Running my first campaign and I am running into a little trouble. Players are level 2 almost level 3. My players are in a city inside a country that has forbidden arcane necromancy and evil worship is also forbidden. (Goes with the campaign, but too long to explain.) Anyway, the city just got about 20 of the bodies in the graveyard looted and one of the churches came to investigate. They found that a cult of orcus is present. Though one of the leaders have left with the now zombie horde some low ranking cultists are still about. They have three leaders, who are a doctor, a butcher, and a baker who put their businesses in the same city block. The doctor kills his patients that look like they are going to die, even if he could save them, the butcher, who is the leader of the three, determines what would make the best undead, and the butcher and baker dispose the evidence, best not to think about it. I left clues for the players, which they found, which was a scalpel and a meat cleaver, but they thought it was just random stuff and ignored it and they are saying they have no clues and now are looking for "book clubs" because one of them read Strahd and tailors who would sell cultists robes. Not all cults have robes, some prefer a more casual look.
The trouble is I am unable to think of other clues to give them to put them on the right track. Any ideas of clues or a way to get the players back on track?
Have an investigator on the case who suspects the group and through interaction realises they are not the culprits but are very capable so asks them for help.
Dreams. Now, this is a weird one. If there's been several clues the group have noticed but dismissed or thought little of then when they next take a long rest say the one (or ones) with the most intelligence have dreams that seem bizarre and random but keep lingering on the clues - bringing them back in succession with a sense of dread and foreboding. This isn't too far-stretched either. It's normal for our dreams to over the recent days to organise and sort out our thoughts. Have you ever heard the phrase "sleep on it"?
You can have one of the players get sick or injured and taken to the doctor who tries (and hopefully fails) to kill them thereby revealing how evil the doctor is.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
OR the classic "mad soothsayer" in the street shouting about despicable acts by one of the three involved. You know, all "soylent green is people!" kind of thing. Have them run into this person several times, or have a significant interaction with the players. Then the guy vanishes.
As a player who is really bad at mystery plots and evidence gathering (I'm a player in Dragon Heist and I'm pretty bad at picking up on clues), I will say that finding a scalpel and meat cleaver wouldn't really tell me anything. However, I don't know anything beyond what you've written here.
Here are some questions for someone who is very oblivious and wouldn't necessarily make connections and assumptions that would be obvious to the DM (as I am guilty of doing myself as a DM).
Is there any reason the players would suspect that the cultists have cover jobs in the first place? Is there any reason for the players to suspect that the cultists have those particular cover jobs? Is there any reason the players would suspect that the cultists dress casually/normally?
Some suggestions: Have RP encounters with people bringing up all the deaths at that particular doctor- are people growing superstitious about that place? Are more deaths happening at that particular doctor than at others? Has anyone noticed any unusual deaths - people go in with ailments that would make it unusual for them to have died in the office? Have RP encounters with customers about the weird cuts/baked goods at that particular butcher and baker. Has anyone noticed unusual shipments between the doctor, butcher, and baker? With both, have these start as rumors in a tavern or something.
If/when they visit these businesses, make sure there are hints and such that would lead the party to believe that these individuals could, indeed, at least know something, if not are the leaders themselves. Understand that players can be single-minded and not get clues until you hit them over the head with them. With perception and insight checks, give them only the clues that are relevant to the cult. "Strongly suggest" that they write these clues down (assuming they're taking notes in the first place). As they start to gather clues, give obvious hints (winks, "remember this", etc.) about how things connect and such.
Or, if you don't want to feel like you're handing it to them on a silver platter, perhaps have instances where the players catch, or almost catch, one of them doing something overtly unusual.
Without more specifics, I think that's the best I can offer, I think. Sorry :/
On a side note, going back to the clues that they thought were random (scalpel and cleaver). Although the players thought they were random, this is where the in game mechanics kick in that you can use as a DM. Use their perception/ investigation rolls, or even their passive perception to let the players know that their PCs see something "off" about the items. Or, a medicine check on the bodies. (Wounds came from a scalpel/cleaver, etc)
You'll find that there are a lot of times that you'll go through a detailed description of something, and each player at the table will key in on a different thing and might completely miss a clue that you think is well placed. Using the skill checks can help focus their attention.
Maybe you should think more of how you can tie their current line of inquiry back into the investigation rather than coming up with new ones to maybe follow. For instance:
When they go to the tailor, maybe they find that they've recently had a break-in during which, among some other things, a large stock of linen wraps were stolen. Linen wraps, you say? Whatever for? Well, I usually sell them to the local doctors and undertakers as bandages... from there, maybe someone who's expecting to hide a lot of bodies on the DL might need to wrap them... maybe on inspecting the crime scene, they find traces of a white powder that they may or may not identify (depending on the dice gods) as flour on the windowsill as it rubbed off the baker's hand as they climbed through the window...
Something like that. It may seem like bad storytelling to change the clues to fit player actions, but do it right and they'll never know it, and they'll feel all smart and stuff for solving the mystery.
