u/JuliesRazorBack

Anyone figured out a good hack to make Research subsystem more engaging and/or feel exciting like real research?

I'm running Kingmaker, and we reached ch 5. I want it to feel more exciting and suspenseful like Gandalf in Gondor but RAW it seems more like a bunch of skill checks clubbed together.

Some changes I'm considering:

• Avoid library concept and just call each research location a site.
• The minigame starts with one or two sites. Each site has different research lanes called Lines of Inquiry. Something like "How did the curse start?" or "Who is responsible?". Some are hidden from the players but can be unlocked with more RP.
• Players state a disproveable hypothesis whenever they skill roll. GM responds to the hypothesis directly and adds flavor if crit success.
• Research rewards include meta like new locations, dungeons, etc., but also include real loot like runes, spell, wondrous item (while pooring over a tome, you recognized a rune in the margin that can be extracted).
• Some helps like tokens and index cards to book keep.

I dont want this to get too big. I just wonder if there are fixes that would capture that feeling better