MarkM
Explorer
We are starting a Zeitgeist campaign. Of the 100+ pages of player information, backstories, NPC info, etc., the one thing that my party has collectively seized on prior to the campaign is one of the very few hooks that leads absolutely nowhere -- The Ragman. Because of the energy they are putting there even in their own backstories and "session Zeros," I want the Ragman to connect to the greater story.
We already have one serial killer in the campaign, so I started with Olivert Boone. He ritually sacrifices people, but isn't in Risur. His cursed pistols might be, though!
To start, I added some records of war crimes that have been hidden by the military-- a decorated officer who snuck out at night and murdered Danorans (initially just soldiers, but eventually killed some civilians as well). His pistols eventually made it back to Flint where they were picked up by a wealthy young nobleman (connected to a character backstory) who collects rare weapons.
One theory of Jack the Ripper is that he was a nobleman and was actually caught but it was covered up to save his family embarrassment. I stole that concept. He takes the trolly in from the North Shore to where his family supports a Salvation Army/Thrift Store charitable depot near Parity Lake. The young nobleman puts on the tattered clothing there as a disguise. He is attracted to young men, but is driven by the pistols to kill them. He does this, but then is gripped with self-loathing. Eventually he gets caught, but his influential family will cover it up so the newspapers and common citizens don't know the danger has passed. He kills himself while under house arrest after being separated from the pistols. Fell's men continue to use the Ragman as cover for their killing, but alert constables can notice that the style of killing shifts.
The pistols then make there way to the Kaybeau Arms and Technology Exposition for a quick cameo, where an alert party member might notice them. If they get interested in buying them, the shopkeeper will tell them they have already been sold to a Tiefling gentleman.
The showdown with Boone happens as in the module. The papers reporting the killings might call them Ragman copycat murders.
When the spirits of victims come out of the gun, spirits of the past owners and their victims will also emerge. This will provide some opportunities to fill in whatever blanks the characters haven't figured out in their Ragman investigation.
The final twist is that instead of having the pistols be possessed by a demon they are cursed by the Voice of Rot. The spreading of the entrails and organs (as described in Boone's killings) is his way of laying out the body to rot. There will be other people (one from a backstory, later minions in Bole) who do human sacrifice in a similar way as an offering to the Voice.
There's a bit more detail (mostly connected to people's backstory npcs), but that is the outline of how I'm making the Ragman more centrally connected to the plot.
Thoughts? Problems? Plot holes? Ways this will create inconsistencies or problems down the road? Unmitigated praise? Ideas or things I've missed?
We already have one serial killer in the campaign, so I started with Olivert Boone. He ritually sacrifices people, but isn't in Risur. His cursed pistols might be, though!
To start, I added some records of war crimes that have been hidden by the military-- a decorated officer who snuck out at night and murdered Danorans (initially just soldiers, but eventually killed some civilians as well). His pistols eventually made it back to Flint where they were picked up by a wealthy young nobleman (connected to a character backstory) who collects rare weapons.
One theory of Jack the Ripper is that he was a nobleman and was actually caught but it was covered up to save his family embarrassment. I stole that concept. He takes the trolly in from the North Shore to where his family supports a Salvation Army/Thrift Store charitable depot near Parity Lake. The young nobleman puts on the tattered clothing there as a disguise. He is attracted to young men, but is driven by the pistols to kill them. He does this, but then is gripped with self-loathing. Eventually he gets caught, but his influential family will cover it up so the newspapers and common citizens don't know the danger has passed. He kills himself while under house arrest after being separated from the pistols. Fell's men continue to use the Ragman as cover for their killing, but alert constables can notice that the style of killing shifts.
The pistols then make there way to the Kaybeau Arms and Technology Exposition for a quick cameo, where an alert party member might notice them. If they get interested in buying them, the shopkeeper will tell them they have already been sold to a Tiefling gentleman.
The showdown with Boone happens as in the module. The papers reporting the killings might call them Ragman copycat murders.
When the spirits of victims come out of the gun, spirits of the past owners and their victims will also emerge. This will provide some opportunities to fill in whatever blanks the characters haven't figured out in their Ragman investigation.
The final twist is that instead of having the pistols be possessed by a demon they are cursed by the Voice of Rot. The spreading of the entrails and organs (as described in Boone's killings) is his way of laying out the body to rot. There will be other people (one from a backstory, later minions in Bole) who do human sacrifice in a similar way as an offering to the Voice.
There's a bit more detail (mostly connected to people's backstory npcs), but that is the outline of how I'm making the Ragman more centrally connected to the plot.
Thoughts? Problems? Plot holes? Ways this will create inconsistencies or problems down the road? Unmitigated praise? Ideas or things I've missed?
Last edited:
