Night Shift Noir

 Progress continues on SPILT MILK, the phone book setting for MoSh. I’ve got half the numbers locked in and about a third fully detailed so far. That’s the setting, which is essentially standalone and player facing - cases slot in modularly. I’m working on a couple from scratch to try and take full advantage of all the new frameworking. Got one close to playtest levels which should be fun.

Anyway, thinking about failstates and procedures. I wanted a more obvious way of tracking how things were going on an investigation. Each will have consequences for not being solved which are generally pretty easy to think up - don’t catch the killer, now there’s a killer on the loose. But what do the specifics look like in practice, and how long before they kill again?

Clocks are an option, the WOM suggests them for enemy schemes, but I wanted something universal, more player facing and tied to the style and tone of this specific setting. STRICT TIME RECORDS are an option too but, frankly, dull. And MoSh doesn’t delineate time all that specifically, I wasn’t about to graft on a whole system just to give players even more to worry about. Dungeoncrawls do turns, hexcrawls do watches and travel times, so whence the phonecrawl?

The solution I’ve settled on is a function of the world more than a rule or procedure. Every* entry in the phone book, meaning every number/location combo, has a day and night shift. No more specific than that, just two options for what’s going on depending on the general time. Many are only open by night or during the day depending on the kind of business. Some are more unique, with different people working there or entirely different services offered.

*some are 24 hour, automated, etc

Time will pass because the players will find they want to do X during the day but wait til night for Y. They might not be able to follow up on a lead until tomorrow, which could lead them to discovering a new favourite hangout or even a whole other lead as they find somewhere to while the night away. It gives them a new way to engage with the world that’s less about bookkeeping and more about player driven actions and consequences. Now I can say the killer will strike again in three days, say, and have that mean something.

Also, since these slow burn mystery investigations don't have as much in the way of spooks and scares as a "traditional" mothership module (mosh modj), I have a new easy fix to keep the tension simmering that fits the new dynamic. +1d5 Stress per full day that passes while working a case. Players can rush to solve the mystery quick (risking botching it) or wash their hands of it entirely to avoid the repercussions of taking too long, but now that's on them.

I’m also happy with this because noir and other mysteries are all about those neon lit nights and grey days, and now those aesthetic choices actually mean something to play. Next stop is more work on the bloody massive phonebook. Excited to see how this all falls apart in play