this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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As the title says. I eventually want to run an impostor scenario/murder mystery in my World of Darkness game at some point, and would like some pointers.

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[–] pteryx@dice.camp 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@Atlas48 First off, know from the outset whether you want to run a genuine mystery scenario, with an actual truth under the hood where the point is to overcome the challenge of finding that truth, or engage in mystery-*shaped* storytelling where the goal is to end up with a tale that resembles a mystery from the outside while not actually taxing the players' brains. Advice varies wildly depending on which you're doing.

[–] Rhaxapopouetl@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I wonder, in a mystery-shaped storytelling, if starting the adventure by secretely telling a random player "you're the murderer, you killed that person at this time with this weapon at this place" could help you build the mystery part since it would eventually result in having sometimes contradicting information and fake evidence planted by the culprit

[–] pteryx@dice.camp 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nah, Mafia/Werewolf is actually a third option, and served by games that exist outside "our" roleplaying industry. Look into murder mystery party games for that.

By "mystery-shaped storytelling" I mean more stuff like Brindlewood Bay, InSpectres, Technoir... stuff where even who did it and how just isn't decided at the start.

[–] Rhaxapopouetl@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I know. I played Brindlewood Bay, and we felt that the endings were a little off because of the gameplay rules. That's why I was wondering about throwing an impostor out there to see what would come of it.

[–] pteryx@dice.camp 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@Rhaxapopouetl That doesn't really seem compatible with "roll to see if your theory is correct at the end"...

[–] Rhaxapopouetl@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 week ago

True, but OP wants to run an impostor/mystery, so i feel i'm not completely out of touch, there.