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Lord Loss
2011-04-08, 01:38 PM
I'm starting a new campaign this weekend. Something akin to Call of Cthulhu, using a modified version of the Crimes People Play rules. Not that the players know that. As far as they know, they're playing a boring old detective game...

I need help designing their first supernatural case. I had the idea of a water-spirit/ghost of some sort that drowns someone in their apartment. Found dead in their apartment/home with no signs of forced entry and water in their lungs. They were no where near a sink/bath/whatever at the time. I have a very resourceful set of players and I'd like your ideas on how to challenge a group of creative individuals. Any help on the case itself, free systems that suit the situation, how to run encounters with the supernatural in a way that will scare, etc. I don't have long to do it, but I'd like a detailed scenario that everyone will remember, for two to five players (not counting the GM). Thanks in advance, I appreciate the help (and will let you know how it goes after the session).

Skorj
2011-04-08, 03:14 PM
The water-spirit/ghost idea is a good starting point, IMO, because it looks like a standard locked-room mystery. What will make it work is the clues, of course, but I'm thinking the NPC conversation clues will be more interesting than the physical clues.

First: motive, method and opportunity:

What was the spirits motive for the killing? Summoned by the victim, who then said "oops", or summoned deliberately to kill the victim, or sommoned on unrelated business but happened to/needed to kill the victim along the way?
What traces did the spirit leave? Are there any clues that this is a supernatural drowning?
How did the spirit gain access (presumably water spirits are normally found near water of some sort)? If not summoned by the victim, how did it enter and leave, and what clues would that leave?


The motive aspect is propably your best bet to add a bunch of creepiness to the story. A "water spirit" isn't exactly an image of horror, so you need some horror backstory here. And, really, that's your best bet to guide the players across the line from "murder mystery" to "we should be afraid" - a sufficiently creepy demon summoner-type NPC can set the mood even if the party doesn't yet know the demon part is for real - with evidence of sacrifices and eldrich rituals and whatnot.

Guiding the players to the supernatural elements by conversation with family/firends/enemies of the victim will work out a lot better (and be less obvious at first) IMO than the sort of clues you find searching a room. Add clues to the room too, of course, but ones that only start making sense once the players are proposing supernatural theories form the other stuff they've learned.

Finally, keep the three clue rule (http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/three-clue-rule.html) in mind - it's good advice IMO.

Anxe
2011-04-08, 04:09 PM
The water spirit is a drowned person who is trying to bring all of its past relatives and lovers into the afterlife with it. It comes into the real world through the afterlife via portals. A portal is located at every photo of the drowned person.

Not sure how to help with the system or how to run the session though. I've never done horror before.

Savannah
2011-04-08, 06:43 PM
I think a big thing is going to be how do the characters come to realize that it's supernatural? (I say characters, not players, as the players know that they're in a game, and therefore are going to be more accepting of supernatural influences than the detectives they're playing.)

If your water spirit is a sea-spirit, perhaps the person has seawater in their lungs, but cannot have been near the sea at their time of death.

If the victim summoned the spirit, they would have books on the supernatural in their home. Likewise, if the spirit was summoned by someone else, that person would likely have books on the supernatural in their home (unless they got rid of the books for fear of getting caught, which would leave other clues).

Beyond that, I can't think of anything right now....

Mathis
2011-04-08, 06:44 PM
Well I think you should start by letting the players finding the dead person next to some photos. Make it subtle of course, but include a picture of sorts in the description of the crime-scene. This will give the players a chance to pick up on the "a picture is a portal" thing. When it comes to the horror part I don't have many tips for you I'm afraid; perhaps you should include describing some leaky faucets as a recurring theme, or heavy rains. Having the players discover an increase in drowning-victims not related to the case might be cool, I'd definately find it unnerving. Arranging for the players to have an accident close to bodies of water, their car crashing into a small lake or something. Inluding shadowy descriptions of things just appearing in the corner of their eyes maybe.

I like the idea though, good luck with your campaign!

