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hymer
2013-07-04, 06:04 AM
Signs left on purpose or inadverdently behind for PCs to discover when they arrive on the scene. Funny or serious as you like.

1: Hummingbird droppings from the spellcaster's familiar.

2: The droid has a harmless virus, so every computer it's socketed into begins interaction with a new user by playing a few bars of "Mary had a little lamb".

3: Dandruff. The werewolf suffers.

4: (Vaguely blue?) Chewing gum spit on the street next to every house. Mom taught him to spit it out before going inside.

5: Plenty of paper hankies in the waste bins from the gal's allergies. She doesn't believe she's allergic to anything, 'it's just a cold'.

Jay R
2013-07-04, 11:36 AM
6. An apple tree, with dozens of red apples and one black apple. (The first sign that a witch lives nearby.

7. A glade of giant mushrooms, one or two feet high. (The second sign.)

8. A black cat is occasionally seen in the bushes. (The third sign - c'mon, guys, there's something going on here.)

9. A large snakeskin - 8 inches in diameter, 24 feet long. It seems to have been shed last year.

10. An, abandoned dagger, left out in the rain weeks ago, rusted and worthless (except for a 5,000 gp jewel hidden in the pommel).

11. A dead campfire, still warm. It was probably lit last night.

12. A bit of masonry - say a piece of wall weighing a ton or so, lying in the desert, far from anything else. (The castle five miles to the north exploded decades ago. There are chunks of castle wall throughout the desert.)

Taet
2013-07-04, 11:47 AM
13. A street full of people too poor to travel home for Christmas smells like a port on the other side of the world.

14. Doorknobs and the tops of doorways are a bit deformed. At a closer look, the hollows are handprints.

15. Once the wilderness adventurers break through the ring of thorns, the druid inside orders them out of the crime scene before they contaminate it.

nedz
2013-07-04, 12:02 PM
16) A dead body in the street

17) A discarded, open, handbag in the bushes

Alex12
2013-07-04, 06:13 PM
18: Dull, fractured stones lying on the floor of the dungeon. A character with the appropriate skills can tell that they used to be black onyx.

Gerrtt
2013-07-05, 01:50 PM
19. Arrows, some broken, and blood stains on the floor and walls of a room.

Combat Reflexes
2013-07-05, 02:54 PM
20) A road with small round prints in it every ~3 feet
(Someone with a peg leg walked here.)

21) a faint odor of exotic tobacco, from a kind of cigar only used by an infamous villain.

22) a 10-ft wide trail of sticky goo, going up walls and around corners across the entire dungeon
(the trail of a gelatinous cube)


and for werewolf characters, you wake up and find:

- dog hairs in your bedroll
- chicken feathers on the floor
- blood around your mouth and on the sheets
- your shirt and trousers torn
- a bone of a small animal stuck between your teeth

Combat Reflexes
2013-07-05, 02:56 PM
ooh, i forgot the most dramatic one:

23) scratch marks inside a sarcophagus.

Toofey
2013-07-05, 08:15 PM
24) a bunch of bloodless corpses, with one covered in blood still wearing it's holy symbol.

DonEsteban
2013-07-06, 05:02 PM
25) A skull of a tyrannosaur, smashed by a blunt object.
26) An inn keeper with plenty of bed bug bites.

Jay R
2013-07-06, 05:10 PM
27) Fresh velociraptor tracks.

Taet
2013-07-06, 05:27 PM
Once I understood 18 it gave me chills.

28. The wires to the alarm box have been cut and the alarm is silent.

29. The wires to the alarm box have been melted and the alarm is ringing.

30. The wires to the alarm box have been changed into bugs and the alarm is buzzing.

31. The wires to the alarm box have been changed into pasta and the alarm tone has been changed to "On Top of Spaghetti".

Ionbound
2013-07-06, 06:27 PM
32) Pinholes in the creepy mansion's walls

33) Attractive people being interested in the PCs rather than vice-versa

Sith_Happens
2013-07-07, 04:18 AM
34) The lord of the manor/castle specifically tells the PCs to stay out of a specific part of it, but does not say why.

LokiRagnarok
2013-07-07, 04:39 AM
34) The lord of the manor/castle specifically tells the PCs to stay out of a specific part of it, but does not say why.

