Running a Murder Mystery? [3.5]

[Rhiannon87]

I know there's been a thread on this in the past, but I cannot find it. Very frustrating.

Anyway, I'm planning a sidequest that's a murder mystery. I've got my victim and my killer all set, crime scene established, etc. What I'm trying to figure out now is what evidence to provide, and (more importantly) what magic the players might use to solve the murder. Speak with Dead is out-- the victim's throat was slit and his tongue cut out, and the spell specifically says that if the body is in no condition to talk, it won't be able to. So they're going to have to put forth more effort than that. I'm trying to figure out if there are any spells that would help them figure out information. Would detect magic do anything in this case? (The murder weapon was a magical dagger and the murderer was wearing magical armor, but I have no idea if auras like that would linger.)

The party is probably going to be around level 10 or 11 when they get to this point. Any suggestions or ideas?

[Draken]

The one thing I can think of is Commune, but that is easy for you to control. As easy as not knowledge of the murderer important to any higher power of the planes (easy) or making an entity interested in keeping the mistery a mistery hijack the call and give wrong info.

Detect Magic would do nothing.

Other than that:

If the players get their hands on something that belongs to the killer and then casting Discern location, auto-find the perpetrator.

Locate Creature does not cut it, you need to know him (plus some running water blocks it).

Legend lore... Will take 2d6 weeks to cast.

Vision will be quicker, but costs XP.

Scrying. The killer will get a +10 bonus to his will save to resist. Unless the caster has something that was part of him (a hair, for instance). If you have a hair and are using this spell, I am guessing a lack of the level for Discern Location.

I can think of nothing els ein the core books. And I don't think there is anything else in the supplements for this (very well covered) purpose.

[Flickerdart]

Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/sensitivitytoPsychicImpressions.htm). The caster can read an area's past (most recent events first).

"The types of events most likely to leave psychic impressions are those that elicited strong emotions: battles and betrayals, marriages and murders, births and great pain, or any other event where one emotion dominates."

They can't tell who's in it, but they will be able to see where they came from and where they went, as well as similar details.

[Rhiannon87]

I totally forgot about that psion power! Lucky for me, though, I'm 99% sure that no one will be playing a seer. We've only got one other player (re) joining the group between now and then, and he's much more of a melee player. No patience for caster types.

I'll keep that in mind if someone DOES suddenly switch and become a seer. Of course, if someone does that, a lot of my campaign gets nerfed, as the whole thing is one big mystery. Ah well.

[elliott20]

here's the thing, no matter how big your "clues" might be, there's a good chance your players WILL miss them.

So, what I suggest is instead of trying to cover all your basis, just think up what your killer would do to cover his tracks for the more common tell-tale signs. All criminals, unless mind numbingly stupid, will try to take at least a couple steps to prevent detection or capture. Just think up a couple simple defenses for it.

i.e. things that contact the dead can easily be gotten around when your victim didn't get to see the killer right before their demise. (Or rather, the RIGHT killer)

things like a murder weapon, plausible motives, etc can all be disguised with a bit of work. Just do maybe one to two layers for each.

once you know what the killer has done to NOT slip up, giving clues would be far simpler since you already have a good grasp of what the killer would or would not do. But also, this way, if your players miss the crucial piece of evidence that you planted in the book shelf, at least you can flexibly drop ANOTHER hint for them.

oh yeah, to make it REALLY interesting? give the players multiple suspects. I'd say 3 is a good number.

And then to add to the fun, make sure that while the PCs are doing there thing, so is everyone else! I'm pretty sure the PCs are not going to be the ONLY ones who want to solve this mystery (or conversely want to see this mystery solved). Have multiple parties all doing things at the same time.

[Rhiannon87]

here's the thing, no matter how big your "clues" might be, there's a good chance your players WILL miss them.

So, what I suggest is instead of trying to cover all your basis, just think up what your killer would do to cover his tracks for the more common tell-tale signs. All criminals, unless mind numbingly stupid, will try to take at least a couple steps to prevent detection or capture. Just think up a couple simple defenses for it.

i.e. things that contact the dead can easily be gotten around when your victim didn't get to see the killer right before their demise. (Or rather, the RIGHT killer)

things like a murder weapon, plausible motives, etc can all be disguised with a bit of work. Just do maybe one to two layers for each.

once you know what the killer has done to NOT slip up, giving clues would be far simpler since you already have a good grasp of what the killer would or would not do. But also, this way, if your players miss the crucial piece of evidence that you planted in the book shelf, at least you can flexibly drop ANOTHER hint for them.

oh yeah, to make it REALLY interesting? give the players multiple suspects. I'd say 3 is a good number.

And then to add to the fun, make sure that while the PCs are doing there thing, so is everyone else! I'm pretty sure the PCs are not going to be the ONLY ones who want to solve this mystery (or conversely want to see this mystery solved). Have multiple parties all doing things at the same time.

It's actually not the end of the world if they don't solve this mystery-- the hook for it is set up in such a way that they can totally ignore it if they wish, and it won't have any major repercussions on them. Just means they'll be fighting some enemies when they're a bit weaker, as compared to when they'd fight them otherwise.

The killer was pretty careful about making sure no one saw her, and the people who did see her aren't going to want to talk to a bunch of goody-two-shoes like the party. The guy who died wasn't very important and was in fact kind of evil, so the local government actually isn't bothering to investigate much. It's up to the party to see that justice is done for this NE warlock/criminal/spy!

There is a chance they will learn who the victim is and go "eh, screw it" and leave it alone. Which is fine. I'm trying to make this kind of tough for them. I just don't want to get suddenly blindsided with some semi-obscure rule/spell that would give them all kinds of details about the murder.

[Colmarr]

I think it's a safe bet to say that you should look at any spell from the [Divination] school. They're the ones that really screw up mysteries.