To follow the spirit of an trail investigation, I came up with the concept of a maze grid. I made some pictures so that it is easier to understand. Don't think about how the components works right now, just look at the mechanic. Look first at this picture:
http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/tempbgdf/NSMazegrid1.png
You have a 5x5 grid, it could be more or less, with tiles locked on the grid. Each square on the grid represent a location on the map( it could be fliped down tiles). Around the board, each side is dedicated to a villain and each side square is matched to a clue card to be revealed.
The investigation starts with an event. When an event occurs, a tile is placed face up and it points to another location. Probably event will spawn more arrows on the location. On the picture below, I have removed 2 locked location, so that is is easier to display, and spawned an event.
http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/tempbgdf/NSMazegrid2.png
As you can see, something happened at the library. This event can make the investigation follow to the casino or post office. Now players need to go to the library first. They place a pawn on the maze grid. Then once the library is investigated they can go to any of the other location.
For example, let say the investigator goes to the casino. The after the investigation, the casino point to the newspaper, which is beside a clue card. So when the investigator will reach the newspaper, it will reveal the clue. Here is the status of the board:
http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/tempbgdf/NSMazegrid3.png
On the board, there are locations which are locked. These locations cannot be investigated unless unlocked. Probably player actions or event cards will unlock these areas in order to pursue the investigation. Another variant could be hard locations. Here is an example:
http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/tempbgdf/NSMazegrid4.png
It seems that the post office gave clues to follow the investigation but there was not enough clue to pursue since it's harder. So you need 2 areas that point into the square to be able to investigate it. I am not sure yet if players would have to follow both trail in order to solve it.
How can that happen? Other events through the game will spawn new investigation start point which would allow multiple trails to lead to the same destination. If an event spawn on an already investigated area, it will add new arrows. Here is a picture:
http://ariel.bdeb.qc.ca/~ericp/tempbgdf/NSMazegrid5.png
As you can see, something happened at the market which could make the investigation follow to the museum or the hard location. SInce there is 2 arrows pointing on the hard location, you can uncover it. Or if you have a pawn on the market and post office, you can uncover the hard location.
Any comments?
Does it makes sense?
Does in seem interesting?
OK, I am now at work (which mean on a different computer), I tried with firefox 3 and internet explorer 6 and it works.
You only need to click on the link to access the pictures. So I don't know why people often have problems seeing stuff I link.
Anyways, you can always look at images labled "testing" in the side pannel. They are not all there but the 2 first ones are there. I was trying to see if I could not embeed them in the message, but it seems I could only attatch 1 image per message.