This session had two goals. The first was to do a full blown Gumshoe-style session. I think it went really well. Gumshoe had core (read: important) clues given without dice rolls – if you have a relevant investigative ability, you simply got the clue and it was up to the party to figure out how it fits in the larger puzzle; no rolling required. I had done a few low-key tests of the Gumshoe approach already (just one-off skill checks over the last few sessions), and decided to switch it up a little more for full-blown integration with D&D, because who doesn’t love rolling dice while playing D&D?
So, my clues had some flexible DC thresholds built in, to give bonus info based on the player’s roll.
An example, from the session:
The players spot the corpse of a slain guard. Those without the required proficiency can just glean basic factual information, like “yes, that guard is dead.” Those with the required proficiency, in this case, the Survival proficiency, can roll for a check; the idea being that being proficient, they can discern how the guard failed to survive.
· On a low roll, they will see that the guard was surprised (sword still in the scabbard), and that there aren’t any recognizable weapon marks on the body.
· On a medium roll, they will see that the guard was surprised, and that the blows were caused by an unarmed assailant.
· On a high roll, they will see that the guard was surprised, and that he was killed by a few well-placed strikes.
As you can see, there is some room for interpretation and for erroneous judgments. On a low roll they could still assume a weapon dealt the killing blows. On a medium roll, they could assume that the victim was surprised and beaten to death. On a high roll, however, they are pretty sure that the guard was caught by surprise and killed by a practiced unarmed assailant.
In the end, I’m not sure just how different this investigation would have been, would I have only used Gumshoe or 5e, but I think this approach is a good synthesis. Players with relevant skills are guaranteed a clue (Gumshoe), but exactly how much they learn is determined by a dice roll (5e).
The second goal of this session was to really force some intra-party RP on the players, as I think RP is one of our weakest areas as a group.
In general, part of that is obviously my fault. Creating a campaign takes work, and early on, my NPC game was terrible. I think I’ve improved though, and so has the rest of the party, when it comes to interacting with NPCs.
But intra-party RP is still pretty lacking. Two recent examples in particular come to mind:
Turnin’s Dragonmark – It manifested on the back of his head, and while the player hadn’t settled on what mark it would actually be, two sessions went by with no one saying a word about it in-character.
Shadowale’s Doppelganger – The player played it well, as he is secretive of his past and tried to downplay the discovery… but no one else took the bait to probe him a bit.
I think we are all still finding our footing to some extent when it comes to D&D. But for those wanting to really get the most out of it, I would encourage you to think a little more about your character, and to talk more in-character with your fellow players at the table. This last session was a good step in the right direction, but I still think we have room for improvement in the RP department.
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