I'm planning on running a campaign where most of the PCs actions are going to be dealing with investigation. Unfortunately I'm not much of a mystery writer Anyone out there that has done something like this before I could use advice on what went well and whant didn't. I don't want to try to turn my players into Sherlock but I'd rather it not all be investigation rollls either.

Thanks

Here's a trick the game master can pull that oddly works really well:

Just frickin wing it.

I'm not even kidding. Just throw out a bunch of crazy clues and information, and the players will throw out ideas to each other trying to figure it out. Now here's the cool part:

Every time the players come up with an idea for what's "really going on" that's better than yours, start running with it. The players will feel like sherlocks, and the story will end up awesome. And here's the corollary to that:

Every time you come up with an idea that's cooler than what your players are thinking, stick to your guns. This will keep the whole thing feel "real" (since sometimes the PCs are right and sometimes they are wrong), and also makes sure that the storyline is totally sweet.

-Frank

I'd agree with everything Frank said. Players will suprise you in this sort of game. Additionally I'd say make them travel, that's always fun. Also avoid or at least rush through the dull parts of detective work (like long waits at stakeouts) because players will get impatient. Also make sure you take notes of what's happened, what clues the players have, and what they have missed. And have a list of the players contacts before you start.

Colonel in the dining room with the candlestick.

One thing to remember is that there are many different types of mysteries with very different structures.

There is the classic whodunnit (always the buttler).
There is the the search-and-rescue or hide-and-seek mystery where you much find someone or something that may or may not want to be found.
Sometimes the dective will have to piece together whathappened in a place some time ago.
Sometimes a detective will have to discover someone's secrets.
Sometimes, a detective will have to determine how something happened.

Oftentimes it will be a combonation of these.

And sometimes the detective will know the exact what where why how and who from the very begining but will have to prove it.

Although Frank's approach is good, and I've used it before, lately I've been more of a fan of Writing It All Before. By creating a timeline with events you stick to, it may give the players more the feeling that things are really happening around them, independantly of what they do. That'll give them more a sense of urgency to get things solved, while you may find it entertaining to see the silly PCs caught up in your storm.

However, I usually only write up the major events or turning points. That leaves me free to throw in spontaneous ideas, or even decide at the last minute the details of How that event goes down, adjusting for the players.

I've played in an SR game before when the PCs were all part of a legitimate detetive agency. If that's the kind of game you're playing, unless you're giving them big payouts for the actual jobs they run, and your doing runs more or less daily, you're going to need to come up with a way to account for the rest of the money they make. The GM in my game wrote an excel program that'd what little jobs we did for the rest of the month, and how much we made on them (i.c. following a cheating spouse, 3 days: 1250 nuyen), since as private investigators, we didn't get the kinds of big pay offs you get from doing dangerous runs.

Here's one about a sick little puppy: Stardust

Make damn sure, that all key characters have thier relations worked out with everyone on paper in advance, the players can make you screw your own perfect world over with flying drek if you don't keep it all straight before the adventure.

There are several players in our group that are really big on this type of run, so I have run several Mystery type games over the years.

This type of run is a bit different from the sort of standard shadowrun (data steals, extractions, sabotage, wet work, etc...) that make up the bulk of what most people think of when they think of shadowruns because, unlike those stories, which are about someone contracting the runners to take a ceratin action, mystery type runs involve a "run" that has already occurred, and the players are trying to discover what happened. So instead of just being part of the story, the role of the players is to discover what the story is, or, their story is about trying to discover someone elses story. And then, as the game gets closer to the conclusion the players become involved directly with the characters in the original story that they are investigating-so the story arc's merg, as the players join the flow of the mystery (e.g. as the players close in on the killer, whom they only are involved with because of the investigation, having had nothing to do with the original biz. before they were brought in to investigate, they join the killers story, as they become aware of each other).

What I find works best for me is to first outline the general story the players are going to be investigating-what happened before the players became involved. I have found this easier than trying to start writing the adventure from where the players start the game (with no information) and then writing forward as they will play the adventure. That way it is difficult to keep track of all of the parts and relationships. Instead, if you write out a sort of post event account of the events that the players are trying to discover, that is easer. So if you know that it was Col. Mustard, in the Kitchen, with the Pistol, that is easier than trying to start with scene one and then proceed to the end, working out the story details in the same way the players will attempt to.

