TEXT:  
   
   
  TEEN DETECTIVE 
  
   
  TEEN DETECTIVE 
   
  3 
  Player Guide overview 
  4 
  Creating Your Teen Detective 
  Name, hook and how they became a detective; Family Dark Secret; 
  Motivations; Starting Lightbulbs 
  5 
  Playing the Game 
  Edges; Lightbulbs; Taking risks; Putting things right 
  7 
  GM Guide overview 
  Methodical puzzle-solving; Collaborative story creation; Pulp action 
  investigations; Considerations for particular playstyles 
  9 
  Structuring the Game 
  Building the springboard; Chasing leads; Proving their case and concluding 
  on the mystery; Deciding how to put things right; Carrying out the plan and 
  facing the consequences; Ending the game; The world of the teenager 
   
   
   
   
  TEEN DETECTIVE first edition by Epistolary Richard 2017 
  Based on Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley 
  Cover art by Aviv Or 
  If you’d like to include these rules in a teen mystery you’re publishing, please 
  contact epistolaryrichard on Google+ or at yahoo dot com  
   
  
  3 
   
  TEEN DETECTIVE PLAYER GUIDE 
  In Teen Detective, you don’t just solve teen-based mysteries, it’s also down to you 
  to decide what to do about the culprits and how best to put things right. In some 
  cases you can hand them over to the police, in others you may have to get a lot 
  more creative. Your own teen may not be entirely innocent: your teen’s 
  motivation may clash with your fellows and your family may be harbouring a 
  darker secret than you know. 
  You solve mysteries by talking to people, finding physical evidence, spotting the 
  lies and then sifting out the truth. These people, the evidence and the wider 
  world is portrayed by the Games Master (GM). 
  Sometimes witnesses are unwilling to tell the whole story or physical evidence 
  is hard to find; in these situations you need to find leverage over the witness or 
  more details on what you’re looking for. When you have such info, it’s called 
  having an Edge. You pick up most Edges through unravelling the mystery, but if 
  you’re stuck you can also occasionally create one by using a Lightbulb. Once you 
  have an Edge, the witness will be more cooperative or you’ll be able to find 
  additional evidence. Be aware, though, using an Edge may come back to bite you. 
  Should you ever feel completely stuck with a mystery, you have a very limited 
  resource to help called Lightbulbs. Lightbulbs represent that ‘Aha!’ moment 
  when a detective makes a new connection or realisation about the case. You 
  start with only 1 or 2 Lightbulbs and can spend one to add something new to a 
  previous scene. This should give you new leads to work in order to help towards 
  a solution. You can also spend a Lightbulb to give yourself an Edge right in the 
  moment. 
  Finally, occasionally, you may put yourself at risk or in danger where the outcome 
  is uncertain. Here you roll dice to see how well it goes for you. Do this too 
  often, however, and a Dark Secret about your family may emerge and take you 
  out of this mystery. 
   
   
  
  4 
   
  CREATING YOUR TEEN DETECTIVE 
  Name, hook and how they became a detective 
  Listen to the GM’s description of the community in which the mystery is set 
  (such as small-town America). Then create a teen with strong ties to one 
  or more aspects of that community: 
  Give them a name and a hook (e.g. ‘jock with a heart’, ‘rebel daughter of the 
  mayor’, ‘it crowder fallen out of favour’). Then add one or more ways in which 
  they’re tied to the community. 
  Teen Detectives may start out as regular kids, but regular kids hang out 
  with their peers, not investigate them.  
  Detail what incident made them a teen detective and how they started working 
  with the other player characters (PCs). 
  Then, introduce your teen to the other players and listen to their introductions.  
   
  Family Dark Secret 
  For each PC, including your own, write a possible Dark Secret about their family. 
  The other players will each write one for you. 
  Select two you like and hand them to the GM. The GM will discard one and keep 
  the other 
  Even you are not certain as to your teen’s family secret. 
   
  Motivations 
  Unlike professionals, teen detectives often don't have the same motivation. The 
  GM will offer you several different motivations suitable for the current mystery. 
  Each player must select a different motivation for their teen. 
   
  Starting Lightbulbs 
  If you decide that your teen detective has been ostracised from their peer group 
  because of previous incidents then they start with 2 Lightbulbs. If not, they start 
  with 1. How to spend and replenish Lightbulbs is described further below. 
   
