I'm worried about Inspector Chapel's Mystery Scenes in A Need To Kill.
Basically, they perform their function. They:
1. Give Inspector something to do, which is a bit different and special.
2. Provide a levelling device, so that it's not possible to completely walk over the other players: if you've got so much Influence the other players can't investigate you, the Inspector can.
However, there's an inevitability about them I don't like. It's very, very rare that one of the Inspector's Mystery scenes fails. Sure, the odds should be stacked against you, but not that much.
Basically, it should be possible, probably through roleplay, to escape the Inspector's detection. (Remember that the Black and White dice are awarded for roleplay, essentially, so they're a suitable vehicle).
Here are some brief ideas to throw around:
1. Nobody else rolls Influence in the Inspector's Mystery scenes. It's just you and the Inspector.
2. The Inspector always gets two dice, throughout the game. His power doesn't increase.
3. If the Inspector is satisfied with the explanation given by the suspect, he can forego rolling the dice.
Note the only source of dice for the Suspect is the Black and White Dice.
What else can I do? What ideas do you have?
Graham
Unsatisfying...
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 13:54.
...I agree Graham, I also think it will be deeply unsatisfying for the Inspector Chapel player to automatically succeed every time.
What if the Detective has a limited dice pool that he can call from during an Act? (The pool might be equal to the number of players?) He can use those dice to roll on any scenes in the Act (so he can investigate during another Mystery scene or keep them for his own Mystery Scenes). He might roll 1 die in a scene or all of them, up to the player. If he uses them up early then he can't have a Mystery Scene of his own, since he needs at least 1 die for that.
It will give the Inspector Chapel player some choice and engagement with the game I think. When the Inspector finds some juicy fiction that he finds interesting he can commit his dice to it.
It's an idea to try out.
Not sure a pool's right
Submitted by Graham W on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 14:17.
If the game drags on, Chapel's the one who needs to bring it to a close, by investigating the mystery scenes. So I don't want his power to be meagre by the end.
Also, it feels wrong: he's a constant force of law and order.
What do you think of something like this?
1. They play out the interrogation.
2. The Suspect gets one die to roll against Chapel, plus the Black and White dice, if awarded.
3. Chapel rolls 1, 2 or 3 of his Detective Dice, depending on how evasive or suspicious he judges the suspect to be. (1 = His story sounds plausible, 3 = I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him).
4. Nobody else rolls anything.
And highest die wins, in the usual way. Any good?
G
Oh, refreshing pool...
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 16:53.
Oh... I had in mind that he had a pool of dice equal to the number of players to use during each round. So in our game he would have 4 dice to use during a round, refreshing when we go into the next round of scenes.
I like the 1 dice plus black/white to roll against the Inspector.
I think the 1, 2 or 3 dice sounds like a good piece of advice.
And, yes, only the target and Inspector roll dice.
Highest die wins, usual tie-breakers. I'd go for that.
Or dropping my pool suggestion and going with your idea works for me too.
Inspector Chapel has a
Submitted by Steve Dempsey on Sat, 02/02/2008 - 18:52.
Inspector Chapel has a strange sort of role in the game. Because the killer isn't decided up front, there is no truth as such to uncover, just convictions to flesh out.
I say "just", but I think it's a nice role to play. I don't see it as a game breaker particularly but one that very much depends on the approach of the player who gets him.
I think you'll get the mechanics right when you've decided what is that you want to happen in the game.
Given that Chapel can't investigate the one with the deepest level of secrets (I can't remember the terminology), I think this nicely models the scenes in which the detective moves away from the more obvious suspects to the others - "But Dr Williams, what were you doing in the kitchen at that moment?"
The only thing I wasn't completely in love with was the method of deciding who had actually done it. I thought it could have been more intense, perhaps with points being scored on either side as the accusations mount.
I think one nice touch might be to have the players secretly decide who actually did it and then let Chapel decide who to cart off. That way the guilty party might even get away it.
Just some ideas though. I still think it's the best new game I've played since Mortal Coil.