Help Me Plan for a Riverboat Murder Mystery!

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Proofs in the title. I’ve got a group of 5 lvl 5s (divine soul, rogue, paladin, hexblade, and arcane archer) who will be boarding a River Cruise coming up.

The isolated setting lends itself to a murder mystery a la Clue (and they can’t say no because of the Implication).

Does anyone have any tips running something like this? I know I’ll need some eccentric NPCs and a good red herring.

Thank you!

[P. G. Macer]

Magic often ruins murder mystery plots in D&D at level 5 and up. For instance, if you’re playing with the Class Variants UA from last November, your DS sorcerer has Spell Versatility, and can know Speak With Dead after a long rest. Depending on how fresh the corpse is, Revivify could also derail the plot.

Furthermore, enchantment spells can be used to extract a confession. D&D isn’t that well-suited for murder mysteries as a system in general, from what I can tell.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I think I’d be open to allowing all of that to come into play. It may not always work 100% perfectly.
Speak with dead?
Dead guy says “I didn’t see who did it, BUT I heard this, or smelled this” it would actually be a great way to drop a clue in.
If they have all the perfect spells and make it tedious, I’d just hope they’d appreciate how powerful their abilities are.

[Lupine]

Magic often ruins murder mystery plots in D&D at level 5 and up. For instance, if you’re playing with the Class Variants UA from last November, your DS sorcerer has Spell Versatility, and can know Speak With Dead after a long rest. Depending on how fresh the corpse is, Revivify could also derail the plot.

Both of those are simple to avoid “you find the corpse’s head has been removed.” Now the body cannot be revived nor can it speak. Your choice whether the killer kept the head or discarded it.

This can include a new clue: how did the killer remove the head? Clean cut: sword. Jagged set of slashes: werewolf?

[SpikeFightwicky]

Magic often ruins murder mystery plots in D&D at level 5 and up. For instance, if you’re playing with the Class Variants UA from last November, your DS sorcerer has Spell Versatility, and can know Speak With Dead after a long rest. Depending on how fresh the corpse is, Revivify could also derail the plot.

Furthermore, enchantment spells can be used to extract a confession. D&D isn’t that well-suited for murder mysteries as a system in general, from what I can tell.

Magic can also be involved on the murderer's side as well. Spells like Modify Memory, Charm, Dominate, Suggestion can muddle up an investigation. 14th level enchanters can prevent people from knowing they've been charmed as well, so you can dominate someone, have them kill someone, then have them forget the whole event.

[Eldan]

NPCs, you say? Why yes!

A lot of the standard clue/Agatha Christie etc. trope characters can be very well adapted to this kind of thing in a fantasy setting. Just use setting information from your world as necessary.

The Old Soldier
Personality: gruff, direct, opinionated, utterly convinced that he has the right to say his opinions to anyone at any time. Jolly in a patronizing when respected. Red-faced and stuttering when insulted. May call out those of equal social status to duels, but is not as strong as he thinks he is anymore. Quite possibly racist and/or classist, especially against old enemies.
Behaviour: rough manners. Sings loudly when drunk. Is often drunk in the evenings. Carries a weapon everywhere. Likes to talk about the good old times, former campaigns, his knowledge of foreign lands and the savages he killed there.
In the murder mystery: will loudly and immediately blame any fitting foreigner, shifty low class types, sailors and wrong'uns. May suggestion execution even for

The Academic:
Personality: Quiet, reserved.
Behaviour: keeps to himself. May be found in weird corners of the ship with a book at odd times, or taking notes. Spends long hours in his cabin alone. Has odd interests, may collect things like insects. Has more baggage than one might expect for someone travelling alone (instruments, arcane components, books, specimens.)
In the murder mystery: may get interested in studying a weird clue the PCs find, may have very unusual knowledge. (Soil types. Weather. Magic. Insects. Forensics.) May make himself suspicious by being in very unusual places. Could possibly turn out to be a spy, though that may be too obvious. May carry a dangerous artefact that causes a curse, or a living specimen that escaped.

May write up a few more later. But I think you get the general idea.

[carrdrivesyou]

I have DM'd a few murder mysteries, and here are my recommendations:

1. Don't give out names as exposition. Make them RP for it. If you call attention to 3 "named" people and everyone else, the "everyone else" become background setting.

