New Hope City PI - Case 2

Crime 2

Type - Casebuilding (Deviant Android)
Victim - Ordinary Joe - Sales Clerk (Domestic Help)
Time - Evening
Area - Downtown South - Cinnamon restaurant
Difficulty - 4 - 8 Clues
Weather - Spring - Breezy

Preston Kemp's spouse, Betsy, made the call, and he's been taken to Central Hospital in Capitol Hills.

Despite initially being uncooperative Brandon Butler talks Preston round and he confirms what his wife said, that he was sitting outside the restaurant when he was confronted and attacked by a skinjob. He has no idea why.

Get an object

Butler and Bates head to the Cinnamon, passing an escort and 2 rough looking possible customers. The escort wishes them a good evening so they leave her to it.

As they arrive at the restaurant the chefs appear to be leaving and in high spirits but they are still just about open and manage to get access to the video files.

The video backs up Preston's account (first Clue) so they send it off to Tech.

Question someone

They decide to go and see Betsy and she tells them she's in a coffee shop near home in The Boroughs.

Outside the shop they bump into a well known 'information broker' before heading inside and speaking to Betsy.

During their chat they ask her if she knows anyone who has a grudge against her husband and to their surprise she says a detective!

[At this point I want sure what to do with this so the following only came to me in hindsight]

She also says if they come by tomorrow she'll give them more details as she can't remember them now, so they wish her a goodnight.

Day Two - 2 Clues solved

Get object

They head into the office next morning where they are told there could be more footage, so they head back to a bar next to the restaurant.

Downtown South - The Studio Bar
Early
Breezy

When they enter the bar Butler recognises a known criminal, and they eye each other before the crim leaves. Butler tells Bates it’s Roger Bowman and to keep an eye on him if he ever sees him again.

They get a look at the security footage but it comes up empty (failed roll). They do see the information broker, Kurt Kennedy, from yesterday though so decide to pay him a visit.

Question a person

They get a trace on him at a Drug Store in Capitol Hills, so swing by and have a little chat. Unfortunately he doesn’t know anything. This case is getting a little frustrating.

Butler decides it’s now late enough to call on Betsy Kemp so they travel to their condo in The Boroughs.

Get object

The Boroughs - Condo
Day

She’s worked herself up into a frenzy when they arrive, (Hostile reaction) but they calm her down and get the documents her husband has put together (third Clue).

Looking through them they decide they need to speak to Detective McFadden. It’s not someone they know as he’s part of the National Crime Force.

Question a person

Evening
Downtown South - Restaurant - The French Bass

When they arrive at the restaurant McFadden is talking to Bowman, well say they talking they seem to be having an argument. When Butler and Bates tell him to skip it he refuses until Bates manhandles him and he leaves.

Once Bowman is gone they sit down with McFadden who tells them he’s working a large Android case. He can’t tell them more than that as they’re not cleared for it, he does tell them to look into Jordan Ferguson of Canonics. He hasn’t been able to question him yet and their local contacts may be better (fourth Clue).

Question a person

Evening
Downtown South - Coffee House - Eats & Treats Cafe

They get back in their and call in last known sighting of Jordan Ferguson, he’s tracked to Eats & Treats Cafe around the corner so they decide to pay him a visit now.

Unfortunately they never make it, on the way they bump into Bowman with three associates. They don’t back down and Bowman pulls a gun. Butler immediately triggers his emergency response beacon for the station and draws his own gun, and Bates does the same.

Bates shouts out his official warning and the gangers just ignore him, as they start to split up to fan around them. Butler shoots at Bowman but misses and Bates opens fire half a second later, dropping one of them.

Bowman returns fire and Butler has to retreat to cover. Bates fires again and this time Bowman is down, the remaining gangers don’t fancy the odds and run for it. Butler comes out of cover and tells him to go get ‘em then.

Bates easily catches up with one of them but doesn’t manage to bring him down, in fact he gets a chain smashed into his arm. Bates knows he can’t beat him in a brawl so decides to pull his gun and shout another warning but the ganger just grins and swirls the chain, a fraction of a second later he’s laying on the floor, a textbook centre mass shot blowing him off his feet.

He hears sirens as he sits on the ground before his legs give way.

Day Three - 4 Clues solved

Day
Capitol Hills - Central Hospital
Overcast (seemingly to match Bates mood)

Butler picks up a discharged Bates, and after a brief chat about last night they head to see Ferguson at work.

Question a person

Downtown North - Office - Canonics
Day

As they arrive at the gleaming office building they recognise the man they need coming out with colleagues. He’s not very co-operative but eventually admits he knows Preston Kemp, but says that he’s tied up with Bowman and they should be looking there (fifth Clue).

