Wanted: city based mystery

[Psion]

My low level (4th) game is getting a little stale and I am strapped for ideas currently. I was hoping to get players a little more involved in one of the major cities in my game, and thus give them a reason to poke around a little.

So I want to set up a mystery type adventure for them to work on. I could use something that facilitates a few good fights as well as some good roleplaying.

So, any good, short ideas for mystery plots along these lines?

 

[KnowTheToe]

How about a murder that does not turn out to be a murder at all. I was thinking of using an NPC the charactrs sort of know, she is from the mid or high class and the players do her some favor. As a reward she invites the PCs to a ball where they meet several key players in the city and hear parts of many schemes, plans etc, these end up being clues on who to trust, red herrings in their investigation etc.

Anyway, during the party she whipers to one of the PCs that she is fearful for her life from someone at the party and would like them to meet her in her room in a half an hour. When the get there, she is dead, torn apart from some creature. The PCs finish off the creature and then can search the room. They find an open portal that can lead anywhere you want.

The girl is an evil cleric trying to obtain a PrC and needs to leave her old life behind. In her room the PCs can find all sorts of letters, unknown symbols....

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Murder mysteries always end up horrible for me, but here is something I stole from somewhere (don't recall where) that actually worked out for me:

A small bard outfit starring/owned by two brothers is staying at an inn. There is obvious animosity between the brothers (jealousy and greed), but their manager helps keep them together. They have a big fight that night- both threaten violence against the other publically.

One brother is assaulted in the night- stabbed from behind when in his room. He was sitting at a desk facing a window and says he saw a man come in and before he could turn- he was attacked, but after the one stab the man must have run away.

A bit later- one of the female dancers is found hung in the kitchen with a note claiming guilt.

Ok, so what happened: The injured brother did it to himself- he wedged a knife in he doorjam and rammed himself into it. He hoped to lay the blame on his brother and get him arrested.

The dancing girl was killed by the manager- she turned down his advances one too many times and he stangled her, faked the hanging, and penned the note. He screws up by the knocked over chair not reaching her feat.

You could expand this idea to a powerful guild run by two brothers- as the party investigates.. loyal thugs from both side try to "influence" the pc's.

Good luck!
SD

 

[Morpheus]

Disappearing citizens...

Insidious cult that uses a tavern as a front...The tavern also happens to serve the best mincemeat pie in the area...

Beautiful daughter comes to PCs distraught- her Father has disappeared...


I used this adventure (except for the beautiful daughter bit; my hook used a crime boss with info the PCs wanted) last session and it was one of the best ever. I think that had something to do with the battle at the pit filled with dead bodies. The PCs got into a fight over who was going to go into the pit and finally the gobber just ran and dove in. Head first. And all this over trying to settle a loan...

 

[Eosin the Red]

I used one mystery-catch the carrot adventure from MERP (Gondor, I think?). It involved the cat demon and was really easy to adapt into my home game?

 

[Kryndal Levik]

"The Murder of Seven Points" mini-module by AEG provides a great (and easily adaptable) city-based adventure; it can also be tied quite easily to other campaign storylines. I highly recommend it.

 

[Psion]

Thanks, guys. Those are some good ideas.

"The Murder of Seven Points" mini-module by AEG provides a great (and easily adaptable) city-based adventure; it can also be tied quite easily to other campaign storylines. I highly recommend it.

Oooh, I have that and I gotta disagree. It is not a very well writen mystery adventure. The players basically have no way to peice the clues together and can't predict anything until the last act. Basically, they get led around by the nose until the end, where they get to fight the beastie.

 

[Kryndal Levik]

Actually, I wouldn't disagree with you, Psion- I mainly used the general storyline/idea of the product, and modified the heck out of it. I took that adventure and modified it for use in my campaign (which has an ongoing "secret cult of evil" storyline).

I rarely use modules/products "as-is;" I mainly use them for ideas. While I liked the idea of the product, I definitely wouldn't recommend it to be used off the shelf.

 

[LostSoul]

Random ideas...

The McGuffin: After a night at the tavern, where one of the PCs gets hit on by a hot and mysterious NPC, he wakes up with a hangover. And a ring in his pocket.

And before he knows what's going on, the bad guys are bursting down the door and chasing after him.


The Plague: After spending a few nights in the city, buying and fixing weapons and armour, the PCs hear about an outbreak of the Plague in the slums. The city is quarrantined! How did this start, and how to end it?

This might not be the main plot line, but it could work well as background.


Ummmm.... hope these inspired something.

 

[demiurge1138]

Well, you could take a serial kiler murder mystery, and add a supernatural twist. Example:

People start dying. Suddenly. normal clerical healing doesn't seem to work, and it isn't a disease. All of the deaths differ in execution and duration, but the target suddenly sickens and dies, sometimes slowly, sometimes instantly. If the PCs can get an autopsy done on the corpses, it is revealed that each victim is missing a different organ. What is happening?

Or, you could draw from paranormal history, like so.

Reports have been coming in throughout the city and in the neighboring areas that a strange fire-breathing man with sharp claws has been startling travelers and disrupting crowds before leaping away with unnatural alracity. The "Springheel Jack" case, as it comes to be known, is overlooked as just a harmless, albeit odd, prank, until he throws a woman off a bridge before drowning her. Who is Springheel Jack, and what are his motives.

Demiurge out.