2. Drop the essential clues without having the party roll for it, but reward clever use of abilities with extra clues that lead to main clues. (Detect Thoughts allows a full memory scan as a 2nd level spell). This allows for them to solve it by following the plot, and prevents bad rolls from screwing them over.

3. Don't have the villain unique. They certainly won't be forthcoming with information, and considering the setting, they should be dressed to match the other NPCs.

4. Give the party a collective insight check against each NPC during information gathering. This will prevent most cases of "I got a NAT 20, and found out he was actually the killer" moments.

5. Don't let them Metagame the discussion, as the villain could be listening in from a closet, and try to throw things off if he overhears things.

6. Don't be afraid to drop additional bread crumbs if the party hits a dead end. Having them overhear a conversation behind a door from annoyed witnesses or co-conspirators is an easy way of achieving this.

7. Make sure to add paranoia to the setting. A group of armed and armored people start asking a bunch of random folks questions, with a killer on the loose can certainly put people on edge. Make sure to use this to your advantage by having some of the "stronger" personalities try to "big boy" their way to the top of the food chain; it really sets a solid dynamic and keeps the characters on their toes.

8. Make sure your descriptions are correct. I made this mistake a lot in the past. Injuries sustained should be consistent with weapon used. Knife = stab wounds, sword = missing head, poison = green veins popping out of the body, etc.

9. Don't be afraid to let the party come to the WRONG conclusion. Yes, they are heroes. Yes, they are the main characters of this story. But if they fail to bring justice to a single event, this can really help out character development down the road, lead to hilarious hijinks both in and out of character, and can serve to forge the party into a cohesive unit if they are having any sort of divisive issues. This part may require some serious improv skills, but having a conclusion written for every possible outcome is impossible. I suggest writing up the results for the main four or five suspects and basing results off of those.

I hope these help you. I'm always happy to help a fellow DM. :)

[Eldan]

6. Don't be afraid to drop additional bread crumbs if the party hits a dead end. Having them overhear a conversation behind a door from annoyed witnesses or co-conspirators is an easy way of achieving this.


To expand on that: have at least three decisive clues or ways to advance a scene planned in every step of a mystery. So, never make the only way to find the identity of the murderer a small scrap of paper with the name on it that has fallen under a dresser. Because no matter you think you have made a clue, there's always a chance the players might miss or misinterpret it. Five things might be better. Put five clues in the scene, that each indivually could lead to the murderer.

[denthor]

Magic often ruins murder mystery plots in D&D at level 5 and up. For instance, if you’re playing with the Class Variants UA from last November, your DS sorcerer has Spell Versatility, and can know Speak With Dead after a long rest. Depending on how fresh the corpse is, Revivify could also derail the plot.

Furthermore, enchantment spells can be used to extract a confession. D&D isn’t that well-suited for murder mysteries as a system in general, from what I can tell.

This of course is 5e. But in the past speaking with dead was only yes no answers and limited questions.

[Ovarwa]

Hi,

Just make sure you have a kraken.

Anyway,

Ken

[nakedonmyfoldin]

NPCs, you say? Why yes!

A lot of the standard clue/Agatha Christie etc. trope characters can be very well adapted to this kind of thing in a fantasy setting. Just use setting information from your world as necessary.

The Old Soldier
Personality: gruff, direct, opinionated, utterly convinced that he has the right to say his opinions to anyone at any time. Jolly in a patronizing when respected. Red-faced and stuttering when insulted. May call out those of equal social status to duels, but is not as strong as he thinks he is anymore. Quite possibly racist and/or classist, especially against old enemies.
Behaviour: rough manners. Sings loudly when drunk. Is often drunk in the evenings. Carries a weapon everywhere. Likes to talk about the good old times, former campaigns, his knowledge of foreign lands and the savages he killed there.
In the murder mystery: will loudly and immediately blame any fitting foreigner, shifty low class types, sailors and wrong'uns. May suggestion execution even for

The Academic:
Personality: Quiet, reserved.
Behaviour: keeps to himself. May be found in weird corners of the ship with a book at odd times, or taking notes. Spends long hours in his cabin alone. Has odd interests, may collect things like insects. Has more baggage than one might expect for someone travelling alone (instruments, arcane components, books, specimens.)
In the murder mystery: may get interested in studying a weird clue the PCs find, may have very unusual knowledge. (Soil types. Weather. Magic. Insects. Forensics.) May make himself suspicious by being in very unusual places. Could possibly turn out to be a spy, though that may be too obvious. May carry a dangerous artefact that causes a curse, or a living specimen that escaped.