Then the next two things that need to be done (these come from the story background) is to figure out what the event is that brings the players into the story, and who brings the players into the story. This is where the bulk (if not all) of the initial clues will come from. The initial event is the thing that sparks the story-a break in at a museum, a person found dead, a home broken into with signs of a search, violent struggle, and possibly foul play, etc.... As far as the NPC who contacts the players, the other major source of clues, the question of his motivation in bringing the players in is extremely important, and has to be figured out (again, both of these should be easy to come up with because you already have the general story-these are just part of whatever went wrong-and something always has gone very wrong if shadowrunners are involved).

The next step I take is to take the general story, break it into however many essential facts are necessary to cover the story, and figure out a clue that will lead the players to each of those facts-then plant the clues at the scene (or on the Johnson, as is appropriate). If you have a complex story with a lot of elements, then not all of them have to be in the initial set-some clues can lead to more clues. However, at least in my group, which very much does not like strictly linear adventures where each step follows necessarily from the preceding one and the mystery can not be solved in any other order-having several that can be done in any particular order in the initial batch is often a good idea. Most of the players I have played with seem to like adventures where there is more flexibility like that. Then, when all of the clues are followed up on, the players can go take care of the final biz-usually to take out the boss at the end, in most of my adventures.

A simple example (that is, it would need to be changed/expanded upon to make a full adventure, this is just to illustrate my points above): A Shapeshifter, who was a runner some years ago, retires, moves to a new town, buys a new identity and a bar to run with his savings. During his years as a runner, he was part of a team that pulled off a major score, but they had to wait several years before the heat would die down enough that they could move the take. The time for that is fast approaching-and one member of the former crew does not want to split up the money when the goods are moved.

The event that gets the ball rolling is that the runner's bar is found broken into one morning by the help, the office has been tossed, and there are signs of a violent struggle, as well as possible foul play.

The Johnson-an NPC claiming to be a friend of the victim highers the runners to find out what happened; but in reality the NPC is a member of the old crew that pulled off the Run and wants to know which member of the old crew has decided to cut down the number of shares before s/he (the Johnson) in next.

Then you can have several clues-silver bullets for an unusual weapon, unusual magic used at the scene (not just violent stuff like stun or killing spells, but also things like truth/pain/mind-probing spells), left over stuff from the matrix for the bar being messed with, etc.... Each of the clues could then intern lead to something that connects those who committed the crime (it could be more than one, say two or three get together and decide that splitting things two or three times is a better way to go than several)-armorers, lore stores, fixers, etc.... Each of these clues give a bit on the NPC behind it all-a name, a location, a weakness, or a strength that the players need to look out for. You can also add in other elements as well, either from stuff at the scene (say, the players find out what the assassins were trying to hide-information about the score) or later in the investigation, which brings in the party that was the original owner (corp, yakuza, dragon, etc...). Also you can bring in other members of the crew, maybe one old member does not want the thing sold because s/he does not need the money and does not need the heat it might bring (maybe s/he is now even a company man for whomever the original target was, and they do not know that s/he was involved in that business back in the day and s/he wants to keep it that way-although that might be better as a motivation for the Johnson end of things than someone that bring in later). The variations are, literally, endless (a bit like this post has become).

One thing I have found often makes this type of story easier to write is if instead of the boss being at the scene and committing the crime, you have a few people who work for him acting-then the clues can lead to them, (and/or they can lead to each other), and they can lead to the boss. This is helpful because if you mess up a bit and the players get a jump on the story, they only get to a middle NPC, not go directly to the big boss.

Also, as a rule of thumb, I try to make each clue lead to one scene, that leads to one pice (or set) of information-so that I can keep track of how the players are progressing as well the time that the game is taking/will take.

The other thing my players really like is legwork/interaction with their contacts as a way to get information in the game, so the contacts end up being well fleshed out NPC's, and this type of story really lends itself to that sort of play (assuming that both the players and the GM are willing to put the work in necessary to get detailed NPC's like that worked out).

Hope that this helps some.

Steal the runs:

The classical detective stories by Chandler and Hammet (Detectives at Continentals, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe), the 1950s stuff from guys like Mikey Spillane (Mike Hammer) and the 1980s/90s stuff (Magnum, Remington Steel, VIP) all can easily be "borrowed" for scenarios.