# Hints and Hijinx System
a solo mystery game system
By Pandion Games
You can find additional templates at: pandiongames.itch.io/hintsandhijinx
**_Hijinx_,** tricky and/or humorous behavior; noisy and mischievous merrymaking.
**Inspired by:**
* Breathless by Fari RPGs
* Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova
* GRANDMOTHERSHIP by Armanda Haller
The Hints and Hijinx system is a purpose-built solo mystery system that's easy to design mystery games for, & puts the power of deduction in the hands of the player!
This is done by a clue gathering mechanic, where the player needs to overcome a challenge or complication with one of their skills at thirteen different locations. On failures, their skill’s dice rating can degrade, making finding future clues more difficult.
After their investigation is complete, the clues they gathered are used to make a hypothesis. The more clues the player can string together to create their hypothesis, the larger the dice they roll to see if their character’s hypothesis is correct. On a 5+ die roll, their deductions are correct and the mystery solved!
Like Choose Your Own Adventure books of yore, the goal of Hints and Hijinx is to provide a structure that players can be familiar with to go on a myriad of mystery adventures. When a player sees the Hints and Hijinx logo, they take comfort in knowing how to play, coupled with the excitement of new mysteries and the twists of each game.
As a designer of a Hints and Hijinx game, how you have players construct clues, complications, and locations is up to you and is how we recommend adding your own flavor and spice to the games! We provide examples below in the
## License
Hints and Hijinx is released under CC-BY 4.0 License, meaning can make whatever you want so long as you credit Pandion Games. Include the following text in your game:
_This work is based on The Hints and Hijinx System, product of Pandion Games (), developed and authored by Andrew Boyd, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License ()_
## Hints and Hijinx System Logo
# Notes and Commentary
In this section, we’ll discuss the thoughts and design elements of the Hints and Hijinx System, why we made them the way we did, and discuss ways you can tweak them to fit your own game.
If you are looking for the copy and paste game rules, jump to the Hints and Hijinx Game Template section.
## Introduction
In great mysteries there’s a three act structure: The Opening, The Investigation, and The Reveal (or what we call The Deduction).
In Hints and Hijinx games, the Introduction section is Act I: The Opening. Write what is happening and why the character in the game is going on an investigation - what is the mystery to be solved?
A good introduction should telegraph to the players what they’re trying to understand with their clues and questions they need answered.
Reinforce the introduction throughout the entire game: The cover, art, layout design, color choices, etc. Should all exude and reinforce your introduction.
## Character Creation
Character Creation in Hints and Hijinx is fast and simple and is loosely based off Breathless by Fari RPGs. It includes assigning dice to two stats, and answering a series of questions about whom the character is. We recommend including at least 3-4 questions, and can include defining important NPCs they will interact with.
Such as:
* What is your name?
* What are you running from back home?
* What aspirations do you have?
* Why are you here?
* What is the name of your supervisor?
* What is their personality?
* Late last night they radioed you, a bit tipsy, and asked prying questions. What were they? How did you answer in the moment?
## Playing the Game
### Skills
By default, characters have two skills, and they will assign a d12 and a d10 die to them. If you want to give characters additional skills, we recommend giving additional stats a d8.
Consider the types of skills the character will want to overcome the complications or events in your mystery. These should be somewhat thematically appropriate. In Waffles for Esther, the main character is a waitress, and so the two skills were:
“Waitress” - Keep the waffles safe, make small talk, avoid people \
“Detective” - ask questions, get into places you don’t belong.
In The Jester King’s Dance, the two Skills are “Jester” and “King” and are polar opposites of each other, such as being subservient vs. standing tall.
**Dice Rolls** resolve into four possible outcomes. Regardless of the outcome, the complication wraps up, and the character moves onto the next location.
As written, Hints and Hijinx does not have a death mechanic. We don’t recommend writing in rules that prevent players from moving forward in the story/mystery. It usually just isn’t fun.
While the base rules rely on the players to determine what happens during Failure or Hijinx outcomes, you can provide a list of possible examples, or even write what the Failure and Hijinx outcome is per complication.
* 1-2: Failure - Something bad happens because of the character’s actions, and the skill die is reduced.
* 3-4: Hijinx - Something silly, a prank, or unexpected happens that prevents the character from succeeding, and the skill die is reduced.
* 5+: The skill check succeeds, and players are rewarded with a clue.
* 10+: The character did an outstanding job and gains 2 clues.