Lord Loss
2011-04-08, 07:11 PM
Thanks for all the advice, here's what I came up with so far:


Setting the Scene:

The murder of Dennis Baldwin takes place in the small city of Wren's Lake. He was found dead in his apartment. (which is situated on the fourth floor of the building), his lungs are filled with water and the door is still locked, as are all the windows. His corpse is in the main hall, a few feet away from the bathroom, which has water all over the place: on the floor, the sink, in the bath, etc. The rest of the house seems just fine.

The Victim:

Dennis Baldwin was a young man in his early twenties, a promising student at the Wren's Lake University. He was studying chemistry and was one of the best students in his grade. He was exceptionally intelligent and never put much effort into his schoolwork. He was also very arrogant, a fact that made many of his classmates bitter. He was secretly part of a cult worshipping Leviathan, an aspect of Satan. He’s was the cult for the thrill, he doesn’t actually believe in the supernatural.


The Killer

The killer is the ghost of Ichabod Hendricks

First Clues:



Crazy Old Man:

One of the Players has agreed to play a character that's convinced that the man was murdered by demons/ghosts/whatever. The players won't buy it, not at first, but it'll set them on the right track later on.

Candice Chester:

Candice is Dennis’ girlfriend. She knows about a few of his buddies from school, some of which are members of the cult.

Dennis’ Journal: Dennis’ Journal doesn’t mention the murder, but mentions the cult from time to time. However, Dennis is a paranoid man and segments of the journal are written in code, biblical knowledge or research will be required to crack it. A priest or other person well versed in religion can provide answers.

Occult Books: A multitude of books dealing with the occult lie in a secret compartment in Dennis’s closet, a good deal of them about Leviathan and other water-related entities.

The Calendar: Locations and times cult meet-ups can be found on the calendar, two of them remain that have not come to pass, one in a few days and another in two weeks.

Ectoplasm: Ectoplasm fills the pipes in the building, blocking them to an extent.

The Tentacle: A squid's tenacle with the Leviathan's symbol on it will be found in the autopsy.

Th Garbage: A ripped up picture of Ichabod and the two friends near a lake lies in the garbage can, along with a broken cell-phone. The memory chip contains many texts between Dennis and his friends, some which relate to the murders and/or the cult.



Random Evidence, Some Inspired by Playgrounders:

The Drownings: Over the past year, drownings in Wren,s Lake have become more common, at an average of two per month, minimum one. This month, there have been five drowning, an alarming record.

Access: The ghost has been getting to Dennis through the pipes and through photographs containing bodies of water. The ghost will go after Dennis's friends soon, killing one at the cult's lakeside ritual and the other at school. After this, it will go after a variety of victims that have some relation to the cult/the killers. Many will be killed for no reason, the ghost is slowly going mad.



More info coming later. Thanks everyone for all the ideas, I'm using bits and pieces of everything. The article on clues was also very inspiring and all the advice was very very useful, Thanks again.

NichG
2011-04-08, 10:54 PM
Given the nature of the murder, people will think its a suicide (i.e. he locked himself in and drowned himself). Have the local authorities generally feel that is the case, and have the victim's backstory support that idea somewhat (he was moody at the time of his death, was getting into dark stuff, seemed to have a very different personality than he used to, etc). Maybe have someone he loved have been recently killed by the water spirit, or better yet, you could have the water spirit be his sister or his girlfriend or something, who died recently, and so when a photo of her is found in the room it will just add to the suicide picture.

Then of course put a few things that immediately jump out to the 'trained eye' (that is, things the PCs automatically notice) that make the suicide picture a little less likely. Signs of bruising on the wrists that suggest a struggle, or indications that he was asleep when he drowned, or other weird things.

If you're going to have the PCs encounter someone shady and obviously occult-obsessed, it should end up being a misdirect since the second they think 'yep, supernatural' they'll go to the one guy who is obviously supernaturally inclined. Make sure he has useful clues though, so following that lead isn't just a dead end. Maybe he was in the same Leviathan cult as the victim, but so was the person who really did summon the thing (who happens to be a lot less obvious on the outside).

