the clue may not be an interesting device to use. Just tell the players the information. Or you may consider folding the information into a different clue. ====Think Outside the Scene==== Understanding a clue might require information that is not in the scene at hand. Research may be required. Or maybe the characters will need to consult with an expert. Hopefully this leads to an interesting scene for the players. If it looks like it might not, you have several options. * If one of the players has an aspect that would justify them knowing the information, then they know it. * The activity can be done during an interlude as an off-stage event. * A character can go off-stage while the other characters continue on stage. * If characters have KIs or other similar communications, they can contact others to do the research for them. Any of the above can use an action if you think it would add to the drama of the situation. ====Keep Lists and Use Index Cards==== Keeping list of clues can be incredibly useful. You can tie them to places, people, or scenes. Or you can have a pool of clues that you can draw on and insert into scenes as you need. You don’t have to use all the clues you come up with; your list can be mainly as inspiration. Index cards are a powerful tool as well. When a clue comes up, write it on an index card and put it in the middle of the table so everyone can see it. That way, clues stay in the players’ minds as they play out the scene. If you have a number of clues that might show up any time, you can put them on index cards and draw one at random when you need to add a little extra spice to a scene.
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