After years of tinkering on a tabletop roleplaying game that would capture the feeling of detective fiction, I am proud to announce that my game, Grey Cells, has gone live on Kickstarter!
Grey Cells is a game of unravelling mysteries. It’s about stepping into a dark morass of crime and deceit, and piecing together nuggets of truth into a full picture of what really happened. Players take the roles of investigators of all stripes – policemen and detectives, reporters, scientists, socialites and criminals (reformed or otherwise). It’s inspired by the works of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as more modern media such as CSI and Castle.
The mechanics of the game focus on giving players the tools they need to not only gather the information they need in effective and thematic ways, but can also help to interpret evidence and assist with deduction. Even these mechanics won’t solve the case for you, but they can provide valuable hints pointing in the right direction.
But the game doesn’t just help players – it also assists the game master. The same tools that help the players progress in the investigation also reduce the amount of preparation the game master has to do before the game. Since the players have their own means of finding clues, the game master doesn’t need to prepare a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow; not every clue needs to be planned beforehand, and with the resources available to the players they’ll never be stuck and out of options.
Furthermore, the game provides tools for the game master to help create their own mysteries, not only assisting in the writing process but directly integrating with the mechanics and presentation of the game.
The core mechanics of the game are complete. It is stable and playable, and playtests have achieved this elusive thing known as “Fun”. All that remains for development is to tweak and tighten mechanics and to illustrate the rulebook.
Backers of the Kickstarter stand to receive not only PDF and printed copies of the rulebook, but also immediate access to a PDF of the playtest package, Discord community access, a chance to participate in online playtests, and numerous case notes – documents detailing the mysteries used in playtests throughout the remaining development so you can play them with your friends!
I want Grey Cells to be a game that not only engages players in their roles but also challenges their skills of deduction. I want players to not only be able to create their own Holmesian moments of brilliance, but to get to feel that sense of revelation as the last piece of the puzzle fits into place.
For more information, please visit the Kickstarter page, or contact me at any of the following places:
Email: greycellsrpg@gmail.com
Twitter: @sometimessyfro
Facebook: www.facebook.com
