Invetigation in Process!

The crux of the GUMSHOE system for Trail of Cthulhu is the gathering of clues and piecing all the bits together. And how do you gather clues? By using your Investigative Abilities (and some General Abilities)! There's no need to roll a die because as long as you have the ability, you WILL get the clue. If you're an accountant and have the Accounting ability, you will be able to decipher the ledgers with all the numbers and whatnot. You can't blow a dice roll and somehow read the numbers backwards.

Using Detective Almonds as an example...

GM: You step into a dingy motel room; the smell of burnt flesh stinging your nostrils. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the partially burnt corpse hanging from the ceiling fan.

P1: Did they burn him while hanging him? That's a bit overkill. Detective Almonds is going to use his skills in Forensics to see if any accelerants were used to burn the poor guy or if anything sticks out.

GM: As you begin examining the body, you notice a slight odor of gasoline beneath the smell of burnt flesh. Not only was gasoline used to burn the victim, it seems that three of the fingers from his right hand were severed shortly before death.

That's a crappy example, but you get the idea. To get the clue, the player only needs to say that they're going to use that skill. You could say "I'm going to use Intimidation to get some info out of the snitch" or you could throw a little bit of flavor in there and say "I take all but one bullet out of my gun and point it at the snitch. I'm getting the murderer's hideout one way or another."

Or the Keeper could ask if any players has a specific skill. I'm hoping to take this route less.

Core clues that continue the story have no cost. Clues that give you a little bit of extra info or benefits may require a point spend. WHAT

Next time, Spends and Benefits!