The Pressman
2011-04-09, 12:35 AM
I'm currently running a murder mystery campaign, except that it's more like The Murder On The Orient Express, but on a boat, and with more than one Poirot, who aren't detectives.

Lord Loss
2011-04-09, 07:47 AM
@ NichG For the killer himself. I think I'll change him to the victim's brother, but keep everything else as is (both cultists, boat fight, etc.) so that suicide is a logical conclusion, at least at first...
3
I really like the concept of him being depressed, as it makes sense in context (feeling guilty for killing his brother). I'm also going to include a "red herring" killer, the old hermit that lives near the lake that Candice finds creepy. He will know that "hooligans come around drinking and chanting nonsense a few times every month. Also, there is one ghost-killing around each time the cult meets.

Also, what should I do for supernatural encounters. Once the characters discover the nature of the killer, I want them to run into the ghost a good few times. I have a few ideas for ending the scenario (on a boat in the middle of the lake performing an exorcism, at one of the cult meetings, at Candice's house (the ghost has moved on to killing people only somewhat related to the cult), etc. What kind of supernatural encounters should I use in between?

NichG
2011-04-09, 10:48 AM
For encounters, depending on the mood you're trying to set, I'd suggest things that seem like supernatural effects rather than letting them actually meet the entity. Player psychology is such that if they see 'aha a creature!' the subconscious reaction is 'its here therefore I can just kill it!', even if there are reasons that wouldn't be true. So you can play on that in a few ways:

1. 'Effects' that cannot be directly faced, but must be avoided. You can have things like the people in the party being chased by little rivulets of water that do things like flow uphill. Make it not noticeable at first, but when someone is touched by one of them they start coughing with a horrible wet cough. If they get touched by too many of them, they start drowning.

2. The party meets the creature in a context where attacking it directly is hard to conceive of, i.e. there's a picture with the guy in it and the picture begins to animate within the frame. Or the party encounters a spectre that is insubstantial.

The trick then for them is figuring out how to make their enemy corporeal. To avoid a 'screwed no matter what we do' defeatist response, you should probably drop hints as to how to do this and make sure they're hot on that trail before they encounter the first serious manifestation. That way its a race to make their enemy vulnerable before they're hemmed in, rather than just a 'there's no way we can touch this thing, we should just give up and save ourselves' sort of scenario.

Lord Loss
2011-04-09, 02:02 PM
I like thi approach to the supernatural threat. I've come up with a lot of stuff, I'll post everything later (I have to go eat at the moment).

Lord Loss
2011-04-10, 10:22 AM
Here's the info I have so far, spoilered for length.

Case #1

Background:

The murder of Dennis Baldwin takes place in the small city of Coldlake (cookies to whoever gets the reference, it's a tough one). He was found dead in his apartment. (which is situated on the fourth floor of the building), his lungs are filled with water and the door is still locked, as are all the windows. His corpse is in the main hall, a few feet away from the bathroom, which has water all over the place: on the floor, the sink, in the bath, etc. The rest of the house seems just fine.

Dennis Baldwin was a young man in his early twenties, a promising student at the Wren's Lake University. He was studying chemistry and was one of the best students in his grade. He was exceptionally intelligent and never put much effort into his schoolwork. He was also very arrogant, a fact that made many of his classmates bitter. He was secretly part of a cult worshipping Leviathan, an aspect of Satan. He’s was the cult for the thrill, he doesn’t actually believe in the supernatural.

The Killer:

The killer is the ghost of Ichabod Baldwin, a member of the cult and Dennis‘s brother. Last summer, he went sailing with Dennis and two other cultists (Dennis’ friends), when it came up that Dennis didn’t believe in Leviathan. They were all drunk and Ichabod attempted to kill Dennis over the matter, he was a fanatic cultist and was enraged over the matter. Dennis and his friends (Allen Lars, Humphrey Trent) pushed the man overboard and left him to drown. When they realized what they had done, they were filled with regret, but were too scared to confess. The anniversary of the death was the day Dennis died.