Not getting any more out of him they decide to go see if Bowman has recovered yet.

Question a person

Capitol Hills - Central Hospital

Bowman hasn’t recovered, but one of his cronies has. He tells them they were hired and that the skinjob is in the Industrial area of town (sixth Clue).

Question a person

Industrial Area - Flop House

To their surprise they find Betsy Kemp outside and she insists she joins them in the search. Inside it’s pretty derelict but they find the android, Butler tries to question it and it pushes him to the ground and makes a run for it.

Bates draws his gun but the android barges into him knocking him to the ground too. Bates tries to hold on to the android’s leg but it breaks free and makes it outside. Bates grabs his gun and jumps up after it. His athletic nature means that he manages to keep pace with the android but he knows that won’t last, he stops to shoot but it goes wide and the android disappears around a corner.

Returning to Butler he lets him know he’s gone and Butler starts questioning Mrs Kemp. She tells them what she knows, that Jordan Ferguson organises everything and her husband just helps them move them on with his job at Domestic Help (seventh Clue).

Question a person

Downtown North - Office - Canonics

The detectives know they are going to find it difficult when the are met with Ferguson and his lawyer. True enough, with the attorney’s help they don’t manage to get anything out of Ferguson and have to cut their losses.

They are cursing their losses when they are notified that the android has been spotted in the Airport area.

Question a person

Airport area - Apartment above Crypticorps office

The detectives are surprised to find the android and Detective McFadden together. The android is trapped and can’t escape this time. Talking to McFadden and the android it becomes clear that Ferguson really is controlling this operation, his job allowing him to transfer ownership of stolen androids, Bowman procuring them and Kemp helping to move them on (eighth and final Clue). McFadden is looking into a wider issue around android theft and is happy for them to take this local case, and the associated paperwork and trial.

Bates takes the android into custody and back to the station.

Late
The Boroughs - Jordan Ferguson’s House

Bates and Butler aren’t surprised to find that Ferguson has his attorney and accountant with him when they go to pick him up. They still drag him down the station and have enough to charge him.

New Hope City PI - Thoughts

So now I have run two cases, what are my thoughts on 5150 New Hope City PI?

It is very procedural, and you are left with a very bare bones structure to try and weave into a coherent story.

I'm not sure it worked that well in the moment, although the resulting tidying up did seem to make some sense (I'll leave you to make that decision). Overall it seemed to work better in retrospect.

I can't fault the people and location charts and intend to use these for future games if necessary (although they will be in rotation with other tools I want to try out).

What I particularly liked was the fact ot gave me the same types often often to weave them together. Given the actual amount of possibilities I don't know if this is just coincidence or the sheer volume I rolled. Either way it did tie it up quite nicely.

Another decision I've reached is to change the underlying game system. I was going to change to The Department of Fabricant Management but the character creation process was too finicky. Instead I am going to mix it with Mini Six, which is a lighter version of the Open D6 System which is famous as the West End Games Star Wars RPG.

The mixing is replacing the totalling of the dice (which I consider clunky) with DFMs/The GoalSystem 1-3 No Goal, 4-5 1 Goal, and 6 2 Goals. It is much quicker than addition and so less taxing on my brain!

The second investigation system I am going to use is Mythic, the classic GM emulator. Mythic has a reputation for producing sprawling games so I'll see how it handles an investigation. I am not going to try and force a conclusion, maybe this is a case that Mayhem PD don't get to solve.

For this game I am going pure Mythic too, I don't intend to use any other tables (other than naming resources). I'll see how that goes and maybe add some tables in for the second run through (I always intend to run two games so that I can say I've tried them properly).

New Hope City PI - Case 1

Crime 1

Type - Robbery
Victim - Ordinary Joe - Waiting Staff
Time - Daytime
Area - Capitol Hills - The Trinity Bar
Difficulty - 1 - 2 Clues
Weather - Spring - Dull

Start by finding an object

Bates and Butler turn up to the bar and meet a young corporate executive looking type trying to get a group of dolled up women to move on as the bar is shut. Bates and Butler manage to persuade them it's a crime scene, the neon light tape is a dead giveaway. Bates gets a wink from one of them and a backwards glance over the shoulder.

Bates watches her walk down the road and Butler advises him that it's not worth his trouble getting involved with that sort of woman and they head inside.

Once inside they get a look at the security footage (gaining a Clue) but Butler doesn't recognise the assailant (failed roll).

Question a Person

Once they get back to the station Tech have found a match for Brady Hobbs, and where he works so they head out immediately.

They find themselves outside the nice office building for Andromeda Research in Downtown North and head inside. A colleague points them in the right direction and as soon as they find him he almost immediately confesses (Helpful reaction roll and a successful skill roll).

