Dear Veeky Forums,
Is there any way to make the research of 'what supernatural creature are we dealing with?' and 'how do we kill the supernatural creature now that we know what it is?' interesting?
"We go to the library"
"We use the internet"
"We ask someone"
"We roll well to figure it out/look it up"
What should I do to jazz it up?
Researching the supernatural creature tends to draw its attention, particularly if it's socially-connected, internet-connected, or has spooky awareness of stuff.
I think you're selling "ask someone" short. If there's supposed to be information they can use in the setting, you can do anything from spirit medium to conspiracy theorist
Well there's the tried and true:
Go to a library or something and have the librarian say "We don't have that information, but if you go [dangerous location] you will be able to find what you seek"
If that's not enough try just putting the location fucking far away so that they have to do interesting things on the way to the library where the information is housed.
also this guy is on the money
Have them actually do the Internet research. Assuming your game is present day it's a bit farfetched to force them to use a library. I imagine trying to figure out what spook is trying to murder you by searching what it does can be about as helpful as WebMD. Bonus points if they are actively trying to hide from it in an abandoned house or something while running frantic Google searches on their phones
>researching the supernatural creature tends to draw its attention
I did this to one of my players, he read a cursed book which brought a demon's attention/curse on him, and it sent him on a quest to find a wizard high enough level to cure him while the party tries to dodge cultists that are scrambling to either convert him to their ranks or sacrifice him.
If your party's asking someone and you can't make that interesting that's on you.
And if it's a modern day setting have the supernatural entity able to track you through tvs or computer monitors while you research them.
That sounds dope as fuck.
>player figure out what is following him, finds its Wikipedia page.
>it's general description ends with "its watching you right now"
>the picture of it blinks
Use lesser-known spooks or even make them up entirely. Have an M.O. that's properly weird in multiple ways. Leaves chalk marks on the walls in a child's handwriting. Looks like smoke rising from a building from far away but no fire nor smoke when you get close. None of that "you find a buncha bloodless corpses" stuff. Have conflicting information in the sources your players find. Ways of dealing with them that aren't just "hit them witta stick made of this specific metal". Maybe they come and go for particular reasons, and you can convince them to leave by offering them a blister pack of 18650 batteries. Maybe batteries just make them hate you forever. Up the ante but decrease the hostility, so the players aren't thinking "kill kill kill" the whole way through, and make them scrabble for ideas if it does come down to blows.
Potentially what you could do is make finding sources of information a challenge in itself. Challenge players to look up previous deaths that correlated to the baddy's MO, and track down survivors. Then, lead them down a line of questioning while avoiding spooking them. Alternatively, watch Supernatural for ideas.
Oh my gosh that's killer, mate Killer- get it
>Alternatively, watch Supernatural for ideas.
Isn't that show "Hunter: the Vigil: the TV Show" or something? It sounds like it would be appropriate to mine for ideas.
That's the original intent.
Later seasons add more sourcebooks.
Shit gets weird.
Guys thanks, this is all super helpful.
Supernatural is the problem- they always do a cool montage. I've seen every episode of seasons 1-5.
They're a little more xfilesy, working for the fbi, but the idea is the same. Show up in town, people in peril, stop the monster of the week..
>I've seen every episode
>working for the fbi
Are you sure you were watching Supernatural?
>"We ask someone"
My advice is true of all the rest of your scenarios, but this one especially.
Most people aren't going to know anything about the supernatural creatures your players are looking for. Or if they do, chances are they got their information from TV shows, videogames and fantasy novels, and are no more useful than someone who is completely ignorant.
Your players will need to find someone who actually knows their shit. You could invent all manner of colourful characters for your players to get in touch with, and if they don't have the answers your players seek, they can probably direct your players to someone or someplace that does, like a library no-one knows about, or a website no-one else knows how to access.
Just check your dads journal. He was hunting monsters since before you were born. And if his journal doesnt have anything, you could always call your older mentor father-figure who was good friends with your dad before he died on the job.
Later in the game you can use the extensive library that you inherited by finding out you are the last remaining descendents of a gentlemans guild of monster hunters, as you go about stopping the world from ending again, because of something you did to start it all again
No he just doesnt know how to talk. That "we" is his players. Both are seperate ideas. He (the gm) has seen supernatural 1 to 5, but his players are fbi agents in game (so xfiles related not supernatural) but the concept of beating the shit out of a new monster every week is universal.
Investigation 101:
NEVER give answers, ONLY give clues.
The interesting part of the "go to library" is not walking there, it's finding it. The interesting part of "ask someone" is trying to find out if he is telling the truth, while at the same time making sure he is not working for the target. The result of "we roll to figure out" should be "the legend says that this monster has always avoided the sea", which could lead to many assumptions, and not "this creature is wounded by saltwater but can only be destroyed by pure sea salt".
L to R:
Anime prettyboy
Chad
Dude who *could* clean up nice, but doesn't really want to.
I can tell just from this picture who they're marketing to.