Fleshing Out A Murder Mystery

[The Glyphstone]

For an upcoming session in my campaign, I'm planning to drop my group into the lap of a classic murder-mystery. I just need a little help filling in the final details.

The backdrop is a party/dinner being held at the mansion estates of a noble the group is allied with, somewhat isolated. The victim, who I'll call Lord Boddy, is found mysteriously dead, with obvious signs of foul play, and the PCs - as relatively neutral parties - are asked to investigate. The gimmick/reveal underlying the plot is that all four of the potential suspects are, in fact, technically guilty - all hated Lord Boddy for different reasons, and set up their own attempted murder plots. My problem is that I only know who three of the 'killers' are:

-Lord Tremaine is a professional big-game hunter, with a special knack for computers. He has a grudge against Boddy for being the man his ex-wife had an affair with and eventually left him for. He tried to kill Boddy by reprogramming one of the mansion's security robots to misidentify Boddy as an intruder.

-Lady Shade is a former black marketeer and smuggling kingpin, an expert in poisons. She's destitute after a semi-illegal partnership venture with Lord Boddy went sour and he sold her out to the authorities to protect himself. She tried to kill Boddy by lacing the contents of his private liquor cabinet with hallucinogenic poison.

-Lady Steel is a retired military officer, highly knowledgeable in firearms. During her duty period she was deployed to protect a territory owned by Boddy, but bad intel dropped her and her troops into unexpected combat with heavy casualties that she blames Boddy for. She tried to kill Boddy by sabotaging his personal heirloom pistol to explosively misfire when he tried to use it.

-???

I need one more character sketch, to fill out the final 'killer' in a way that fits with the other three - a motive to want him dead based on prior interactions, and a means of doing so that would be indirect enough to not be obviously involved. It should be fully mundane as well, not based in any paranormal or supernatural abilities.

[Dr paradox]

Madame Singh, experimental musician, opera composer, and vocal artist with a taste for the debauched. Boddy had been her patron and access point to high society funding until he abandoned her at a delicate time in the assembly of her magnum opus over a matter of decorum. Boddy remained a fan of her work, which she hoped to use against him: she gifted him a specially prepared recording of her latest symphosium engineered to match the resonant frequency of his cortical implant, causing him to aneurize moments before the piece's crescendo.

Caveat: I have no idea what your setting is. I'm guessing from the mixture of aristocracy, soldiers, and robots that it's kind of Dune-esque? If you elaborate, I'd happily come up with another murderer.

[fergo]

Hercules Parrot, a foreign private investigator with an outrageous accent. He previously solved a murder mystery at one of Lord Boddy's former dinner parties, but became disgruntled when Lord Boddy claimed all of the credit for himself. Parrot has since fallen on hard times, and wants to kill two birds with one stone: get revenge on his hated former friend, and regain his credibility by 'solving' another famous murder case.

As for the way that Parrot attempted murder, I have no idea. I dare say you want them all to come together so that all play some part in Boddy's demise: he's hallucinating and attacked by his robots, so he draws his heirloom pistol to defend himself, when...

[Morgaln]

More information on the setting and how realistic you want the plot to be could help, but here are some ideas:

Lord Estobar, a rival of Lord Boddy. He recently lost a number of valuable assets to Boddy in a poker game that he suspects Boddy cheated on but can't prove. He has rigged the fireplace to exude poisonous fumes.

James Worthering, the butler. He is very worried about the way Lord Boddy eyes his teenage daughter. Knowing Boddy likes to lean against the snooker table while talking, he has weakened the floor so it will break from the added weight.

[The Glyphstone]

I was trying to avoid prejudicing people's ideas, but I suppose it couldn't hurt. The setting, specifically, is Warhammer 40,000 - the PCs are a Rogue Trader and retinue, meeting with another Rogue Trader for a state diplomatic dinner. So high-tech neofeudalism.

What I don't want is for anyone involved to be using magic, psychic powers, or be some sort of evil demon cultist (either victim or killer). It doesn't have to be entirely realistic - exotic alien tech can do very weird stuff in this world - but the motives and methods should be otherwise fully mundane.




As for the way that Parrot attempted murder, I have no idea. I dare say you want them all to come together so that all play some part in Boddy's demise: he's hallucinating and attacked by his robots, so he draws his heirloom pistol to defend himself, when...

This is exactly correct, as it happens, right down to the sequence of events.:smallbiggrin: His actual death will be falling out the bedroom window and breaking his neck, meaning everyone's attempts contributed but no one specific person could 100% be said to blame.