Hi everyone! I am creating a murder mystery adventure and I need help with some small details.
The adventure goes like this: The party is called to Moravane Manor in the city of Waterdeep (they invent their own reasons for visiting). The master of the house, Martin Moravane, is in charge of the spice trade in Chult. He is currently having several guests to discuss business. The guests include various people involved in the spice trade. Martin is angry that his Chultan spice ships are overdue in their arrival and he blames the king of Omu, a Chultan city, who is a guest at the manor. The party can interact with this discussion. The guests spend the night at the mansion. In the night, one of the guests is murdered. Each night, another guest is murdered. The bodies of the victims have been positioned by the killer to be shaped like letters in the alphabet, spelling out the name of the killer. The guests are the suspects and the party are the investigators. I have it planned that when the party finds the culprit, it turns out he is actually a yuan-ti pureblood working for Sargassa, a yuan-ti abomination attempting to control the spice trade. I really have no idea how to get the yuan-ti involved in the spice trade for good reason, and I feel like the story doesn't have much interaction options for the players. Any ideas?
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Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
I don't really think the Yuan-ti need a reason. I mean, they seem like the sort of folk who just want to sink their fangs into anything if it gets them toward a larger, probably unstated goal. The Chultan yuan-ti are all about trying to resurrect Dendar, the Night Serpent, so maybe infiltrating the Omuan spice trade is like, step thirty seven of their fifty step plan to get access to the items and powers needed to give that old goal of theirs another try this week.
The problem with most murder mysteries is that a lot of the plot kind of hinges on the players buying into the conceit of the game instead of just casting various insta-solving spells or falling back on just rolling Investigation and Insight checks over and over until they muscle through it. I'd suggest, instead of just body positioning, maybe add in some fun puzzles that would indicate the murderer's next victim. That way, the party can interact with the puzzles and try to plan out a defense if they figure it out (or think they have it figured out).
The yuan ti could benefit greatly from taking over a large chuck of commerce. With that much money at their disposal and so many people, they'd have fairly easy access to a fair supply of slaves to discretely have sent to their jungle homes as well as the chance to spy directly on the Chultan people. Their ultimate goal is to take over the world and rule over it in one vast empire, and having a strangle hold on the Chultan economy would be a subtle and devestating step.
I'm a little confused why the killer would leave such a flagrant clue as to their identity as spelling their own name with each body they kill. As unique an idea as it is, I'd worry that upon capture, your players would interogate them and ask the same thing. Do you have an answer that isn't silly or immersion breaking? If not, I'd try to find other clues that can be left around. Like previously stated, make it something to actually work the brains of your characters and players without the need to roll Investigation and brute force the answer. The point is the mystery isn't getting the door unlocked, it's the act of unlocking the door itself.
As a good example of how to run a murder mystery, see if you can get your hands on the adventure module "CORE 1-1 A Scream in the Night (1-4)". It's basically about a modron that goes rogue and commits a string of murders. The party stumbles upon the first murder, which has a puzzle note pinned to it with a dagger that informs the party of the next victim and time of the murder. Solving that, the party makes it to the the next victim in time for the murder attempt to take place and maybe succeed or fail at saving that victim. Either way, there is yet another clue puzzle that leads to a third victim and another time. Once the party breaks that up there's a cool rooftop chase scene and fight with the modron before it escapes through a portal (leading to the second and third adventures in that series).
All in all it's about a four hour module and it really ramps up the tension pretty well. It definitely plays like a murder mystery.
Hi everyone! I am creating a murder mystery adventure and I need help with some small details.
The adventure goes like this: The party is called to Moravane Manor in the city of Waterdeep (they invent their own reasons for visiting). The master of the house, Martin Moravane, is in charge of the spice trade in Chult. He is currently having several guests to discuss business. The guests include various people involved in the spice trade. Martin is angry that his Chultan spice ships are overdue in their arrival and he blames the king of Omu, a Chultan city, who is a guest at the manor. The party can interact with this discussion. The guests spend the night at the mansion. In the night, one of the guests is murdered. Each night, another guest is murdered. The bodies of the victims have been positioned by the killer to be shaped like letters in the alphabet, spelling out the name of the killer. The guests are the suspects and the party are the investigators. I have it planned that when the party finds the culprit, it turns out he is actually a yuan-ti pureblood working for Sargassa, a yuan-ti abomination attempting to control the spice trade. I really have no idea how to get the yuan-ti involved in the spice trade for good reason, and I feel like the story doesn't have much interaction options for the players. Any ideas?
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
I don't really think the Yuan-ti need a reason. I mean, they seem like the sort of folk who just want to sink their fangs into anything if it gets them toward a larger, probably unstated goal. The Chultan yuan-ti are all about trying to resurrect Dendar, the Night Serpent, so maybe infiltrating the Omuan spice trade is like, step thirty seven of their fifty step plan to get access to the items and powers needed to give that old goal of theirs another try this week.
The problem with most murder mysteries is that a lot of the plot kind of hinges on the players buying into the conceit of the game instead of just casting various insta-solving spells or falling back on just rolling Investigation and Insight checks over and over until they muscle through it. I'd suggest, instead of just body positioning, maybe add in some fun puzzles that would indicate the murderer's next victim. That way, the party can interact with the puzzles and try to plan out a defense if they figure it out (or think they have it figured out).
The yuan ti could benefit greatly from taking over a large chuck of commerce. With that much money at their disposal and so many people, they'd have fairly easy access to a fair supply of slaves to discretely have sent to their jungle homes as well as the chance to spy directly on the Chultan people. Their ultimate goal is to take over the world and rule over it in one vast empire, and having a strangle hold on the Chultan economy would be a subtle and devestating step.
I'm a little confused why the killer would leave such a flagrant clue as to their identity as spelling their own name with each body they kill. As unique an idea as it is, I'd worry that upon capture, your players would interogate them and ask the same thing. Do you have an answer that isn't silly or immersion breaking? If not, I'd try to find other clues that can be left around. Like previously stated, make it something to actually work the brains of your characters and players without the need to roll Investigation and brute force the answer. The point is the mystery isn't getting the door unlocked, it's the act of unlocking the door itself.
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As a good example of how to run a murder mystery, see if you can get your hands on the adventure module "CORE 1-1 A Scream in the Night (1-4)". It's basically about a modron that goes rogue and commits a string of murders. The party stumbles upon the first murder, which has a puzzle note pinned to it with a dagger that informs the party of the next victim and time of the murder. Solving that, the party makes it to the the next victim in time for the murder attempt to take place and maybe succeed or fail at saving that victim. Either way, there is yet another clue puzzle that leads to a third victim and another time. Once the party breaks that up there's a cool rooftop chase scene and fight with the modron before it escapes through a portal (leading to the second and third adventures in that series).
All in all it's about a four hour module and it really ramps up the tension pretty well. It definitely plays like a murder mystery.