  
  5 
   
  PLAYING THE GAME 
  The GM will lay out the starting situation; she may ask you questions about what 
  your teens are currently doing or she may start you in a particular scene. You 
  play by describing what your teens say and do and the GM will tell you the 
  consequences. At the end of the scene, it will be down to you to describe what 
  you want to do and where you want to go next. 
  Early on, the GM will introduce elements of the mystery. You solve these 
  mysteries by talking to people, finding physical evidence, spotting the lies and 
  then sifting out the truth. 
  • Most lines of investigation will build on themselves, providing you info that 
  you can use to get more info (this is called gaining an Edge). 
  • You can also generate connections where there were none before by 
  creating info your teen suddenly “remembers” (called spending a Lightbulb). 
  • In the pursuit of the mystery, you may end up putting your teen in danger. 
  You’ll then roll dice to determine what happens and it may trigger the 
  revelation of your family’s Dark Secret. 
   
  Edges 
  An Edge is a information that allows you to discover something that you could 
  not before. Some examples of Edges include: 
  • Information about a person that will lead them to tell you more, e.g. knowing 
  that they are cheating on their boyfriend (allowing you to blackmail them) or 
  that they have a secret passion for jazz (allowing you to befriend them); 
  • Information about a piece of physical evidence, e.g. knowing the licence plate 
  of a car will allow you to find it in an impound lot; 
  • Having a particular specialism, e.g. having a detailed knowledge of cameras 
  will allow you to guess what type of camera took a photo. 
  Most Edges are picked up during the case. You can also create an Edge in the 
  moment by spending a Lightbulb. 
  The GM will not tell you when you have discovered an Edge, it’s down to you to 
  be able to connect how information fits together and realise you have one. If you 
  believe you have an Edge in a situation, though, tell the GM and let them decide. 
  Be aware, Edges wear out. Also, some witnesses don’t like being pressured 
  or blackmailed and there may be consequences down the line. 
  
  6 
   
  Lightbulbs 
  • Spending Lightbulbs 
  You may spend a Lightbulb at any time to add something new to a previous scene 
  or to gain an Edge in the current scene. Describe what your teen suddenly 
  realises or connects. The GM may veto or change what you’ve created. 
  • Replenishing Lightbulbs 
  The GM, at her discretion, may replenish one of your spent Lightbulbs if another 
  player deliberately makes trouble for your teen. Players can make trouble either: 
  • By adding an element to the scene (such as by introducing a suspicious 
  boyfriend or by saying that you left a schoolbook behind when running from 
  a crime scene). Either you or the GM may veto this if you wish.  
  • As their own characters (such as by accidentally letting slip that your teen 
  snuck out of the house to your parents or starting a fight in the canteen and 
  leaving you to deal with the consequences). 
  You cannot have more Lightbulbs than when you started the mystery. 
  Taking risks 
  Mysteries should always be able to be solved by following clues, using Edges and 
  lateral thinking. Taking risks will never be required, but you may find yourself in 
  a situation where you want to put your teen in danger. 
  When you put your teen in danger, the GM will ask you to roll dice (d6s). You 
  may roll as many dice as you wish and the highest figure dictates how successful 
  your teen was (for example, 1 or 2 would be abject failure while 5 or 6 complete 
  success). Give any 6s you roll to the GM who will place them on your teen’s 
  Dark Secret. As soon as there are 6 dice on the secret, the GM will bring it into 
  play and your teen will be taken out of the mystery to deal with the fall-out. Your 
  teen will return for the next mystery with their life quite changed, the stigma of 
  associated shame and a new Dark Secret about their family. 
  Putting things right 
  Discovering the truth behind the mystery may only be half of the story. You then 
  have to decide what to do about it. Maybe a clear crime was committed and 
  you’ve built up enough evidence for the police to get involved (if you trust them) 
  but where you don’t, or you’re dealing with a culprit beyond the law then it’ll be 
  down to you as to how you are going to put things right. 
  There are no particular rules for this; follow your teen’s motivation and 
  don’t be afraid to go it alone. Your choices in this second phase will have 
  the greater impact both on what happens within your community and how 
  your own teens are seen by others.  
  
