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Inspectres

Inspectres is a 80-page horror role-playing game suitable for Halloween themed game nights or as a break from the normal routine grind that becomes the weekly campaign of repetitive game sessions in predictable Tolkieneque fantasy adventures. Published by Momento Mori Theatricks Inspectres is about paranormal investigators battling with the preternatural in a world not unlike our own with a tongue-in-cheek hard boiled slant. Written by Jared A. Sorensen, PDFs of this work of supernatural digital pulp are currently available through RPGnow and the Forge Bookshelf for $10.00. Purchases can be made directly through the Momento Mori Inspectres page or from RPGnow.

Time Required: Minutes to learn the bare bone basics, hours to setup and play.

Core System: Makes use of multiple dice pools.

Requirements: A monkey barrel full of dice.

Playability: 5 ½. Concept is solid but mechanics leave something to be desired.

Complexity: 7. The concept is clearly stated, however the mechanics blur.

Quality: 8. Very well put together.

Originality: 4. This is a supernatural murder mystery detective style game that states up front it is inspired and directly patterned after Ghost Busters.

Grade: B

Overall Rating: 7 ½ out of 10 golden candy apples.

To be perfectly honest I encountered, or rather re-discovered, this game one day while going A-Googling for Halloween themed games. After reading the information on the site and looking over the start-up demo I was thinking to myself: “Wow! This sounds like the perfect Halloween game.”

Of course I immediately set out to acquire a copy for review. This review was made possibly solely thanks to Mr. Sorenson providing me a comp copy. (Everyone take a moment to wave at their screens and say ‘Thanks Jared!’) Hopefully that doesn‘t betray a bias of preconception, after all few games ever live up to our expectations, but I felt that needed disclosing up front. So what does all that mean?

For starters I did, and did not, have my initial expectations met. I was expecting a game of supernatural horror, however what came as an unexpected surprise was the humorous slant and narrative storytelling mechanics at the heard of Inspectres. Also, while the tone and style oozes Ghost Busters slime, I didn‘t realize to what degree those movies had truly been the motivating inspiration for this game until I read the full introduction in the commercial version of the game.

Sadly, for me anyhow, was discovering that the game didn‘t fully center on the ghost hunting, monster busting, vampire slaying aspects that I at first glance envisioned the game to be about. Pour molasses over me, cover me in goose down, and call me a silly goose but I was actually disappointed at that. Until I discovered the game is part pulp detective murder mystery analogue and part campfire storytelling experience, with undertones of being a psychoanalysis tool. (More on that later.) In fact I would go so far as to suggest that any college students taking a psychology or sociology course could do worse things with this months stipend from home than purchase this game.

Summary

Is the game interesting? Is it worth buying? Inspectres is more of a collaborative campfire storytelling experience than it is a traditional, need a fistful of funny dice to play, role-playing game. Which isn’t to say Inspectres doesn’t require dice, it needs a monkey barrel full! However if you like narrative games then you‘ll probably love this one. Alas, if narrative games are not your proverbial cup of tea, then you will be sadly disappointed by the style of game mechanics present. Notice I said the “mechanics” not the game itself. It could be argued that a game is it‘s mechanics, but I’d ask: Is Dungeons & Dragons really defined solely by the THAC0 or D20 system?

Of course not. The game has a underlying premise, a style of presentation, that defines it as a archetypal fantasy game. So, too, is it with Inspectres. Only instead of fantasy it’s more in the neighborhood of genre pulp horror.

So what is the game about? Agents who specialize in detective work concerning the supernatural. Or rather the game centers on agents working for a franchise. That’s right the author does away with the brain numbing exercise that plagues so many games, namely leaving it up to the GM and players to figure out a rationale for why the players have all come together. The premise is written into the game! Which means that gamers have one less bit of minutia to worry about. What’s more there is also potential here for learning about business models, not just psychology, so if ever you need an excuse to buy an role-playing game this one provides you a winning trifecta.

What the [bleep] are you talking about? Glad you asked. Inspectres is a very unique game. It could, in my opinion, be used as an aide to sociological studies. Specifically it could provide students experience with putting that massive amount of “psychoanalysis babble” professors inundates them with to practical use. Or students might even use the game as a practical tool for seeing how much they‘ve really learned in business 101. After all the game does require you to set up a franchise. How better to role-play the day to day affairs of a franchise than by putting what has been learned in business class to the test? Thus it should come as no surprise that I think this is the sort of game that should probably be in campus bookstores. Certainly it has great potential for teachers to exploit.