May write up a few more later. But I think you get the general idea.

My man/woman! This is the kind of gold I love to mine from the playground, thank you

[Nidgit]

One more thing I'd add is to make sure there's a time limit. There has to be a reason the boat can't stop and let everyone figure it out.

[Kurt Kurageous]

A puzzle for your players, perhaps, instead of rolling dice? This one should take the party under 15 minutes.

The captain of the Zeelaudia, a packet traveling the coast to Waterdeep, was murdered by one of their passengers who were secured in their staterooms. Marks on the rail above the second of six staterooms indicates that the killer emerged from that stateroom using a grappling device, killed the captain, took the manifest and ships’ strongbox, somehow got it off the ship, then snuck back into their stateroom. The captain’s body was found after the passengers had left their staterooms, and the passengers cannot be trusted to say accurately what rooms they were in as the rooms themselves were not numbered. Fortunately the two stewards and the purser recall some facts about which passengers were where. They know that the six passengers were (in alphabetical order) a dragonborn, a hill dwarf, a human, a mountain dwarf, a tiefling, and a wood elf. They know that they were of six different professions (in alphabetical order) a coopersmith, a diplomat, a lawyer, a soldier, a teamster, and a tinsmith. Lastly they know the passengers ordered five different drinks with their meals, and one had no drink at all. The drinks (in alphabetical order) were brandy, coffee, goat milk, rum, and tea.
They also know that:
1. The wood elf ordered goats milk.
2. There was one stateroom between the soldier and the human.
3. There was one stateroom between the diplomat and the stateroom of the wood elf to the right.
4. There was one stateroom between the one who ordered tea and the one who ordered brandy to the right.
5. The Tiefling was in the first stateroom.
6. There were two staterooms between the hill dwarf and the mountain dwarf to the right.
7. There were two staterooms between the one who ordered rum and the lawyer to the left.
8. The human did not order a drink.
9. The fifth stateroom was the tinsmiths’.
10. There was one stateroom between the rum drinker and the coopersmith to the right.

Who do you arrest, and what proof do you offer?

Enjoy.

[MagneticKitty]

Ideas for a successful mystery in dnd

1. Put more clues than you need.
2. Don't hinge the mystery on one specific clue
3. allow some clues to be discovered without rolls (if the person thought to check something creative, reward them), if they ask a great question, reward them with a clue
4. Sometimes there can be more than one answer, if their solution is viable and naratively cool, it's ok to accept it even if its not what you had picked as "right"
5. Have a lot of extra npc's ready

[Eldan]

My man/woman! This is the kind of gold I love to mine from the playground, thank you

I read so many detective novels as a kid, I could probably write these for days.

The Young Hothead
Personality and behaviour: while friendly at first glance, this guy is just too aggressive to be around long. Deeply insecure, yet convinced that he is better than everyone else. IF he perceives anyone, such as an especially outgoing or competent-looking party member as being admired by bystanders, he will immediately try to prove that he is better. Always injects himself in every conversation and will try to make it about himself. Will do stupid things for perceived glory. Will not accept any insult.
Mystery: always easy to attach a mystery to this kind of character. He may just be the third son of a noble house, trying to make a position for himself, or a spoiled prince who was never told to shut up and sit down. Or he may have lost all his money gambling and is trying to pretend everything is golden. Maybe he's secretly an upstart, a promoted low-class soldier or a rich merchant who bought himself a title, and he hates the insinuation that this makes him lesser among his peers. This character will attempt to solve the mystery and he will do it badly. If the player characters don't babysit him, he may try to arrest someone or destroy a few clues by "investigating" them.

[intregus]

(and they can’t say no because of the Implication).


Perfect its always sunny reference!

Also I've been wanting to run this exact scenario since watching the second episode of the Dracula short series on Netflix right now.

All these ideas are gold!

[blackjack50]

Proofs in the title. I’ve got a group of 5 lvl 5s (divine soul, rogue, paladin, hexblade, and arcane archer) who will be boarding a River Cruise coming up.

The isolated setting lends itself to a murder mystery a la Clue (and they can’t say no because of the Implication).

Does anyone have any tips running something like this? I know I’ll need some eccentric NPCs and a good red herring.

Thank you!

A good Red Herring is one that is subtle enough that it doesn’t seem like a red herring.