Question for those of you who have run games where the PCs are all private investigators: how does it work out in practice? What are some things a GM should expect, plan, or watch out for when setting up adventures for such characters?

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;890169Question for those of you who have run games where the PCs are all private investigators: how does it work out in practice? What are some things a GM should expect, plan, or watch out for when setting up adventures for such characters?

A little more background would be useful. Like what is the system, what is the setting, what kind of things are they likely to investigate?

Without knowing any of that I am reminded of one group of players in Call of Cthulhu who ran a group of three private investigators.

• Since they all had the same basic motivation - solve the case - it was pretty easy to get them on the same page.
  

• They were all OK at scouting, PI stuff, and had some combat skills so no one was forced to wait around while the sneaky character scouted ahead, the old professor read some insane scribblings written in Arabic, or (in a modern setting) the hacker broke into the net.

• On the down side their skill set was a bit narrow. In particular they didn't have anyone who was good at scholarly stuff and ancient languages.

• Missing skills were covered either by consulting some other PC (we had a lot of Call of Cthulhu characters) they knew or else they'd need to consult or hire an NPC.

• For a noirish setting, (think Maltese Falcon, Big Sleep, Red Harvest, etc.) a group that was all detectives would work well.

• A lot of fictional detectives use a single detective with a supporting cast of friends or allies. That might be another approach.

I once ran a one-shot with all the PC's being Super Heroic Crime-Fighters, like Batman.  It worked decently.

We played a two-shot in Unknown Armies 2 where our characters were private investigators with their own detective agency. Of course, this being UA2, we were about as similar as night and day, so I'm not sure if that's exactly the situation you were asking for:).

In fact, my PC was actually a pacifist who used to teach yoga the evenings, smoked weed, and surfed when there wasn't enough work. He also carried CS spray for self defence, and kept apologising every time he used it, but never even attempted to hurt someone, and this would have probably become a Self check. He even refused hurting the Plutomancer that we were confronting, when he had an artefact that probably would have killed the guy:D.

OTOH, he was the guy with the contacts who had very few difficulties getting information, so he more than pulled his share of the work;).

First of all, prepare a cadre of NPCs that will be PCs' contacts as there will be a certain degree of consultation needed.

Second of all, perhaps allow some leeway with interpretation of the Private Investigator potential skillset, to allow a mix of skills, not just everyone playing the same precise skillset - not just to make the party more mechanically competent, but I think it's more fun to watch people approach the idea of PI from different viewpoints. Perhaps even encourage that everyone plays a different concept/cliche, rather than everyone be the Hardboiled Noir PI I, and I think many, love the most.

In practice I had a session where we had a very tight, similar group - PI, Writer and Writer's Publisher, and it worked out perfectly. One advantage of all PCs being similar in occupation is that there won't ever be a problem for an adventure hook - a job is, after all, a job.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;890169What are some things a GM should expect, plan, or watch out for when setting up adventures for such characters?

Make sure there's either a clearly visible way to avoid combat, or that combat won't be very lethal.

Also, don't forget that clues are to be omitted, even if they are in plain sight. Settle for "interpretation of clues" rather than "finding said clues".

Quote from: Bren;890178A little more background would be useful. Like what is the system, what is the setting, what kind of things are they likely to investigate?

I don't want to specify a system because I want a wide range of responses, but clearly something that focuses on investigation rather than combat (though combat could happen of course). Everyone having a big variety of skills would be a given, even if it's somewhat unrealistic.

Setting would be 1980s to modern probably, in a fake Americanesque country.

What they investigate is something I worry about a bit because I am inexperienced. PIs have less access and jurisdiction that the police, so doesn't there logically come a point in many investigations where the police would take over? That would be no fun, which means coming up with fresh contrivances to keep the PCs on the case even when they shouldn't be anymore. I suppose if I could find a method to do that I'd like them investigating murders, missing people, scandals, and mysterious objects.

Quote from: Rincewind1First of all, prepare a cadre of NPCs that will be PCs' contacts as there will be a certain degree of consultation needed.

