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How To Run A Mystery in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

Dungeon Dudes

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MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We discuss the key elements of mystery and intrigue in Dungeons and Dragons and what to expect if you are setting out to create a mystery themed adventure.

DUNGEONS OF DRAKKENHEIM is coming to Kickstarter in 2021! We’re partnering with Ghostfire Games to publish the complete adventure for Fifth Edition.
Sign up at http://www.drakkenheim.com to get the latest updates!

This weeks episode is SPONSORED by our friends at Ghostfire Games and their GRIMHOLLOW campaign guide! make sure to get in on all your dark fantasy needs by grabbing your copy today! https://bit.ly/3biXW2c

TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Sponsor
0:52 - Intro
3:39 - Designing Clues
7:12 - Difficulty of Clues
11:31 - Magical Solutions
14:43 - Dealing With The Truth
16:55 - The Wrong Direction
20:34 - Avoiding Railroads
24:59 - Dealing With Lore
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20 Comments

@iododendron3416 5 years ago

'But Sherlock Holmes didn't have spells.'
That's were Warlock Holmes comes into play.

@FishRoy0 5 years ago (edited)

Step 1 - Be a divination wizard.
Step 2 - Solve mystery.
Step 3 - Open a film noir-esque detective agency.
Step 4 - I knew she was trouble when she walked through my door, because I’m a divination wizard

@1narutogirl6 5 years ago

The greatest dnd mystery is how to work around everyone's schedules to actually pick a time to play

@RavingNutter 5 years ago

Me: Sits down to start working on the murder mystery his players are doing in the next session.

Dungeon Dudes: I'm about to be the most well timed video of this man's career.

@BittyVids 5 years ago

That feeling when a new dungeon dudes drops right before you start doing boring house chores.

@davidjohnson4657 5 years ago

The three clue rule was also heavily influenced by the classic mystery show “Blues Clues”.

@timothymcintire5747 4 months ago

This was very useful. I was using this while creating the template clues to a missing noble who found a legendary map, but went missing.

@questionablelifechoices7501 5 years ago

I’ve been needing this. Can’t wait to not accidentally name drop, give too much info, and do literally everything involved in a mystery wrong.

@Nethar6 5 years ago

I once ran a vampire the masquerade game where the players got drawn into a conspiracy of vampires who were convinced that one of them was betraying the cabal. The players were chasing down leads only to find their prime suspect the next victim. The twist was I only picked who was the next to die by who the players suspected. Each NPC had enough motives and opportunity and could have been the mole so I didn't need to adjust much. The players loved it! Sadly I could only pull that off once with any player group

@Cazleb_Baker 5 years ago

Me, having failed to run a mystery mere weeks ago:
Huh good to know

@mi.Dalton 5 years ago (edited)

Okay lets be honest though, Indiana Jones' Notebook was basically a magic item.

@TBoring 5 years ago

D&D Buddy Cop comedy idea: An Inquisitive Rogue and a Knowledge Domain Cleric are partners. The Rogue ends up always accidentally killing suspects with their sneak attack damage and the Cleric is forced to Revivify them to question them.

@Heritage367 5 years ago

For people who are willing to dig up older fiction, Randall Garrett did a number of mystery stories with a detective named Lord D'Arcy set in a Victorian world with magic. Excellent mysteries!

@brandoncurtis1636 5 years ago

It always tricks my eyes a bit when Kelly’s the one wearing the Roots hoodie instead of Monty

@stefanlindner1500 5 years ago

Regarding Magic in Mysteries: Depending on who they are, the bad guys also might know that Magic exists and what it could do, and even use it themselves.

@dutch6857 5 years ago

"Don't use red herrings. The players are their own red herrings." Seth Skorkowsky.

An awesome early medieval mystery resource are the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters.

Murder was never OK, just that investigative techniques were under developed. A clever party might steer the Shire-Reeve (Sheriff) to the actual guilty party instead of hanging some convenient vagrant.

@GEARscience 5 years ago

"I cast speak with dead!"
"Who killed you?"

As funny as this is to imagine, "I don't know, it was too dark, but I know a couple of people who were after me." is a valid answer. Or, you could have the culprit using Dominate Person on others to do his bidding in the night, though, I wouldn't use that as an excuse in the heat of the moment.

@greenhawk3796 5 years ago

Ive got a vampire npc that everyone suspects is a vampire, but he's also a changeling so the physical investigations of him while the party was talking with him all failed to determine he's a vampire. They then went to his house & I included very obvious hints that he's definitely a vampire, but also pretending to be someone else... well at least I thought it was obvious. Completed the mini campaign and no one figured it out. So, I get to reuse the character at another point I guess lol

@FormOfSquirrel 5 years ago

My players were tracking a mysterious duo from early on in their campaign. They went 'off-track' looking for clues out in the woods, which provided the druid with some especially good opportunities to try to speak with animals and plants to find out more about events that had happened through there several months prior. It was a lot of fun helping the players to engage with the 'clues' on their own terms and it's been exciting to see them finally starting to piece together this long-term mystery!