  7 
   
  TEEN DETECTIVE GM GUIDE 
  Teen Detective is an ultra-rules light game to play out teen mystery stories. It 
  supports several different playstyles depending on your group’s preferences. 
  Methodical puzzle-solving 
  For groups who like to tackle mysteries as a puzzle with a preset solution. 
  Ensure that your mystery has a structure of initial clues, leads and obvious Edges. 
  Downplay the individual teen agendas. Allow the PCs to move together as a 
  group so that the PCs can speak freely to each other and give them plenty of 
  time to talk. Do not include any moments where they would have to take risks 
  to succeed. Have a single correct solution and have a means by which the group 
  can know for certain whether they have solved the mystery correctly.  
  Encourage them to spend their Lightbulbs to give themselves Edge in a current 
  scene rather than adding new elements to a prior scene and discourage them 
  from making trouble for each other so that Lightbulbs aren’t replenished. Play 
  down any negative social consequences of using Edges and do not add other 
  distractions. Dark Secrets should not normally be revealed in this playstyle. 
  Have them conclude on the mystery close to the end of the gaming session and 
  allow them to sketch how they will put things right without necessarily playing it 
  out. Then bring out the correct solution and briefly mention the consequences. 
  Collaborative story creation 
  For groups who like to collaborate to create the story of the mystery. 
  Have one solution in mind but be open to alternatives. Allow the players greater 
  input in tailoring the setting. Encourage them to spend their Lightbulbs to create 
  new elements in previous scenes and move the mystery towards what they’re 
  interested in. Have the teens move separately and encourage them to make 
  trouble for each other (and replenish their Lightbulbs). Keep a track of the 
  evidence they’re creating and adjust the content you provide to support it. 
  Play up that pressuring or leading on witnesses using Edge has consequences to 
  the teens. Distract them with larger events happening within the community, 
  divide their loyalties and have the teens conflicted between pursuing the mystery 
  or their own interests. Throw new incidents into the mix and trust the group to 
  integrate them into their solution or disregard them as red herrings. 
  Have them conclude on the mystery around two-thirds of the way through the 
  session so that there is plenty of time for them to dispute what they should do 
  to put things right and then play it out. Enforce a separation of player and 
  character knowledge as the teens may well end up working at cross-purposes. 
  
  8 
   
  Pulp action investigations 
  For groups who like to beat an active and aggressive culprit. 
  Simplify the structure of the mystery to be a relatively linear series of clues 
  leading to a preset culprit. Have the culprit learn early on of the teens’ 
  investigation and then have them destroy evidence already collected or try to 
  scare the teens off entirely. These attempts themselves can become clues leading 
  the teens on. This group’s story is not so much about how they solve the mystery 
  or proving the culprit’s guilt but rather about how the teens best them. 
  Encourage players to spend Lightbulbs to gain Edge in the current scene so they 
  are able to move through the mystery quickly without backtracking. Have them 
  create trouble for each other often to replenish those Lightbulbs (remember the 
  player can create the trouble, it doesn’t have to be the character). 
  Have them conclude on the mystery around half way through the session. Ensure 
  that the teens cannot simply call the police, forcing them to exact their own 
  justice and putting themselves at risk. Dark Secrets are most likely to come out 
  with this playstyle; link them to the culprit and offer individual PCs evidence of 
  the culprit’s crimes along with a connection to the teen’s family so they must 
  choose to share it or destroy it (and perhaps allow the culprit to escape the law). 
  Considerations for particular playstyles 
  • Destroying evidence to lower the Dark Secret level 
  Especially in pulp games, teens may run up a large number of 6s on their family’s 
  Dark Secret. If you wish, you may offer them the chance to remove all the 6s 
  from their secret by destroying evidence linked to the mystery and their Dark 
  Secret (thus hindering their own investigation, but keeping their teen in play). 
  • The passage of time 
  Mysteries never occur in isolation from the surrounding community. There 
  should always be something that will happen if the mystery isn’t solved. Perhaps 
  an innocent friend will take the blame, a much-needed local project will fail, 
  someone will seek revenge.  
  As GM you must convey how the situation is worsening the longer they take. 
  Without this, Puzzle groups will feel that there is no cost to exhausting 
  every single possible lead and so the investigation will be a grind rather 
  than a fraught decision as to which leads will lead them closer to the truth.  
  For Collaborative Creation groups, this pressure generates the hard choices 
  which are at the core of the experience they want. 
  For Pulp groups, this pressure is the reason why they must act now and 
  take risks, rather than allowing them to play safe and gather their 
  resources. The risk-taking is at the core of their experience. 
  
  9 
   
  STRUCTURING THE GAME 
  A game of Teen Detective could be broadly divided into five acts: 
  1. 
  Building the springboard 
  2. 
  Chasing leads 
  3. 
  Proving their case and concluding on the mystery 
  4. 
  Deciding how to put things right 
  5. 
  Carrying out the plan and facing the consequences 
   