Initial Hooks:

Crazy Old Man:

One of the Players has agreed to play a character that's convinced that the man was murdered by demons/ghosts/whatever. The players won't buy it, not at first, but it'll set them on the right track later on

Candice Chester:

Candice is Dennis’ girlfriend. She knows about a few of his buddies from school, some of which are members of the cult.

Dennis’s Journal: Dennis’s Journal doesn’t mention the murder, but mentions the cult from time to time. However, Dennis is a paranoid man and segments of the journal are written in code, biblical knowledge or research will be required to crack it. A priest or other person well versed in religion can provide answers. The journal indicates that Dennis was filled with guilt and depressed, referring to it as “what we did”.

Occult Books: A multitude of books dealing with the occult lie in a secret compartment in Dennis’s closet, a good deal of them about Leviathan and other water-related entities.

The Calendar: Locations and times of cult meet-ups can be found on the calendar, two of them remain that have not come to pass, one in two days and another in a week and two days. Meetings with his psychiatrist are also outlined on the calendar.

Depression: Dennis was depressed out of guilt for what he had done, a fact that his neighbors will tell the investigators if queried. He was seeing a psychiatrist and had meeting with her labeled on his calendar. His girlfriend will deny this at first, but admit “He was feeling a bit down. He wouldn’t have killed himself!”

Ectoplasm: Ectoplasm fills the pipes in the building, blocking them to an extent.

The Tentacle: A squid's tentacle with the Leviathan's symbol on it will be found in the autopsy.

The Garbage: A ripped up picture of Ichabod and the two friends near a lake lies in the garbage can, along with a broken cell-phone. The memory chip contains many texts between Dennis and his friends, some which relate to the murders and/or the cult.

The Drownings: Over the past year, drownings in Wren’s Lake have become more common, at an average of two per month, minimum one. This month, there have been five drowning, an alarming record.

Access: The ghost has been getting to Dennis through the pipes and through photographs containing bodies of water. The ghost will go after Dennis's friends soon, killing one at the cult's lakeside ritual and the other at school. After this, it will go after a variety of victims that have some relation to the cult/the killers. Many will be killed for no reason, the ghost is slowly going mad.

The File: The Investigators will be given a file detailing the time of an accidental drowning that took the life of Dennis’s brother, Ichabod.


The Investigation

Finding the Cult:

Tracking down the cult can be achieved by:

- Cracking the code in Dennis’s Journal and researching the cult. The Journal talks about how he and his brother Ichabod, as well as their two friends joined the club. It also outlines how Ichabod was obsessed with the cult. The players can associate the event that is constantly referred to with Ichabod’s death.

- Going to one of the meetings outlined in red pen on the calendar.

- Talking with Candice and getting her to mention the creepy fisherman or friends of Dennis, both of which know about the cult. The fisherman will gladly tell the detectives about the cult and one of the friends can be convinced to do so, if they are interviewed separately.

Allen Lars: Knows, will not tell until Humphrey is dead.
Humphrey Trent: Knows about the cult and has ran into the ghost will tell the investigators about the cult if a situation arises.
Kevin Atwell: Knows nothing about the cult.

The Cell-Phone: Extracting the cell-phone from the Garbage can and repairing the memory chip will leave some of the texts in legible condition. The characters can look through the texts to find references to the meet-up, use of the Journal-code and, if they crack it, discussion about the murder, although not in such certain terms.

The Cult

Once the characters uncover the existence of the cult, they can either attend the next cult meet-up or research members of the cult itself.

The Cult is composed of eight members (nine counting Dennis).

They are:

Humphrey Trent: Second-Year student at Wren’s Lake University. Doesn’t believe in Leviathan and joined the cult because his friends were doing it for the thrill of it. He’s terrified by the cultists and wracked by guilt for killing Ichabod, but here’s too scared to bail.

Allen Lars: Third-Year student at Wren’s Lake University. He was in the club with Dennis because his friend introduced him to it. He has told Humphrey he’s just in it for kicks, but he secretly believes in Leviathan and is gathering up information about him in hopes of summoning the god to earth. If he survives the scenario, he may show his research to the remaining cultists and attempt to summon his dark god (having found scrolls relating to a being of the Cthulhu mythos instead).

