Sleuth Game Handbook -- THE RULES!

[SkyWarp]

Description:

To solve a new mystery each day via tips that you are given.


How to play:

Each member of the forum has the ability to create up to 10 sleuths that can participate in the game.  Each sleuth gets a set of tips each day to try to solve a new mystery on that day.  A sleuth does not have to use the tips they are given, and sometimes it may be better if they don't.  More on that later.

There are three things a sleuth must do before they can solve the mystery.
1) Capture the Criminal.
2) Discover a Motive.
3) Find the weapon used.

Once these three tasks have been completed, a case can be solved.  However, with just 5-10 tips each day, that doesn't leave much room for other things that might get into a sleuths way.  It is very unusual for a sleuth to solve a mystery in the early stages of the game. 


Hazards, stumbling blocks and distractions:

There are many things that can cause issues for your sleuth's investigation.  It is best if your sleuth stays away from these as they can take tips away, throw you in jail, or even kill your sleuth, all ending your investigation early or ending you sleuth's career. 


Tip Results:

Each tip you are given has the potential to help solve your crime. They also could be false leads or even downright dangerous.  The following are a few of the results from investigating your tips. 

1) Clue - Clues are helpful tips that provide your sleuth with experience.  Experience helps to improve your sleuth's investigative abilities. See "Experience".

2) Case Milestone - As mentioned earlier there are three things a sleuth must do to solve a mystery.  Each of these three things provide your sleuth with additional experience.  These milestones are as follows: capture the criminal, discover his motive, and find the weapons he used.  Once these are done you will then be able to solve the case. 

3) Mystery Solved - It takes three Milestones before one can solve a mystery.  They don't come often, especially in the early stages of a sleuth's career.  Four experience points are gained from solving a mystery. 

4) Worthless Clue - Some tips turn out to be worthless.  There's not much one can do about this, but as a sleuth gains experience, they can sometimes help prevent the wasted time of chasing after worthless clues. 

5) People - There are several people that can get in your way of solving a mystery.  These can be anyone from Assassins to your own mother (Laura Hardy).  They will usually give you a warning before they take definitive action and put an end to your investigation.  Beware, as any assassin that gives you a warning will not be nice the second time you come in contact with their organization that same day.  You may want to hold off and wait until the next day to solve a new mystery because if you meet up with the assassins a second time on the same day, your sleuth will be killed.  Occasionally some People will give you experience points along with a warning.  How much experience you get depends on your personality score.  The higher your score the more experience you get.  However, just remember the higher your personality the less likely you ever see these people.   

6) Celebrations - This is the highest honor in the game and is given only in response to a mystery being solved the same day.  A lot of experience can be gained from these celebrations. 


Experience, Levels, and Character traits:

Experience is gained via different tip outcomes as mentioned above.  After a certain amount of experience is gained, your sleuth will level up. Each time a sleuth levels up they will gain a point in one of three special character traits. 

1) Intelligence - All sleuths start with at least one point of Intelligence. The higher a sleuth's Intelligence level the more likely they will find clues.  And of course clues bring about more experience, whch in turn brings about more levels.  Intelligence is vital to a sleuth's early career.  Intelligence is also tied to how many tips a sleuth gets each day.  For every 5 points a sleuth achieves in Intelligence, the sleuth will receive an additional tip each day.  Thus, a sleuth with a level 10 intelligence would have 7 tips each day instead of the default 5.

2) Personality - The higher a sleuth's pesonality, the less likely they will run into those friendly stumbling blocks.  For instance, Chief Collig will be less likely to haul you off to jail for interrupting his own investigations.  Assassins are not affected by your personality though.

3) Luck - Every sleuth gets lucky once in a while.  But as a sleuth continues to improve his skills, he seems to get luckier.  Maybe its really just his skill, but as every sleuth knows, skill only gets you so far.  The higher a sleuth's luck, the better chance he has to solve a case. 


A Fresh Day:

Each day your sleuth will start a new investigation with a full set of tips.  All hazards and milestones from the day before will be reset. 


Sleuth Market:

You have the ability to hire and trade away sleuths on the sleuth market.  Sleuths on the market may still be used by the current owners for sleuthing, however, once a sleuth has been hired by another sleuth agency, full control (and all stats for that sleuth) is now in the hands of the new agency.  The 10 limit per sleuth restriction still applies, thus an agency cannot hire or create more than 10 sleuths.

Good luck, and we hope you solve many mysteries.