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Maelynn
2018-05-29, 05:08 PM
For one of the quests in my campaign, I've been looking at a classic whodunnit. I'd like to let the party take a breather from combat and also give the investigator (Inquisitive Rogue with insane stats in the typical sleuthing skills) his moment to shine.

However, I'm hitting a snag. When I search around online, all I find is those murder mystery game parties that have a wide variety of suspects from all layers of society, often like a dozen or more of them, all with very different relations to the victim. Which just doesn't fit my story at all. And while I love a good detective story, I'm not skilled enough to create one from scratch myself - at least, not one that is deep enough to require some sleuthing, while still be solvable within a reasonable time.

Would anyone have any pointers for me on where to find, or how to make, a good whodunnit in a D&D setting? I'm fine with taking an existing one and tweaking it, but I just can't find any good ones. Just those bloody party games.

I've got the following parameters that I need to work with:

- party is invited to the manor of a wealthy merchant for a fancy dinner
- he has 5 children, all possible heirs to their father's entire estate and business, who each secretly turn to (members of) the party for aid in convincing dear old dad to make them the sole heir
- the next morning, the father is found dead, and all siblings are suspect
- the solution: the father's business advisor is the killer. He wants a specific sibling to take over, because he has a hold on them as they're susceptible to his manipulation. He tried to frame another sibling, who posed a threat to the advisors position because the two never saw eye to eye and he wants to make sure that one doesn't inherit the lot

Any help is appreciated. I'd really like to make a good story out of this, where the party can use their non-combat skills to crack the case.

Composer99
2018-05-29, 06:12 PM
First things first: make sure your players can't trivialise your plot with magic. It wouldn't do for your sleuth player's moment to shine be ruined.

Ask yourself what sort of divination spells can your party cast, and plan around them. If possible, find a way for them to generate value for the PCs without giving the whole game away.

brian 333
2018-05-29, 06:27 PM
I wrote one about some Bazaar Murders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?552348-Low-Combat-Adventure-Bazaar-Murders) for my fellow forumites to use as they see fit. It is an adventure outline intended for the DM to adapt it for the game system in use, but written from the perspective of a D&D adventure.

I was well on my way to another, Heir Apparently, which was eaten by the computer when my nephew borrowed my tablet to download a bunch of cra... umm, games, and deleted my user account for Word somehow. It's still in my head, but it takes a bit of one-fingered typing to turn into a post.

If you like Bazaar Murders and/or want me to post Heir Apparently, say so and I'll recreate it. Also, feel free to edit, alter, or erase any part of Bazaar Murders for your own campaign. If you do use it I'd be curious to hear feedback.

Goaty14
2018-05-29, 06:34 PM
Perhaps move this to the appropriate subforum to get better replies

brian 333
2018-05-29, 06:55 PM
Perhaps move this to the appropriate subforum to get better replies

Which subforum is more appropriate? As I have noted on other topics, there is no thread for Dungeons and Adventures.

Maelynn
2018-06-06, 04:56 PM
I wrote one about some Bazaar Murders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?552348-Low-Combat-Adventure-Bazaar-Murders) for my fellow forumites to use as they see fit. It is an adventure outline intended for the DM to adapt it for the game system in use, but written from the perspective of a D&D adventure.

I was well on my way to another, Heir Apparently, which was eaten by the computer when my nephew borrowed my tablet to download a bunch of cra... umm, games, and deleted my user account for Word somehow. It's still in my head, but it takes a bit of one-fingered typing to turn into a post.

If you like Bazaar Murders and/or want me to post Heir Apparently, say so and I'll recreate it. Also, feel free to edit, alter, or erase any part of Bazaar Murders for your own campaign. If you do use it I'd be curious to hear feedback.

Sorry for the late response, I've been out of town for a while.

The setup of Bazaar Murders looks really well put together, but has too many outsiders involved to fit my story.. and a few too many victims. ;) Well done, though, my compliments.

