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What is Baker Street? Baker Street: Roleplaying in the World of Sherlock Holmes is a ‘real-life’ mystery game that stresses drama, deductive reasoning, and problem solving over the typical roleplaying tropes of combat, fantasy, and magic. The players work together to solve baffling crimes in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes. The default year of the game is 1891 when Sherlock fell off the Reichenbach Falls and was presumed dead. Dr. John Watson is the investigators’ direct employer. Every investigator had a profession before they were hired by Dr. Watson.
During the game, the investigators work together to weed through clues, determine which clues are true, which are false, and what leads are valuable. The game features a built-in Threat Meter to each and every case which provides the tension and keep the investigators moving. The longer the players take in their investigations the more events will move against them (both in the plot of the story and mechanically with the dice). The game revolves around a simple mechanical structure. Roll your skill value in standard D6 rolls, any result of 4, 5, or 6 is considered a success. In addition, you roll the Sherlock Die with each and every roll. Each side of the Sherlock Die (1,2,3, Watson, Sherlock, Moriarty) has a unique impact on the die roll that can change depending on the Threat Meter effects in play. Another difference from most RPGs is the presence of clue cards. Investigators discover these clues during the investigation of a crime scene. Each clue has a description, then three possible leads. If the clue is discovered to be false, then all three leads are false. If the clue is determined to be true, then one out of the three That’s the crunch of it, at its essence it may be best described as CSI: 1891. You are presented with a mystery and/or crime, and within the span of a typical session of four hours you will unravel the mystery and hopefully catch the culprit. Do the Game Masters have to create a bunch of criminals for the game? Instead of a ‘Monster Manual’, Baker Street features a “Reprobate section.” Here you can find every kind of Victorian Age criminal that can be quickly referenced for your game. Each criminal is listed by his or her slang name. Masterminds (game masters) will find this to be an invaluable tool as they will not have to “stat” out each and every criminal or foil that inhabits their world. What’s in the product line?
The Baker Street: Roleplaying in the World of Sherlock Holmes core book contains all the rules, plus one introductory adventure. The two casebooks provide another eight adventures, each to get Masterminds running games. Sherlock by Gaslight, the first sourcebook for Baker Street, provides 50 London locations and a Jack the Ripper mini campaign where players attempt to solve the world’s most famous murder case. Most published adventures are designed to be solved in one session of around four hours.
Author’s Bio: Baker Street was developed by Bryce Whitacre. He authored The Defeated Dead and The French and Indian War for Rogue Games’ epic historical horror RPG, Colonial Gothic. He holds a history degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He spends most of his time gaming, writing, and being a slave to his two cats, Augustus Kato and Claudius Tiberius. |
How does the game play? 
leads is true. Together, based on their roll and their collective intuition and deductive reasoning, they will be able to ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions of the Mastermind.
