[farfromnice]

I think I'm a good GM ... my players say that I'm a good Gm, that should suffiase

but I have my forte ... and Investigation run are not

So for those of you that are good in building investigation stories : how do you build it, how do you start, etc. ?

[adzling]

Imho one of the most important parts is physical clues that can be interpreted in different ways AND interrogations that output different info depending upon interrogator's method and skill.
Red Herrings are important!

For the ultimate Investigator / Clue campaign check out the seminal Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign...that shit is awesome using both of the elements I note above.

[Jack_Spade]

Start before the beginning:

Have a clear understanding what exactly happened - if necessary play the scene out physically to understand what exactly happened and what clues could have been left behind. That will make it easier to describe the environment.

Make sure your first clue is as obvious as possible. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to find the starting point.

Than follow the rule of three:
If you have one essential piece of information, plant three clues that will convey that.
Have three ways ready how these clues can be found (beside the obvious perception check - that's pretty lame)

Be prepared to have some wild card clues you can give to players that went creatively into a direction you didn't think of at all - surprise witnesses are great for that (The pizza guy, the drone operator, the kitty body cam)

[Beta]

I struggle with investigations too, but one thing I've figured out:  they can be very long.  Allowing the characters to chase false trails, examine everything for clues, sending them from A to B to C to Q and back to D ..... it all adds up.  In terms of advice I'd say be careful about your play time and player patience vs how ambitious you get about the mystery they are investigating.  Sub-goals along the way help make it more episodic.

In terms of other's giving advice, I'd love to hear any additional thoughts on pacing investigations (and scoping their length).

[Bushw4cker]

What kind of investigation are you thinking of doing? I would read or watch Sherlock (BBC), if you are thinking about doing Murder investigation...and even if your not, I still would recommend checking both out. The books/show will forever change the way you look at things.

Give me idea of what you are thinking of doing.. I will try to help more.

[Bushw4cker]

I personally would start with an outline of what happened and work your clues in after, and I would work backwards.

btw, one of the best sites I've ever seen posted for helping GMs with Seattle maps..     http://www.1w6.de/rpg/sr/map/

Just off my head Example:

A Magic Foci stolen, a Johnson with Draco Foundation hires Players to find the artifact/foci.

This is what happened.

1. Aztechnology Johnson hired a team of Shadowrunners to steal a powerful magic foci that has potential to be used in Blood Ritual.

2. One of the Runners died in the Run.

3. Runners met Aztechnology Johnson at downtown mage bar to give Johnson the Foci, and got paid.

4. The runners felt they got screwed, and were mad that their friend died. The next day all the runners disappeared (Aztechnology, killed the rest of the team to tie up loose ends.)

So starting at #4. Your players could easily find out rumors about the Runners disappearance and/or their outrage at the Aztechtech Johnson through their contacts and/or some legwork.. You can add multiple clues that would lead to lead to #3. A virtual receipt for drinks at the Mage Bar.   Runners car impounded/stolen. Girlfriend looking for one of the missing Runners.

Clues could leading to to #2 or #1. Mage in bar that assensed the Johnson in Astral.  Witness to transaction "The Ork was covered in blood"..

This is just off the top of my head.. If you can give me idea of what you are thinking about doing I can try to help more. 

[Lorebane24]

I like to start with a list of information (not clues) that I want the party to uncover over the course of an investigation, then come up with several clues for each piece of information that lend themselves to different venues of investigation.  You want them to discover that there was an MCT ninja involved in an incident?  They could find some blood or a scrap of clothing that they could trace back to the corp or the agent if they investigate physically.  If they assense, maybe they get his astral signature (assuming he was an adept), and if they do some matrix digging, maybe they spot him briefly on a camera feed acting suspiciously.  These are obviously pretty heavy handed clues, but you get the idea.  I assume that all of the clues actually exist until the party finds one of them, then they will encounter no further clues for that given piece of information regardless of where they look, finding clues for the other stuff they need to know instead.  This ensures that no matter how they decide to look, you can reward them for their efforts if they seem plausible to you.  Nothing is more horrible for a player than coming up with a clever or elaborate scheme to gather info and then just hit a stone wall because the GM didn't explicitly place a clue there.

Once that's done, give them a couple of vague hooks to steer them towards the right track, and then let them run with it.  You're playing a very reactive role in an investigation, and should be rewarding the efforts of PCs with a piece of a larger puzzle each time they do anything that could constitute progress, but not enough that they unravel the whole mystery at once.  After they following up on about three or four leads, then maybe they should have enough info to piece together a reasonably accurate picture of what's going or what happened, depending on the nature of the investigation.

