Tiny Noir
Adding the Tiny Noir ruleset on top of the Tiny Cthulhu ruleset
results in a far more mystery-oriented focus, where there are clues
to nd, conspiracies to unravel, and mysteries to solve.
Tiny Noir doesn’t require many additional rules, but some guidance
and help on sorting out clues and how they work will make your
sessions go much more smoothly.
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Clu
Clues are a tricky thing to create and reveal in many role-playing
games and mysteries. If an Investigator doesn’t nd the clue, it’s
di cult to keep them on track and focused.
Clues are facts, but not all facts are clues. To that end, rather than
trying to make players nd clues, you should simply give them the clue.
“You nd a le er in the desk drawer, as you toss the room” is a lot be er
than “Make a Perceptive Test. Oh, you failed? You don’t nd anything.”
Tests instead become tools that you use to understand the facts
(clues) as you nd them. You nd thele er easily enough, but deciphering
the code so you get the full contents, or knowing who “My darling” refers
to in the opening, are the elements players must decipher.
Application of clues is more relevant than discovery of clues,
especially if you want to keep your game moving.
To this end, we propose the following mystery structure.
S u u g Y u My
Using the diagram below, you can structure your mysteries e ectively.
First, start with the Final Confrontation. is doesn’t have to
be a physical confrontation, but you need to know what the end
result is supposed to be.
Working backward from there, you establish the various locales,
scenes, individuals, and events that become the clues that lead the
players to the nal confrontation. It becomes a tree or chain of events.
Each chain has a certain number of clues that are required to
move to the next part of the chain. E ectively, Clues become Hit
Points for the mystery, as the players defeat various stages of the
conspiracy on their way to the top.
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Each level of the mystery requires a number of clues equal to the
mystery to get past it. For example, ge ing past the lowest level of
the mystery (level one, the inciting incident) only requires one clue.
Each level should have branches that move to other ways to get
clues. As the GM, your job is to write and create the elements that
connect these branches, and then help the players to infer where
these branches are.
By the time you are done, your mystery will look like a diamond,
where it widens for a bit, and then closes back up.
is provides the cinematic and narrative feel of the scope
of a mystery: inciting incident, a few options, then a wealth of
options, before the options begin to narrow as all the clues lead
you towards the end of the mystery.
Keep in mind, this is just a framework that you can experiment
with, modify, and change as you need!
