Serial Killers in DnD?

[the Jester]

Has anyone else ever used a serial killer in their campaign? One whose identity was unknown for some time, who had a preferred type of victim, you know, a Jack the Ripper type or something?

Years ago I had a kid-killing clown based roughly on Pennywise from It by Stephen King, except it turned out to be the local alchemist/magic merchant (using the items the party sold as loot, even!) He was an illusionist, and the party dealt with him and the repercussions of his actions periodically from their very first adventure until they were about, oh, I think 5th level before they figured out who he was. (This was in the 1e days; it took a lot longer to advance back then, so this was months and months.)

Of course, he only appeared once in a while, but he was always on their minds...

Anyone else do anything like this? The aspect I'm especially interested in is the "concealed identity" thing- how do you manage that part? (The party in question imc had a fighter, a druid/mage, and a bard from Best of Dragon vol. 2, none of whom had good divination magic to penetrate identities, so it was easy for me.)

And please, folks, let's try to avoid going off-topic and turning this into a debate about real world serial killers, that'll end up with the thread getting closed down.

 

[Crothian]

It's a good idea and I really like the mystery element of it. I've yet to try this idea, but I am planning of using one in my next game. I think this will fit very well into the Thieves World atmosphere and it will be harder to detect a serial killer with all the senseless killing in there anyway. This way I can establish it game one and see how long it takes someone to put it all together.

 

[Darkness]

That old Ravenloft Monster Compendium had a serial killer...

 

[Numion]

Serial Killers? Yeah, though they're called adventurers in my game.

 

[Drawmack]

Divination in 3e will only detect the killer if they are still there and hiding, so you just have them gone before the PCs get there. What I think would work best is the same thing that works in real life. Each murder has multiple suspects, each of whom has an air tight aliby, or each of whom could have done it but it is one or the other. Also I wouldn't even have the real killer be a suspect until the fifth or sixth murder, that way they simply are not thinking about them. Two other tricks are make the murders hard to link, maybe the killing style is always the same but the PCs have to ask the right questions to know that, or maybe they are all blondes but the PCs have to ask to know that. You can also have the PCs get interupted. They are working on the case when blam something else comes up to pull them away from it.

 

[Henry]

I used a serial killer of cowmaids once in an adventure - Dixon "Bloody" Manchester - used a hook to slay and hang his victims in barns across the countryside. The party cleric of Tyr took it personally upon himself to capture the criminal and take the reward money for his church. After judicious use of divination spells such as augury and divination, the cleric tracked down the region Manchester was in, laid down my campaign world's first sting operation, and fought a bloody hand-to-hand melee with the criminal ending in Manchester's arrest, and trial for mass murder.

I always planned an adventure involving Manchester's revenant, hunting revenge on the cleric, but the campaign closed before we got that far.

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As for using serial killer types, the best thing as with any plot elements, is to use it sparingly. Spring no more than two serial killers in the campaign's life. After all, the name of the game is D&D, not CSI.

 

[Shallown]

I once (actually twice in different games) ran a serial killer in an Amber game and it worked out quite well.

I focused on how grizzly the murders were. Characters/players tend to be jaded and sometimes you have to shock them a little as a serial killer shocks us.

It makes for a great mystery especially if you set a time table of when someone dies. It gets the players moving along well and can make them desperate and more willing to enter into morale conflicts such as will we ignore the drug smuggler who wants to trade info for protection etc...

In D&D it would be important to shield or protect the killer from divinations and such. They could easily have a magic item, worship a God who approves of their activities or just simple stay somewhere barred from divination (like some temples or mage schools in my game) most of the time.

I also find it worked well to work upwards through society. First murders are beggars/criminals/common laborers, then merchants, then minor royalty. Reason being the lower murders may be ignored by the upper management of the city and you can easily make it personal to the characters by it being someone they know. Make sure it is someone they are not too closely attached. Reason is if it is too close then players/characters take it as an attack directed at them. Don't focus it on the characters to start, if you can help it . The idea is to draw them in and then guilt them for taking so long to be drawn in.

Usually a barmaid or servant will do to start.

Just a few ideas. hope they help however decides to run with this idea.

Later

 

[Tcheb]

My campaign started off this way - the PCs were looking to make a name for themselves, and they decided to chase down some whacko who was killing people with a ballpien hammer.

Everyone was low level, so I didn't have to worry about diviniations or advanced magics. Just a bunch of investigation work, and of course, the inevitable combat at the end.

Oh, and the whole thing took place in a large city.

Made for a fun few sessions.

 

[Eristophenes]

I remember old Ravenloft module - The Hour of Knife. It was great, really - a kind of Jack the Ripper adventure...

 

[Mindcrime]

I put a serial killer in Book of Taverns (Necromancer Games). I didn't make it so obvious, but it's clear enough if you read between the lines.

Chris