Many types of stories can be told through 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons. From the classic tale of fantasy and heroes to the grim and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:dark atmosphere of a horror setting, there's hardly a story that can't be told through this medium. Having said that, most don't associate mystery with D&D, at least not as a campaign setting.
Having your characters going through the iconic 'whodunit' scenario is fairly common, but these are typically isolated moments. They are one-shots or breaks in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:bigger campaigns. However, should you wish to pursue a campaign shrouded in mystery and intrigue, here are a few crucial tips for pulling off a successful camp🍷aign.
7 ಌ Set The Tone 𒊎
Setting the tone doesn't just mean describing the weather and climate, though these can be important. No, the tone that you should be aiming to set is the type of mystery that you are hoping to run in your campaign. Your players need to know what kind of story you will be telling, so that they know what to look out for.
Is this a murder mystery? Is the party attempting to discover how and why something was stolen? Is the group trying to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:uncover a hidden organization? What are the stakes should the party fail to solve the mystery? These are the types of questions you need to answer as the mystery unfolds. Without a proper tone, the severity of the plot and the party's motivation could very well be lost as the campaign continues.
6 Leavꦇe Clear Clues
Like for any D&D campaign, as the DM, you are creating the story for your group. They are your protagonists, they will be the ones solving the mystery, and you can't control them. While you as the DM create the world, the story revolves around the players and their decisions. It's up to them to uncover the mystery, and you can only guide them along their journey.
This doesn't mean you have to hold their hands. Far from it actually, but you do need to leave clues. Like any good mystery, you need to leave breadcrumbs for your players, so they can both follow along with the plot and come to the answer. This could mean a discarded note, a diary entry, a passing comment, a character with a grudge, or anything that will help the group come to the correct conclusion on their own terms.
5 Mold 💫Combat For The S🍨etting
Now, this tip is more permissive than the others. You don't need combat for this type of campaign; should you and your table agree on it, a more roleplay-heavy game would work perfectly fine. That said, chances are you'll have at least one or two players that want some sort of action other than 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:solving riddles or discovering clues.
Should this be the case, don't just throw random monsters at your players. These combat encounters should fit the tone that you've set. Maybe instead of fighting a bunch of bandits, the group fights a gang that has information regarding the mystery. You can even have the villain be revealed as a monster and have the group fight them. This doesn't stray from the typical combat encounters you'd have in D&D, but they do fit better with the mystery setting.
4 ജ Allo🐬w Your Players To Explore
As previously stated, you can't control your players. They aren't characters to help you tell a story, they're real people trying to make sense of what you've created. It's up to them to discover the truth, and you have to let them. You can point them in the right direction with a well-placed clue, but you can't railroad your players, or else they'll just feel more like actors than characters with agency.
As such, give them the freedom to explore your world. Let them discover all the hints and clues that you've left on their own terms. Give them the freedom to explore the mystery of the campaign, and don't confine them to a single room then drag them from scene to scene. Allow your players to move and explore, and allow the story to unfold naturally.
3 😼 Emphasize Role♑playing
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Quite possibly the biggest and most important part of running a successful mystery-themed adventure is the moments of roleplaying. Your players won't be able to move along through this type of world by just punching people, and you can't just hand them the information without any sort of difficulty. They have to be able to take part in the story itself and gather information to progress, and roleplaying is the best way to do this.
Don't just tell the group what they find like you're reading from a script, prompt them to find it themselves. Have them speak with NPCs and make them understand that this is how they can progress. Coax them into engaging with the world, so they can feel as if they're a part of it. This will give them the desire to solve the mystery, and it will make each session far more enjoyable.
2 ♏ Be Cautious With Misdirection 🌼
A necessity for any good mystery is misdirection. Lies, seemingly disconnected clues, unreliable witnesses, and red herrings are all crucial in formulating an engaging puzzle that is satisfying to piece together. However, there's a fine line between creating a puzzle and outright deceiving your table.
There needs to be some truth within the sea of confusion that you are creating. Something for the party to latch onto. An unshakable truth that the party can use as their baseline for their entire investigation. If you were to give your group nothing but half-truths and disjointed information, it would be difficult for them to make any headway. A story where the characters don't progress isn't going to be a good story and a game where your players are stuck isn't a fun game.
1 Don't Make An Impossible Mystery
Going off of the thread of being cautious with how you present information, when DMing a mystery-themed campaign, always make the mystery solvable. This doesn't mean making an easy mystery that a toddler can solve, but finding the solution 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:needs to be feasible for the players. Even if you believe that you've crafted the perfect mystery filled with dramatic twists and unforeseen circumstances, if your players don't get there in the end, it was all for nought.
The best way to avoid this is to test it out beforehand. Can other people solve your mystery given the clues you've provided? If the answer is no, then the chances that your table won't be able to solve it are high. It always feels terrible to have to change something you've worked hard on, but it won't be fun for anyone if you just sit there watching your players spend hours trying to decipher the mystery you've written.