[The Amnesia Detective] Power 19 answers. Suggestions/help?

[Jack Phillips]

I'm working out an idea for a game called The Amnesia Detective

[whiteknife]

Hello! Well, I read through your power 19 and couldn't help but respond since I recently came up with a game with the exact same premise (players start out with no memories and must remember what they're doing while exploring a dangerous setting) but a different take on it (your game seems to be narrative and focused on detective work, where as mine was more surreal and would probably be classified more as simulationist).

Anyways, on to the helping:

#6/#7: Well, it seems like you have a desire to focus the play almost entirely on mystery solving and identity finding, so those are what you need to reward. If the game and all its various mechanics and purpose are about that then I would think players might naturally gravitate towards that sort of play. You could "punish" players who don't embrace the setting by having things outside of the main drive be settled quickly so that play heads back to what you want (for example, if players get bored and go rob a store you could handle it in one roll and bring things back on track with clue finding). That might not necessarily work, but it's something to think about at least.

#9: If you want the players to be constantly on guard, make sure to fill up every scene with potential allies and enemies, and then make it really hard to tell who's who. You can accomplish this through GM advice or even a rule if you feel like it. In any case, as long as someone is (or might be) plotting to kill the characters right now their attention should be focused.

#14: I'm not sure how to go about producing this effect, but I think that getting it down might be the key to your whole game.

#17: I agree that it's an interesting idea, and definitely different than most games. I disagree that it wouldn't work in most settings, but that's not really important for your design.

Also, here's some suggestions based on what I've been doing for my game:

When you make the character sheet make sure to label all the areas very clearly, and possibly add some reminder text. Even if the character creation is simple, you don't want to have people going and looking stuff up in the middle of play.

I'd probably put a hard limit on the amount of things someone can recall about themselves (or others) each scene so that people don't go overboard, but this is really up to you and how you want the story to flow.

Anyways, hope that helps. Good luck on your game! I'm interested in seeing more, so keep it coming!

[TonyLB]

Is this really a game of recreating just the character?  Or are you also creating the world and situation?  It seems (to me) like the latter ... as with all mysteries, there is a situation which is simple to deal with once it is fully uncovered, and the art of the whole thing is to fully uncover it.

Also:  I don't think this would work at all well with two (or more) amnesiac detectives, but I think it would work wonderfully with one amnesiac detective and multiple people describing characters who each know some of what he needs to learn.  The question is:  What things should those people be doing to help the discovery of the world/character unfold dramatically, and how can the system encourage those behaviors?

[Jack Phillips]

tonylb,

I like what you bring up. I'm thinking maybe instead of having multiple players (when more than two play) maybe giving multiple GMs power over various scenes or characters. This would require some good explanation on how to do, and a good group of gamers, but I think this is worth exploring.

whiteknife,
I like your idea for your game to take place in a surreal world - I think that could work out well. Also, thanks for your specific suggestions to certain questions, that's given me a lot to think about and consider.

[Willow]

This premise seems suited for one-on-one play, where one player is the Amnesiac, and one player isn't.  Or where one player is, and everyone else isn't, as Tony suggests.

If you go that route, I recommend looking at Dirty Secrets (in fact, I recommend it anyways).  It's a mystery game that builds the mystery through play.  (But it isn't actually about 'solving' the mystery, but rather about 'exploring' the mystery.)

[Jack Phillips]

Willow,
 
Dirty Secrets sounds like something I'd love. I'll be picking that up soon. Thanks for the head's up.

[Big J Money]

The Premise for this game seems like the perfect Premise for the Social/LARP game I was (very, very loosely) brainstorming a couple months ago.  A game where one person is the detective and everyone else takes the role of and develops a significant character in the mystery that was previously being solved. 

This probably isn't what you were thinking, however.  It sounds as if you are looking more toward a narrativist style of play where the players/GMs/whatevers work cooperatively to develop the original mystery, correct?  Even though your premise isn't one that's never been heard of I would feel guilty nabbig it for a completely different style of game.  Very cool idea!

-- John M.