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Murder Investigation and Trial
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<blockquote data-quote="dpkress2" data-source="post: 7167671" data-attributes="member: 6867328"><p>I'm looking for advice on a fun and fair way to run a murder investigation and possible trial.</p><p></p><p>One of my PC's (Halfling barbarian) murdered a beloved major NPC in his sleep. He is also attempting to frame one of his NPC rivals by planting the murder weapon near his home.</p><p></p><p>Here are some details:</p><p>It is a very small low-tech (stone age) village of about 150ish people. He murdered the local Druid who is also a member of the governing organization. The druid was one of four members of the "Council of Elders" who makes the major decisions and resolves conflicts for the village. The PC slit the NPC's throat in his stone hut and then intentionally left a blood trail that led to his rival npc's stone hut and left the knife there hidden sloppily in front of the entrance.</p><p></p><p>During the whole event I made him roll 2 stealth checks that were both 19+</p><p>I also made him roll an INT check to determine how well he cleaned up and covered his tracks and he rolled a 4.</p><p></p><p>His motivation is basically that the druid did not like him and was openly suspicious of him. He saw the PC as a bad omen for the village (with good reason) and made this very clear to everyone. So the PC murdered him. The PC in general is a bit of a self proclaimed nuisance to the village and most villagers did not like him and avoid him. He only has a handful of allies at best. Not including the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p>The NPC he is trying to pin this on is a half-orc with no motivation whatsoever, but he is also not particularly liked by the villagers</p><p></p><p>This is a homebrew sandbox campaign and I have zero investment in the characters or the story so I have no issues with these actions and there is no threat of derailment. I allowed the players to play any alignment so I was expecting something like this to happen sooner or later.</p><p></p><p>We left the session with the discovery of the body, the council has been alerted and a council meeting is imminent. And finally the party ranger followed the trail of blood back to the Half-orc NPC's hut.</p><p></p><p>I need to plan a session that involves an investigation and probably a trial. The odds are definitely against him given the circumstance, but I want to deliver a fun and dramatic session. I also need to plan for the fact that the PC will likely murder the entire village if he has to in order to escape.</p><p></p><p>I've always liked 4th ed skill challenges but wanted to get some ideas from DM's who have run through similar scenarios.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="dpkress2, post: 7167671, member: 6867328"] I'm looking for advice on a fun and fair way to run a murder investigation and possible trial. One of my PC's (Halfling barbarian) murdered a beloved major NPC in his sleep. He is also attempting to frame one of his NPC rivals by planting the murder weapon near his home. Here are some details: It is a very small low-tech (stone age) village of about 150ish people. He murdered the local Druid who is also a member of the governing organization. The druid was one of four members of the "Council of Elders" who makes the major decisions and resolves conflicts for the village. The PC slit the NPC's throat in his stone hut and then intentionally left a blood trail that led to his rival npc's stone hut and left the knife there hidden sloppily in front of the entrance. During the whole event I made him roll 2 stealth checks that were both 19+ I also made him roll an INT check to determine how well he cleaned up and covered his tracks and he rolled a 4. His motivation is basically that the druid did not like him and was openly suspicious of him. He saw the PC as a bad omen for the village (with good reason) and made this very clear to everyone. So the PC murdered him. The PC in general is a bit of a self proclaimed nuisance to the village and most villagers did not like him and avoid him. He only has a handful of allies at best. Not including the rest of the party. The NPC he is trying to pin this on is a half-orc with no motivation whatsoever, but he is also not particularly liked by the villagers This is a homebrew sandbox campaign and I have zero investment in the characters or the story so I have no issues with these actions and there is no threat of derailment. I allowed the players to play any alignment so I was expecting something like this to happen sooner or later. We left the session with the discovery of the body, the council has been alerted and a council meeting is imminent. And finally the party ranger followed the trail of blood back to the Half-orc NPC's hut. I need to plan a session that involves an investigation and probably a trial. The odds are definitely against him given the circumstance, but I want to deliver a fun and dramatic session. I also need to plan for the fact that the PC will likely murder the entire village if he has to in order to escape. I've always liked 4th ed skill challenges but wanted to get some ideas from DM's who have run through similar scenarios. [/QUOTE]
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