Yeah, ok, whatever. How does it play? Overall I’d say Inspectres is perfectly suited for one-shots and the proverbial beer and pretzel mini game. Sady, and this is just my opinion, Inspectres is probably ill suited for sustained campaigns. Of course how the game is used will largely depend upon individual Game Masters. With the right GM it should be possibly to sustain prolonged campaigns, but it will require work.

The Setting: Inspectres is a game set in a modern metropolitan version of our own world where the supernatural is very real, or is it? That‘s the question your “agents” will have to answer after establishing their “franchise”.

The Game: Inspectres presents a fun and compelling campaign setting that is a wonderful nostalgic romp, at least for those of us who have been around for a bit, while also being surprisingly fresh and out of the ordinary. The mechanics, which technically present nothing new or particularly innovative, do rely upon a simple yet effective dice pool system. For instance if a character has a skill such as “Speak Klingon 5” that means the player has 5 dice available to them to roll on behalf of their character. Since Inspectres utilizes standard six-siders with low numbers indicating dire consequences and higher numbers being indicative of greater degrees of narrative control and success this is pretty much a no brainer system. Even your Aunt Phyllis could play!

System Mechanics: The mechanics are designed to promulgate a narrative mode of play. What this means is that numerical values of rolled dice indicate greater or lesser degrees of narrative control for the player. For instance if a player has to investigate supernatural goings on at a convention hall where it is believed the ghosts of fan boys from some science fiction convention from years past are causing trouble, but they need to speak Klingon to do so, but only have Speak Klingon 1 this means that they have one chance to generate a degree of success or failure proportional to the circumstance. Had the player character had a higher rated skill this would mean the player has a broader range of opportunity to seize control of the scene.

In other words the more dice available in a skill the better. There’s also quite a few additional wrinkles but, without actually sitting down to play, it’s rather difficult to assess how functional the system en total really is. It looks functional.

Character Creation: If I read the section on character creation right the process is as follows: 1) Name your character and establish a personality type. 2) Fill out a basic background. 3) Determine skills and/or field expertise (Talent?). Players have nine skill dice to distribute to their character’s skills. All characters have four basic skills: Academics, Athletics, Technology and Contact. All characters also have one unique Talent. Now my question becomes: Why wasn‘t that summarized in the text?

Whether reading a RPG as a player, potential GM, or passerby who has picked the book off the shelf those “at a glance” readings are what are going to give a person their first impression of a product. If I had picked this up in a store my “at a glance” impression would be to put it back on the shelf and walk on by.

Why? Because a game needs to provide information upfront, succinctly, and without the reader having to flip pages to find it. That‘s what makes Monopoly a strong game with lasting appeal while dozens upon dozens of other board games have come and gone. This is also why Dungeons & Dragons achieved widespread popular. Not because the rules were any better that other RPGs but because they were accessible, meaning easy to read and grasp “at a glance”. Which in turns translates into easy to learn and pick up, and means time from first reading to actual play is minimal.

Considering Momento Mori Theatricks is an “indie” RPG company the support available from the Inspectres site is simply amazing. More than that it’s inspiring. There are many downloadable from a 5 page start-up demo edition of the game, character sheets, franchise sheets, printable agent badges, and a 3 page sample PDF covering the world of Inspectres and character creation. More than enough to allow those interested in the game to get set up a bare bones version of the game so they can see if this is really the sort of game they want to buy. Very nice.

Negatives: Bit too much of a storytelling game for my taste. Character creation also seems a bit too loose, I prefer tighter systems with well laid out rules governing character construction. While the core of the mechanics sounds simple enough portions of it, in my opinion, may require a bit of play testing just to see how all the facets are supposed to work together in play. This may be problematical for some Game Masters. For a more in depth analysis cum rant see “Initial Confusion” immediately following this section.

Positives: While parts of the system may have rubbed me wrong I really love the basic premise. I’m not just saying that. This is the kind of game that I would probably spend hours converting over to a different system just to run the way I want to run it. In fact I’d really like to see this premise overlaid on one of my own systems, just as a test to see if my own rules can handle it. If ever I get off my duff and polish the rules off and publish I may just ask Mr. Sorenson about doing an official conversion. That’s how enamored of the setting I am. Do I really need to say more?

Of course I do! The mechanics are simple. The premise is wonderful. The PDF is laid out to mimic the look of an office file folder, a very nice touch. Great potential for use beyond the gaming table. The author states in the intro how his goal was to fix certain perceived problems with investigation oriented games, but doesn’t drone on and on about why or speak negatively of any other game system. Classy. Overall I have been left with a very good impression of the game.

Zzzzzzz- Snork! I‘ve got that amortization right here mist- eh? Oh, hello there. You caught me napping. What? Oh, this, this is where I offer my critical opinions about the game starting with… How about character creation?

