Part I · Play
Investigating
Somebody knows what happened. Usually several somebodies, and none of them want to tell you.
An investigation’s a question the crew wants answered, and someone who’d rather it wasn’t. You play it in ordinary scenes, like a wake or a back room at the docks, and what joins them is the trail.
Before You Play: The Truth
Write down what really happened, in three or four sentences: who did it, how and why, and what they’re going to do next. Don’t change it once the crew starts digging. Study finds what’s really there, so there has to be something there to find.
The Question
The question is a stake, like Who killed Anselm? or Where did they take the girl? Give it a Challenge for how well the answer’s hidden, and a tag for each thing that’s hiding it. Three’s plenty, usually one for how it was done, one for who did it and one for why. Strip them all and the crew can name it.
Like any stake, say what it costs if they don’t get there in time: clear Dorrie’s name before the funeral, or her family never speaks to her again.
Three trails to everything
For every tag on the question, write three trails: a person who knows, a place that shows it and a thing that proves it. The crew only needs one, so if they miss one, they’ll find another.
- Following a trail is a scene, or part of one. Whatever’s there pushes back like anything else: a witness who won’t talk is a threat to talk round, and a locked office is a stake.
- When you get there, a permission that plainly covers looking finds what nobody’s hiding, with no roll. If someone’s hiding it, Study it against the question’s Challenge, for a hidden tag or a straight answer.
- Get what the trail’s got and that tag’s stripped off the question. Write what you found down as a tag you know, like Bitter Almond in the Wine.
What they do next
The other side doesn’t sit still. Write what they’ll do next as an event, like The steward leaves the city at a d8. It doesn’t tick in rounds. It steps down at the end of every scene where nobody worked it, and once more whenever the crew tips its hand, like asking the wrong person or a break-in somebody notices. When it runs out, it happens, and the next part of their plan starts as a new event.
The crew can work it like any event. Watch the gates, or get to the witness first: beat its die and it steps back up one.
Naming It
When the last tag’s stripped, the crew knows. What they do about it is the next scene, whether that’s a fight in a cellar or a quiet word with a magistrate. Proving it to someone who doesn’t want to believe it is a stake of its own, with tags like Respectable or Friends on the Council in the way.
That’s where the clues pay off. Every one the crew wrote down is a tag they know, and you can bring a tag you know into your roll for 1 Aura.
- If they name the wrong person, play it out. Don’t tell them they’re wrong. The other side’s event keeps stepping down while they’re busy, and the truth’s still where you left it.
- If they’re stuck, make a move and bring a trail to them. Somebody knocks on the door, or a second body turns up.
- A Scholar who wins a Study can introduce a truth, like a back stair the servants use or a clerk who copied the will. That can get you to a trail, but it won’t change what happened.
Trails in a hurry
When you need trails fast, roll a d6 for each.
| d6 | A person who knows | A place that shows it | A thing that proves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A servant nobody asked | The room where it happened | A letter somebody forgot to burn |
| 2 | A rival with a grudge | Where the money changed hands | A ledger with a page cut out |
| 3 | A drunk who saw it from the gutter | The shop that sold the means | A key that shouldn’t exist |
| 4 | The last person to see them alive | The road out of town | A stain someone tried to scrub out |
| 5 | A clerk who copied it out | A grave that’s been opened | A ring on the wrong hand |
| 6 | The culprit’s oldest friend | Somewhere the culprit swears they’ve never been | A receipt in a false name |
ExampleWho killed Anselm?
Dorrie’s uncle Anselm died at his own table, and the family thinks Dorrie poisoned him. The GM’s written down the truth: his steward put bitter almond in the wine, Anselm’s nephew paid him to because he inherits, and the steward means to be out of the city before the funeral.
The question is Who killed Anselm?, Challenge 4, a d8. Looks Like His Heart, A Houseful of Suspects and Clean Hands are in the way. The stake’s the one from Running the Game: clear Dorrie’s name before the funeral, or her family never speaks to her again. The steward leaves the city is an event at a d8.
The wake. Isolde sits with the body before they close the coffin. Anselm’s been dead two days and he isn’t making much sense, so she Studies him. That’s her set action The dead: her first Title and speak with the recently dead, 3 steps with the action. Nobody rushes you at a wake, so she takes her time, and the same set action twice adds 1. She’s on 4 steps, a d8. She rolls 7, and the question’s d8 comes up 4. She asks for a straight answer: what did you taste last? “Almonds,” he says. “Bitter.” Looks Like His Heart is stripped, and the crew writes down Bitter Almond in the Wine.
Across the room, Dorrie uses Cold Reader on the steward. It’s once a scene, and there’s no roll. The GM answers honestly: he’s terrified, and he keeps looking at the nephew.
Bram doesn’t do subtle. He corners the steward in the pantry with his Talk: his second Title, bark an order that gets obeyed and Intimidating Presence, 4 steps with the action, a d8, against the steward’s d6. He rolls 3, and the steward’s d6 comes up 5. The steward says nothing, and now he knows they’re onto him. That’s the crew tipping its hand, so The steward leaves the city steps down to a d6, and at the end of the wake it steps down again, to a d4.
That night. Vesk follows the steward across the rooftops. She starts from her Sneak, 4 steps, a d8. Run the rooftops fits too, but it’s on her Move, so bringing it in costs 1 Aura. That’s 5 steps, a d10, against the steward’s d6, because he keeps looking over his shoulder. She rolls 8 against 3, and from the chapel roof she watches the nephew hand him a purse in the lane below. Clean Hands is stripped, and the crew writes down Paid by the Nephew.
At the end of the night the steward’s event is at a d2, and he’s packing. A Houseful of Suspects is still in the way, and the funeral’s tomorrow. When Dorrie stands up in front of the family, she can bring both of the crew’s clues into her roll for 1 Aura each.