Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SilvercatMoonpaw 02-23-06, 09:23 PM	Has anyone ever been in a game or run a game featuring mundane mysteries and still been able to work around scrying and divinations and detections? I can think of some ideas, but it's always good to get a second opinion.
Grand Theft Otto 02-24-06, 12:22 PM	Goofus writes adventures set in England 1100 AD, and negates the use of player spells and abilities to keep things grounded in "real world" solutions. Gallant writes adventures set in a fantasy land, and takes magical abilities into account when designing adventures. Assume your players are going to scry, read thoughts, speak with the dead, and charm information out of people. LET them use those abilities. Magic is good for stuff other than forcing reflex saves for half damage. REQUIRE their use to get certain clues. Occasionally, have their use result in red herrings. Sure, speak with dead might find out what someone's killer looked like. Unless that person had true seeing, a change self cast by an assassin before a killing can make matters confusing.
Tzor 02-24-06, 02:14 PM	I go to a local convention every year where one of the DMs runs a mystery. Actually it can be pretty easy to run a mystery if you know how. The basic principle is that the players can't get the right answers if they don't know the right questions first. Mysteries are generally run in urban settings. In this case you can also place restrictions on some more obvious spells by making them illegal due to their potential offensive nature. You can also make them unadmissble as evidence in court and have a requirement that the players needs evidence that can stand up in court before making an accusation on someone of authority. Bystanders should be annoying idiots who the players will want to believe ae guilty and should be high ranking enough to be able to avoid direct magical interrogation. Speak with dead is a two edged sword, and most players fail to realize that. It is easy to disable. (kill victim, steal brain - or simply cast the spell before the PC can) If you can fool the victim, you have a good chance to fool the PC because the victim can only tell you what he thought he saw. (The game last year had a great red herring because the killer's appearance made it look to the poor folk that he was some sort of "iron golem." But it was just a metal fencing mask.) Misdirection and red herings can get the players asking the wrong questions, thus getting the correct but irrevalent answers through spells. This applies to modern forensic science as well as magical technique.
Grand Theft Otto 02-24-06, 03:49 PM	Mysteries are generally run in urban settings. In this case you can also place restrictions on some more obvious spells by making them illegal due to their potential offensive nature. You can also make them unadmissble as evidence in court and have a requirement that the players needs evidence that can stand up in court before making an accusation on someone of authority. And still the suggestions to take away caster's powers continue. /sigh. If you want to run mundane adventures, run them in a no magic campaign. Dont let players be casters if this is your intent. Removing magical options is lazy writing. Speak with dead is a two edged sword, and most players fail to realize that. It is easy to disable. (kill victim, steal brain - or simply cast the spell before the PC can) If you can fool the victim, you have a good chance to fool the PC because the victim can only tell you what he thought he saw. (The game last year had a great red herring because the killer's appearance made it look to the poor folk that he was some sort of "iron golem." But it was just a metal fencing mask.) Misdirection and red herings can get the players asking the wrong questions, thus getting the correct but irrevalent answers through spells. This applies to modern forensic science as well as magical technique. Much better advice.
SilvercatMoonpaw 03-02-06, 03:24 PM	Otto, Tzor, you've both been very helpful. I was actually thinking of how to give misleading information to PCs, and all I really wanted to know was that there were loopholes. Actually, since the murderer would know divinations exist, he or she might be able to figure out a way around them. Of course, you could always give the murderer the name Nemo…