Wanted: city based mystery

[kramis]

How about something different?

I had two ideas for adventures for my group that I think have poential for being interesting. It's dragonstar, but I'm sure it could be easily adaptable to any campaign.

The first idea is that a noble approaches the PC's with a task ... the noble's son has sort of fallen into a bad crowd. At first he was just being spoiled, but now it's getting out of hand. The noble decides it's time to start bringing him up right.

For the plot to work, the noble has to be very rich and powerful, enough so that if the PC's cross him in some way they will be very fearful for their lives. The son should also be quite powerful as an opponent ... in my campaign he's a half-dragon which alone makes him tough, but in normal dnd you could figure something out.

Anyway, the twist is you have to bring him back against his will, but without really hurting him. His nasty friends are another story. To make it more interesting in my campaign, the "retrieval" has to happen on an expensive resort planet (could be a resort island) and they have to pose as guests to get in. This also means they won't be able to bring most of their equipment. However they could be allowed to smuggle some in ... the owner is "in on the plan" but he insists on normal business not being disrupted ... he doesn't want to lose rich customers.

To add yet another twist there is another group posing as members who are actually evil clerics that have realized there is some ancient evil there they want to awaken ... which end up killing them all and then vacationers one by one.

It's sort of a city adventure since the resort town is like a miniature city ...

 

[jgbrowning]

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?

Its never too late to enlist in the thieves' guild. They welcome private investigators who do all the dirty work for them...

A good old "everyone's got six angles" story line keeps the PC nuts.

joe b.

 

[Conaill]

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. <shrug> Case closed!

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.

Oh, and the PCs were expected to notice that?

 

[Conaill]

For a somewhat cliche but really cool roleplaying opportunity... the PCs are invited to a masked ball at the palace (your female players will be eternally grateful ) Lots of gossip, intrigue, Darkness spell, someone dies, "Nobody leaves the room!"

You can fill in the rest of the details...

Oodles of roleplaying opportunities, pure hack/slashers are going to be at a loss here. You can add in some chase through the palace, secret passages (watch the movie "Clue" if you haven't already!), and a final combat when the murderer is discovered.

 

[KnowTheToe]

Psion

Did you figure out what you wanted to do with your plot?

 

[Silver Moon]

There are two older Dungeon Magazines that I have used to run excellent city-based mysteries for low-level groups. They are:

Dungeon #29: "Mightier than the sword"

Dungeon #35: "The Ghost of Mistmoor"

 

[Hand of Evil]

I have always found that I need a flow chart for them. Basicly starting from A and leading to Z, placing clues along the way with paths either leading to the next clue or away from it.

Mystery - Bodies are being found. Not long dead but not from local graves and people are not being reported missing. Where are they coming from? Who is behind it? Answer underground slave market, people are being taken from someplace else and are being moved threw the city, they reason they are dying is do to illness.

Clues: Marks on the body showing whip or chain. The signs of the illness (plague?). Location of bodies.

Other clues: Cover up, witnesses, sounds in the night, cothing on the bodies.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Mysteries can be tough because either:

a) The PC's get stuck on a particular clue and start getting bored because clue to clue games tend to be boring - you really have to keep the pace up.

or

b) To alleviate problem a) you lead them through the hoops to an encounter they were always going to have. Ahhh... Boring again.

Now, let's get it interesting by doing away with the whodunnit aspect.

The crime is known, the perpetrator fugitive and the clock is ticking before he or she really does something bad.

The crime can be a generic murder but with a twist. Something about it makes it sickening. Whoever did this must pay. You now start to introduce feelings of revenge into the PC's. Perhaps they knew the victim, were about to get a gift or some such off of them. However, the criminal behind this act is on the loose but has either:
a) Taken a hostage and is demanding something.
or
b) Threatened someone with the twist being that the threatened person has gone missing or does not know the threat is upon them. The players have to find and protect. Maybe the person does not want to be protected and actively tries to sneak away?

Personally, I'd go with a) but have the criminal successfully knock off the hostage regardless of whether they dropped the loot off at the particular place or not. The criminals henchmen get the loot while he's off somewhere totally different. Now the players really want revenge on both the Henchmen and the Bad Guy.

Now you have a hunt. Hunts are much better than whodunnits. Do they get the bad guy or do they just get one of his henchmen? Up to you and whether you want to keep this criminal alive to further torment your PC's.

I've always found revenge to be the most emotionally involving of storylines. It is made incredibly potent if you have NPC's that the characters genuinely care about. So during the game, make them care about whoever is going to get knocked off.

Tell me what you think anyway?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise