GoldfishBowl
2015-03-31, 02:50 PM
Hello playground. I'm running a short game for my group on off days using the Occult Adventures playtest for Pathfinder. Everybody's a gestalt Kineticist, and we're playing in the Avatar: The Last Airbender world. Lots of creative problem solving using bending alongside the expected cinematic combat.
Anyway, I need a little help with how to present a crime scene to the players without making everything either painfully obvious or frustratingly obtuse.
The situation. Small village in the earth kingdom, after end of Last Airbender, but before the founding of Republic City. The mayor's daughter has a boyfriend, a firebender. This does not sit well with the mayor. The kids decide to run away together, taking some of the mayor's money to fund a new life, and they hatch a plan. They will have a very public argument, where he tries to convince her to run away, but she rejects him saying she can't leave ber family. She ends it with him, and cries on dad's relieved shoulders. A few days later, she trashes her room, knocks out the couple guards by surprise, and runs away leaving a ransom note written by her boyfriend demanding a sizable amount of money. When the mayor pays, they take the money and run.
When it happens, the mayor is in a state, and eats it up, summoning the Party to deliver the ransom, or take a shot at capturing the offender. But what I want is a chance for the PCs to pick up on a number of clues hinting that the kidnapping is not what it appears to be on the surface.
I'm having trouble planting clues that are good, but not immediately obvious. Things like the note being in her handwritting is too easy, but everything else I come up with seems ridiculously obscure.
Any experience running an investivation focused scenario, or just suggestions for this case?
Anyway, I need a little help with how to present a crime scene to the players without making everything either painfully obvious or frustratingly obtuse.
The situation. Small village in the earth kingdom, after end of Last Airbender, but before the founding of Republic City. The mayor's daughter has a boyfriend, a firebender. This does not sit well with the mayor. The kids decide to run away together, taking some of the mayor's money to fund a new life, and they hatch a plan. They will have a very public argument, where he tries to convince her to run away, but she rejects him saying she can't leave ber family. She ends it with him, and cries on dad's relieved shoulders. A few days later, she trashes her room, knocks out the couple guards by surprise, and runs away leaving a ransom note written by her boyfriend demanding a sizable amount of money. When the mayor pays, they take the money and run.
When it happens, the mayor is in a state, and eats it up, summoning the Party to deliver the ransom, or take a shot at capturing the offender. But what I want is a chance for the PCs to pick up on a number of clues hinting that the kidnapping is not what it appears to be on the surface.
I'm having trouble planting clues that are good, but not immediately obvious. Things like the note being in her handwritting is too easy, but everything else I come up with seems ridiculously obscure.
Any experience running an investivation focused scenario, or just suggestions for this case?