Backstage murder mystery

[roguerouge]

I'm running a 1 PC campaign, and her character is a Bard. She's singing at an opera production of Tristan and Isolde. Last session, I essentially ran "Noises Off" as a campaign session, where she tries to keep the play running without a hitch as everything goes wrong backstage. Now, two productions later, I want to run a backstage murder mystery.

What I need help with is ideas for a few extra characters, some gratuitous murders, and clues.

The cast:

The Impressario: The gnome conductor owns the theater. He's convinced that he can make the PC into a star, despite her being a mezzo soprano instead of a soprano. This does not endear him or the PC to the female sopranos who wanted that part. Also, it's the 100th anniversary of the theater and he's running it's very first play: Tristan and Isolde. That play has a reputation akin to MacBeth.

The Aging Battle Axe: "Stay out of my light and do exactly what I tell you, dear, and we'll get along fine." Hates the Ingenue for reminding her of her glory days and the PC for being an upstart. Will upstage you.

The Ingenue: "That part was mine!" Otherwise, a trifle air-headed and vulnerable to the blather of...

The Method Actor: "I have to use my fear of these horrible murders to get into my character..." Major interests seem to be advancing his career, advancing his theory of the Method, and advancing you into bed. Think Donald Sutherland in Animal House.

The Lech: Initiates on-stage "touch attacks," if you get my drift, depending on female actresses not wanting to ruin their performances.

The Avuncular Drunk: On the wagon until the curtain rises, at which point the stage hands start to frantically try to find his hidden bottles of liquor.

The aasimar costume designer and stage manager: no personality yet. Could have a bit of a thing for the Impressario.

The Disgruntled Stage Hand: An actor who got fired for a poor performance and is now gleeful that his performance as a stage hand is so masterful. Hoping to ruin the theater.

The Ghost: The original elvish female composer comes back to watch performances of Tristan and Isolde. Invariably one or two deaths occur. Also likely to dislike the PC playing Isolde, as it means re-writing the music to be in her vocal range.

I had planned on having the last two be the murderers, but if someone has a better idea for someone else, I'd scrap that idea.

Who should die? What clues should there be for the Bard to uncover that the corrupt cops don't?

I need some quick personalities for victims too.

[Vic Wertz]

[moved to 3.5 forum]

[Rezdave]

roguerouge wrote:

Now, two productions later, I want to run a backstage murder mystery.

Here are some Dungeon adventures you might find useful:

These are basically set in theaters:

#39 - Legerdemain
#77 - Stage Fright
#134 - And Madness Followed
#141 - Swords of Dragonslake

These are murder-mysteries:

#57 - Cloaked in Fear
#65 - Unkindness of Ravens
#76 - House on the Edge of Midnight
#121 - The Styes
#128 - Shut-In
#129 - Murder in Oakbridge

Dragon #111 - Death of an Arch-mage

HTH,

Rez

P.S. Always liked Noises Off.

[roguerouge]

If it's not derivative, I'll end up running Shut-in too.

[roguerouge]

Still need help though....

[Rhavin]

If you have ever read Terry Pratchet's Masquerade, that would be a wonderful and quick read for such a production and could easily inform or set the plot of your own session.

[roguerouge]

Rhavin wrote:

If you have ever read Terry Pratchet's Masquerade, that would be a wonderful and quick read for such a production and could easily inform or set the plot of your own session.

How so? I'm a bit under the gun...

[Charles Evans 25]

roguerouge wrote:

Rhavin wrote:

If you have ever read Terry Pratchet's Masquerade, that would be a wonderful and quick read for such a production and could easily inform or set the plot of your own session.

How so? I'm a bit under the gun...

Spoiler:

If I recall correctly, in Masquerade an opera house handyman is composing music in his spare time, and (although he does it purely as a disguise) is wearing a mask to 'phantom of the opera' fashion watch performances and advise/tutor some of the singers. In the meantime, the opera house is losing money everywhere, and then the phantom apparently starts killing people, in an effort to get the place shut down. This is because one of the directors of the opera house has in fact been embezzling money for years, and is danger of being found out, unless the opera house is closed soon (I think) and he is in fact disguising himself as a duplicate phantom (with a copy of the phantom's 'signature mask') to kill people to get the place closed whilst casting the blame elsewhere. Terry Pratchett's trio of witches visiting the city happen to unravel all this, and there is a duel between the false phantom and the original one, which the false one ends up losing.

It is some years since I read it though, but that's the murder mystery element in it as far as I recall.

[roguerouge]

Rezdave wrote:

roguerouge wrote:

Now, two productions later, I want to run a backstage murder mystery.

Here are some Dungeon adventures you might find useful:

These are basically set in theaters:

#39 - Legerdemain
#77 - Stage Fright
#134 - And Madness Followed
#141 - Swords of Dragonslake

These are murder-mysteries:

#57 - Cloaked in Fear
#65 - Unkindness of Ravens
#76 - House on the Edge of Midnight
#121 - The Styes
#128 - Shut-In
#129 - Murder in Oakbridge

Dragon #111 - Death of an Arch-mage

How do these deal with mystery breaker spells like Speak with Dead and Detect Evil and Zone of Truth?

[Charles Evans 25]

roguerouge wrote:

Rezdave wrote:

roguerouge wrote:

Now, two productions later, I want to run a backstage murder mystery.

Here are some Dungeon adventures you might find useful:

These are basically set in theaters:

#39 - Legerdemain
#77 - Stage Fright
#134 - And Madness Followed
#141 - Swords of Dragonslake

These are murder-mysteries:

#57 - Cloaked in Fear
#65 - Unkindness of Ravens
#76 - House on the Edge of Midnight
#121 - The Styes
#128 - Shut-In
#129 - Murder in Oakbridge

Dragon #111 - Death of an Arch-mage

How do these deal with mystery breaker spells like Speak with Dead and Detect Evil and Zone of Truth?

Some of them are pointed at characters so low in level that it is unlikely that the characters will have access to either Speak with the Dead or Zone of Truth. 'Shut-in', for example is aimed at 2nd level characters.

Glibness is used in at least one of the mysteries listed above to deal with interview situations, and Detect Evil proves little or nothing, beyond certain inclinations of character. If there are 'red herring' evil characters running around in a murder-mystery, when the killer happens to be a CN lunatic (or to have a spell or item at their disposal which provides a false alignment reading as a certain NPC Villain in Pathfinder has), relying on Detect Evil is not likely to reveal the culprit very quickly.

Any adventure listed above from an issue of Dungeon before #82 (and also including the one quoted from Dragon #111) in any case predates 3rd edition, and may have been designed to cope with different sets of PC options.

Edit:
I think in at least one of the adventures RezDave listed, the killer may be a shapeshifter, who bumps victims off in a form different from their 'everyday' shape, so even using Speak with the Dead to interrogate a corpse will provide information of only limited use, with regard to a description of the killer.