Ashley Lin: A senior at the Wren’s Lake University, Ashley is one of the most devout members of the cult. She has a shrine to Leviathan set up in her house and is the second highest ranking member of the cult. She wears gothic clothing and will attempt to kill the detectives if they snoop around too much and/or show disrespect or disbelief towards the Leviathan. She is a drug addict, cocaine being her drug of choice. She lives with her abusive mother, a short drive from the apartment.

Father Cole: Father Cole is the leader of the cult to Leviathan. Unlike many cult leaders, he truly believes in the existence of the Leviathan and is attempting to discover a means to summon it. He has recently stumbled across some lore on the Mythos and is attempting to learn magic. His background is nearly impossible to discover, but he is the son of a stage magician and knows an impressive array of tricks and illusions. Father Cole will attempt to “convert’ the investigators by spiking their drinks with hallucinogenic drugs.

Nathan Carmella: A rich man who as a child ran into what he now believes is an aspect of the Leviathan, Nathan Carmella is the founder of a successful computer company, Golden Standard Technologies, Inc. He graduated at the Wren’s Lake University many years ago and worships Leviathan. He participates very little, but he funds all sorts of thing for the cult, such as expensive materials required for rituals or to purchase boats for cult use.

Joey Remington: Joey is a diehard cultist, he has been completely brainwashed by Father Cole. He has been taking hallucinogenic drugs in order to gain vision of Leviathan. He is a hunter and fisher and has been drowning animals as sacrifices to Leviathan. He owns a few hunting rifles as well as a double-barreled shotgun. He will be unfriendly towards the investigators but will not harm them unless they make the first move.

Brenda Kirk: Brenda is a drunk who dropped out of high school many years ago. She works at a depanneur and attends every cult meeting, hoping that Leviathan will end her suffering and offer her a place in his aquatic paradise. She’s not sure if she believes in Leviathan, but she used to be a devout Christian and the bible mentioned Leviathan, which made her believe to an extent, a fact that is coupled by Father Cole’s discourses and use of stage magic + drugs to instill belief in her.

Elizabeth Goodwin: An elderly librarian at the University, Elizabeth Goodwin is the newest convert to the cult. When her husband died in a freak accident, she lost her faith in God and was converted by an opportunistic Allen Lars. She’s unsure what to think of Leviathan and can be manipulated by the investigators.


The Annoying Reporter

Iris Periwinkle is a reporter for the Oklahoma Telltale, a large newspaper that circulates around the nearby counties. She will investigate the cult and attempt to get information from the detectives. She may run into the cultists and/or the ghost if she’s not careful. She won’t die though, but instead be a recurring annoyance for the characters in later cases.



Supernatural Happenings

Heavy Rains: On the days leading up to cult meetings (3 days before), it will rain more and more heavily, until finally someone dies. When this happens, the weather will clear up until the date of the next murder/cult meeting draws near…

Droplets: Droplets of water will tail the investigators, running along the surface of the ground and rapidly growing in number, usually keeping their distance. Sometimes, as few of them will catch up to a detective and he/she will contract a powerful wet cough that will last a few seconds and worsen whenever he/she is struck by a droplet. These can, over time, lead to drowning.

Leaks: Things near the investigator will start to leak. Faucets, pipes, showers, etc. will start to dribble with water, or turn on by themselves.

The Face: When they see their reflections in water, the investigators may see the face of Ichabod instead of their own. This should only happen later on in the case. As the investigation progresses it may begin to speak to them, although it will be difficult to understand at times.

Photographs

Sometimes, the faces in photographs will change to those of Ichabod, with a terrible grin on his face, he will move around in the image and sometimes even come out of it…

Sounds: The investigators will sometimes hear, at random, with no explanation:

- Sad, Quiet Sobbing

- Shrill, but male screams

- Ichabod murmuring softly to them.

