It has come up several times, but it seems it is best to finally make it happen: How do we decide how a Here Lies mystery is written? What are the patterns and qualities we look for? What makes it work best? Here we want to try and outline some guidelines we follow that make mysteries work as well as possible, and to try and help you make your own. Note that you can find extra cases and the case template in the bonus cases drive file.
It is worth noting that Here Lies survives a lot of leniency in making stories. However, the guidelines below are the ones we do use to try and build a good case before testing it out and refining it. Use at your own desire, and remember to find the fun for your players, not just to stick with a strict story!
Guideline 1: It's a Word Game
It is worth noting that, beneath all the flavor, Here Lies is a word game. Players use narrative, context, and strange clues to guess, effectively six words. So the following thoughts help:
- Keep the words simple. It is rare that we allow two-word answers, mainly because they mess with both word-centric cards as well as can be disappointing to answer. Some that are incredibly reasonable, like fishing boat, are sensible, but are an exception. Same with verbs; convincing father may seem like a Plan, but it isn't simple as much as it is both a verb and a subject. Make a call to only underline one part of a phrase.
- Beware of ambiguity. Or even harness it. It matters that we don't push players to guess an exact word, but instead allow synonyms. Be careful to not give the Lead Investigator a hard time differentiating between depression and the players saying sadness. Words that have clear meaning, like boomerang and mountain land really well as concrete concepts.
- Balance physicality. Most of the game clue cards like referencing physical concepts, so usually four of the six answers should either be clearly physical elements, like objects and people, or have clear physical representations, like love being easily referenced with a heart symbol.
- Power of different. Finding a key word or two that bring in whole subcultures or genre-style feelings, like priest or battle or escape plan, are absolutely magic, and produce great clues when chased.
Guideline 2: Clusters & Isolates
A lot of answers in a story connect with each other via narrative, but not in and of themselves, except to try and help players gain momentum in key ways.
- The 3-2-1 rule. Most cases sort the six possible answers into 'clusters'. By this we mean that a cluster of answers tend to lead to each other. A good example is lover and jealous. Getting one tends to lead naturally to guessing the others. A lot of cases have a cluster of three (not necessarily in order!), a cluster of two, and an 'isolate'. In other cases it may be two, two, two. In each case, the purpose is to give players some momentum that getting one answer naturally leads to others.
- Use isolates sparingly. Having no interesting answers, like eaten or lightning or masterpiece or joy is disappointing, but having too many is very random and disjointed. Make your choice well which piece of the mystery is weird, usually an unclustered isolate.
- Know your tropes. Each Here Lies case is often made better by referencing or following a fictional or historical event. It gives some knowledgeable players something to hold onto, but also going against the grain in a strong way can feel really confusing. It is always better to err on the side of being too easy than too hard.
- Beware forced clusters. If you have Weapon as gun and Cause as shot, you only have one answer. You are better off choosing one and getting a category space open for something else. You don't need any answer to 'force' another answer, unless its a fun pairing, like shot and cannon.
Guideline 3: Linearity, Clarity, & Content
The stories in Here Lies are also interested in following an expected flow of storytelling, especially as players try to piece it together.
- No space for sharp turns. The story likely needs to be keep simple enough that it flows in a predictable way. Answer one leads to answer two, and so one, as players naturally enjoy the causality and 'order of events' represented by the answers.
- Beware of answer words. Assume the players may receive any other word in the story as an answer. We are extra careful not to include underlined words in the other answers on a page. Such as having the weapon be knife means that not just knife, but a whole lot of other words should not appear in the story, like blade, stab, cut, sheath, and so on, unless you see a specific use in doing so, such as giving the Lead Investigator context or something to work with.
- Just six sentences. Keep the story simple! Only one sentence per answer.
- Off-limits content. We don't have sexual assault, suicide (intentional), torture, or the death of minors in our stories. We just find folks seem to be happy that it never ends up being that way, even if they try to explore it.
Guideline 4: Key Evidence
The key evidence is meant to be functional in a a few important ways, and be organized in a certain way:
- One per answer. The intention is that each Key Evidence corresponds with an answer, usually in an askance or strange way, like matching 'ink stains' with composer.
- Sorted hard to easy. The Key Evidence available in the first round tends to be evocative, not very helpful, but matched with the hardest categories, to give a sense of the players getting the 'best shot' at those categories. Frequently we use key evidence related to concrete things like Cause or Weapon for round three, where it will either help a group that is really, really stuck, or be possibly redundant, and keep the challenge high.
- Don't have to be physical. 'Onlooking crowds' or 'rumors of scandal' are fine, they don't all have to be crime scene evidence.
And finally, with all of the above, test! We want to see how players discover their way through the story, and often we can find friction in a playtest between player expectations and the reality of the game. The biggest bit of advice is that making the game too predictable is certainly not great, but very close is good; players are being tested on how they connect information and put a story out there, so making one that they are supposed to answer is better than trying to trick them with something weird and esoteric.