08-10-2017, 09:21 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
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Investigative Maneuvers
I'm trying to put together a cheat sheet for my players in the Cabal game we're running. The goal is to have a one-page document with around a dozen maneuvers - actions a PC can take - to Find Things Out. It's supposed to provide some guidance for players who are accustomed to the more hack and slash/reactive game play of dungeon crawling... as well as to a GM who's in much the same boat. I'm trying to avoid the usual floundering we've been having, where I present a situation ("The butler's dead - his throat's been torn out!") and the players immediately resort to threatening the nearest witness because, well, that's what you do with orcs. Or they come up with a reasonable course of action, but they don't have the skills to back it up, and just get frustrated.
So right now I have a note about complementary skills and then the following manuevers:
Sources I'm looking at referring to are Mysteries, Action 2, Monster Hunters 2, and Social Engineering. Right now I'm floundering a little myself. Any suggestions on maneuvers I should include, or skill applications I've overlooked (or ones I've included that aren't so good)? |
08-10-2017, 09:50 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
I did sort of a checklist of that in one chapter of Transhuman Space: Transhuman Mysteries. It had a list of things investigators might want to find out, and skills they might roll against for each of them.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
08-10-2017, 10:31 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
Follow the money, Economics, Accounting.
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08-10-2017, 11:33 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
Really Accounting. Economics doesn't provide suitable tools for that sort of investigation.
__________________
Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
08-10-2017, 01:05 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
Economics, particularly micro-economics, is the social science of incentive, motivation, information and opportunity. In investigations it would generate the hypotheses for Accounting to follow up.
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08-10-2017, 02:40 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
That's not how the Economics skill is defined in GURPS 4e, however. It's specifically "the study of the theory of money, markets, and financial systems." It's basically macro-economics, I think. Micro- would be covered by things like Finance, Accounting, and Psychology.
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08-10-2017, 02:43 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
Quote:
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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08-11-2017, 11:26 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
Trying to use microeconomics as a substitute for psychology/criminology/sociology is more the sort of thing an arrogant econ undergrad might do than a good idea, though.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
08-11-2017, 12:38 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
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08-11-2017, 12:47 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
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Re: Investigative Maneuvers
As the OP, I'd use Economics (or Finance or Market Analysis) only for large-scale investigation -e.g., to see if someone is manipulating a market. Accounting, Administration (if the money is moving through an organization), or Merchant will do just fine for getting clues on smaller scales.
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