It's a Mystery

“When a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it. Then it happens we were in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. It's bad all around-bad for that one organization, bad for every detective everywhere.”

If you are familiar with that little snippet of dialogue then we can be friends.

That’s from the Maltese Falcon, a 1930’s detective novel by Dashell Hammett. I was first introduced to the genre by the movie of the same name staring Humphry Bogart. I was entranced with the dark setting, the smokey atmosphere and the snappy dialogue. To this day the movie poster of the Maltese Falcon hangs in my living room.

After that fateful meeting I devoured everything noir and mystery I could get my hands on. Dashell Hammett was always my first, and Sam Spade has always been my favorite detective but with one sentence Raymond Chandler won the prize.

“I'm killing time and it's dying hard.”

For some of you out there you don’t go for that tough guy writing. You might prefer John McDonalds Travis Mcgee, or Gregory McDonalds Fletch. You might love Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, or maybe your go for the more modern detective like Micheal Connolly’s Bosch or Lee Child’s Reacher.

No matter your favorite there is no denying the pull and allure of the mystery genre and there is no denying the impact bringing elements of the mystery genre into your roleplaying games.

In this episode Christina and I are going to talk about the mystery genre and how to include it into your games. 

Christina, who is your favorite detective and why?