Call of a Cthulhu has some wonderfully written and deeply detailed investigative adventures. However, referencing the highly detailed adventure notes over the course of several sessions can prove challenging, when you have a visual impairment. I would find myself halting play to dig through notes, unable to peripherally glance to the relevant section, the way a sighted Game Master would. It significantly slowed gameplay and didn’t feel enjoyable. To remedy this problem, I searched high and low for advice.

Advice I read for investigations never worked for me, it was too vague. For example, The Alsexandrian Blog and the book ‘So You Want To Be A Game Master’ by Justin Alexander both explain the three clue rule, in which you should provide three clues for players in relation to each lead. The problem I had was: how do I make the clues and how do I present them?

In this blog I’ll share the three tools I use: The Iceberg Method, Following Player Hunches, Gumshoe and Twists.

The Iceberg Method

I use what is called the ‘Iceberg Method’ when preparing investigations for my games. The Iceberg Method is a style of writing, in which you have a beginning and a conclusion, while the middle gets filled in as you go. This method works well for tabletop roleplaying game investigations. The Players’ starting point is just the tip of the iceberg, and as they delve deeper, the investigation expands. Initially, it’s helpful to outline both the tip and the very bottom of the iceberg, but leave the end undeveloped so that you may adapt it. Your preparation for each session should focus on creating the next layer of the iceberg, but never build beyond the upcoming session and allow the players room to maneuver.

Mystery adventures often have a fully constructed iceberg, from beginning to end, with elaborate clues, linked NPCs, and a finite conclusion. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time, intelligence, or energy to create such a detailed framework. Fortunately, we’re human and not bound by pre-written mysteries. We can write our next session, then develop subsequent sessions based on the players’ actions and revelations. A fully formed iceberg forces you to predict possible outcomes, manage sidetracks, and account for player ingenuity. While you can guide players back on track if they stray too far, it becomes overwhelming when attempting to tick to the details of a pre-written investigation.

Many Game Masters overwhelm themselves by trying to build the entire iceberg upfront. I’ve done this in the past, and you know what happened? I got overwhelmed, gave up, and never ran the idea. Start with a core idea and go from there. Maybe it begins with a dead elf in the woods and leads to a dark cult operating from a cave on the coast. Great, write the first level of the iceberg for the first session and see where it takes you. Perhaps it won’t even end with the cult on the coast. Maybe the players find the dead elf, decide it was a forest spirit wo murdered them, and you run with that idea instead.

Following Player Hunches

The Iceberg Method requires ‘Following Player Hunches’. Players discussing clues and investigations are an integral part of any investigation. Speculation is not only fun for the Players but also provides you with insight into their thought processes. I recommend following the leads they create, but be sure to blindside them occasionally to keep things interesting (pardon the intentional pun).

I typically prepare my Iceberg for the next session, but I’m always ready to discard it if necessary. I used to aspire to be the Game Master who constantly threw curveballs at the Players, catching them off guard. While that can be enjoyable at times, it can become tiresome. Sometimes, Players just want to be right, and you should let them be right. Player Characters are smart, capable investigators and should be treated as such. While it may be tempting to say, “Haha, you thought it was A, but it was actually B,” it can be far more rewarding to exceed Player expectations or meet them halfway: “Haha, you thought it was A, and it was, but B was also involved!”

Be sure to take notes while players discuss their hunches and use those notes when crafting your next session. Players enjoy a game which they are influencing far more than a game with a set conclusion. However, once the investigation is leading to a clear conclusion, lock in and head toward it. Don’t let the investigation overstay it’s welcome. Let players solve the mystery and move onto the next. As your player tackle mystery after mystery, the story will build into something exciting you never could have expected.

Gumshoe

Nothing brings an investigation to a halt quicker than a Player looking for a clue, failing a test and you saying, “You couldn’t find anything.” Good luck carrying on the investigation or keeping player motivation up in those instances. Gumshoe is a tabletop roleplaying game in which you play an investigator. When a Player looks for a clue in Gumshoe, they find it, then they make a test to interpret the clue. “I check the victim’s pockets”, “You found a glowing green stone. Make a magic test to see if you know anything about it.”

Using the Gumshoe method I typically elaborate on a clue, but if the Players rolls really well I’ll find a way to give them extra information or even another clue. Don’t be stingy when handing out information on good rolls, it will help players to appreciate when they roll poorly and you leave them with a mysterious clue. As many Game Masters say: Be a fan of your players. You should want for them to find the solution and reach the end of the investigation, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t challenge them.

