PDA

View Full Version : DM Help Building a Murder Mystery



TheSethGrey
2014-09-01, 12:09 PM
So I am working on a murder mystery adventure, I already most of the plot and how things will go down, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips for leaving good clues, but not making it obvious who the killer is right away?

Ettina
2014-09-01, 08:15 PM
Well, I'd suggest just making sure you know exactly what the killer did and is doing. If you know exactly what the solution to the mystery is, clues will naturally suggest themselves.

Also, better to err on the side of making it too cryptic, in my opinion. You can always plunk a clue on their lap later if they're stumped, but you can't undo them figuring it out too easily.

Phoenixguard09
2014-09-02, 09:21 AM
Alternatively, especially if you're stuck for ideas for clues, ask them questions.

Who or what do you think the killer is?
Where would you like to search for clues and what do you think you might find there?

The trick is to take bits and pieces from their expectations, but not so much that they realise what you're doing. :smallsmile:

It's best to have a basic idea of the who, what, when, where and why sorted, but asking your players what they think are possiblities for those kinds of questions can easily give you better answers than you might have thought of yourself, plus it gives you an idea of what kind of lines they might be thinking along.

Cheers,

Red Fel
2014-09-02, 12:31 PM
Building on what others have already suggested.

Let us first assume that the killer is not a Batman villain, and does not feel the need to leave a calling card. In that case, there are two possibilities: The crime was spontaneous The crime was plannedLet's plan for each.

If the crime was spontaneous, what did the killer do? Well, let's consider the common scenario: There was an argument, the killer lashed out and killed the guy. Here's what's likely to happen: There should be evidence of the argument. Witnesses heard voices, saw them speaking, what-have-you. Maybe people heard things breaking. There should be evidence of cover-up. A spontaneous killing is messy, and a nervous killer would attempt to clean up the crime scene - and, unless he has experience, he would miss a few spots. Alibis should be messy. Unplanned means you didn't have an alibi lined up, didn't have witnesses prepared to see the wrong thing, didn't rearrange your schedule. If the investigation begins promptly after the murder (like a "dinner and a murder" scenario), there should be almost zero time for the killer to line up his lie. Expect stories to shift and change.

If the crime was planned, what did the killer do? Well, here's what you're likely to find: If he's smart, no evidence points to him. If he's super-smart, the evidence probably points away from him. The weapon was wrong-handed, he was seen elsewhere at the time, he can't touch metal, etc. Expect the evidence to point to anyone other than the true killer. There had to be motive. A planned killing generally doesn't involve random victims. You'll be focused less on physical evidence (e.g. "how") and more on evidence of motive (e.g. "why"). Expect to interview lots of people about how they felt about the victim. Also expect to drop hints, like contracts, stock trades, rumors about the family will, and so forth. Unfortunately, these will generally be far too subtle - make them too loud and it's obvious, but anything else is likely to pass under the radar.

Frankly, an accidental murder is easier to investigate, because it's sloppy. A planned, meticulous, classical literary murder takes a detective who can pay attention to minute details, which may be beyond the abilities of your players.

BRC
2014-09-02, 01:18 PM
There's a great blog post floating around out there about the "Rule of Three", three clues that can lead the players to the killer to increase the chances of them finding at least one.

As for not making it too obvious, be sure to set up the murder in Stages. The clues at the scene don't lead the players to the killer, they lead the players to the next set of clues.

Let me whip up an example.

The Victim, Bob Conrad, was killed by a single, precise crossbow shot made at considerable range.

Further investigations reveal that Bob Conrad was in the process of blackmailing one Sir Harvey, a War Hero who was a famously good shot with a crossbow. During this phase of the investigation, clues should point towards Sir Harvey.

The PCs confront Sir Harvey, but learn that he is a fraud. The wartime feats of marksmanship that gave him his reputation, fortune, and title, were ACTUALLY performed by his aide-de-camp, Bob Conrad. THAT was the secret Conrad was blackmailing him with. The few times he had been asked to demonstrate his skill since then, he had done so by using one of a set of ten magical crossbow bolts, each enchanted with True Strike, as well as with a different enchantment that hid their magic from detection. Sir Harvey, having used up the last of his enchanted Bolts, could no longer counter Conrad's claims, hence the blackmail.

This Revelation brings the Party to a few pieces of information. First, Sir Harvey couldn't have made the shot. Second, the shot could have been made with the assistance of a True Strike spell. This leads them to the true killer, a wizard with a grudge against Conrad. Perhaps the wizard had been wounded by a mysterious, crossbow-wielding assassin years earlier, recognized Conrad when he came to visit Sir Harvey, and fearing another attempt, attempted to kill him and frame Sir Harvey.

Avian Overlord
2014-09-02, 01:37 PM
There's a great blog post floating around out there about the "Rule of Three", three clues that can lead the players to the killer to increase the chances of them finding at least one.


Right here (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule), in fact.

Erasmas
2014-09-02, 04:33 PM
I am actually currently running a murder mystery at the table, and the players are rapidly nearing the end. I was exceedingly nervous about it leading up to the start, but it went really, really well.

To prepare myself for it, however, I poured over several articles on the subject:
The above-mentioned "Rule of Three".
This article. (http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/write-a-gripping-mystery-adventure-in-four-steps/)
And this one. (http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/the-butler-did-it/)


Good luck!

Socksy
2014-09-02, 05:40 PM
You might want to politely ask the players not to play Diviners/Seers/Oracles. Or to 'forget' to prepare divination spells for the day. Magic really does mess up a murder mystery.

"I cast Speak with Dead!"

the OOD
2014-09-04, 10:32 PM
Just for you, you wonderful human being, I would like to present a pair of finely-crafted
Internet (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule) Hyperlinks! (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/8171/roleplaying-games/advanced-node-based-design-part-1-moving-between-nodes)


have a nice day.
(Edit: ninja'd)

Storm_Of_Snow
2014-09-05, 08:29 AM
You might want to politely ask the players not to play Diviners/Seers/Oracles. Or to 'forget' to prepare divination spells for the day. Magic really does mess up a murder mystery.

"I cast Speak with Dead!"



Speak with Dead's rules include:
"The corpse’s knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any). Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive. If the creature’s alignment was different from yours, the corpse gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive. "
Assuming they even get past the alignment save:

Investigator: "Who killed you?" Corpse: "Don't know." (Victim didn't see their killer).
Investigator: "Who'd want to kill you?" Corpse: "My enemies."
etc

and

"If the corpse has been subject to speak with dead within the past week, the new spell fails. You can cast this spell on a corpse that has been deceased for any amount of time, but the body must be mostly intact to be able to respond."

Maybe the killer has use magic device and had a scroll with speak with dead on it, using it to both prevent investigators from casting it before they could get away, and to find out information the victim wouldn't reveal while alive (say the combination of a safe, the location of a particular object, whether they're really the father of a particular person or whatever).