I must admit I'm curious about Heir Apparently, especially because the title implies a storyline similar to my own. I wouldn't want to be so bold as to ask you to recreate an entire mystery... :smalleek:

Y'know, even a few pointers would already help. How do you go about the order of the various clues and twists, for example? I reckoned I'd start with writing down all possible suspects with their respective alibi/motive/events/etc. Just to have a full view of what happened to whom and why. A bit like the end of the story, where you know everything that happened. But it's the chopping that up into small bits and feeding them to the party in the right order and size to keep them eager, that's got me seriously stumped. :<

Crisis21
2018-06-06, 05:45 PM
So, a few suggestions regarding clues and whatnot:

1) Determine the sequence of events in the murder beforehand. Did the murderer have to force his way in or did he have free access to the area? How did he kill the victim? Think about what clues might have been left behind as a result. Forced entry, even picked locks, leave marks that can be found through investigation, but no such marks will suggest someone the victim trusted was either the culprit or in on it. By the same token, the murder weapon will leave different clues depending on what was used. Poisons often leave signs on the victim that an observant person can use to determine what was used to kill them, weapons are prone to leave blood all over things, and even strangling can result in signs of a struggle.

2) When determining what clues are left, assign an appropriate DC to each one to find it. Clues can at times be overlooked, and things can get very interesting if an NPC not aligned with the players finds it first and either hides or tampers with it. Also, since this is a frame job, the culprit should be leaving false clues to implicate another, and should be using Deception rolls (vs the players' Insight) when planting them lest they seem obviously false.

3) Take note of each player's passive scores in Perception, Investigation, and Insight. Use these as the DC for your culprit's attempts at things like Stealth, Sleight of Hand, or Deception rather than having your players roll them. If a passive score is higher than the DC to spot a clue, then have the player automatically notice it when they are in the same room.
Remember: Just because a player is rolling very well doesn't mean they find something. If they're searching the kitchen and the clues are in the bedroom, not even a nat 20 will reveal them. Sometimes all an Insight roll reveals is that the other person is telling the truth.

4) Pepper the investigation with Red Herrings and Dirty Secrets. In many crime dramas, when a murder happens a lot of other dirty secrets get dragged into the spotlight during the investigation. Have several suspects who had nothing to do with the murder be trying to keep their own dirty secrets while trying to profess their innocence in the murder. Essentially, while the players are rolling Insight to question the household, have several people come across as lying, potentially guilty, or just hiding something where most of the things being hidden have nothing to do with the murder. See if you can have your players suspecting everyone after the opening round of Insight checks and divination spells, including those who have been completely honest and forthcoming.

5) Keep the NPCs active behind the scenes. They have their own agendas after all and the longer the players take to puzzle out the mystery, the longer unfriendly NPCs have to try and direct their attention elsewhere, muddy the investigation, or frame someone else. Or try and get rid of the players. That's always a possibility too.

6) If you want this to have far reaching consequences, don't necessarily tell the players if they caught the real murderer when they finish their investigation.

7) For the love of god, keep track of what the players have and have not discovered as well as what the NPCs are doing when the players aren't watching them. A plot like this has a lot of moving parts.


Edit: For a bonus complication given your stated scenario, you could have one of the NPCs, say the merchant's wife or business partner, ask the players to investigate the various sons on the side to determine which one is worthiest to inherit.

PiperThePaladin
2018-06-07, 12:24 AM
I'm working on a murder mystery to put in my campaign too, and I found the Angry GM's article on Building a Mystery to be helpful. Specifically the bit about making a list of clues, more clues than they need, sorting them from vague to specific, and then hiding each clue behind an obstacle. My account is still too new to post a link directly, but Google will send you right to it. :smallsmile:

Maelynn
2018-06-10, 07:52 PM
The Angry GM article was an interesting read, thanks for that. I'm not sure I agree with all of his points, though, especially the one on red herrings - from his description it seems he considers all clues that don't point to the real culprit a red herring. I'm not going to send the party on a wild goose chase, or deliberately add the wrong clues, but if you use the classic "means, motive, opportunity" model then there will be other siblings who tick one or two of the boxes. Yes, that does implicate them, but it's up to the party to figure out who ticks all the boxes.


So, a few suggestions <snip>

Thanks for those, definitely some things I can work with. I was already making a list of all 5 siblings and their motives/alibi/etc, as well as give some a secret that may or may not lead to a scandal (especially in those high-society families).

The remark about consequences gave me a great idea, though. I've been working on 2 small quests where smuggling will play a role, but I didn't intend to take it much further than just a reason for the bad guys to have stolen a precious heirloom. I could make the party do those quests first and then later on this murder mystery, where the big reveal will be that the business partner is really the ring leader of these smugglers and is using the merchant's warehouses and resources to run the business from. I love follow-up quests, and this makes it tie in with some of the others nicely.