The Murderer--Revealed (and someone else wrongly accused)

Witterquick · Post by **Witterquick** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:37 am

http://strangevistas.spaces.live.com/mm ... -13_01.00/#

A few quick notes on this adventure:

Running a murder mystery like this one was tricky. As the eyes, ears, etc. of the players, it was difficult to be able to juggle everyone's perspective. It was also difficult, given the number of players, to make sure every got everyone. One player got a critical clue (the pendant) at the first session, but totally missed it in the conversation.

Just in case you are curious, here's how the murderer did it. He poisoned the victim's drink, then cast purify food and water on it (which neutralizes toxic elements). The victim injested the purified wine, but then it was affected by a dispel magic, which reversed the effect, making it poisonous, but leaving the wine in the glass pure.

Special thanks to the book Hawk and Fisher by Simon Green for the methodology. Green did a whole series featuring the fantasy hero/detectives Hawk and Fisher, but the first is definitely the best.

Now, off to some hack n' slashing!
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:31 am

I think purify food and drink is considered a permanent effect and therefore not dispellable. That is from memory. Yep, just checked. It's duration is permanent, so cannot be dispelled.

Witterquick · Post by **Witterquick** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:15 am

I will not let rules get in the way of my cleverly conceived scheme!

Besides, that never crossed the players' minds, thankfully.
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Inkpot · Post by **Inkpot** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:28 pm

"For a game of Castles & Crusades to be truly successful, the rules must bend to the desires and needs of the imagination."
~Castles & Crusades Player's Handbook, pg. 109

Ink
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:31 pm

Very true. But sooner or later someone is going to read that spell and the thought will occur. So it is best to come up with a good "explanation", such as a specially researched "purify food and drink" that had a duration.

Inkpot · Post by **Inkpot** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:23 pm

Or you can simply state that there are a zillion different aspects of the very same spell. It is ludicrous to think that every single magic user casts the exact same spell in exactly the same way with exactly the same results. The more the players can predict, the less successful the CK is.

I have this same problem on a weekly basis with my group. Every one of them has played D&D 3.0 - 3.5 for years, and so they have a tendency to rely on their knowledge of monsters, spells, etc. This leads to metagaming at its' worst. So, as the CK, I am constantly mixing things up to keep the players on their toes.
Ink
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:32 pm

Which is why I frequently throw modified spells and monsters at my players. One thing I liked about 3E is it officially did what I had been doing since very early 1E days, giving "monsters" class levels and/or variant powers.

Not to mention removing racial level restrictions and a host of other rules I ignored.

Then they had to go into overkill.

I am so thankful C&C came along with its universally adaptable SIEGE system.

StealthSuitStanley · Post by **StealthSuitStanley** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:59 am

Sorry Witterquick,

I did think of exactly what Treebore identified. I just didn't mention it because it was the entire premise of the mystery. If it didn't happen that way, there was no other way it could have happened. Which means the entire story would have been ruined.

I really enjoyed the game and didn't want to ruin it, especially right after the climax. Not to mention ruining it for everyone else...

And I'm playing a 1st Level Gnome Illusionist. He's not going to know any different anyway.

Besides, now I can use that premise for some great leverage against NPC's!

Of course, I would need to be playing something other than LAWFUL GOOD!!!

later

SSS

Witterquick · Post by **Witterquick** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:06 am

I'm making a note now: Frankie dies first.

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Witterquick · Post by **Witterquick** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:00 am

I've decided to expand the Strange Vistas campaign to offer more than just a simple blog. So here's the new website:
http://strangevistas.pbwiki.com/

On another thread I asked about a person being disguised as someone else. Despite the disguised not having CHA has Prime, the player did a fabulous job portraying a person portraying someone else. That, and a lot of really bad rolls on my part, and the PC's have gotten pretty deep into the belly of the beast.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:14 am

Actually, there are 100% "pure" herbals that can easily be added to a drink and remain without notice, save the casting of a detect poison spell. Such alterations would not even noticably alter the drink's flavor, either. Therefore, there is no need for magic to be involved in the conspiracy, so, therefore, any "but but" crap goes out the window.

Witterquick · Post by **Witterquick** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:40 am

I think the confusion on SSS's part is because the PC's discovered that one of the suspects had a talisman that could cast purify food and water, and guessed that the device could cast its opposite as well. In the "story" it couldn't, but the killer knew that the victim had a dispel magic effect around his head to prevent magical versions of mind control. SSS says he discounted the dispel magic because he knew purify food and water couldn't be dispelled. In any case, they got the right guy, had an ethical debate about turning him over to be tortured, and headed off towards the dungeon crawl.

Besides, every B.A. Felton needs a Brian Van Hoose.
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gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:42 am

Witterquick wrote:
I will not let rules get in the way of my cleverly conceived scheme!

Besides, that never crossed the players' minds, thankfully.

Exactly. Sides, anyone with such excellent taste in literature can bend any rule they want.
Hawk and Fisher kick ass.
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The Murderer--Revealed (and someone else wrongly accused)

The Murderer--Revealed (and someone else wrongly accused)

A new chapter, and a new website