I am GM'ing an Ocean's eleven (heists and bank jobs) type campaign set in the 1920's, one of the player's associate has died under dubious circumstances and now they will have to investigate and CSI their way to finding out who dunnit.
I was thinking of having them roll various skill checks to have them find clues (like a heal check to determine the cause/time of death, a perception check to see a bullet hole in a window pane... that sort of thing) followed by a chase scene to apprehend a likely suspect and a fight at the end.
Does anyone have any ideas about clues associated with a skill check i could give the players
thx
Diplomacy and sense motive to ask locals or witnesses for information.
Maybe the Vallet or bell hop knows something but is too scared or is in on it! I'd also add false leads like "The cleaning lady is lying" and when you follow up on it the party finds out that the cleaning lady was lying because she was stealing room items, not because she was involved in the murder. I don't know the rules or if there are some but I've heard that gathering information alerts the perp and he will react accordingly.
This has serious potential to go wrong. If the characters blow a roll then they miss out on a vital clue and may not be able to succeed. Even worse if it is incumbent on the players to guess where to look for clues; if they fail to read your mind they fail. On the other side it may be impossible to fail if there are too many chances.
That is not to say that this cannot be done, just be aware of the potential pitfalls.
|
Is this an existing campaign?
If not, may I recommend that you consider the Gumshoe game system? It is intended for mystery games and, in particular, it has mechanics that ensure that you gain the clues that you need to move forward while still generating drama from the investigations.
Even if you have an existing campaign there are a lot of things that you could steal from the Gumshoe approach
My advice would be to use less rules and rolls and instead use more story and general actions.
However, Glass Cannon podcast (playing in Giantslayer) has two investigations early on, a murder mystery to start things off and then a river boat investigation as well. Both show a good balance of skill, creativity, and combat. You can check it out for ideas.
There are a lot of ways to incorporate checks but obvious perception plus diplomacy (or intimidate ) are going to be key to moving things along. Knowledge , profession, wisdom, or craft checks can be used to make sense of things.
|
Two things:
Roleplaying can be just as effective as rolling checks. You're best approach is to incorporate both. As an example, a Knowledge (local) check reveals a NPC contact whose information or clues can be accessed through roleplaying.
For each major clue or plot point the PCs need to solve the mystery, make sure you have at least two (three is better) independent ways of accessing that information. This way, if the PCs blow a check, they don't lose the clue altogether.
-Skeld
Bonus thing: flow chart out all your clues and how they're interconnected. Murder mysteries are best when they're nonlinear.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
For investigations I tend to play fast and loose. Know what happened, why, and maybe some important details, but don't be all set in your ways for small stuff or even sometimes for middle-ing stuff. If the players ask to make rolls that make sense, let them do it, assign a reasonable sounding DC, and invent some minor details on the spot. Don't be afraid to let the PCs fill in the gaps for you. For instance if they become convinced that John the Baker had to have been involved and what they are saying makes enough sense to make you wish you had gone that route even though you didn't, don't be afraid to make John part of the conspiracy. It lets the players feel like geniuses and makes it look like whatever awesome thing happened was "just as planned." It also removes the problem of "well shit, the PCs didn't make that DC 20 check an hour ago so now what?" That said, if the players/characters are being idiots and are way off track, don't be afraid to slap them down in game, for them to fail, or for partial clues to literally fall into their lap from more competent NPCs. Also remember Chandler's Law: "When in doubt [i.e. you wrote yourself into a corner], have a man come through a door with a gun [or sword] in his hand."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Remember the Rule of Three. Leave 3 clues for every avenue of pursuit you want the PCs to take.
Also, don't be afraid to let multiple avenues of investigation lead to the same conclusion. For example, the DA, the crime boss, and the femme fatale will all tell the PCs to go to the tar pits on the edge of town to meet Jimmy the Snitch or whatever.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Read this amazing article on running mysteries by the Alexandrian
Failing forward might also be worth reading as it can help prevent deadlocks and bottlenecks in the investigation
Good article
Especially the Red Herrings. Pcs often obsess on a clue. If it is a red herring they just can't shake things can go off kilter quickly, and definitely split the party
Most fiction detectives are solo mystery solvers with some back up minions. In an rpg there are 4-6 main mystery solvers
^ . . . Or depending upon the party, maybe 4 - 6 minions . . . .
Good article
Especially the Red Herrings. Pcs often obsess on a clue. If it is a red herring they just can't shake things can go off kilter quickly, and definitely split the party
Most fiction detectives are solo mystery solvers with some back up minions. In an rpg there are 4-6 main mystery solvers
My dad watches "Major Crimes" and they seem to have about 10 or 12 detectives assigned to each mystery. I think "Criminal Minds" or whatever has 6 or 7 secret agents assigned to each crime.
Speaking of secret agents, maybe look at "Mission: Impossible" for a party solving crimes inspiration. Or "Oceans Eleven" or "Ghostbusters" or "X-men" for inspiration of a group working to get a task done.
Ultimate Intrigue has some good ideas for this, with an example murder mystery using the Influence rules to talk to those involved.
Definitely leave multiple ways for PCs to find the information, so if they botch one roll, it doesn't stall the whole thing. Maybe they don't find the blood droplets by the window, but they can interrogate a servant who saw someone fleeing through the window.
Do have an eye to how divination magic can affect investigations (especially things like blood biography, speak with dead, etc.). UI also has some good advice for this.
Wow thanks everyone I was not expecting so many good responses!
The articles were especially useful in shaping the how I was going to go about the investigation, I kinda knew what I wanted to do with it but not how.
I have yet to read up on UI's advice but I will tomorrow.
Has the game been run? I am curious to find out how it went?