Any good murder mystery mods?

Heroditis

First Post
Does anyone know of any good D&D murder mystery mods out there? My party is going to be spending a considerable ammount of time at sea, and I thought a murder would be just the type of thing to spice things up! I don't quite feel confident aobut writing the mystery myself just yet (newbie DM).

Thanks in advance for the suggestions,
Heroditis
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Sulimo

First Post
Well, one of my alltime faves is the old 1e adventure 'The Assasins Knot'.

As for 3e adventures, I'd really like to know also.
 

Gargoyle

Adventurer
I don't know any good mystery adventures, sorry. But I have tried to run a few homegrown ones in my time, and let me give you some advice:

Be careful. These things tends to bring your game to a crawl. It sounds like a cool idea, but making a mystery the focus of your game can really make things dull. That's why if you read the submission guidelines for Dungeon magazine, they specifically say not to send one in. If you're a new DM, it's especially hard to run.

Don't let the mystery keep the game from moving. Put in lots of action.

Do find a published adventure, just like you're doing, rather than write one yourself. You're right to see what someone else has done.

One technique that you may or may not want to use is to create a mystery without a solution. Don't say to yourself "the butler did it". Instead describe the situation, and let the players run around as you continue to play NPCs off the cuff and describe their environment. They'll start collecting what they think are clues and will talk endlessly about who done it, in which room and with what weapon. (If they're interested in this sort of thing). They will usually come up with a more convoluted plot than you ever could. Steal their ideas and make them so. They'll think you're a genius and will be quite satisfied. Unless they catch on.... You have to decide whether you can pull this off or not, and how often to risk it...

In any case, if they look bored, throw some combat at them, quick.
 
Last edited:

Demon god's fane is a murder mystery

It's a 14th level adventure, however, and apparently the mystery isn't terribly challenging when you can just resurrect the murdered persons. :)

Don't forget that even mid-level PCs can use spells like speak with dead.
 

BluWolf

Explorer
As pointed out, mysteries, especially murder mysteries are hard to run in a game were true divinations of all sorts are available.

I have only run 1 to a satifactory conclusion and I used it to start a campaign. All the charcters were first level and it alleviated much of the magical issues.

One piece of advice I will give is don't assume or require the characters to solve the mystery.

If they decide upon the perponderance of the evidence that NPC X did it, but are wrong. Let them be wrong!!

This would be a great way to introduce a littel vengence (rightly) later in the characters lives. It takes some self discipline but man it can create a very memorable moment when the PCs realised they helped convict and innocent man.
 

Fyrie

Explorer
Ack.. I posted but it didn't show

Anyway, Raveloft produced 3 good murder mysteries. The best I have have come across.

1. Goblin Feast.

2. The cedar chest (from the book of crypts). One of your characters IS the killer, but they don't know it. Good stuff!

3. Blood In Moondale (from the book of crypts) - Your PCs are hungover in a town and there is a werewolf killing people by the numbers. I made the werewolf the shadowy NPC in the group. It went off well.. They felt betrayed and sad.
 

Kesh

First Post
They're on a ship, hmm? Let's see...

I'd say try the old classic 'locked door murder'. Someone on board is killed, but the room they are in presented no escape route. There was only one way in or out (and something was in place to prevent teleportation or summoned creatures), and the deckhands saw no one go through that entrance.

There's no magical aura to the body to indicate spellcasting, no poisons, etc. The victim is revealed to have been carrying an item of some importance, which is now gone. If the PCs cannot find the murderer by the time the ship lands, they'll never retrieve the object or bring the murderer to justice (which gives them an incentive to act quickly).

There's any number of possibilities: a vampire in mist form, someone shapeshifted into a small creature, or perhaps a suicide made to look like a murder (and the object is merely hidden). Or maybe the deckhands are covering up for the real, mundane murderer... Lots of possibilities.
 

Altalazar

First Post
Ah yes, the Cedar Chest. I ran that one oh so many years ago - part of a long Ravenloft Campaign. My favorite of all the D&D games I've run.

And it turned out perfectly - one player had his character leave to train for a few weeks (and maybe even missed a session, but I don't recall that now) - he was a rogue, I think, and he became, of all things, a JESTER. In full jester garb. Bells and everything. Or as he mimed it out (walking with arms flailing - *Jingle* *Jingle* *Jingle*.) Yes. A JESTER in RAVENLOFT. And he was probably the least screwed up character of the group. There was the cleric slowly turning into a zombie lord (bad idea to get cursed, then killed by a pack of zombies, then raised in Ravenloft, then blow a save with a 1), Aqua-man (Really a straight mage with an insanity causing random personality shifts in stressful situations) - then he ignored (at like 2nd level) a 'No Fishing' Sign in Ravenloft. Bad idea. Ended up slowly turning onto a fish-man (like Creature from the Black Lagoon). Thus his nom de plume. He also had an interesting flght before this - he ended up in one on one melee. He was a 1st level Mage with a dagger. His opponent was a 3rd level fighter with a longsword. His mage kicked the fighter's ass. I've NEVER seen so many 20s rolled in a row. He never even got a scratch. And the combat lasted like four or five rounds.

Ah, the memories. If only the essence of Ravenloft could rise again...
 



Remove ads

Top