Behind the Screen- Solid on the Mystery and Loose on the Connections

At the moment, my gaming group is scurrying through the third adventure in a Victoriana campaign. My adventures steal very heavily from Victorian detective fiction for plots, themes, and pacing. We still fight monsters, start bar brawls, and steal booze from upper-crust gentlemen’s clubs, but we also solve mysteries with pluck, luck, and brains. Even though almost all scenarios contain some form of mystery, some Gamemasters have trouble writing investigative scenarios. I follow a couple of guidelines that help me craft an investigation for my table: Solid on the Mystery and Loose in the Connections.

Solid on the Mystery

Most mysteries tell two stories: A) the story of what happened/what is going on and B) the investigation into the former. Whether it’s recovering Lady Bishley’s incriminating letters or stopping the gargoyle attacks in Soho, the investigators uncover the narrative of the mysterious past even as they adventure in the present through their skills and choices.
Nothing helps me run an investigative scenario like a solid grasp of the mystery. The who, what, where, why, and how come first for me. The more I know about the mystery's’ solution (who killed him, what caused his death, where is the killer now, why was he killed, and how was he killed during a racehorse auction in broad daylight with no witnesses) the more prepared I am for the players to stretch, destroy, stumble and surprise me into the solution.

Loose on the Connections

The more you know about what has happened, the less you need to worry about how the players uncover the solution to your mystery. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have bloody footprints, a monogrammed glove, or mysterious receipts for digging equipment ready to go. Rather, if the players think up some way to plausibly or excitingly uncover your clue, the time you spent thinking through the mystery’s solution beforehand gives you everything you need to improvise an answer to their question.

Player: “I check the coal shoot. Do I find anything?”
Game Master (Thinks): Well, the Crooktail brothers need some way to get the stuffed crocodile out of the house, so yes.

Game Master (Outloud): “You sure do. Disruptions in the coal dust indicate something large was shoved up the shoot and into the ally outback. You also see some dark fur snagged on a couple of nails in the side of the coal shoot, possibly belonging to a ratfolk.”

Once your players play through one or two investigative adventures, they should be able to follow the mystery through the application of skills, contacts, and creative thinking too numerous for a Gamemaster to out plan. Don’t skimp on the clues, but give the players the lead on how those clues get uncovered. Some of their ideas lead nowhere, but they don’t have to read your mind and guess the one correct answer. They just have to come up with interesting ideas that connect to your mystery.

Obviously, the successful implementation of these two guidelines relies on the chemistry of your gaming group. The first requires a Gamemaster building adventures full of interesting narrative leading to exciting things for the player characters to do. The second requires a party of players engaged with the presented story and ready to venture forth risking mistakes with only a little nudging. If your group has that trust and pluck these two guidelines could set you up for some prime investigative adventuring.