Hi there, thanks for the reminder -
I've added a few more.
I'll be honest, there's no quick summary sheet because when I tried to mock one up it felt more confusing than helpful; my layout skills are unsurprisingly self-taught, and that kind of density can be hard to use to effectively communicate. There is a table to reference for consequences and options for rolls in the book, but I couldn't figure out a good way to compress it and other reference details.
As for setting flexibility, that's very much an intentional part of the game's design. I wanted Detect or Die to be about a specific scenario, which could occur in all kinds of settings, with all kinds of mysteries. The amnesiac detective is a very flexible narrative!
Hi! I would say that the mechanical operation of the game is surprisingly smooth for most groups and most GMs - this is something I credit to one of the inspirations, Bluebeard's Bride, which made me aware how much a tabletop party often operates as a sort of single organism. All playing the same detective tends to go smoothly.
The place that people seem to find difficult is in constructing a Case and in generating new rolls as they go, which (I hope) the Case of the Signal Fire can help with by giving you a bunch of pre-written investigations, actions, and of course mystery scenario. There's also the advice section in the rulebook, which contains the principles I've used when constructing Cases, but I understand that putting together a mystery can really be a challenge. But, I have gotten feedback that Signal Fire is relatively easy to run - it's not an extremely tight mystery, but I've found players really enjoy the location, setting, and clues involved, including with World players (GMs) who haven't run very many games before.
So, using Signal Fire, it should be relatively easy; more challenging would be making your own Case. I would consider the actual mechanical operation of the game pretty beginner-friendly, though I would recommend a character-creation session for assembling the Detective (and, if your group's relatively new as well and uncertain, you might use the pre-written Player Component suggestions for Signal Fire, though tbh I think most groups pretty quickly come up with their own facets of their own Detective with those as vague guidance).
Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!
That's a great idea - I'll link here the google doc I used during the play tests, but I suspect yours will actually be more convenient for most people. Thanks for posting it! I'm terrible at making spreadsheet character keepers but they're lifesavers. Generally, having a shared document and a voice call has worked fine for my groups.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zF5lPwFD0ISYBRzrLcnKg80TkK_sdsR55IZK58Qnfac/...
My advice on that front is just to have more clues than you need, and so if they miss a few juicy ones it's not the end of the world. You can tell them after they solve the Case! There's a Reconstructure expertise, if I remember my own writing correctly, that also lets them know if they haven't found any clues you had pre-written.
If they absolutely need a clue, force it (offer them a roll where no matter what, they find the clue, but a bad roll stings a bit) as discussed above. Missed clues are actually good, because they mean the players genuinely get to carve out their own path through the mystery - as long as there's enough clues to get there in the end. You may have to generate some on the fly to make sure, but again that helps the players take ownership of their solution.
Oh, and as a second suggestion: Consider having them roll, but the roll is to determine if they get Deja Vu, or the World gets Deja Vu, or Morale or whatnot, and the Clue happens either way. This can be usefully be framed as 'do you easily find and digest this detail, or does it take you a moment or remind you of something you don't want to remember, in an inchoate way.'
It's a good way to split the difference between knowing they really need the Clue and wanting it to be something they can engage with.
Hey Zeedox, thanks for checking it out!
I've been working on my first full Case File, The Case of the Signal Fire, and I hope that the back half of the book contains some useful Case framing advice. There's also the Case of the Example of Play, which is an example of play for the game but also could be a scenario seed to build on.
My big practical piece of advice would be that the Detective's own past can be relatively simple - and so can the Case, given the Detective's significant challenges (amnesia, etc). They'll also get more complicated when the Detective players (and the World) add in more details over time. Also, steal from movies and books! Grab a fun murder mystery, then make it much easier to solve (double or triple up on clues, make sure the Detective has many more ways to figure it out than in a Sherlock Holmes story, and be prepared to toss Investigation rolls to players that snap things together when they need it).
Another piece of advice is that the amnesia doesn't necessarily have to be a direct result of the Case. Two of my playtest cases had the Detective's amnesia be a direct result of the main plot, but another three involved coincidental amnesia - the classic 'bonked on the head' option from some investigation, but also catching a fever or having an unrelated psychological crisis are options I've used. That last one can be really easily tied in to the themes of the story - whatever the Detective's past self was dealing with that reached a crisis, it can be reflected in the Case in some fashion (It's also, basically, what Disco Elysium does, with some Exofamiliar twists).
I hope this all helps, and let me know if there's anything else I can help with.
"Let me state that without my notes Shade's text simply has no human reality at all ... For better or for worse, it is the commentator who has the last word" ~ Nabokov, Pale Fire.
A fascinating game with a good portion of the wit and metatextual verve of its inspiration occluded subject, Like Skyscrapers Blotting Out The Sun is an impressive feat of visual and ludic design, about which very few quibbles critical comments can be made*. The good humor with which it approaches its subject, as well as the layout and structure of the game as an object, recommends it to anyone interested in playing games with literary concepts.
*The author uses 'speculative' as the general term for fiction of the estranged, terminology I personally abjure for theoretical reasons; this is unlikely to bother anyone who has not thoroughly dissolved their good sense in the heady draught of Suvin, Freedman, and Chu.