My question is a very simple, yet at the same time slightly more complex one. What do you think would be the most important questions to ask during an investigation (or during gameplay in general)?
I believe we are all familiar with the scenario. You are trying to do an investigation, and you're getting stuck somewhere down the line with no idea how to continue, only for it later to turn out that in the heat of the moment you simply forgot to ask someone a very basic question, that could have pointed you into the right direction to take things in ages ago. For example, you found the murder weapon but didn't consider asking: "Hey, where did the murderer got this from? Maybe the merchant who sold it to them could tell me more." Or maybe something like: "Was there anyone who might profit from this situation? Maybe if I talk to XY, they know more."
I've already posted this question to my own table and other places, and these are the ones we came up with.
Questioning individuals:
"What's your name?"; "Do you live/work alone?"; "Who are you working for?"; What resources do you/your employer have at their disposal?"; "What’s your opinion on XY?"; "How do you know about XY? Who told you?"; "What did you do during XY?"; "What evidence do you have to prove your claim?"; "What do you think we should do about XY?"
Investigating a crime scene:
"What happened? Where and when?"; "Who was involved? Where were these people during the event? Can anyone verify their claims?"; "Anyone who might be interested in harming person XY. What are their resources? Will they expect us to come to them?"; "Anyone who had the means to carry out the deed? (Do they own similar tools as the ones used in the situation? Do they have access to rare or unique materials used in the situation?)"; "Where was XY during the event? Can anyone verify their claims?"; "Was there anyone acting in a suspicious way?"; "Is this the first time something like this happened?"; "Is there anything else that you feel is important for us to know?";
In D&D, it seems like the best question would be to use speak with dead and ask the victim who killed them.
Or try speak with animals and ask the nearby mice and birds what happened.
There’s a lot of creative spell uses to get the information without needing to interrogate a suspect. And of course if you do want to interrogate, there’s zone of truth.
In D&D, it seems like the best question would be to use speak with dead and ask the victim who killed them.
Or try speak with animals and ask the nearby mice and birds what happened.
There’s a lot of creative spell uses to get the information without needing to interrogate a suspect. And of course if you do want to interrogate, there’s zone of truth.
Well, that is assuming of course the party has access to those spells. And that the victim is willing to talk to you or even knows what happened. A creature raised by Speak with Dead is in no way required to answer you truthfully. Nor would they magically know who killed them, if some bludgeoned them from behind and they never saw who did it.
Same with Speak with Animals. You assume there even are animals around to ask or that they saw what happened. A dog that slept in the yard while his master was killed in his bedroom will know just as little about what happened, as the guy who got killed in his sleep and never saw his attacker.
And even if you could cast the spell and speak with them, we're right back at my original question, namely what to ask them, which you completely ignored btw.
Not to be rude, but why do people feel the need to completely ignore what a person asked and try to talk about something else entirely? Again, not to be rude, but I asked for potential question to ask during investigations, not for tips how to avoid doing investigations. Those are two entirely separate topics. I appreciate that you took the time to comment, but next time I'd prefer if you actually answered my question, instead of trying to change the topic.
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Hello, everyone. How's it going?
My question is a very simple, yet at the same time slightly more complex one. What do you think would be the most important questions to ask during an investigation (or during gameplay in general)?
I believe we are all familiar with the scenario. You are trying to do an investigation, and you're getting stuck somewhere down the line with no idea how to continue, only for it later to turn out that in the heat of the moment you simply forgot to ask someone a very basic question, that could have pointed you into the right direction to take things in ages ago.
For example, you found the murder weapon but didn't consider asking: "Hey, where did the murderer got this from? Maybe the merchant who sold it to them could tell me more." Or maybe something like: "Was there anyone who might profit from this situation? Maybe if I talk to XY, they know more."
I've already posted this question to my own table and other places, and these are the ones we came up with.
Questioning individuals:
"What's your name?"; "Do you live/work alone?"; "Who are you working for?"; What resources do you/your employer have at their disposal?"; "What’s your opinion on XY?"; "How do you know about XY? Who told you?"; "What did you do during XY?"; "What evidence do you have to prove your claim?"; "What do you think we should do about XY?"
Investigating a crime scene:
"What happened? Where and when?"; "Who was involved? Where were these people during the event? Can anyone verify their claims?"; "Anyone who might be interested in harming person XY. What are their resources? Will they expect us to come to them?"; "Anyone who had the means to carry out the deed? (Do they own similar tools as the ones used in the situation? Do they have access to rare or unique materials used in the situation?)"; "Where was XY during the event? Can anyone verify their claims?"; "Was there anyone acting in a suspicious way?"; "Is this the first time something like this happened?"; "Is there anything else that you feel is important for us to know?";
Any others anyone can think of to add?
The best question you can ask is one where you know the answer already and you can learn something from the kind of evasion your subject uses.
In D&D, it seems like the best question would be to use speak with dead and ask the victim who killed them.
Or try speak with animals and ask the nearby mice and birds what happened.
There’s a lot of creative spell uses to get the information without needing to interrogate a suspect. And of course if you do want to interrogate, there’s zone of truth.
Well, that is assuming of course the party has access to those spells. And that the victim is willing to talk to you or even knows what happened. A creature raised by Speak with Dead is in no way required to answer you truthfully. Nor would they magically know who killed them, if some bludgeoned them from behind and they never saw who did it.
Same with Speak with Animals. You assume there even are animals around to ask or that they saw what happened. A dog that slept in the yard while his master was killed in his bedroom will know just as little about what happened, as the guy who got killed in his sleep and never saw his attacker.
And even if you could cast the spell and speak with them, we're right back at my original question, namely what to ask them, which you completely ignored btw.
Not to be rude, but why do people feel the need to completely ignore what a person asked and try to talk about something else entirely? Again, not to be rude, but I asked for potential question to ask during investigations, not for tips how to avoid doing investigations. Those are two entirely separate topics. I appreciate that you took the time to comment, but next time I'd prefer if you actually answered my question, instead of trying to change the topic.