**Refill Your Cup** is a mechanic to reset the character’s skills to their max at a cost. It can be renamed to something thematically appropriate that the player does to rest. By default, this counts towards a location visit (so you only visit 12 instead of 13 for instance). However, the cost of using this can be tweaked to fit your game, or removed completely for a harder game.
**“Hijinx”** can be renamed. The goal of the Failure / Hijinx / Success scale is the difference between something bad happening because of your attempt to find a clue, and something unexpected or silly happening that prevents you from finding a clue. Think major/minor complications.
### Setup
Setup and needed materials will change based on any tweaks you make. Make sure to revisit this section after your game is complete.
## Map Drawing
Map drawing is optional. What is important is providing guidance to players for tying clues, complications, and locations together to give all of it context for their journaling.
We use mapping for players to visually draw the map of the building, town, layers of hell, or anything else and then mark where each clue was found. Drawing a map can be removed in favor of just writing where they found clues, or a traditional evidence board with push pins and red strings!
## The Investigation
The Investigation Process can be expanded to include things like travel events, additional complications and locations, or updated with changes you make to your clue and complication sections. The Investigation, Clue, Location, and Complication sections of the game are what we recommend playing with the most to dial in the feeling and flow you’re going for.
For example, instead of rolling on the d66 complication table, roll on a d6 compilation type, and then a d66 theme table and let the player interpret the results.
Or have a card draw determine the location, the event that happens there, and the clue found by successfully completing the event. (ie, value = location, suit = event at location)
Hints and Hijinx games should feel familiar to players, while still being unique to emphasize your style, theme, subject, and pacing.
We recommend keeping the overall round structure, but how each step is designed can be modified:
Go somewhere -> Resolve the situation with a roll -> Get clue or don’t -> Continue or begin The Deduction.
## The Deduction
We generally don’t recommend changing the structure of The Deduction section too much. The Deduction is a core mechanic that makes it a Hints and Hijinx game. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t add to it. We provide some examples of that below.
### Writing a Hypothesis
Provide guidance on writing a hypothesis. Some leading questions that the player can lean on while they look over their clues and begin formulating a story of what really happened.
An idea to add to this section, is providing a twist or additional questions to answer depending on certain combination of clues used. This could be a table with clue combinations and questions.
**Example:**
Clue 1 | Clue 2 | Additional Question
Pinwheel | Sewer Cover | What does the sewer clowns have to do with this crime?
### The Deduction Roll
The Deduction Roll uses a different dice depending on how many clues are found, starting at d0 and can increase to d12. If the player used more clues, they then start adding +1 to the roll after reaching the d12 die.
The progression for the Deduction Roll’s Dice is (slightly) balanced for 13 locations. If you reduce the number of locations/clues, start the Deduction Die at a higher value, such as a d2 or d4. If you have more locations, consider increasing the target number for success, as it becomes more likely, they will have many clues giving them a d12 + 7 or more for their roll.
There are two failures states: An actual bad outcome, and a more lighthearted setback. Even if you aren’t running a funny or hijinx based mystery, there should still be two distinct failure states of actually bad, and unexpected.
## Locations
By default, there are 13 locations. However, you can increase or decrease that number to suit your game. Locations can be anything you want: Buildings in a town, a room in a mansion, a cupboard in a room, the teacup on a messy table, a person to visit, a geographical location, a campsite to hike to, a city, a planet, a solar system.
Provide a list of questions players should ask themselves, or provide guidance, about each location to make it unique to their own play through and spark their imagination.
Such as:
* What is the name of this place?
* Who works here that you know?
* What is unique or unusual about this place?
## Complications
The difficult part with complications is ensuring that the complications - or events - that arise make some kind of sense for each location. The more complications you provide, the more replay value there is, but the less control you have over progression and story.
Another option is to tie each of the 13 locations to the 13 values on a card deck. Then players draw one of four possible events for that specific location (Location 11 = Jack, and then a Heart, Diamond, Club or Spade event at the Jack location)
A third option is to provide tables for players to construct the complication from multiple rolls.
## Clues
There can be a huge range of clues, and you can be as detailed as you want.
Give your players enough description to build their hypothesis, but also keep it generic enough that they don’t feel forced into a deduction.
Clues can be built as a single card draw table, or by relating the suit and card value to two different tables, or use 2 d66 tables that have adjective + noun. It’s up to you!
If you tie complications to locations, you can also tie the resolution of that complication to a specific clue as well. This gives you finer control over the whole story, while still giving 4 possible outcomes at each location.