[Bushw4cker]

I like to start with a list of information (not clues) that I want the party to uncover over the course of an investigation, then come up with several clues for each piece of information that lend themselves to different venues of investigation.  You want them to discover that there was an MCT ninja involved in an incident?  They could find some blood or a scrap of clothing that they could trace back to the corp or the agent if they investigate physically.  If they assense, maybe they get his astral signature (assuming he was an adept), and if they do some matrix digging, maybe they spot him briefly on a camera feed acting suspiciously.  These are obviously pretty heavy handed clues, but you get the idea.  I assume that all of the clues actually exist until the party finds one of them, then they will encounter no further clues for that given piece of information regardless of where they look, finding clues for the other stuff they need to know instead.  This ensures that no matter how they decide to look, you can reward them for their efforts if they seem plausible to you.  Nothing is more horrible for a player than coming up with a clever or elaborate scheme to gather info and then just hit a stone wall because the GM didn't explicitly place a clue there.

Once that's done, give them a couple of vague hooks to steer them towards the right track, and then let them run with it.  You're playing a very reactive role in an investigation, and should be rewarding the efforts of PCs with a piece of a larger puzzle each time they do anything that could constitute progress, but not enough that they unravel the whole mystery at once.  After they following up on about three or four leads, then maybe they should have enough info to piece together a reasonably accurate picture of what's going or what happened, depending on the nature of the investigation.

I agree with Lorebane about awarding your players for clever thinking, and I think you should try to be flexible in all your Runs.

I have never GMed a run where the players ever came even close to doing what I anticipated.

Also, I would consider all your players when coming up with the run. If you have two Street Samurai in your group, make sure there is some fighting.  Like one of the Witnesses is being held in a Bunraku Parlor and the team needs to fight way through the Yakuza.

[farfromnice]

Give me idea of what you are thinking of doing.. I will try to help more.

So Ok

My players are :

A Human elf-poser technomancer (verything to be hated)
A Rigger-Hacker
(This two are my most experience player in the world of Shadowrun)
A Physical Adept Troll (One punch Troll kind of guy)
A ThunderBird Shaman Dwarf Addicted to cooking
and A Street Sam with a bounty in his head by his family

they are contracted by their fixer and Jane Frosty to find a part of a map and a "Compass" wish will be a book of Orkish poesy. The book as gone missing probably stole by Kamehameha but since I love the guy, the players will probably competing to have the book before him

The run will probably be in the Caïman Confederation where I want the campain(campagne ?) to end

the 4th and last peice of the map will be in Lagos if it help

Saeder-Krupp and Evo are competing with the player to have the map, Evo want to know why Frosty is after the artifact and Lowfyr is probably just bored or it knows what the map does ... wich I didn't totally figure out

this is a classic pirate run in a way and at first I wanted the map to lead the way to the Orkish poesy book wich is invaluable for the Ork/Troll community but I spill the beans talking Algerian Poetry with my player (Yeah I'm that kind of geek )

[Lorebane24]

Ooooh, this isn't so much an investigation as it is a treasure hunt.

All you really need to do here is drop some enticing leads and then throw some opposition in the way.  Leave a trail of breadcrumbs for the PCs to follow.  Either by asking around a bar or doing some digging in the matrix or metaplanes or something, maybe the hear that there was this elf with a distinctive scar asking about the map, and they start looking for him.

Then when they follow up on that lead, they find a location where he usually hangs out.  Maybe the go to a contact who points them that way.  Maybe they look online and find a recent photo of him and can recognize the locale.  In any case, they're off to a bar to or something to find this guy, only to learn he's already moved on, AND that there are some Evo goons there looking for him.  One of his buddies in the bar can point them to where the dude was (PCs are now on the move once again) and once they're in the city and start asking questions, someone can eventually tell them, or they can witness via one of the rigger's scout drones, or something along those lines, that the dude was nabbed by S-K, then the PCs need to bust him out.  He of course, has a new lead for them, and so on and so forth, until you get to the actual map.

Also, do you mean you actually allowed a player to take Addiction (Cooking) as a quality?

[farfromnice]

Also, do you mean you actually allowed a player to take Addiction (Cooking) as a quality?

Yes but she play it like she is a grand-mother always trying to feed the other players. Since she enter an argument with the elf poser because is a vegan and she thinks he's a little pale because he don't eat meat. It's not an addiction per ce but we treat it that way

[belaran]

The idea of an overbearing dwarf shadowrunner bothering the vegan elf addict of the group does sound pretty funny - especially if the PCs are doing a good job at roleplaying it.

Back to your question: I agree with Lorebane here, it sounds more like a treasure hunt than an investigation. Inspire yourself by watching Indiana Jones (1 to 3), and/or Pirates of the Caribbean. In this case, you just need clear info to make PCs go from location 1 to location 2, and you should focus your preparation in the "colorfulness" of the scene rather than the "investigation" tidbit.

Now, it's not impossible (neither a bad idea) to turn this into an investigation runs, where PCs needs to figure out where the map (and other McGuffins) are. In this case, they would need to (for instance) break into a history teacher (only to find him dead, killed by the Opposition), and then start piecing the pieces together from what they find... But , it does not seems to be the tone of your idea.

[witchdoctor]

And never forget Raymond Chandler's sage wisdom of: "If all else fails, have a man with a gun burst in." This trick can be used to deliver much needed clues to the party if the existing ones aren't cutting it and can also up the paranoia and if nothing else gives the players something to talk about for the next five minutes while you improvise.