It could be that I’ve read one too many rules lately but the character creation rules here start off sounding like a paraphrase of instructions for how a Jr. High School student should conduct themselves at a job interview. They were. . . What’s the word I am looking for? Ah, yes, boring!

Viz. “First, come up with a name and a basic personality for your character. It helps to also come up with his or her former occupation (even if said occupation is "couch potato"). As far as quirkiness and mental instability, well, weirdoes are fine. Just remember a few guidelines:

If your character is so "out there" that he or she wouldn't get hired in the first place, then you should probably tone it down a bit or come up with a new concept. InSpectres is a business, first and foremost, and that twitchy gun nut with the tattoos might not be conducive to a stable work environment. Of course, the smaller the franchise...” Ugh! Stop already! *rubs forehead* Let’s step back a moment.

What is this? Is this a role-playing game or a guide to getting hired? The last thing I, as a short attention spanned player, wants is to have to read through a lot of crap. And, my friends, that is what average Joe Schmoe gamer is probably going to think while reading the above, assuming their eyes don’t glaze over first. Granted that assessment is primarily based on the behavior of the players I’ve had over the years, but these were people who even complained about the length of the 1^st ED PHB! This game is not boring crap. As a GM I’d prefer not to have the rules inundate my players with this sort of detail upfront. We GMs already have problems enough with introducing new games to our groups, accessibility of the rules shouldn’t be one of them.

Ok, dunderhead, what do you suggest? I’d like to see a synopsis of character creation that outlines the process listed first then see the text launch into the sort of explanation quoted above.

The section on character creation needs to do one thing and one thing only, tell us how to create a character. If character creation can’t be summed up in simple terms like: Roll 3d6 for each attribute, choose a race or class, consult the entry for said race or class to apply any modifiers to the base scores rolled previously, and consult your GM to be sure everything adds up then get ready to play. Then we have a problem.

So what is so wrong with character creation? Too much is left up to the players, thus essentially making this more of a set of guidelines for how to direct a very specific type of campfire story. At least that was the impression I got at first glance through. Also the inclusion of “Confessionials”, which are essentially pointless moments that the game rules allow for players to “temporarily suspend the game” to wax poetic with a in-character rants left me cold.

However, if you are a collegian taking a psychology course, this would be a great tool and aide to put your field of study to a practical test. Alas, as a game, the average fair weather gamer may view this as an invasive, intrusive, and totally unnecessary break from the flow of what is supposed to be a game. The sad facts are not every player out there is open and receptive to new ideas. What’s more, as a Game Master I can tell you straight up the last thing I want is a rule-set that gives my players cart blanche to decide they want to break from the flow of play at the drop of a hat to make with the ranting discourse. To paraphrase something I heard at the end of a game session once: If gamers wanted to hear that kind of inanity they could volunteer to man the suicide hotline for a weekend instead or go to a bar and sit next to a bunch of losers getting plastered and listen to them rant for an hour instead of coming to the weekly game.

Not that I am saying there’s anything wrong with volunteer work. Volunteer works is a very good thing. I am just saying a Game Master will have to do some thinking about their players foibles before attempting to introduce this game to them. Especially if you have a group that acts like poster children for crack whores anonymous. If that sounds to harsh it is because it is meant to be harsh. Some players just wont get this game. Sad but true.

Why do you feel some gamers may not “get” the game? For many the focus of a set of rules should be singularly to keep players eyes on the prize, or goal, and remind them, through a carefully crafted suspension of disbelief, that while this is a game it has a point and purpose. The average player I‘ve known over the years, to be frank, would probably think this game’s rules are full of asinine hyperbole. Then again we played in different times. Still, can you imagine if one of the rules of Monopoly had players pausing the game at random intervals to rant about what kind of tycoon they are becoming?

Exactly, you’d never play Monopoly again. The players have come to the table to play a game, to have fun, to get away from the harsh realities of the day to day grind, not psychoanalyze the supposed motivations or mental states of a fictional character they created less than an hour ago! Thus the Confessionals would probably end up on the cutting room floor were I to run this game.

In summary it is this reviewers (rather strong) opinion that the Inspectre rules, as presented, while being very well written are presently only accessibly to veteran gamers. Do not misunderstand me the rules are playable. However, and after the above ramble you knew there would be a caveat, I‘d like to see the rules made more accessible to non-gamers. That means simplifying so that there is “at a glance” accessibility of the rules. I want to see people picking these rules up in a bookstore and going “Hmm” as they stand there engrossed by the contents and mesmerized by easy to understand rule summations that make them want to read more.

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