Making a murder mystery

[J-H]

This is outside my comfort zone :)

Setting:
Small frontier town

Death count & Perp
4 victims: Shade Lord possessed druid who is sending shadow animals and such at targets of opportunity at night.
2 victims: Succubus freed by PCs earlier. She's done some traveling and now has a position of some authority in the community. One victim was an out-of-towner and the other was a target of opportunity while checking out someone killed by the shade druid.
1 victim: Red herring, a stablemaster poisoned by a romantic rival, dead at home during the night.

Here's what I think I need to prep:

Spreadsheet of "what really happened"
Perp, victim, victim name/description., how they died, when, where, why they were targeted, etc.

Results of "Speak with Dead" performed by the local cleric of Bane.

3-5 clues per victim, both interview clues (things people see or know) or physical clues like tracks, lingering magical auras, etc.
Short list of witnesses who might be consulted and what each of them knows.

Anything missing?

[Alcore]

You seem to have everything covered. Never ran a murder mystery so my words are superficial. You have a good skeleton going.


Perhaps have one victim killed by another?

[BRC]

This is outside my comfort zone :)

Setting:
Small frontier town

Death count & Perp
4 victims: Shade Lord possessed druid who is sending shadow animals and such at targets of opportunity at night.
2 victims: Succubus freed by PCs earlier. She's done some traveling and now has a position of some authority in the community. One victim was an out-of-towner and the other was a target of opportunity while checking out someone killed by the shade druid.
1 victim: Red herring, a stablemaster poisoned by a romantic rival, dead at home during the night.

Here's what I think I need to prep:

Spreadsheet of "what really happened"
Perp, victim, victim name/description., how they died, when, where, why they were targeted, etc.

Results of "Speak with Dead" performed by the local cleric of Bane.

3-5 clues per victim, both interview clues (things people see or know) or physical clues like tracks, lingering magical auras, etc.
Short list of witnesses who might be consulted and what each of them knows.

Anything missing?

You've got a pretty decent list. I'd drop the Red Herring, Red Herrings are not fun to play through, they're just kind of a waste of everyone's time, especially since you've already got 2 killers, that's going to tangle things enough.


You'll also want some sense of how the two killers will respond to the PC's Inquiries/ the various ways people might be closing in on them.

[Batcathat]

Maybe some red herring clues (in addition to the red herring victim), either something intentionally planted by the real killer(s) or just coincidences.

And just as a general piece of advice, my biggest lesson when running a mystery was that it's impossible to predict what clues the party is going to find. I had what I imagined to be very obvious clues (that were actually red herrings) that they completely missed or overlooked, while instantly finding or figuring out stuff I thought would be much harder.


You've got a pretty decent list. I'd drop the Red Herring, Red Herrings are not fun to play through, they're just kind of a waste of everyone's time, especially since you've already got 2 killers, that's going to tangle things enough.

In case it's not obvious from my own suggestions, I disagree with this. Red herrings can be plenty of fun, though they obviously need to be handled correctly (so the players don't feel that you as the GM is actively misleading them).

[NRSASD]

Something I haven't done but saw here (https://gamenightblog.com/2020/12/12/waterdeep-dragon-heist-saviors-campaign-diary-8/) and really want to try, next time I run a murder mystery. An explosion goes off, and the party has to figure out who was targeted, how it happened, and all that other good stuff.

https://mygamenightblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/trollskull-explosion-scene.jpg?w=720
#1-3 & 9 are the various innocent victims, #4 & 5 are the halfling minstrels killed; they are all positioned such that they were not looking at the blast. #6 is the gnome, Dalakhar, who was trying to bring the Stone of Golor to the players. #7 & 8 are the two Zhentarim thugs, both have swords drawn. These three were facing each other and are now flat on their backs indicating that the blast occurred between them. #10 is a trail of bloody footprints, limping away from the scene.

Rich has some really great ideas on his blog, so it's worth doing a little digging to find them. That said, this is the bit most directly relevant to you.

[Eldan]

I like adding in a complication towards the end, and possibly an incident that happens if the players get stuck.

Complication means, for me, Act 2. Act 1, the players assemble the clues and hopefully get the right idea. They are on their way to interrogate the last witness, or to investigate the second murder scene, or something like that, and something happens. Another investigator is trying to solve the case as well, but has the wrong idea. The murderer notices the investigators are on their trail, so he tries to frame them for the murders. The local authority is bribed, declares the entire thing an accident and tells the players to stop investigating. A witness has left town out of fear or is being targeted to keep them quiet. Something like that.