## The Map
Part of the larger design goals at Pandion is turning the game book themselves into play session artifacts by providing space for a character sheet, map drawing, or journaling directly in the book. We think it’s neat.
# Hints and Hijinx Game Template
## Introduction
Introduce the mystery’s narrative! Who is the player? Where are they at? What sparked an investigation? What questions should the players be thinking about?
## Make Your Character
Your character has two skills:
* **Introvert** - Avoid contact with people, study, search, focus on a tedious task.
* **Extrovert** - Ask questions, get into places you don’t belong, talk big, cause a scene.
Assign a d12 to one skill and a d10 to the other.
You’ll use these skills to overcome complications.
• list of 3 -5 questions the players should ask themselves to define their character
## Playing the Game
### Using Your Skills
When using your Skill, roll the current die associated with it (d10 or d12 to start). If you are instructed to reduce a Skill, use the next smallest die for any future Skill roles of that Skill.
d12 → d10 → d8 → d6 → d4 → d2
* On a 1-2 Failure | No clue | Reduce Skill
* On a 3-4 Hijinks | No clue | Reduce Skill
* On a 5+ Success! | Find 1 clue
* On a 10+ Success! | Find 2 clues
**On a Failure**
Something bad happens because of your attempt to find a clue.
**On a Hijinks**
Wacky hijinks causes no clues to be found.
**Refill Your Cup**
Once per game, reset both skills to their max die rating by (narrative description). Counts as a location visit.
### Setup
Hints and Hijinx is split into three stages: The Setup, The Investigation, and the Deduction.
First, gather your materials
• Pen and paper
• This book
• A set of dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12
• A coin (d2)
• A deck of playing cards - shuffled, no jokers
### Draw the Map
Use the locations provided, or create your own, and draw the map you are playing in with 13 locations. This is optional, but fun. We provided a place for you to draw your map at the end of the book.
Label the map’s locations. When you discover a clue, mark where you found it. Try to relate clues and locations together when you write about them.
## The Investigation
During the Investigation, you’ll complete rounds of play until you’ve visited all 13 locations, or you are satisfied with the number of clues you’ve collected.
Each round, you will take the following actions, in order:
* Choose a **location to investigate
* Roll on the d66 **complications table.
* Write about and **resolve** the complication using your Introvert or Extrovert skill.
* If you are **successful**, you gather a clue.
* Draw a card from the deck to lookup what clue you find.
* If you fail or run into hijinks, write about how you are hindered in your search.
* Continue to the next location, or begin the Deduction phase.
For your first round, you begin at the LOCATION. Roll on the complications table to see what happens and potentially gather your first clue.
## The Deduction
### Piece Together the Clues
You can only perform The Deduction once per game! You cannot go back to The Investigation phase once you start making your deduction. Make sure you are ready to piece together your clues to find out what’s happening.
**Write a hypothesis of what has happened** that uses as many of the clues you have found as possible. Mark which clues you used. Once done, you’ll make the Deduction Roll.
Consider answering the questions:
* 3-5 questions to consider or answer while writing the hypothesis
### The Deduction Roll
Start your Deduction Die at a d0, for each clue you used in your hypothesis of what happened, increase the Deduction Roll’s dice by one step:
d0 → d2 → d4 → d6 → d8 → d10 → d12
After d12, add +1 to your roll for each additional clue you used.
To see if you were correct in your deductions, roll the Deduction Die and add any modifiers.
* 1-2: you were wrong, and there is a bad consequence for your poor deductions.
* 3-4: you were wrong, and there is a hijinks consequence because of your deductions.
* 5+: you were right, and you are successful.
Finally, write a conclusion about what happened afterward based on the result of the Deduction Roll.
## Locations
Build from the list below, or choose your own locations. Relate clues and complications back to the location you’re currently at.
For each location, ask yourself:
* 4-5 questions to customize each location, or general guidance
* Location 1
* Location 2
* Location 3
* Location 4
* Location 5
* Location 6
* Location 7
* Location 8
* Location 9
* Location 10
* Location 11
* Location 12
* Location 13
## Complications
D66 TABLE OF COMPLICATIONS/EVENTS THAT HAPPEN AT LOCATIONS (36 TOTAL)
## Clues
CARD DRAW TABLE (13 HEARTS, DIAMONDS, CLUBS, SPADES) 52 TOTAL
## The Map
A space for players to draw the map of locations and track where they found each clue.