As that's 2 Clues they take him into custody and back down the station. They find out that he had money problems and hadn't really thought of the consequences of trying to rob somewhere so high profile.

That’s enough to charge him and other than a bit of tidying up the case is closed.

Skirmish Games thoughts

I'd thought I'd set out my thoughts on what makes a good tabletop miniatures skirmish game. They are of course just my opinion, I'm sure you'll disagree as much as you agree, but I will give reasons for my answers.

As a bit of a preamble, most of my skirmish games tend to be near future or science fiction in an urban environment. It's just what I like, so that clearly influences the design choices I have listed below.

So what does make a good solo minis skirmish game for me?

Hidden enemies

From the 'Blips' of Space Hulk to the 'Possible Enemy Forces' of Two Hour Wargames, hidden enemy (and blank, or no contact) tokens are a great way to increase tension and suspense in a solo game.

They mean you do not have a perfect view of the battlefield from the moment the game starts. You don't know where the enemy will come from, what they will be and even if you are just chasing shadows.

This means that you are making choices based on where the enemy may come from, causing you to spread your force as you would do in a real life situation.

If anything this is an advantage over a competive two player game.

Objectives

It often seems like every battle is a war of attrition, slugging it out toe-to-toe, when often they just happen to be chance encounters.

Giving the opposition, and your own forces, a task either ahead of the game or during it helps to eliminate this issue.

Morale

I've chucked morale in here, as all too often as a role-player it is easy to forget that no-one wants to fight to the death in general.

As a skirmish game, if this can be tied in to the immediate effects of combat all the better. By this I mean, rather than a separate roll being required (which I often forget), if morale is factored into another roll then that helps.

Random Activation

Skirmish games are moving away from the IGOUGO method of combat as used by GW. Nobody wants to be standing around as the enemy pound on your forces before you do the same.

Some games use card activation, token pulls, and activation dice. My personal preference is for token pulls, but that is just because I have mini d6 I can use.

Reactions/Overwatch

I like games where every character is on permanent overwatch (sorry can't shake the Space Hulk terminology even after 20-odd years). Why should my character be able to run scott free across the front of an enemy just because he has enough movement score to do so?

Shouldn't he be supressed by another figure before I make that dash? Isn't that more 'realistic'? Well it is for me, anything that encourages proper tactics (as I see them) has be better than static forces.

Easy to remember rules

Gaming on your own can go two ways, one is super detailed, where everything is tracked and as many factors are taken into account as the player can stand.

The other is more streamlined and simplified, maybe some abstraction, as it's just one person running the whole thing.

Now for me I sit on the streamlined end. I don't have the time to try and learn all of the edge cases, rules exceptions and other minutiae that someone else may love. I can handle lots of stats, make whatever judgements are required on the fly etc., but trying to remember different ways to roll the dice are currently just not going to happen.

Recommendations

So the big one. What games do I recommend, and why?

Some of these are tenuous, and even out of print, but they work for me at this moment in time.

Two Hour Wargames
This game introduced me to Possible Enemy Forces and their real possibilities for solo play. It's true I met them in Space Hulk first, but their use was different and very PvP in that game.

THW also introduced me to actions leading to reactions. This mean that you lose control over your characters (which I love), but makes them seem real.

Fast & Dirty - Uncontrolled Forces
FAD is a great ruleset (let down by exception based 'skills'), with a supplement for enemy AI and objectives.

This means that opposing forces are always pursuing some objective, which can change depending on dice rolls. Sometimes they ruthless engage and others they are happy to make their way past if you are content they do so.

Bolt Action/Other Warlord Games games
This is for the dice/token pull mechanic. I like this because it randomises the order of movement among the available figures, meaning you might be able to lay down fire before making a crucial move or not. That uncertainty adding to the solo experience, when it could be the other side standing still throughout.

Now I like token pull because it ensures that every model activiates each turn, and because I use tiny dice it doesn't clutter the table. I have a variety of colours for the dice meaning that as many as 7 or 8 (I forget how many colours) factions can operate on the same tabletop.

Your own favourite rules
So for me that is Advanced HeroQuest, it's just a ruleset I know so well, and I can incorporate all of the above quite easily into them.

I know that may seem a strange choice, but AHQ is really just the standard Games Workshop stats expanded to the use of a d12 instead of a d6.

There's a possibility I will tinker with a d6 dice pool system (Mini Six mixed with The Department's GoalSystem), that I'll be able to use for skirmishes and role-playing but that's for another time.

Roll your own

I haven't had time to write up my investigations yet, so here's a general solo playing post.

So one of the boons, and banes, of solo play is being able to do your own thing.

