Rules for Investigations and Searches

From FiranMUX

Sometimes a guard needs to track down a suspect or figure out who committed a crime. Often the guard's player is well aware where the suspect is or who did the deed, even while his character is unaware. Instead of treating this situation as a game problem -- accusing the guard of using OOC information unfairly, or the suspect going "off grid" so that even OOC means of finding him fail -- there are ways to capitalize on these circumstances in a way that benefits both sides and is fun to role-play. It requires, however, maturity and trust on everyone's part.

These rules are a more complicated extension of the Rules for Chase Scenes.

Hiders and Seekers

When a search or investigation occurs, there are two sides. One side wants to hide something and the other wants to find it.

The people who want to hide something are the Hiders. They may want to hide themselves from the law or from some other party. They may want to stash a large sum of money somewhere. Or perhaps they kidnapped a kid and want to keep the kid's whereabouts unknown until the parents pay a ransom. In the cases of crime investigations, the Hiders may want to make sure that they continue to get away with a murder they already committed. In this case, they are "hiding" evidence (in the past as well as the future; more about this later).

The people who want to find the hidden thing are the Seekers. Maybe a guard was chasing a pickpocket and lost him in the crowds; now she must scour the Old City to find the thief. Or a noble wants to search quietly for the stash of money that a thief took from him. The First Division might perform a house-to-house check for a missing child. A detective is tracking a murderer, looking for evidence at the crime scene.

These rules deal with one search at a time, with one set of Hiders and one set of Seekers. Each group of Hiders works together. Each group of Seekers works together. If a search gets more complicated than that, break it into separate searches with its own Hiders and Seekers.

Search @Checks

Like the rules for chases, these rules have a basic @check that players use.

• Each Hider @checks Reason + Streetwise at 6.
• Each Seeker @checks Perception + Streetwise at 7.

However, searches are more complicated than chases. These rules allow the participants to use creativity in choosing which attributes and skills to use in the checks. They must satisfactorily justify use of anything other than the basic check, though, and each participant may use each skill and attribute (other than the prescribed ability and attribute in the basic @check) only once per search.

For example, Adam is looking for Belle. Adam (the Seeker) can use Perception as many times as he likes, and can use Streetwise as many times as he likes. Belle (the Hider) can use Reason as many times as she likes, and can use Streetwise as many times as she likes. Adam comes up with a creative way to use Appraisal/Luxury Goods to get some evidence on Belle. That's fine, but he can't use that skill again in this search. Belle uses Intuition + Hide to escape Adam's attention. That's fine, but she can't use either Intuition or Hide again in this search.

Each check is an opposed roll. The Seekers check and compare their best result to the worst result of the Hiders. Whoever gets the most successes earns one "victory." Ties don't win anyone a victory.

Participating in the @checking is optional for Hiders and Seekers. You don't have to roll. If you do, your dice stand though.

Time Considerations

Searches should take a long time, but each search is different. Searching a single building for a hidden dagger might only take an hour or two, even if servants are colluding to hide the evidence. Investigating a complex murder could take months.

Participants should agree on how much time will pass between each @check. For the house search, maybe everyone just runs the checks and poses and the whole thing is over in a very short time. For a sweep of Anarinuell, maybe everyone decides that a check once a day (real life) is fair. For an ongoing murder investigation, maybe everyone decides that a check once a week (real life) is reasonable.

In any case, each check should inform your role-playing for the time period that follows. If you as a Seeker earn a victory with Perception + Law/Civil vs. Intuition + Hide in a murder investigation, you can spend the next week role-playing legal searches, court appearances, and other such things.

Discovery: Success and Failure

Each side keeps track of how many victories they got. Whoever gets 5 victories first wins the search. That is, if the Seekers get 5 victories, they discover whatever the Hiders are trying to hide (themselves, the loot, the kidnapped kids, the evidence trail, etc.). When the Seekers get 5 victories, this is called Discovery. It is impossible to tie at 5 victories each, so don't worry about that happening.

The margin of victories does not really matter except for color in the role-playing. If the Seekers win 5-4, it's still a clear win: they find what they were looking for. If the Hiders win 5-4, it's a clear win: they successfully hide whatever they wanted to hide.

Discovery means gaining information. It does not imply apprehension of the criminal or recovery of the hidden loot. The characters must then use the information to complete the story. If they're apprehending a criminal, then there might be a bust that culminates in a combat or a chase scene.

If the Hiders gain 5 victories, there is no Discovery. This does not mean that they get away with it forever. The Seekers can start a new search if they want, but the Seekers' @check difficulty goes up by 1 each time. Potentially, the Seekers can search four times (at difficulty 7, 8, 9, and 10).

OOC Concerns

It should be obvious that you cannot use these rules if you don't have agreement with the other side to resolve things this way. Sometimes people just want to "win" and don't care about making a cool story. While Firan might not be the right game for those people, you (as a player) cannot force them to use this system. A GM might tell everyone to use these rules, though.

If parties agree with you to use these rules, send us an @fyi with all the pertinent information at the start of the search. We'll have it for our records that way.

You also can't use these rules if you have no idea who the other party is. For example, you can't commit a crime and then start using these rules to hide it without knowing OOC who is trying to catch you. You can't start a search for a murderer using these rules without knowing OOC who did it. Feel free to ask the staff to intervene. We can anonymously see if both parties are amenable to "outing" themselves to the other side to use this system.

Obviously, when you know something your character doesn't, you should not abuse that privileged information. There are plenty of commands on the the game that give the player information that the character does not know. Even learn about, which gives you in-character knowledge, can short-circuit investigations and searches in a way that is not fun for anyone and generates little or no role-play. When you're using these rules, the learn about command is off-limits; you can't perform an "end run" around the victory system and magically find your quarry before reaching 5 victory points.

Mostly, use this system cooperatively to create excellent role-play opportunities and have fun. That way, everyone wins, regardless of the final victory point outcome.

Role-Playing

Players should use OOC means (pages, the ooc command, @mail, etc.) to communicate @checks and the outcomes. This system allows you to have "near miss" scenes where the perps get out of the house right before the police show up, or interrogation scenes where the guards rattle the thugs a bit and get information but ultimately let them go. This is a great alternative to tossing someone in jail and leaving them there. Use the interrogation for a @check, potentially a victory point, and then move on.

Dramatic irony -- a situation when the author or audience has different information than the characters -- can be used to great effect here to tell amazing stories. Use your authorial ability with gusto! Negotiate clever scenes with the other side so that all the participants can come out of this being scary thugs or clever detectives, or whatever. Use authorial control to make every character look cool.

Also keep in mind that the checks throughout the search often generate great "evidence" for a court hearing! Maybe on both sides!