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Souju
2013-11-12, 03:20 AM
So my group came up with an interesting idea in recent months: A Pathfinder Detective campaign. So far it's been great. There's only 3 of us (Me(DM) and two players) and I haven't heard any complaints. But I *might* run out of content, so I'm turnin to the Playground.
I would've posted this in the 3.5/Pathfinder subforum, but really the game system doesn't matter. Hell, one of the players attempted this type of campaign by cribbing off a sherlock holmes game.

So far the stories have been loosely connected detective stories in a city called Many Rivers (guess what it's famous for...). I'm trying to involve the players in the intrigue of the city, and thus the first few "jobs" have been for local nobles who want to keep situations hush-hush. The team's boss is a walking Deus Ex Machina that's on-hand to give them the credibility and as an emergency out if a case becomes unsolvable.
One of the things I'm particularly proud of is that the status of the inhabitants will change based on how the cases are solved. For instance, in the first case they find that a local Lord's heir and a Lady's dog have switched species. They chose to keep them as they were, and the dog-turned-woman was adopted and gained a noble title, while the dog is now the team's agency's mascot. Admittedly I kept that last part just because I find the idea of a dog with a class level in Aristocrat to be hilarious.
I'm not stuck for stories yet, but figured I'd pick the brains of the Playground before I got to that point.
Also, I should mentioned the party make-up: An Urban Ranger and a Bard.

CombatOwl
2013-11-12, 06:38 AM
So my group came up with an interesting idea in recent months: A Pathfinder Detective campaign. So far it's been great. There's only 3 of us (Me(DM) and two players) and I haven't heard any complaints. But I *might* run out of content, so I'm turnin to the Playground.
I would've posted this in the 3.5/Pathfinder subforum, but really the game system doesn't matter. Hell, one of the players attempted this type of campaign by cribbing off a sherlock holmes game.

So far the stories have been loosely connected detective stories in a city called Many Rivers (guess what it's famous for...). I'm trying to involve the players in the intrigue of the city, and thus the first few "jobs" have been for local nobles who want to keep situations hush-hush. The team's boss is a walking Deus Ex Machina that's on-hand to give them the credibility and as an emergency out if a case becomes unsolvable.
One of the things I'm particularly proud of is that the status of the inhabitants will change based on how the cases are solved. For instance, in the first case they find that a local Lord's heir and a Lady's dog have switched species. They chose to keep them as they were, and the dog-turned-woman was adopted and gained a noble title, while the dog is now the team's agency's mascot. Admittedly I kept that last part just because I find the idea of a dog with a class level in Aristocrat to be hilarious.
I'm not stuck for stories yet, but figured I'd pick the brains of the Playground before I got to that point.
Also, I should mentioned the party make-up: An Urban Ranger and a Bard.

Last time I tried this, my group got bitchy about not being able to roll Profession (Detective) for a simple answer to any dilemma they have.

Souju
2013-11-12, 11:05 AM
fortunately my two member party consists of a guy who's in it for the fun of it (he's playing the Urban Ranger) and knows my style well enough that simply sticking points in Profession (Detective) would get him snarky answers...especially since most situations where that would come in use Sense Motive anyway.
The other is someone who isn't as familiar with the game and thus wouldn't even KNOW about that. And we ain't tellin her.

Add to that I tweaked hero points into "Clue Points." Basically they function like random flashes of insight, as well as the "cheat death" mechanic already inherent (since I have to play fast and loose with CRs since they're NOT built for combat. The big climactic fight at the end of the first case was against a pack of dogs. They nearly died.), with the added caveat that the "Clue Points" are shared. Makes it perfect for a two-person party, but a larger party would be...interesting...to say the least.