Murder Mystery Plot Help

[Gilladian]

I'm thinking of running a murder mystery for my 3rd level PCs in the next session (which will not be for several weeks, possibly over a month, so I have lots of planning time).

My current ideas are outlined below:

I’m thinking that when the PCs return from their current adventure, with the children they rescued from some Kobolds, they will be greeted by the town with open arms and hailed as heroes. Even Thierry Creed, the evil logging consortium leader, will be happy with them (at least to some degree - he’s also suspicious and resentful of their popularity and rise in power) for a while.


I've got a good adventure that will present itself in a week or three and which feeds on things that happened in the kobold adventure, but I need to keep the PCs occupied in the meantime.


So - a nice change-of-pace murder mystery - who is the victim? One of the two Priests in the local temple (who are a couple). But who murdered him, and how, and why? I’ve got several candidates for the killer:
a) The grave-digger - The PCs met him briefly and know he’s a very lousy parent.

b) the other priest - just because you always look at the person closest to the victim. PCs have not met either priest.
c) Thierry Creed - probably via one of his minions with at least one cut-away between him and the victim, so doubtful he personally could be held accountable.


I’m thinking if it was the grave-digger, it was because the victim was threatening to have him removed from his position and evicted from his cottage, rendering him homeless and unemployed. But what did he do to deserve such a fate? And how did he kill the victim in such a way as to hide his guilt?


If it was the other priest, then the motive would probably be jealousy. Maybe the victim was cheating on him, or the killer thought he was cheating. With whom? And how did things go down?


If it was Creed, what was the motive? In this case, I’m presuming that the killing was a pretty violent “home invasion” type action, and the real mystery is not really who was behind it, but can it be proven?


Which of these three choices seems the most interesting? What could I do to make the motive and the method interesting? Any other suggestions? I could do this all myself, and my players would instantly figure out what I'm plotting!

If you're interested, you can find a description of the village, and the NPCs, etc... here: http://vishteercampaign.pbworks.com/w/page/110248900/Falcon's Hollow

 

[GMMichael]

Murder is pretty commonplace in D&D* games. Heck, your PCs are probably trained killers. So you'll need a better reason than "he's a priest" for them to care about the murder. The more they care is the more interest they have in your side quest.

I'd go with at least five suspects. You don't want coin-flipping to be a viable method of deciding who-done-it.

Give your murderer a motive, and give the innocents motives as well, or your players won't spend time investigating them.

The "hows" of the murder sprout organically when you write the entire scene of the murder. Once that's happened, send in your NPC investigator to pick up the clues. Rewrite the scene if any clues lead directly to the killer, or if there aren't enough clues (including those held by other characters) to lead to a conviction.

* I sincerely hope you're playing D&D if kobolds were involved in the campaign. Or some gritty, non-translated German RPG.

 

[Gilladian]

Well, yes, I would definitely need a couple more suspects. And the game is 3.5e, limited by not allowing tier 1 classes. The Pcs are a ranger/thief, a fighter, a healer and maybe a warlock. With an NPC bard.

I think that the actual killer will be a cult leader, who has faked a pair of the consortium boss's thugs into killing the priest, making them think their boss wanted it done. So there's at least the potential for the Pcs to end up helping Creed find out who misled his hirelings and committed the real crime. I love the idea that they end up working for/with the bad guy...

So now I just have to decide which cult, why they wanted the priest dead, how he was killed, and what clues to present, and how.

 

[Eltab]

Cult of Bhaal the god of murder (from Forgotten Realms) allows you to kill NPCs with enthusiasm - think Charles Manson. He doesn't need a reason, or his reason may have nothing to do with reality.

A demon cult may want a shocking killing just to spread fear and horror, plus the priest is the most likely person to be able to cast Banishment on their Patron.

A priest may be slain by another priest of the opposite deity, if any. Just because, you know, divine rivalries.

If the spouse-priest did it (because of an affair), their god must command marital fidelity and/or threaten to punish oath-breakers. Otherwise (s)he is also guilty of a heinous sin.

Two of the logging crew is known to be persons of vile character: they smoke, drink to excess, curse voluminously, mock the misfortunate, are selfish and greedy. They are suspects because nobody else likes / trusts them. They might be implicated if the killer leaves a piece of logger's equipment (some kind of saw) at the scene, even if they aren't really guilty.

Red herring: Monty Python's "I'm A Lumberjack and I'm OK" character.

I just listened in as my high-school-aged daughter read "Murder on the Orient Express". Read through THAT for ideas how to hide the motive for a murder, and how to pierce the veil.

 

[Gilladian]

Well, so the idea is shaping up this way:

The victim: Brother Lucien, human priest of Safreth (God of the Land - a forest and agriculture god), who was first bashed on the back of the head, and then tumbled into the village well, where he drowned.

Who killed him: the killer was a man named Matthieu of Carennac - a thug in the employ of Payden Tedum - who received word, he would swear, if he is ever questioned, from Tedum himself, to get rid of the Priest, and make it look like an accident. Unfortunately, due to the large dent in Brother Lucien's head, nobody is convinced that he drowned himself.

Who is really behind the killing: the cult of Eresh - the cult is supposedly a harmless healer-cult that tends to the weak and helpless in Falcon's Hollow - but is actually an offshoot of an evil Earth Cult in another nearby Earldom, which has plans on eventually dominating the village and Barony. The reason for the killing is that Brother Lucien saw Father Raulf, the cult leader, in close discussions with Henri Valluy, the local gravedigger. Raulf realized that in the future, when he begins his moves in the community, Brother Lucien will be able to tie him to Henri, so he directs Sister Oriane (a cult member) to deliver a note that he has written to one of Tedum's henchmen, using the hat of disguise she owns. The note directs the recipient to do away with Brother Lucien "in an accidental manner." Oriane does so, without knowing what Father Raulf is actually hiding. (What Henri and Father Raulf are up to is another plot thread).

What clues could lead to solving the crime?
1) someone could have seen the killer near the scene, and could describe him, at least partly
2) Mathieu could have told a friend about the job and the pay he would soon be getting.
3) when the killer goes to Tedum to report the job done and collect his pay, there could be repercussions
4) the note could turn up somewhere - either Matheiu gave it to his friend, who could lose or try to hide it, or if Tedum were to "get rid" of Mathieu for his actions, the note could be found on his body.

Other suspects for the killing would of course be a) Moise, the other priest - he is griefstricken at his partner's death, and will not be able to offer much help, except to say that Lucien had gone into the village to collect water from the well, and never came back; b) Henri the gravedigger, who has been acting even more erratically in the past week or so since his son was rescued from the Kobolds (Moise can say that they had discussed terminating his employment but had come to no conclusions, yet) and c) Rodolph Masse - the village smith, who was seen near the vicinity of the well shortly before the killing was discovered. Rodolph's wife Hadrienne was known to be very fond of Brother Lucien and spent much time in his company (or so the gossips say; at the very least, she was a devout woman who prayed at the temple daily), and Rodolph was a jealous sort.

If anyone has any suggestions on things to add/improve, twists or complications to my plot, or general comments on how to strengthen the mystery, please feel free to comment! I'll be making a flowchart and timeline of events next, and will post them if anyone is interested.