First, this: http://fightthepwk.bravesites.com/entries/general/free-paid--information-skills-for-investigative-rpgs
| FREE information | PAID information |
|---|---|
| What is the evidence found on the body? | What does it mean? |
| This person is lying to you. | Why are they lying? What specifically are they lying about? |
| Ask the GM if you know how to identify the mysterious chemical. | Tell the GM you know a scientist who can identify the mysterious chemical. |
In summary, you get the evidence for free, but pay for the meaning.
You can ask the GM for information about the world for free. You can tell the GM facts about the world for a point spend.
This is kind of similar to the InvisiClues books published by Infocom for their text adventure games in the Olden Days. Games like Hitchhiker's Guide also had these help hints built in to the game, later. You could ask for help and it would give you a vague clue at first, then something more specific, then eventually (usually) flat out tell you what to do. I can't remember if you lost points in the game for each clue you revealed - if you did, then that's basically the GUMSHOE investigative points system.
The above is a natural enough fit for GUMSHOE and its banks of investigative skill points. But what if you're not playing GUMSHOE or other point-spendy or diceless system?
No points or limits on the amount of help from the GM, just your personal sense of satisfaction. (Named for The Round Britain Quiz, in which teams start with 6 points for each question, and lose points based on how much help they need from the quizmaster to get to the answer. The questions are cryptic.)
The Dice-Rolling Option
For games where you're rolling dice for things, you get the paid info on a successful roll and the free stuff for having "enough" of a skill level in the relevant area. What "enough" means you'll have to decide on a case-by-case basis. I can't help you there, you'll have to figure it own based on your circumstances. I'm not your dad.
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