I appreciate the intent here. If a character has a skill, don’t roll. Just give them the information. Now no player has to be Sherlock. And in many games, characters are a Sherlock. The level 10 rogue with +20 linguistics and perception? That’s a first-rate detective.
You mention the character-driven mystery. This is essentially the golden rule for Monster of the Week: The mysteries themselves are often not DEEPLY clever in their formulation, so make sure that the real story is about the party and their relationships.
Good article and great ideas!
I appreciate the intent here. If a character has a skill, don’t roll. Just give them the information. Now no player has to be Sherlock. And in many games, characters are a Sherlock. The level 10 rogue with +20 linguistics and perception? That’s a first-rate detective.
I generally play OSR/NSR games, where perception rolls aren't really used, so yeah, it's the player who will figure things out.
Nice. I’m really not a fan of the way perception has taken over RPGs. I say skills should do that work.
You mention the character-driven mystery. This is essentially the golden rule for Monster of the Week: The mysteries themselves are often not DEEPLY clever in their formulation, so make sure that the real story is about the party and their relationships.
I think people forget that *hardboiled* is a really important genre for mystery GMs to watch / read.