the ONE trick to make Better D&D Mysteries

Comments · 789

• PO

  @pointyhatstudios · 3 years ago · pinned

  Well mister video watcher, I&apos;ll get out of your hair now 😊<br>...<br>Just... one more thing that&apos;s been bugging me 🕵‍♂

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• MA

  @Magic__7 · 3 years ago

  if you run a mystery and your players don&apos;t get it even though &quot; it&apos;s so obvious&quot; it&apos;s only obvious because you already know the answer

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• MI

  @michielpolorocks · 3 years ago

  Just imagine making a mural with 4 monkeys but when the players visit the show there&apos;s only 3 monkeys

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• AV

  @AvangionQ · 3 years ago

  If you run a mystery in a D&amp;D setting, there&apos;s a bunch of setting-breaking Divination spells you should be aware of.

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• TH

  @TheSilverSynchro · 3 years ago

  The last time I set up a murder mystery in a campaign, one of the players confronted the killer alone and was killed... This is why communication in the group is super important.

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• TH

  @thedorklord1029 · 3 years ago (edited)

  The real reason mysteries are hard to wright in D&amp;D is because the players often end up being the perpetrators.

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• CA

  @Cassapphic · 3 years ago

  2 things.<br>1) I love how this mystery feels like an ace attorney case where the setup is so ridiculous and obviously incriminating that it immediately puts you so heavily on the backfoot to try to defend in any way.<br>2) The circus mystery lends itself super well to a final boss fight, the artificier himself could have all sorts of magical gizmos to fight with, and could be flanked by other performers, trapeze artists swinging at the players from above, a fire eater using spells and abilities or even just some animla companions, since its an attempt to fake his own death it also naturally sets up a good opportunity, the last stretch of the mystery is trying to find where he fled to and when the players do he comes out swinging.

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• AN

  @andrewdowns3673 · 3 years ago (edited)

  You see, Murder Mysteries in DnD are a lot alike a doughnut hole in the doughnut&apos;s hole. But we must look a little closer. And when we do, we see that the doughnut hole has a hole in its center - it is not a doughnut hole at all but a smaller doughnut with its own hole, and our doughnut is not whole at all!

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• PL

  @pLanetstarBerry · 3 years ago

  Also, a protip: if you&apos;re gonna throw in a red herring to pad the runtime, don&apos;t make them too relatable by having them skip out on a party they said they were &quot;too tired&quot; to go to. I did that. The party wanted to know more about him. They prioritized clearing his name, pinpointed the storyarc&apos;s big bad because they thought BBEG was slowly poisoning the red herring (BBEG did a different crime), then the fighter romanced the red herring and now they&apos;re dating. I&apos;m glad things worked out, but that was not my intention 😂 You want an effective red herring, don&apos;t make my mistake.

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• RO

  @RobertYo125 · 3 years ago

  Pointy Hat: &quot;Play your party where everyone is a private detective, I would play that.&quot; &nbsp;Me: &quot;Isn&apos;t that just Call of Kthullu?&quot;

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• ES

  @espurrbuns4881 · 3 years ago

  We used The Real Housewives of Barovia in our curse of Strahd campaign. Figuring out who helped Ireena’s killer into Strahd’s castle to kill her before she turned vampire while also gossiping with all the consorts (one of which betrayed strahd and let Ireena’s killer in) was super fun. 110% would recommend it.

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• ZO

  @zoushaomenohu · 3 years ago (edited)

  Pointy&apos;s players: &quot;But what about the orangutan?&quot; 🤔<br>Pointy Hat: &quot;WE! &nbsp;DO NOT! &nbsp;TALK ABOUT! &nbsp;THE ORANGUTAN!&quot; 😱

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