It adds a bit of tension when things look like they are winding down a bit. When the players think they have the clues and only need to confront the villain.

The Incident Number Two is something you should always keep in your backpocket with murder investigations: you have given the players ten clues, and they don't have the slightest idea what they mean. What now?

Another murder! Right before their eyes! But the murderer makes a fatal mistake! This can be anything really, but if the PCs take more than a few days and get frustrated, have something exciting and action-packed happen, that also adds more clues. The more obvious, the better. Because you should never underestimate the capacity of players to not understand clues.

If your players respond well to taunting and a direct challenge, have the murderer drop them a letter, along the lines of "Hahaha, you fools will never find my true identity, tonight, I shall assassinat ethe mayer and no one can stop me!". Or just another murder victim, where the killer is getting sloppy because they think they are now above the law. Or if you want to be a bit more subtle, an additional victim. A terrified person runs to the PCs and tells them "I saw how it happened! It was X and it was terrifying!"

[KorvinStarmast]

This is outside my comfort zone :)

Setting:
Small frontier town

Death count & Perp
4 victims: Shade Lord possessed druid who is sending shadow animals and such at targets of opportunity at night.
2 victims: Succubus freed by PCs earlier. She's done some traveling and now has a position of some authority in the community. One victim was an out-of-towner and the other was a target of opportunity while checking out someone killed by the shade druid.
1 victim: Red herring, a stablemaster poisoned by a romantic rival, dead at home during the night.

Here's what I think I need to prep:

Spreadsheet of "what really happened"
Perp, victim, victim name/description., how they died, when, where, why they were targeted, etc.

Results of "Speak with Dead" performed by the local cleric of Bane.

3-5 clues per victim, both interview clues (things people see or know) or physical clues like tracks, lingering magical auras, etc.
Short list of witnesses who might be consulted and what each of them knows.

Anything missing? How small is small? 7 dead bodies in a short period of time for a town of 100 is a major issue. In a town of 1000 it's still a shock, but it's not quite the impact.
here is my suggestion: one of the dead bodies (maybe the red herring?) is the town sheriff / law enforcement lady / marshall. Hence the PCs are appealed to by the local cleric of Bane to investigate since their normal investigation person isn't able to.

Incentives offered by local cleric of Bane include such things as casting continual flame on a item, healing services (in a certain amount), scrolls or other consumables, tickets to a Lakers game / local rodeo / gladiator contest (usually an expensive ticket) in the big city two weeks hence (which puts a little time crunch on the investigation) ... and so on.

[Chauncymancer]

This is outside my comfort zone :)

Setting:
Small frontier town

Death count & Perp
4 victims: Shade Lord possessed druid who is sending shadow animals and such at targets of opportunity at night.
2 victims: Succubus freed by PCs earlier. She's done some traveling and now has a position of some authority in the community. One victim was an out-of-towner and the other was a target of opportunity while checking out someone killed by the shade druid.
1 victim: Red herring, a stablemaster poisoned by a romantic rival, dead at home during the night.

Here's what I think I need to prep:

Spreadsheet of "what really happened"
Perp, victim, victim name/description., how they died, when, where, why they were targeted, etc.

Results of "Speak with Dead" performed by the local cleric of Bane.

3-5 clues per victim, both interview clues (things people see or know) or physical clues like tracks, lingering magical auras, etc.
Short list of witnesses who might be consulted and what each of them knows.

Anything missing?

A clue list is actually somewhat superfluous if you already have a writeup of how each murder occurred. The clues the players can find are just "all of the things that have happened that would logically leave traces."
A list of witnesses is good, I would actually say if the only thing you writeup is "what were they doing at the time, and how close to the murder were they" you could use that as a spring board for "well if they were asleep at the end of the block they probably were awoken by the scream but were too far away to see much. But the guys in the bar might have seen something through the window. It would have been way too loud to hear anything though."
Speak with dead is probably where I would introduce the red herring though, just based on it being a cleric of Bane asking the questions. "Can this crime be blamed on my political opponents?" "Can this crime be blamed on the poor?" "Can this crime be blamed on another cleric in the area?" "Can this crime be blamed on a persecuted minority?" "Can this crime be blames on Kids These Days?"
"Welp... that was a bust. I'm all out of ideas, what about you guys?"