It is almost overwhelmingly a good thing but I often find myself in the opposite camp, and this post is a reminder to myself of the good things over the bad.

Boons

You can play any game/setting you want
If you want to play something obscure that there is no hope of getting any group for, then there's nothing stopping you. So if that's a Police Quest or Hill Street Blues homage to regular police work, or Witch Hunting in a fantasy world of your own devising, then get to it!

You can use any system you want
Similar to the above, if you want to use Advanced Heroquest to run in the Warhammer FRP 1st edition setting then go ahead.

You can get rules wrong and nobody cares
Forget to roll for knocking down an opponent in Pendragon or screw up a damage roll in Mini Six, it doesn't matter.

You can play any character you want
Want to play as a Hylian wanderer in Ryuutama?

At a time to suit you
If you have a demanding job, or worse yet, live in a place other than US, then getting a group together even online can be a difficult process.

There is no-one to embarrass
Your character take a shine to the Princess, want to role-play that romantic relationship that's so important to your character. Well now you can sweet talk to your heart's content, and not to some sweaty GM.

You can cheat and no one cares
Did that shot between the eyes just take out your character permanently? Well, you can re-roll that surely, what's the chance of that happening again?

You can try different things and reset
So that ruleset you cobbled together or wanted to tryout not giving you the results you wanted? You can easily switch it over to something more in line with your vision of your game without someone complaining about it.

Banes

There is so much choice
Choice paralysis is a real thing for the solo gamer. When you can choose anything, you can often end up not choosing anything.

Game acquisition
You can keep getting more and more games just to try out - without finding the acutal time to try them out.

There's no-one to hold you to account
Don't feel like gaming tonight? Well, there's no-one to tell you to be on time, or anyone to upset by skipping the game.

New Hope City: PI

So the first system I am going to try is New Hope City: PI (NHCPI) designed by Two Hour Wargames (THW).

There are a few reasons for this, first is that my first real introduction to solo gaming was with THW's Larger Than Life, a pulp miniatures ruleset that first focused on playing a single character and going on what would be recognisable as an adventure. It was from that I discovered their 5150 New Beginnings rules and then after that Mythic GME from which I have never looked back.

Well NHCPI takes the cyberpunk-ish city from New Beginnings and adds an investigation method to it. As all THW games are written for solo/co-op play this means the rules are designed to work for solo players too!

So, what are they like on first look?

Quite table heavy, although I don't mind that, particularly as a lot of it is in the initial generation of the crime.

Abstract clue based. So to 'solve' a crime you need to find/solve a certain number of clues (the amount is variable and set by the type of crime and then a random roll). There is no assistance in what these clues and connections are.

My next post will be a walkthrough of my first crime, and an introduction to the first members of the Mayhem Police Department (the name I chose for the city based on a World Works Games printable terrain and RPGGeek search).

Solo Investigations

So as stated one of things this blog will cover is solo role-playing games, that is playing an RPG without a GM.

This is a fast growing area of the hobby, and with the coronavirus pandemic has become more prevalent.

Generally when I solo RP I use the industry mainstay Mythic GM Emulator (hereafter called Mythic GME). This is, in my opinion, the best solo emulator there is, however it does have drawbacks, particularly in its handling of investigations.

Now investigations in RP have long been an area of difficulty, even in group games. They can be hard to provide the necessary clues to the players, and have the mystery wrapped up in a satisfactory TV or novel  style way.

Given those difficulties it is even harder for these styles of adventure to succeed in solo play as one of the joys of solo play is seeing where the story goes, which is difficult when that story is trying to end in a particular way.

That is not to say that people have not tried, and there are a number of systems and approaches both for group and solo games, although group games understandably is where most of the work has been aimed.

In order to find out which investigation methods and systems work best for solo play I intend to give each of them a playthrough for at least a couple of investigations. That should hopefully let me see that system in action sufficiently to have an educated opinion of each of them.

I intend to follow each system exactly as written to give each its fair chance.

Now in order to make the comparison fair I think that other factors should remain static as far as possible, and this relates specifically to the underlying RPG system I use to resolve actions and scenes.

Ordinarily I would use the classic version of Freeform Universal (otherwise known as FU). This small but fantastic system is great at providing a small narrative push with each roll which would work extremely well for the social interactive nature of most investigations. However when trying to review the systems I feel this could get in the way of how they operate so have decided to use a more traditional system based on John Harper's Danger Patrol beta.

Finally, I have decided to base the run throughs in the same place, a cyberpunk-style city of the near future based on Blade Runner, Detroit: Beyond Human, AD Police, The Department of Fabricant Management and others, where androids and related problems exist alongside good old human foibles and greed.