#RPGaDAY 2019 - DAY 11: EXAMINE

Examine closely those amazing Autocratik logo dice, thanks to www.chimericdesigns.co.uk 

Day Eleven of #RPGaDAY 2019 asks us to EXAMINE. I'm not entirely sure where this one is going to go, but let's start rambling and see what happens! When I think of EXAMINE when it comes to tabletop roleplaying games, I immediately think of the old "Spot Hidden" Skill from Call of Cthulhu, and how some of the earlier games I played had a real tendency for characters going into a location and rolling dice to see if there was anything hidden there.

Sure, it's a skill. You can search a place and find something. But I have to admit, it was a real eye-opener when someone bought me a copy of Fear Itself, a game that uses the GUMSHOE System designed by Robin Laws. Instead of going into a location and searching for a clue, which you may or may not find depending upon how well you roll - the clues are there and if you say you search for them you find them. It's more what you do with those clues, following them to the culmination of the adventure.

It's kinda like the game theory that you should try to let the players succeed at things as much as possible, and even if they fail, they fail forward. "You didn't manage to do that, but you discovered..." and it pushes the adventure forward. There will still be outright failure, especially in a combat situation, but failure shouldn't prevent the plot from developing in exciting ways.

Clever stuff. All far smarter than me.