Esoterrorists, Thoughts and Impressions

[ballan4]

Hello Everyone,

I'm considering adding Esoterrorists to my collection of games. I wanted to know if anyone has played it and what they thought about it. I just want to know if it would be fun to play and easy to learn.

Thanks,

Allan

[Mask_of_winter]

GUMSHOE is a very good system. The Esoterrorists reminds me of the X-Files. I haven't played it yet but I've played Trail of Cthulhu and Nights Black Agents. They both use the GUMSHOE system as Eso does. The system is perfect for investigation based scenario and makes players feel like they are very competent. I do feel like the combat system is it's weak point but this could be mainly because of my lack of experience with it.

I would recommend it as an easy system to learn. If you plan on running it on FG there are two rulesets that could be used to run it. Trail of Cthulhu and the NBA one. GUMSHOE uses a variable initiative system and until a combat tracker allows to drag and rearrange order it may give you headaches though.

[Valarian]

I like Esoterrorists. I've got a few of the Gumshoe games: Esoterrorists, Fear Itself, Night's Black Agents, Ashen Stars. Even managed to run one or two of them. As Mask says, they're great for investigation games because, as long as the player has the skill, they get any core clue in the scene. The game then becomes putting the pieces together rather than trying to work with the pieces you've managed to make the rolls for. The rolls are made on a single d6, supplemented by spends from your skill pool. Investigation skill points are spent to get extra info, or to make suggestions to the GM.