I'm playing Night's Black Agents and I own some other Gumshoe games as well.  I am looking at Fear Itself 2e because of my interest in horror and am wondering if it is any good?

Can you have the PCs fight vampires in the game? If there are no vamps in the book, could you easily rip vamps from Night's Black Agents to use in it?

Could you run a respectable zombie campaign with it?

No.

I tried some of the GUMSHOE games, including Fear Itself and Trail of Cthulhu. They didn't stick, for me.

Quote from: Batjon on July 21, 2022, 12:55:53 AM
Could you run a respectable zombie campaign with it?

That would probably depend on what you mean by a "respectable zombie" campaign, but my first thought is that another system might be better suited for that. GUMSHOE games are first and foremost about gathering information to solve puzzles, and that usually doesn't describe most zombie stories or conflicts I've read/seen.

The best zombie related game product I've generally heard of is C.J. Carella's All Flesh Must Be Eaten, so if you really like the zombie campaign idea I would check that out.

Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser on July 21, 2022, 10:12:11 AM

Quote from: Batjon on July 21, 2022, 12:55:53 AM
Could you run a respectable zombie campaign with it?

That would probably depend on what you mean by a "respectable zombie" campaign, but my first thought is that another system might be better suited for that. GUMSHOE games are first and foremost about gathering information to solve puzzles, and that usually doesn't describe most zombie stories or conflicts I've read/seen.

The best zombie related game product I've generally heard of is C.J. Carella's All Flesh Must Be Eaten, so if you really like the zombie campaign idea I would check that out.

I own almost the entire line for AFMBE.  Great system and game.

I dunno about the system itself, but the Book of Unremitting Horror (a monster manual for the game) had some delightfully horrifying critters in it that you could probably adapt to most systems with a little skull sweat and elbow grease.

The real problem with Gumshoe is Robin Laws.

Quote from: Dylan on July 21, 2022, 12:30:32 PM
The real problem with Gumshoe is Robin Laws.

Please explain.

Quote from: Batjon on July 21, 2022, 01:00:48 PM

Quote from: Dylan on July 21, 2022, 12:30:32 PM
The real problem with Gumshoe is Robin Laws.

Please explain.

Isn't he a bender?

Quote from: Batjon on July 21, 2022, 12:55:53 AM
I'm playing Night's Black Agents and I own some other Gumshoe games as well.  I am looking at Fear Itself 2e because of my interest in horror and am wondering if it is any good?

If you already have a different Gumshoe game you have the rules for the system.  And "I want to learn about the Gumshoe system" is really the only reason to pick up FI.  Now, having said that, you may get some good use out of some of the supplements for the system, if you want horror idea mines.  But even then there's better games and supplements out there (heck, there's better Gumshoe supplements out there).

Quote from: Batjon on July 21, 2022, 12:55:53 AM
Can you have the PCs fight vampires in the game? If there are no vamps in the book, could you easily rip vamps from Night's Black Agents to use in it?

Sure and sure, but you already NBA so just use it.

Quote from: Batjon on July 21, 2022, 12:55:53 AM
Could you run a respectable zombie campaign with it?

Enh...  Gumshoe is "Call of Cthulhu with fail forwarding enabled".  You could totally run a zombie campaign with it, but I wouldn't. 

Honestly, if I was going to run a vanilla zombie apocalypse game I'd pick up Savage Worlds for the system and the War of the Dead campaign (or World of the Dead if you want to make your own).  It skews somewhere between the grimness of The Walking Dead and the camp of Z Nation; it's a horror setting, so be prepared for PCs to die, but it's campy, so be prepared for evolving zombie types as things progress.

"What about AFMBE?"  The more you know what kind of zombie game you want to run and the less you like the Unisystem, the worse AFMBE is as a choice.  I hate the Unisystem personally, but the sourcebooks can be fun idea mines.

Quote from: Habitual Gamer on July 22, 2022, 08:18:44 AM
Enh...  Gumshoe is "Call of Cthulhu with fail forwarding enabled".  You could totally run a zombie campaign with it, but I wouldn't. 

I would not call it "fail forward" so much as core quest on rails, as Gumshoe will not let you fail core progression, instead of letting you fail and insisting that you find another way to succeed after rewarding failure. One is unpalatable, while the other covers for shoddy GMing of rolling and failing when a roll was uncalled for.

From what I recall, Fear Itself is more about running from the monsters than fighting them, so it is better suited for the mystery of an onset zombie incident than surviving in a post zombie apocalypse.

Quote from: Wisithir on July 22, 2022, 09:21:43 PM
I would not call it "fail forward" so much as core quest on rails, as Gumshoe will not let you fail core progression, instead of letting you fail and insisting that you find another way to succeed after rewarding failure.

The stated intent of the system, as noted by Robin Laws, is that players shouldn't be denied information without which they can't solve the game's core mystery simply from the bad luck of a failed die roll. Spending points from Investigative abilities at the right junctures can give you more information and access to better or quicker solutions, but the minimum necessary information must always be available to the players simply for the asking.

Night's Black Agents, at least, does make the point that the GM is under no obligation to help the players put those clues together correctly, but given that the GM usually has an investment in seeing the players appreciate his cool adventure design it's not surprising that most GMs will usually make the answer pretty obvious once all the clues are in hand.