Master Ethan entered The Black Dragon Inn and scanned the taproom in search of the adventuring party that had returned earlier that day. Approaching the table at which the group were noisily drinking, Ethan asked which was the leader.

The Elf replied and Ethan asked if he might be able to help with a matter that required some discretion. The group listened as Ethan outlined the problem and offered to pay them 50 gold crowns if they could resolve it without letting out the secret.

“If the Dwarves find out the bodies of their kin are missing, we’ll have the whole armies of Azaz down upon our heads,” said Ethan. He hoped they understood the gravity of the situation.

I’ve been reading Justin Alexander’s, “So You Want To Be A Game Master” and enjoying the practical guidance within. When the School D&D group ended last session and I heard one of the players bemoan how they were a little tired of the dungeon, I decided to delve the book for inspiration.

Having read about Mysteries, I decided to try my hand at the first homework assignment: Design your first linear mystery. While I might have preferred a 5-Node Mystery with a more dynamic design, you have to learn by starting with simpler scenarios. The linear mystery is quicker to prep and easier to run.

The set-up was simple: two Dwarven corpses have been stolen from Master Ethan’s Forge where they were in safe keeping awaiting the return of the (now deceased) Dwarven adventurer Vadek, who was to take them back to Dwarrow’s Hold for interment. The party began the search for clues at the Forge and things progressed positively.

Despite the player’s tendency to dither around and get side-tracked by their own interactions at the table, the mystery proceeded through two scenes and the accumulation of clues went quite well. They needed me to say, “You are involved in a mystery. How do you solve a mystery?” but from there, the idea of collecting clues proved engaging.

At one point, given that I had projected a sketch map of Stone Harrow on to the classroom interactive whiteboard, they asked if they could annotate the image. I agreed and about 15 minutes of discussion and mapping the clues proved fruitful. This engaged the entire group and produced… well, some intriguing notes.

Next session, they are off to visit the village well. It seems they suspect the bodies may have been taken down there somehow. Intriguing, really.

Game on!