Manifestations

First Manifestation: One of the investigators will constantly feel water striking them from above, even when they’re indoors, as though they were being rained upon. The next time they are near/ in contact with water, it will turn to blood and begin to pour out at an insane speed, threatening to drown them and leaving a foul taste in their mouth. If they call for help, it will disappear when the person arrives. If not,

Second Manifestation: Whilst one of the investigators is home alone, their sink will begin to fill by itself. When they turn it off, their bath will begin to do the same thing. When they turn that off, another sink will start to fill. Finally, all the faucets will turn on and not turn off, and the specter of Ichabod will appear in the biggest/nearest pool of water. It will slowly float towards them and begin to scream, then disappear when it comes in contact with them.



Third Manifestation: Water will begin to leak from nearby areas of the room, pipes/walls/whatever. More and more water will begin to pour into the room and the doors will slam and/or refuse to open. Water will fill the area and, once they are waist deep in it, turn into blood. Ichabod’s head and arms will emerge from the water and begin to strangle the investigator, screaming all the while. They will need to fight it off and escape from the room by kicking the door down/picking the lock. Once they escape, everything will return to normal and the water will disappear.

Savannah
2011-04-10, 01:12 PM
I like it. It looks like you've got a lot of ways for them to solve the mystery, plus it's quite creepy :smallbiggrin:

Lord Loss
2011-04-10, 05:19 PM
Thanks for the support, Savvanah! I just finished the session and would like to thanks everyone for helping me craft the creepiest, most fun RPG scenario I have ever played in my life. My players enjoyed it so much that they begged me to keep playing on the way to each of their houses and pleaded me to continue/git angry when I left it on a cliffhanger (one player falling from a lighthouse window, one facing off with the cult, the other facing the ghost on its own truf, I'll provide details later).

Savannah
2011-04-10, 07:38 PM
Ooh, sounds like it went really well! Details would be awesome! ('Cause I'm totally not thinking about stealing the idea.... Not at all.... *shifty eyes*)

Lord Loss
2011-04-10, 08:35 PM
Feel free to use the idea as you wish! Here's how it went (It only became great once the paranormal phenomena started showing up, that got the players terrified, one of them freaked out):

One of the players (the crazy old man) had forgotten about the game, so he didn't come (I got warned twenty minutes prior, when I called to make sure he was coming :smallannoyed:). The players created their characters, D and C playing as Quebecois police officers (one using the International Spy character template, the other using Odd Foreigner character template. The last player, R, chose a Chicago-born private eye using the Hardened P.I template. We didn’t focus on why people from so far out of town were there, they were itching to get playing and I figured we’d get that done next session.

First Investigation

The game began with the players arriving at the crime scene. They talked to the cops, who told them that they suspected it was suicide, as the entire place was locked from the interior, windows and all. At the request of R, they provided the investigators with a list of family and friends that they were aware of. They then handed the case over to the detectives. They wasted no time in searching the area for clues. They found antidepressants along with the ripped up picture of Ichabod and broken cell-phone in the garbage can, as well as the books on the occult in the secret cupboard of the closets. Whilst D examined the books, C attempted to examined the computer, but shut it down and corrupted the data whilst trying to hack the computer. R came over and fixed it, finding a multitude of files written in a strange code. Showing it to the others, they managed to crack it, to an extent. They realized it was based on biblical references and, with the help of the bible in Dennis’s secret library, they understood enough of the code to get the gist of things. Emails from him to his friends had been saved on the computer, which talked about meeting up with friends (the cult) and guilt (for killing Ichabod). They didn’t roll high enough to find the e-mail versions, nor the replies he received to the emails. C then examined the corpse, which had strangulation marks on the neck, some post-mortem and water in the lungs. Signs of a struggle filled the bathroom. The investigators deduced it wasn’t a suicide and examined the calendar and occult books, realizing that they all spoke about aquatic creatures. The calendar spoke of weekly meetings, also naming multiple locations. When they looked at a map, they realized that all the locations were near Wren’s lake. Putting the clues together, they realized that the connecting factor was water. They also discovered that Ichabod had drowned a year ago in Wren’s Lake, and the only people there were Alan, Humphrey and Dennis (the two others were on the contact list). It was time to do some interrogation.

I'll post the rest tomorrow this in only just the beginning but I'm goign to bed.