If anyone has played any of Pelgranes Press Gumshoe system games, would you be able to describe the system please?
I haven't played it, but I've read the rules.
You roll a d6 when using a skill. You spend points from the skill to add to the roll.
Each scene contains a crucial clue for the related plot. The GM automatically reveals this clue, players can spend skill points to enhance the clue (the benefit should relate to the skill point spent). Players can spend more points to generate more clues.
The idea is that in a mystery game, if the clue isn't found, the story hits a dead end. A clue might lead no where, but that in itself should turn into a clue or a new clue found in the next scene. The GM has to be flexible, clues generated by players should be allowed to fit into the story and possibly even change what is going on.
Points refresh either every scene or every couple scenes, don't remember at the moment.
Combat isn't especially deadly, and the author of the book references a very startling story for his viewpoint. There's a documented gunfight that took place inside a car, one person in the front seat, one in the back. 39 shots were fired. No one was seriously hurt.
I have trail of Cthulhu, but I haven't played it yet. The next time I run a Cthulhu session, I plan to give this system a go though. I flipped through Ashen Stars, the new sci-fi gumshoe game, and it looks pretty cool. I haven't really checked out Esoterrorists or Mutant City Blues.
Like the above poster said, instead of skills you have a pool of points for your skill and you spend points from the pool to increase your success chance on a roll. I forget how often point pools refresh (I think it might be each session). This gives the player a lot of narrative control, but you also have to decide when to spend and when to hold onto your points.
I can't remember if you have to declare how many points you are spending before or after you make your roll.
I'm not sure if combat is as "non lethal" as the previous poster suggests. If I recall correctly there are some ways to easily make it more or less deadly depending on what the feel of the game you want is.
In ToC there are two styles of play discussed in the book- one is Straight and the other is Pulp. There are little icons for each, and they use them beside certain skills and rules to indicate which type of game the option is suited for. I think that the pulp version is designed to be more survivable than the straight version. The published adventures also indicate whether they are straight or pulp, though I haven't really checked any of them out.
Trail of Chtulhu is a very well written and well put together product. I could see how many players and gms might choose it as a great alternative to actually using the Cthulhu rules.
Thank you guys for your views. Based on what you said it does not sound like a system then I would be into.