Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Twonky 10-21-04, 11:45 AM	My players, don't read this! ---spoiler space--- ---spoiler space--- Hello, As of lately, I've been trying to run more roleplay-oriented adventures. I have an idea for the campaign start (maybe not so original): In the beginning, the PCs are traveling on a huge sailing ship traveling to some land (irrelevant). One morning, a corpse is found on the deck, or somewhere else on the ship. It appears to have been killed violently, and the murderer remains a mistery. The PCs will, probably start investigating this immediately. When, on the following few mornings, more people are found dead, it become obvious that the killer must be found soon. Now, I have a few ideas about this: - An aquatical monster of some kind attached itself to the hull of the ship, under the water, so it can't be seen from the surface, and comes out on the deck every night to feed. - There is a group of evil NPCs/monsters of some kind in hiding in the lower decks, where cargo is kept, maybe wanting to take the ship/cargo, but are too weak to attack the crew all at once, and want to scare and weaken them by killing of some of them (I guess they would have to have some method of silencing the victim, so no one comes to help) - Members of a political group or a cult want to kill members of another political group or cult - This is a product of an experiment conducted by a kingdom or some other group of authority - a monster that has now escaped control. Since I have little experience with purely roleplay-oriented adventures, I ask for your hell with the following: - How and why should the PCs be invited to investigate this (they'll probably investigate it by themselves, but an additional motivation never hurts)? - How should they obtain clues? I understand that by talking to people, they can find out that they saw some suspicious people on the ship, or saw a glimpse of one of the monsters, but how could I add some depth? Make talking to various people necessary? Maybe by adding a false suspect, or something similar? - How do I make all of this interesting? By making the NPCs interesting, adding various stories of the poeple on the ship? The PCs are all 1st level, in Forgotten Realms. I thank you for any help you can give me with this, because I really want to make my campaign better.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 10-21-04, 12:11 PM	Ok well i guess the first thing I'll say is keep the crew/other passangers managable. 20ish aught to do fine. And then flesh them out to the fullest, full back stories and personalities, even states if need be. Basically why are they on that ship and were are they at all times. You need to know this because if the PCs are smarter then the deck plates they'll start intervewing everyboby on broad to figure out were the victume was last but also who was with him/her. Also yes there could be other things going on, I highly recomend adding sub plots in, and hey they may tie into the real adventure or maybe not. And don't make this too easy, there should be more then one person acting suspisciousely. Maybe a hermit wizard, and a smuggler, and the murderer. Speaking of witch the murderer needs definate motivation for the murder. Perhaps he is an invaltrator for pirates that plane to take the hole ship. (They'd want it in tack). Or maybe he is just psychotic. Or maybe a vampire? I guess lastly unless the murderer had a use for the bodies of his/her victumes then they would be tossed over board. Witch FYI when on a ship is a good way of killing someone in and of itself. But they would still be missing, so the crew would probally iniate a shearch, and maybe conclude that they simply fell over-board. Then you could have a rich relative pay the party to investagate further, or they may become susipiscouse as more and more poeple are somehow "falling over board". I guess if comes down to, "My PCs just won't investigate!?!" then have one of them thrown over board. The, "If you don't figure this out, then your hooped too." Plot hook usually works about as well as Gold. Cheers
Slider33 10-21-04, 12:23 PM	I too have some mystery components in my campaign I'm planning to do.. I have to say this type of setting seems to be a great challenge for me. Mostly because (a murder mystery for example) requires a lot of thinking on everyone's part. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to plant as clues, because 1, you don't want it to be too obvious that they will solve immediately, and 2, you don't want it to be so obscure they can't figure it out. You have to be subtle but there is the chance your players may overlook it. Almost like you have to lead them by the nose a little bit, and you never can be sure if the players will pick up on your subtle clues. If they miss it it may mess up the whole process. I'm thinking, the best thing to spark their interest is to put that very mysterious clue in the very initial encounter. Give them that feeling of "something is not quite right". If you figure out how to do that, let me know! That's what im' shooting for, but I don't want to explicitly say that. I think a good approach is to be overly prepared, make sure you have a set amount of dialog lines that push the mystery along, but yet doesn't give it away. Even using misleading dialogue may be useful, to keep them on their toes. But along the lines of an at-sea adventure, like you say, it sounds really good. What happens if the sailors start to get edgy and start not-trusting anyone, including each other. Or even perhaps the crew can suspect the party themselves as being guilty? That would be VERY interesting if the crew suspected the party of this... Then they'd have to get to the bottom of the mystery very quickly or their lives may be at stake. That would be excellent motivation IMO. You can throw elements of mutiny, conflict, suspicion, and anxiety in this scenario. Sounds like you have the making of a brilliant adventure. Even if the solution is simple in nature (like a parasite monster as you speak), there are so many extra elements you can throw in there to spice it up, and keep the players guessing. That's just a few ideas, hope they help if i come up with more I'll post them.
