System for Victorian Era Investigative Game?

You don't roll anything. You roll narratively: when something hinges on the outcome and you want the result to be random. And yes, then 50:50 is a good dramatic basis that perfectly fits a routined professional under stress.

You have to keep two things in mind to finish resolving those skill checks.

Failed rolls can be boosted by spending luck or pushed (rerolled) with raised stakes if it can be explained how the second try has better chances. Both bring dramatic tension into it. Luck runs out and a failure on a pushed roll means consequences like an alarm, or falling off the ladder loudly.

And then you have to frame your skill checks according to your adventure. A failed research/library use can mean finding nothing, discovering a red herring, or finding the information but taking longer to do it. You never want to build any skill walls.

In fact the new DG doesn't even have the characters roll if their skill level is sufficient.

A skill roll is a narrative device, not an exercise in stochastics.

Seconding Private Eye

That's where OP started...

GURPS

How did you like the system? (assuming you played it) Like mechanically speaking, not just the fluff parts.

You know this is actually sound advice. I may be approaching this too much from a roll-play perspective. Thanks.

I've heard about GURPS, but never used it. Care to elaborate?

Usually people meme it but it is pretty good for everything.

First start out with GURPS Lite to get the bare necessities and understanding of the core mechanics. As you play (or study) add the rules you want starting with GURPS Basic Set and then branching off from there.
I think one that would be good to add to a Victorian campaign is GURPS High Tech as it has resources for 19th century/pulp-era tech.

One thing about starting out in GURPS is don't worry about rules too much. Its completely fine if you need to make a call to get the game going. Just find the rule that was relevant after the session is over and use it in later games when it comes up again.

>autism, but managed
Why though?

>autism, but managed
aren't all TTRPGs?

Thanks, i will look into it.

pic related

But isn't gurps the one that uses a bell curve distribution and attempts to render anything in crunch? It tries to simulate a physical world like a computer game engine built on dice. And it can never live up to that, nothing could.

I'll say one thing though: the splats are a great genre read. They have a lot of ideas in them if you're worldbuilding and need inspiration.

But I feel the crunch invites lawyering and focuses too much effort on the things that a story doesn't care about.

I also see how that attracts certain players.

>But I feel the crunch invites lawyering and focuses too much effort on the things that a story doesn't care about.
>I also see how that attracts certain players.
It does invite them but GURPS players don't take kindly to ruleslawyers. Like I said in my other post, just about every GURPS player will tell you to worry about rules later and make a call now.

Hey, I've had fun with DnD for years. It's what you make of it. Every group's different.

I just eventually learned about other games and mechanism design. And to think I wasted all those years...

But if you know what you're doing, don't let me interrupt.

To put it back in context, I imagine a gurps detective game to mostly hinge on action because that's what it does primarily. It could serve as a ground layer. But it won't help you with tension or clue structure. Maybe there's expansions for that.

The CoC mechanics and game structure have layers. They can and should all be used to control tension and to decay the characters. But they function in different ways and can be brought into conflict for the players while all coming together to corner the characters for the keeper.

The most immediate one is HEALTH. It is a scarce resource, about 10 HP for the average investigator. And a normal gun can deal 1d6 several times in a round. Getting into a situation that threatens health considerably should be reserved for investigators who have made an error in judgment or have made it all the way to the big boy threats revealed near the end. But a little damage early on can nicely set a tone, raise the stakes, and initiate a slow decay in this dimension.

The next layer is SANITY. It is not as scarce as health, but it doesn't heal as readily, or at all in most one shots. Its sphere is twofold: personal responsibility, and confrontation with extreme experiences. This is probably the main avenue of character decay in CoC. Roll san when witnessing the terrible thing, roll san to do horrible things in order to stop the terrible thing, or do both. Relevant knowledge and sanity tend to be inversely proportional to each other: it costs a lot of san to learn the mystery of a scenario clue by clue. But beyond a mere limited resource it is also a starting point for a lot of flavor detail connected to losing sanity. Unlike health the wounds suffered in sanity stick around in the mechanics and keep shaping the character with little episodes.

Then there's LUCK. It can be rolled against directly to test if coincidence is in the investigator's favor. But it can now also be spent to boost failed rolls making it a bit of a moxy stash, one that easily runs out - just in time to test if coincidence is in the investigator's favor...

And finally there's the CONTEXT of the scenario, the rapport and trust that has been built among PCs and with NPCs, the leeway which the social order grants to anyone who doesn't seem mad, sinister, or violent, and also the feeling that the world has your back and isn't facing off against you after having torn off its mask. This is not in mechanics but up to the keeper managing the game dynamic with story.

These layers come together to form a spiral of decay that first lets the characters seem powerful in their wonderful world and then removes both power and world in increments that can be felt by the players. In the end their backs shouldn't just be against the wall in the story, their sheets should be close to character loss in more ways than just death through major wound as well.

In fact in Pulp Cthulhu they can optionally shrug off death by health loss with 35 luck points to buy a retcon (that they then have to explain).

Bump

I'm working on making some modified rules for Beatrice Henrietta Bristol-Smythe to make it suitable for a Sherlock-and-Watson type of game. I'm still writing them up and seeking permission from the author to publish gratis, but essentially there's a just an added element of storytelling from the "villian of the week" and a small randomization mechanic to be used sparingly.

If you haven't played BHBS straight up, it's great for getting into the Victorian-era roleplay setting.

>But it won't help you with tension or clue structure.
Hmm idk about clue structure but for tension I think I remember seeing something in the Horror expansion about feelings of unease and how it can affect game/roleplay if that's what you mean.

Mortal WoD works nicely.