Such as:



"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

? :smallbiggrin:

Can anyone explain number 18 to me?

TuggyNE
2013-07-07, 04:48 AM
Can anyone explain number 18 to me?

Sure thing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animateDead.htm).

nedz
2013-07-07, 09:10 AM
35) The room contains a bricked up doorway, the mortar is still fresh.

36) There is a notebook on the table. The last entry ends midway through a word.

37) The temperature in the room is noticeably colder than other rooms nearby. There is no sign of refrigeration equipment.

Komodo
2013-07-07, 11:00 AM
38) In an empty studio, one wall has three sets of manacles attached to it. A camera on a tripod is pointed at the wall.

Ionbound
2013-07-07, 12:42 PM
38) In an empty studio, one wall has three sets of manacles attached to it. A camera on a tripod is pointed at the wall.

:smalleek: That is...disturbingly kinky...

39) The mansion has noticeably fewer windows than you'd expect

40) The floorplan of the mansion shifts constantly, but only when unobserved

Alex12
2013-07-07, 03:10 PM
Sure thing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animateDead.htm).

Also this. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/createUndead.htm)

41. The door appears to have a space for a lock, but the space is empty. Metal fragments litter the floor around the doorway.

42. There is a pool of red liquid on the floor in what appears to be a well-stocked kitchen. On closer inspection, it appears to be tomato sauce.

DonEsteban
2013-07-07, 03:26 PM
43. Footprints ending suddenly in the middle of nowhere.
44. Footprints starting suddenly in the middle of a room.
45. Scratching sounds from below the floor.
46. A man observing the house through a hole in a newspaper.
47. Two clocks indicating the same time, but not running.

Arbane
2013-07-07, 07:19 PM
48. A corpse in the middle of a room. Inspection will reveal that they apparently died from falling from a great height. The ceiling is only 11 feet up, and doesn't have any obvious holes.

49. The walls of the dungeon corridor are streaked with soot and ash. Someone used their finger to write "The room up ahead is too small for a fireball."

50. In a supposedly-abandoned building, lit torches and candles.

51. In a allegedly-haunted house, a corridor that is several feet longer than the building is on the outside.

52. A skeleton in the middle of a corridor, stuck full of arrows from both sides.

The Rose Dragon
2013-07-07, 07:57 PM
53. The laughter of children, coupled with a distinct lack of any children around.

54. Scrolls of parchment that have a black handprint on it, with no ring finger, found in various places that the PCs visit.

Jay R
2013-07-07, 08:54 PM
55. There is a large door, blasted off its hinges and scorched. The walls and floor on either side are similarly scorched.

Verte
2013-07-07, 09:47 PM
56. There is a set of footprints leading down a hallway. After going through a doorway, they seem to disappear - yet they are soon replaced by a set of four large, clawed tracks upon entering the room.

57. When entering the study, there is a dollhouse with a heap of paper next to it.

58. The furniture inside the dollhouse is remarkably detailed - there are even miniature torches that are actually alight!

59. Inside the dollhouse, there is a gallery of statues - six in all. However, after further inspection, it is apparent that they all have very grim expressions.

60. Directly in front of the dollhouse are scattered piles of broken stone and gravel.

DonEsteban
2013-07-08, 05:32 AM
61. The statues bear a striking resemblance to the PCs.

nedz
2013-07-08, 05:58 AM
62. A small origami animal has been left at each of several crime scenes.

Combat Reflexes
2013-07-08, 06:09 AM
63. A masterful portrait of a nobleman; his eyes seem to always look at one of the PCs

64. a rope attached to a piton that leads into a deep pit or cavern. About 20 feet down, the rope ends - the rest of it cut or burned away.

65. a small animal perfectly and cleanly cut in half.

66. on the top of a medium-sized hill lies a wet corpse. Closer inspection reveals it died of drowning. The closest body of water is dozens of miles away.

TuggyNE
2013-07-08, 06:45 AM
63. A masterful portrait of a nobleman; his eyes seem to always look at one of the PCs

67. Furthermore, this painting resists all attempts to move it from its position. Mad props if you have any idea where I got thtis.