Phrennzy 10-21-04, 12:28 PM	Try renting Death on the Nile, or Murder on the Orient Express. Both are great murder mystery movies where everyone is a suspect. Make sure that you have a reason for the murders. If it is just random violence, then it's a monster hunt. If someone was murdered - just one person - then it's a mystery. Perhaps someone who helps the PCs out in the initial investigation is murdered next. The best villain for something like this is another person. No big monster, no devil, etc, but just a normal human. A person is capable of horrifying brutality. Since they are first level you don't have to worry much about divination spells. That's good. A good idea is to flesh out NPCs with motives and of course with secrets to hide. Perhaps one of the suspects is a tiefling, and innocent, but is terrified of having his birth origins discovered for fear of being ostricized or worse. Perhaps a suspect is a low level necromancer - his magic is deemed evil by most standards - and so he has much to hide. Or he could be an evil but innocent cleric. His stateroom would have a small shrine to an evil god - and he would do almost anything to prevent being discovered. Same thing with a pair of rogues who are using the ship to move some illegal cargo from one place to another. Remember that not everyone will answer every question put to them. Some may not help at all. Others will help because they have nothing to hide. A proud cleric of Hextor may offer to help because of his lawful nature. His suggestions for interrogation may be too much for the PCs. Remember the motive of the killer. Love, Revenge, Money - those are all good reasons. I'd stay away from a homicidal manic killer, or a monster roaming the ship. Unless of course, the monster was something that the killer released after finding it in the ships hold, being smuggled by the rogues to a zoo. Perhaps a rogue with a wand of summoning monster II. That would allow him to create diversions (and add combat for the players) and disrupt their investigation. Plus, they are working under a time limit. When the ship reaches port, the killer is gone - the authorities are NOT going to lock up an entire ship full of people. In fact, some of the passengers will have political immunities and pull. Also, there will be people who resent the PCs involvement, as they step on the toes of the 'proper' authority. Make sure to use reaction modifiers to set how NPCs deal with PCs. If the Barbarian thinks he can intimidate the information out of someone, that's fine - but a bard can make someone MUCH more helpful - remember that a willing participant is much more helpful than someone pressed into service. The other passengers will point fingers because they are scared of being killed next, or having their secrets exposed. I would put the murder on a smaller ship - shrink the cast of characters so that the PCs can more easily move from person to person. And keep in mind that even though a murder has happened, people will not confine themselves to their quarters. Some will move about unafraid, while others will seek strength in numbers. And a few WILL secure themselves in their quarters. Which, of course, gives no alibi for when the NEXT killing takes place. Also, make sure that the killer makes an attempt on the PC's life. Not all of them at once, but single one person out - perhaps whoever is the spokesman, or perhaps the cleric or wizard. Not a direct attack, unless it can be done in darkness with a very good escape plan. A large ship with a few extra empty staterooms would be great. Gives plenty of room for the killer to move around in. If the PCs get bored, you could always throw a monster attack - perhaps a merrow climbs up on board to try and grab a crew member to eat. (That's a CR 2 - aquatic ogre). Just make sure that the monster attack is COMPLETELY unrelated to the mystery. Perhaps preface that attack with the captain warning that the vessal is entering merrow infested waters. Wow that was a big post. Hope it helped.
Phrennzy 10-21-04, 12:38 PM	One other thing - if you are having trouble with creating all those secrets and whatnot - steal. Steal the whole cast from Death on the Nile. And Murder on the Orient Express. And Murder by Numbers. Also, use NPCs YOU know. Han Solo - a rogue on the run from bounty hunters. Possibly smuggling something in the hold. Plenty to hide. Princess Leia - Royalty on a secret mission. CP30 - Overly helpful big mouth. Easily convinced by people. Spock - a cold, logical half breed keeping his feelings in check for fear of losing control. (Tiefling/Necromancer) Dr McCoy - Passionate cleric intent on helping people. Easily angered by injustice but quick to judge. you could also base one or two NPCs on your: parents, school friends or teachers, boss, co-workers, other relatives, etc. Most of the people on the ship don't NEED to have class levels. Just use the lady next door - you know enough of her life. Give her a secret (she's actually a man). And go from there. The adventure will succeed or fail based on two things: Your NPC preparation and Player Participation. Good luck
Twonky 10-21-04, 12:44 PM	Thank you very much for all your help. I already have some new ideas and ways to implement them. :D If you have any more suggestions, please do post them.
Polymorph 10-22-04, 11:12 AM	Good job Phrennzy! Your ideas are so good, i think i'll have to get my PCs on a ship somehow now... :D
Stormbright 10-22-04, 01:19 PM	Just a note to add to the other suggestions. The captain is going to take matters very seriously, because if he's carrying passengers, then he'll be worried about his reputation. He'll want to make everyone see that he's taking charge, and is getting to the bottom of things, so far as he may quickly take a scape-goat prisoner and lock him in the brig. He'll order his crew to pull double shifts to protect the remaining passengers, and probably set curfews. Another investigator would be a key target. Some lone adventurer who roams the ship at every hour, bristling with weapons. His motives may be golden, but he is untrusted by the others. Don't forget, that an interesting piece of information can come from the dead themselves. If a cleric of high enough level is aboard the ship, they could use divine magic to communicate with the corpse or the spirit and find out what happened. Of course, the dead need not have seen their killer, especially if it was an attack from behind, but they could lay down some circumstances... Bodies tossed overboard are probably most accurate, but if that doesn't suit your plot, don't worry about it. (Afterall, the sailor in the crow's nest might notice a body or anything on deck, but a good below deck murder would be something altogether different.) Good luck, and post an update!!!