In your experience, which types of NPCs recurred the most consistently? I'd like to have a 'regular cast' that shows up from case to case in addition to the obviously one-off suspects and witnesses and such.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;890253In your experience, which types of NPCs recurred the most consistently? I'd like to have a 'regular cast' that shows up from case to case in addition to the obviously one-off suspects and witnesses and such.

Various scientists and specialists from skills that PCs don't have. Especially usually in fields of biology and chemistry, to analyze forensic data. Also friendly doctors who look the other way for Gunshot wounds, so that nobody needs to roll their 5% Medicine.

Surely the jurisdiction stuff is the other way around - it's not that you want to avoid the cops getting involved, but that they are called in after the cops have been involved. As in the victims don't feel like they've had justice, so they get someone outside law enforcement to look into things and find the truth.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;890253Everyone having a big variety of skills would be a given, even if it's somewhat unrealistic.

Then for variety, you want the PIs to have some differences in skill focus and ability. For example the three PIs in the 1920s CoC game I mentioned included

• Nora Bolt - who was a bit of a take off of Laura Holt on the old Remington Steele TV show. Nora was paranoid about being tracked down by cultists so she checked into hotels under fake names, always paid cash, switched rental cars, and swapped license plates to make it harder to track her. She had good investigation skills, decent conversations skills, and decent gun skills.

• Lou Diamond - who was a not very bright version of a noir detective. Sort of a dumb Sam Spade. He was very hard headed and eventually developed the disturbing habit of removing a finger from dead cultists because he thought it would prevent them from being properly rendered into their essential saltes and then resurrected. He had good gun skills and decent brawling and observation skills.

• Jonny (I forget Jonny's lasts name) - Jonny was a reformed street punk. He was younger than the others, kind of an apprentice PI. Jonny was tough with good hits and strength and very good brawling and decent gun skills.

QuoteSetting would be 1980s to modern probably, in a fake Americanesque country.

What they investigate is something I worry about a bit because I am inexperienced.

Well that's the key thing. What do they investigate? Is it mundane like most detective stories or do they investigate weird cases like the Ghostbusters, The Three Investigators, the reporter Kolchak, Mulder and Scully, etc?

Some stock mundane activities

• Missing persons
• Finding bail jumpers
• Murders
• Recovering lost/stolen items
• Dealing with/ resolving blackmailers
• Getting called in by people who either don't want to involve the police is frequent
• Getting called to solve something the police have given up on or caught the "wrong" suspect is another typical rationale
• Though not an investigation, bodyguard comes up a fair bit
• Also providing, testing, or checking the security for items (rare art and the like) and for locations (rich people's houses, museums, etc.)
• A bit more rare is the insurance investigator who is hired by the insurance company to investigate lost and stolen items, arson, suspicious deaths, missing persons, fake injuries and other insurance fraud - the TV Show Banacek used that as the main hook
• Real private detectives sometimes are hired by or have a relationship with insurance companies - Kinsey Milhone and V.I. Warshawsky novels used this a lot

One thought is to look at TV shows and movies from that time period to see what detectives did in those shows. A typical thing is for a detective to have a background hook or shtick.

• Magnum PI was a former naval intelligence officer and two of his regular pals were in special forces with him in Vietnam.
• Jim Rockford was an ex-con which made his life more difficult in a number of ways - not being able to license a gun among them
• Barnaby Jones was really old.
• Cannon was fat.
• Banacek was an insurance investigator.

QuotePIs have less access and jurisdiction that the police, so doesn't there logically come a point in many investigations where the police would take over?

Rather than take over, think of it as "getting involved" or "interfering." Often PIs get hired to solve the crimes the cops have given up on (or think they already have solved) or crimes (like blackmail) where the victim wants to avoid publicity and police entanglements. Being hired by an insurance company is a good way to give the PIs an accepted official reason to stay involved. Or have the PIs work for a defense attorney. The old Perry Mason show had Perry hiring a detective, Paul Drake, on nearly every episode.