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Hello;
Running my first campaign and I am running into a little trouble. Players are level 2 almost level 3. My players are in a city inside a country that has forbidden arcane necromancy and evil worship is also forbidden. (Goes with the campaign, but too long to explain.) Anyway, the city just got about 20 of the bodies in the graveyard looted and one of the churches came to investigate. They found that a cult of orcus is present. Though one of the leaders have left with the now zombie horde some low ranking cultists are still about. They have three leaders, who are a doctor, a butcher, and a baker who put their businesses in the same city block. The doctor kills his patients that look like they are going to die, even if he could save them, the butcher, who is the leader of the three, determines what would make the best undead, and the butcher and baker dispose the evidence, best not to think about it. I left clues for the players, which they found, which was a scalpel and a meat cleaver, but they thought it was just random stuff and ignored it and they are saying they have no clues and now are looking for "book clubs" because one of them read Strahd and tailors who would sell cultists robes. Not all cults have robes, some prefer a more casual look.
The trouble is I am unable to think of other clues to give them to put them on the right track. Any ideas of clues or a way to get the players back on track?
Plant more clues.
Have an investigator on the case who suspects the group and through interaction realises they are not the culprits but are very capable so asks them for help.
Dreams. Now, this is a weird one. If there's been several clues the group have noticed but dismissed or thought little of then when they next take a long rest say the one (or ones) with the most intelligence have dreams that seem bizarre and random but keep lingering on the clues - bringing them back in succession with a sense of dread and foreboding. This isn't too far-stretched either. It's normal for our dreams to over the recent days to organise and sort out our thoughts. Have you ever heard the phrase "sleep on it"?
You can have one of the players get sick or injured and taken to the doctor who tries (and hopefully fails) to kill them thereby revealing how evil the doctor is.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
OR the classic "mad soothsayer" in the street shouting about despicable acts by one of the three involved. You know, all "soylent green is people!" kind of thing. Have them run into this person several times, or have a significant interaction with the players. Then the guy vanishes.
As a player who is really bad at mystery plots and evidence gathering (I'm a player in Dragon Heist and I'm pretty bad at picking up on clues), I will say that finding a scalpel and meat cleaver wouldn't really tell me anything. However, I don't know anything beyond what you've written here.
Here are some questions for someone who is very oblivious and wouldn't necessarily make connections and assumptions that would be obvious to the DM (as I am guilty of doing myself as a DM).
Is there any reason the players would suspect that the cultists have cover jobs in the first place?
Is there any reason for the players to suspect that the cultists have those particular cover jobs?
Is there any reason the players would suspect that the cultists dress casually/normally?
Some suggestions:
Have RP encounters with people bringing up all the deaths at that particular doctor- are people growing superstitious about that place? Are more deaths happening at that particular doctor than at others? Has anyone noticed any unusual deaths - people go in with ailments that would make it unusual for them to have died in the office?
Have RP encounters with customers about the weird cuts/baked goods at that particular butcher and baker. Has anyone noticed unusual shipments between the doctor, butcher, and baker?
With both, have these start as rumors in a tavern or something.
If/when they visit these businesses, make sure there are hints and such that would lead the party to believe that these individuals could, indeed, at least know something, if not are the leaders themselves. Understand that players can be single-minded and not get clues until you hit them over the head with them. With perception and insight checks, give them only the clues that are relevant to the cult. "Strongly suggest" that they write these clues down (assuming they're taking notes in the first place). As they start to gather clues, give obvious hints (winks, "remember this", etc.) about how things connect and such.
Or, if you don't want to feel like you're handing it to them on a silver platter, perhaps have instances where the players catch, or almost catch, one of them doing something overtly unusual.
Without more specifics, I think that's the best I can offer, I think. Sorry :/
On a side note, going back to the clues that they thought were random (scalpel and cleaver). Although the players thought they were random, this is where the in game mechanics kick in that you can use as a DM. Use their perception/ investigation rolls, or even their passive perception to let the players know that their PCs see something "off" about the items. Or, a medicine check on the bodies. (Wounds came from a scalpel/cleaver, etc)
You'll find that there are a lot of times that you'll go through a detailed description of something, and each player at the table will key in on a different thing and might completely miss a clue that you think is well placed. Using the skill checks can help focus their attention.
Maybe you should think more of how you can tie their current line of inquiry back into the investigation rather than coming up with new ones to maybe follow. For instance:
When they go to the tailor, maybe they find that they've recently had a break-in during which, among some other things, a large stock of linen wraps were stolen. Linen wraps, you say? Whatever for? Well, I usually sell them to the local doctors and undertakers as bandages... from there, maybe someone who's expecting to hide a lot of bodies on the DL might need to wrap them... maybe on inspecting the crime scene, they find traces of a white powder that they may or may not identify (depending on the dice gods) as flour on the windowsill as it rubbed off the baker's hand as they climbed through the window...
Something like that. It may seem like bad storytelling to change the clues to fit player actions, but do it right and they'll never know it, and they'll feel all smart and stuff for solving the mystery.