Of course this doesn’t mean every time a Player checks somewhere they find a clue. Giving out clues is a reward for creativity, and the greater demonstration of creativity the bigger the clue should be. Too many Game Masters get hung up on rewarding good dice rolls instead of creativity. Great investigators like Sherlock Holmes are successful due to their creativity and so you should reward such thinking. With this in mind, it can be helpful to ask Players, “Why are you searching there?” to understand how elaborate their thinking may be. In contrast to that, sometimes the obvious should be reward, like, “I check the victim’s pockets”, “Great, you find his wallet. The contents are in another language, it looks East Asian, make a language test.”

Clues

Preparing clues is a tough concept to wrap your head around. The Alexandrian blog and the book ‘So You Want To Be A Game Master?’ present the idea of the ‘Three Clue Rule’. In the Three Clue Rule you present three clues in relation to each lead, as the Players will miss the first one, ignore the second and get the third. Three clues for every lead. That means if the lead is A, you can use the following three clues:

Great, so now now you’re good to go, right? I didn’t think so. I had the same questions as you, “How do I make clues?”, “How do I know players will find clues?” I would say lets cover how Players find clues first, so we can then understand how to make clues.

Players are unpredictable, that’s the best part of running a game. Nothing brings me greater joy than showing up to a table of creative Players and having my notes go out of the window as they pelt me with curve balls. In my third blog of this series I wrote about Encounters and explained how I create Events. When creating Events I don’t have a specific scene in mind for them to occur, instead Events are written so I can insert them at any time. Clues are the same. When a Player asks to check something and provides creative reasoning, pick a clue from your list and let them have it. Then you can use the Gumshoe method to five them additional information depending on the result of their test.

Twists

You may be reading this thinking, “I feel this approach is handing players victory,” and I agree. In shows or movies, characters find clues and work towards the solution of a mystery, and if that were all that happened the story would be quite boring. What jazzes up the pace are ‘Twists’. In the blog posts in this series on ‘Combat’ and ‘Encounters’ I wrote about ‘Events’ and that is what Twists are. Throughout the investigation you should be throwing Twists at your players and letting those be the places where you test them.

Below are six basic concepts I often use as starting points to develop ideas for Twists. I use the context of the investigation and where it is leading to inform these ideas while using ‘Word Vomit’ (see ‘Encounters’ blog post for more information on Word Vomit) to build them. I have numbered these ideas, so that you may roll 1d6 to help you decide on an idea:

1. Danger: Someone puts the players in danger to stop them.
2. Layer: An extra layer is added to the investigation.
3. Murder: A suspect, victim or collaborator is murdered.
4. Rival: Someone else is investigating the mystery.
5. Split: The players get split up during the investigation.
6. Thugs: People are sent to stop the investigation.

Twists shouldn’t bring the investigation to an end, but they should create tension, pressure and a sense of urgency for the players. Having a bounty hunter show up and try to kill the players, with written orders on him to take them out, could help the players act quickly on figuring out the next lead.

Pre-Written Adventures

All of this advice is great, but what if you want to run one of those great pre-written adventures from Call of Cthulhu? The first thing I would recommend is the same advice I would give to a sighted Game Master: Read through the adventure, in full, at least three times.

Following that advice, it is time to make a decision. Do you want to use what you’ve read as a guide and following The Iceberg Method or do you want to run the pre-written adventure verbatim. Using The Iceberg method is easy, read the adventure three times, make a few guidelines to begin, write down some events and clues, add a couple of Twist ideas and away you go. Running the adventure as written requires some extensive notetaking when you are a visually impaired Game Master, as you cannot always look up information easily during gameplay.

I considered writing a section in this blog on how I prepare notes for pre-written adventures, but it got out of hand quite quickly. Instead, I’ll write this blog in its entirety as a point of reference and then if folks wants a short series on prepping pre-written adventures, I can do that. So if you would like a short blog series on running pre-written adventures please let us know in the comments or in our Discord server (link on the “Accessibility” page of our website).

Game Prep Advice Blog Series Links

Below are links to the other blogs in this series on game prep for blind and visually impaired game masters.

• Jim’s Blog – Game Prep Advice 1 – Introduction
• Jim’s Blog – Game Prep Advice 2 – Combat
• Jim’s Blog – Game Prep Advice 3 – Encounters
• Jim’s Blog – Game Prep Advice 4 – Investigations
• Jim’s Blog – GM Prep Advice 5 – NPCs
• Jim’s Blog – Game Prep Advice 6 – Notes