D&D 5E Unraveling the Mystery Too Quickly?

[THEMNGMNT]

@Retreater you might find this article helpful in calculating how to award non-combat XP: Using Experience Points To Make D&D More Compelling

 

[Retreater]

There’s quite a bit of combat in the early part of Dragon Heist, and the later part expects the DM to interject Faction sidequests to get the characters appropriately leveled (though I’ll concede that such an expectation is pretty poor adventure writing.)

I had to jump the characters to Level 2 before they even started the first dungeon (at the suggestion of everyone I've read online). It was still nearly a TPK with the extra level.

It’s right there in the DMG. Award XP equivalent to an easy encounter of the party’s level for finding a clue, and XP equivalent to a Hard encounter for successfully solving a mystery.

Oh, there is definitely not enough content in Dragon Heist to level up using that method.

 

[Charlaquin]

I had to jump the characters to Level 2 before they even started the first dungeon (at the suggestion of everyone I've read online). It was still nearly a TPK with the extra level.

And people complain 5e is easy mode

The Find Floon portion of Dragon Heist conforms neatly to the encounter building and adventuring day guidelines from the DMG. It’s an 8-encounter adventuring day which is on the long side, but there should be plenty of opportunities to stop for short rests. 25 XP per character for the bar fight, 50 for the troll and the stirges, 50 for the Kenku, 25 for finding Renaer, 25 for the gazer, 25 for the goblins, 50 for the encounter with the duergar and the guy from the bar, 25 for the ooze, 75 for the boss fight, and 25 for finding Floon. That puts them square at 300 XP and second level, as expected in the module.

Oh, there is definitely not enough content in Dragon Heist to level up using that method.

Right, like I said, Dragon Heist expects you to use faction missions to fill in the missing XP, which I concede is poor adventure design. But if you include a full adventuring day worth of appropriately-leveled content for the party in each of three faction missions throughout the adventure, plus XP for milestones according to the DMG guidelines, there’s enough to get the party to where the module expects them to be.

 

[jgsugden]

Give them their victories when they earn them, and let them celebrate bypassing dangers.

If it is a published module, make sure you mix things up a bit and lay a few traps so that anyone that read the adventure is going to end up trapped by their knowledge instead of rewarded by it. The player that goes straight to the treasure chest hidden under the floor boards might be surprised to find you've replaced it with a mimic.

If they're moving through the module too fast, add side quests and extra chapters. For DH, you might look to some of the characters that do not feature into your storyline and have them cross over into your storyline. For example, if there were a storyline centered around a coven of hags (there is not) that was not being used, I might start to fold in their storyline as late comers on the hunt.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

As for mysteries, D&D doesn't play like a Sherlock Homes novel. Or rather when it does, it feel hokey (in my experience). Sherlock Homes novels work because Sherlock Homes shares a mind with the novelist, who knows the answer to the mystery. D&D plays more like a Raymond Chandler story: "When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."

As far as DM secrets go, I find most DMs play their cards too close to their chest. Yes, there might be the soul of a dead god buried the lake, but if they don't knows about it, your players aren't going to care, even if creepy things are going on there. I find it best to tell my players, "There's a soul of a dead god buried under the lake where all the creepy stuff is happening. Good luck."

Generously gushing setting secrets is always better than keeping them hidden, in my experience. Knowledge of the setting increases player agency. Ignorant players tend to flounder or wait for the DM to pull their chain. Informed players take action and make bolder, more unexpected choices.

 

[EpicureanDM]

I'm running a campaign adventure that is strongly based in investigation (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, if you're curious).

With activities like splitting the party, gathering clues, asking the right questions, and making obscenely high skill checks, the party is managing to bypass many of the side adventures that give extra clues that they honestly don't need.

I've run mysteries successfully in other systems (including Call of Cthulhu), but there just isn't enough meat to this genre in D&D to make it work the same way.

In a mystery game in a system not especially designed for this style of play (like D&D), what do you do as the GM? Do you add more complications? Do you let them have their victory quick? Do you stick to the script and not allow them to make skill checks to say - follow a suspect?

If it's not too late, you should read all of The Alexandrian's Dragon Heist Remix and adapt your ongoing game to match it. The Alexandrian has a strong background in Call of Cthulhu, so you're getting a reorganization and restructuring of Dragon Heist that should make it easier for you to run. It will feel much more like a proper mystery and a proper heist.

As a side benefit, you'll be learning great techniques for running mysteries in D&D.

EDIT: I always vacillate between which post in the Remix is the better introduction for newcomers. If you bounce off of the first link I provided, try Part 7: How The Remix Works. You might read the author's initial review of Dragon Heist, too. If what he's saying resonates with your problems running Dragon Heist, then you'll like the Remix.

 

[TheSword]

One trick I like is to have clues point towards something that on the face of it appears to be impossible. Perhaps to a red herring too.

The party dismiss the seemingly impossible but later clues reveal that they were mistaken.

For instance the clues left at a crime point to an imprisoned man, therefore unable to be the culprit. Later clues reveal the prisoner has the guards in his pay so can leave at will, or has dug a tunnel, or has a twin, or has glamoured someone to resemble them.

This is really just a version of the alibi mystery where the clues point to someone who has a plausible alibi... but is it genuine?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

One trick I like is to have clues point towards something that on the face of it appears to be impossible. Perhaps to a red herring too.

The party dismiss the seemingly impossible but later clues reveal that they were mistaken.

Agatha Christie wants her plot back!

 

[TheSword]

Agatha Christie wants her plot back!

Precisely! Or guilty parties that are the least expected.

Her murderers are always the least likely to have done it...

Incidentally for a cracking murder mystery that turns the usual structure on its head check out Knives Out It has an awesome cast and awesome plot.

Knives Out (2019) - IMDb

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Definitely recommend Knives Out.