[Alcore]

You've got a pretty decent list. I'd drop the Red Herring, Red Herrings are not fun to play through, they're just kind of a waste of everyone's time, especially since you've already got 2 killers, that's going to tangle things enough.

+1 this…


One of the main complaints about running murder mystery (besides not doing what you list before game day) is players misinterpreting the clues and making their own red herring.

Keep a red herring on hand if you wish but come game time you must hope that they pick the right guy. If enough clues are missed they might hit a roadblock. Either add more clues (or even a new murder) or let their red herring not be an actual red herring.

[Batcathat]

+1 this…


One of the main complaints about running murder mystery (besides not doing what you list before game day) is players misinterpreting the clues and making their own red herring.

Keep a red herring on hand if you wish but come game time you must hope that they pick the right guy. If enough clues are missed they might hit a roadblock. Either add more clues (or even a new murder) or let their red herring not be an actual red herring.

I'd advice against the last part. Personally, I would feel very cheated if the GM changed what had happened in relation to what I did as a player. I'm not sure how representative I am, but probably safest to avoid it. Throwing in a new murder sounds good though, since it both provides new clues and a sense of urgency.

[Alcore]

I'd advice against the last part. Personally, I would feel very cheated if the GM changed what had happened in relation to what I did as a player. I'm not sure how representative I am, but probably safest to avoid it. Throwing in a new murder sounds good though, since it both provides new clues and a sense of urgency.

I disagree in the context of my previous statement. While I do not disagree I can only agree if I ignore my context.


To clarify;

If the party is roadblocked they can no longer make progress towards the goal. So I said “either” make more clues or let the Red Herring not be a Herring.


If we go more clues route only have the clue generating event happen if they run out of things to do.

If you have nothing and must pick between player frustration or conflict resolution (with the correct guy) move the goal post to the red herring.

[J-H]

It's a town of 200-300 with some transient population.

Methods of death:

Eaten, only bones left (shadow druid)
Picked up, dropped from altitude, lifedrained, then throat torn out after lifedrain to confuse evidence (succubus)
vampiric wolfbite (shadow druid)
Throat torn out (shadow druid)
Collapsed; Shadow attack while drunk (shadow druid)
Seduction/Kiss/”dies” (succubus)
Poisoned at home (completely unrelated to anything except a romantic rivalry)

The succubus will definitely be a good act 2 interferer, as she has done some investigating on her own.

[Pauly]

Red Herrings are only good if they lead to real clues to the real murderers. And I don’t mean in the “once you eliminate the impossible whatever you have left no matter how improbable is the truth” manner. In a book you have the luxury of several hundred pages and many more hours to entertain the reader. In a RP game you have shorter time limits and to keep your players engaged, so any waster time is undesirable. You may as well have had your players look at their phones for the entire period they were following up the red herring for all the good it does for a gaming session.

The only exception would be if you were building an entire campaign around solving one particular murder or set of murders, in which case D&D isn’t the preferred system.

[Easy e]

Whatever you decide to do, let us know how it goes!

[ParasocialTroop]

I listened to a podcast on this. https://www.whatwouldthesmartpartydo.com/2021/07/31/investigation-rpgs/

It's been a bit but I remember they discussed a game called gumshoe as an example they liked of good investigations. I think it was a change from call of Chthulu with the intent of making the investigation portion better.

Some stuff that I thought was good was the idea of not making the attainment of a clue dependent on a skill check or anything else that could fail. Clues are a given; if there is a dice roll involved then failure means that some other complication occurs, but the investigation continues. This allows you to come up with fewer clues since you don't need to assume that they'll miss some. It also disallows getting completely stuck because of several bad rolls in a row.
Alternatively failure of a roll means they players only get a basic clue or part of one, and a success gives more detail or an extra clue. Though, I find it hard to come up with different levels of detail like.

I think they didn't like red herrings, previous posts have discussed that.

Another thing they mentioned is a time limit. I gathered that this limit wasn't in actions or minutes, but in the number of places they could go and people they could talk to. This gives tension and could head off a potential problem of the PC's backtracking a lot to go revisit people or sites (though you might want that to happen).

Best of luck.