  Building the springboard 
  The players need a base of information about the mystery before they can start 
  making informed choices. Once they have this base they will then be able to 
  decide which aspect of the mystery to investigate next. This springboard may 
  include learning about the mystery, inspecting the crime scene (if any), talking to 
  an identified witness and some basic research. You can present this as a fairly 
  linear set of scenes or provide it as part of the opening set-up. If running for a 
  Puzzle or Pulp group, then it’s best to move through this as quickly as possible 
  so as to move the players along to making decisions that will interest them. 
  Chasing leads 
  Once the players have the basic information about the mystery, they should then 
  have several lines of investigation (talking to new suspects or witness, going to 
  new locations or obtaining needed Edges). They decide which order to tackle 
  them and how far they go with each. Games for Puzzle groups may require some 
  lateral thinking by the players while games for Pulp groups may be fairly linear 
  and driven by players’ response to the culprit’s attacks. After chasing these leads, 
  the players should then have a collection of information about the mystery. 
  Proving their case and concluding on the mystery 
  There’s a tipping point during each investigation where players stop simply 
  gathering all the evidence they can find and start using their reason to anticipate 
  the evidence they will find.  
  If the suspect left boot-prints in the victim’s yard and they believe Abe is 
  the suspect then they anticipate they’ll find those boots in Abe’s locker.   
  The players have moved on from information gathering and are now trying to 
  prove a case that they are building. For Puzzle groups, this is the key moment. 
  Encourage them to review all the evidence they’ve collected, put together what 
  they think happened and what evidence they could find to prove it. If they’re 
  right, allow them to find that evidence even if you originally intended them to 
  prove their case a different way. If they don’t find what they anticipate then will 
  likely consider their whole case to be incorrect and focus on a different solution. 
  For Pulp groups following a linear trail of clues, this is where the culprit is 
  revealed, but not yet defeated, allowing them to move on to putting things right. 
  
  10 
   
  Collaborative Creation groups, similar to Puzzle groups, will have a mass of 
  evidence to review, but much of it will have been created by the players and not 
  by you. Your original solution may no longer fit as the players have pushed and 
  created more where their interests led them. Just as with Puzzle groups, 
  encourage them to review all the evidence they’ve collected and to build a case; 
  here, however, you are listening to them and deciding at that moment which of 
  the solutions they’re discussing is best supported by all the evidence and will 
  prove to be correct.  
  Allowing them to talk gives you time to think and make your decision. 
  Players are far more likely to accept solutions that they have considered 
  rather than something completely out of the blue. Your role is to present 
  that solution as coherently as possible, tying together the evidence you can 
  and explaining how the unconnected evidence came to be. 
  Deciding how to put things right 
  Once the players believe they’ve explained the mystery they should decide 
  amongst themselves how they will put things right. With Pulp groups, this may 
  well emerge as an elaborate planning session. With Collaborative Creation 
  groups, this may be where the teens are divided based on their differing agendas. 
  While for Puzzle groups, this act will usually be brief as they will likely be calling 
  higher authorities to step in. 
  Carrying out the plan and facing the consequences 
  Once the players have the plan, then it’s time for them to carry it out 
  and―depending on how successful they are―bathe in glory or face the music. The 
  players will have established in the prior act how ambitious they will be. For Pulp 
  groups, the players should have a low opinion of either the loyalties or 
  competence of local authorities and look either to capture the culprit 
  themselves, publicly outing them or sabotaging their operations. Where the 
  teens have differing agendas in Collaborative Creation groups, the players 
  themselves will ultimately arbitrate who will get their way.  
  
  11 
   
  Ending the game 
  There will always be consequences to face. Successful teen detectives may be 
  rewarded, culprits who escape may vow revenge, victims may be grateful or 
  disappointed. The teens may gain new allies, but equally those they pressured or 
  misled may hold a grudge. The nature of the community itself will change; teens 
  who’ve fought to expose the truth will influence the community to become more 
  open, teens who’ve championed maintaining the existing social order will lead to 
  the community become more perfect on the surface but with more repressed 
  desires, while those who’ve negotiated for personal profit will encourage a more 
  mercenary and exploitative community. 
  Whether the players successfully solve the mystery or not, after the 
  investigation the situation should always simmer down. The community will 
  revert back to (largely) how it was before. A particular crime wave will pass, 
  gang tensions will temporarily ease, failed projects will be replaced by new 
  ones and the pain of others will be forgotten by most. After a moment of 
  crisis, everyone needs to take a breath. Making only a few changes to the 
  world after each investigation will help ensure the players still feel 
  grounded, drawing them deeper into a community that they are slowly 
  remodelling. 
  The world of the teenager 
  Teens do not have the same liberty as adults and so our teen detectives would 
  not always be in control of where they can go and when they can go there. The 
  lifestyle led by teens varies hugely and arbitrary restrictions aggravate players so 
  instead look to use to use such restrictions sparingly, to inspire creatively and 
  help structure play. 
  • Inspiring creativity 
  Having witnesses or suspects in age-restricted areas can spur the players to come 
  up with creative means to gain entry. Or they have the choice to walk straight 
  in if they want to place themselves at risk. 
  • Structuring play 
  School can provide a central focus or be an unnecessary restriction. You can use 
  school hours to provide a structure for the players: specifying a particular 
  moment where the teens can all get together and talk freely, then decide what 
  each of them would do for the remainder of the day before they can reconvene. 
  This can help them structure their thoughts and in sharing scene-time. 
  
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