QuoteIn your experience, which types of NPCs recurred the most consistently? I'd like to have a 'regular cast' that shows up from case to case in addition to the obviously one-off suspects and witnesses and such.

Depends a lot on the kind of cases. So it probably makes sense to start out with a few contacts and add more as play goes on.

• A police contact (whether friendly or unfriendly, sometimes there are both - often a friendly friend and an unfriendly higher up is the most common.
• In the US there are often multiple jurisdictions (Federal, State, County, and City may each have a police force or sheriff's department) so multiple law enforcement contacts can be used.
• A contact in the state motor vehicle department who can look up license plate and drivers license numbers to get info likes names, addresses, who a vehicle is registered too, etc.
• If murders are a lot of the cases, a contact in the morgue or coroners office is a must.
• Technical experts or consultants for whatever kinds of cases come up e.g. arson investigators, art experts, forensic scientists.
• A contact at the phone company may be good for getting private numbers, addresses, and such.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;890253Setting would be 1980s to modern probably, in a fake Americanesque country.

What they investigate is something I worry about a bit because I am inexperienced. PIs have less access and jurisdiction that the police, so doesn't there logically come a point in many investigations where the police would take over?

A couple thoughts on this bit.

First, you really want to cap this at around 1990, and not a speck later.  The ubiquity of cellphones and the Internet makes life worlds easier for PIs.  Investigating backgrounds is something I've been called upon to do a fair bit over the years, and I'm pretty good at it.  What I can find out about you in five minutes flat from my armchair, with a budget of $50 and a credit card number, dwarves what I could find out in weeks with a far larger budget and multiple visits to courthouses and registries circa 1986.

Hell, from my favorite such site (to which I have a membership), if I have your name and hometown, and unless you've got a name like "John Smith" you live in the municipal limits of Los Angeles, or you're a European who's exercised his "right to vanish," it will take me about twenty seconds to find out (a) every address you've ever owned a home, registered to vote or rented a mailbox, (b) every roommate you've ever had and their information, (c) everyone in your immediate family and where they live, (d) every spouse you've ever had and dates of marriage and divorce, (e) every time you've been arrested in the continental United States, (f) every car you've ever owned, (g) every company you've ever worked for where you've had taxes withheld, (h) your birthplace, SSN and credit record, (i) any political party affiliation, (j) where you went to high school and college ... and so on and so forth.

Secondly, as has been said, PIs are generally hired by people who either don't want police scrutiny, have something themselves to hide, or just don't figure the police are interested in doing much.  I don't think I've seen any detective fiction yet -- except where the protagonist is a cop -- that didn't involve at least some hostility from the authorities, or the protagonists doing their level best to put one over on them.

Quote from: Ravenswing;890376What I can find out about you in five minutes flat from my armchair, with a budget of $50 and a credit card number, dwarves what I could find out in weeks with a far larger budget and multiple visits to courthouses and registries circa 1986.

There are days I really miss European privacy law.

QuoteI don't think I've seen any detective fiction yet -- except where the protagonist is a cop -- that didn't involve at least some hostility from the authorities, or the protagonists doing their level best to put one over on them.

There are a few rare exceptions. The Australian Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on PBS is one. The 1930s Philo Vance movie, the Bishop's Murder Case with Basil Rathbone as Vance is another. Though to be fair, it's the DA not the police per se that wants Vance's help.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;890169Question for those of you who have run games where the PCs are all private investigators: how does it work out in practice? What are some things a GM should expect, plan, or watch out for when setting up adventures for such characters?

It'd be better or more accurate to have a party being a 'team' of private investigation. You have the people on the street, the guy who's the muscle, the administrator, the researcher, the public face of the company, and the boss.

The biggest problem, of course, is...who gets the dame?

Quote from: CRKrueger;891267The biggest problem, of course, is...who gets the dame?

Why, another dame.  Not only does The Dame own the business and is the party leader, but she bats for the other team ...

21st century gumshoes, baybee!