I just finished running a fantasy-noir murder mystery PF2e mini-campaign which I really enjoyed running. The following is my post-mortem - what happened, what went well, and what went wrong. also this is my first cohost post so if I messed up the markdown i'm sorry!
Background:
Me and my usual Dnd5e group have been playing in the same campaign together for 5+ years. One of them was on holiday for 3 or so weeks so I offered to run a mini-campaign in Pathfinder 2e. One of the potential themes I offered was a noir-ish mystery campaign where they all played some variant of an Investigator type character, which they accepted. The premise I gave them was “The Baron’s daughter has gone missing, and there’s signs of a struggle. He’s hiring anyone he can pay to find her and fast.”
People/characters:
Lizchard Fortress: DM of the 5e campaign. We’re also players in another PF2e campaign which has been going for around two and a half years. Played a Lizardfolk Investigator with the Celebrity archetype and Accountant background. A riff on the character of Richard Castle from the tv show Castle, he’s tagging along with Elliot to get material for his next book
Unstable Elliot: Hasn’t played PF2e since I ran the mini campaign last time at the start of the year. Played a Catfolk Investigator with the Detective archetype from Agents of Edgewatch. A punch first, ask questions later type character. A detective with the city guard.
Maria du Lac: Also hasn’t played PF2e since the last mini campaign. Played a Thaumaturge with the Ranger archetype. Intended to be like the Witcher if he was an older woman. Used the Lantern and Weapon implements. A wandering investigator/monster hunter for hire.
Myself: the DM of this mini-campaign. I ran a mini campaign for the rest of the group including the guy who was on holiday in PF2e before, as well as running the Beginner Box for them. I also ran the Beginner Box and the first two chapters of the Abomination Vaults AP for another group.
Below is the lore background of the campaign, and then a summary of the events of the campaign.
Plot setup:
Esmerelda von Trappenbridge, wife of Baron von Trappenbridge and mother of Lillian von Trappenbridge, passed away 9 months ago. To try to distract herself from her grief, Lillian delved into the occult as a coping mechanism where she was drawn to an ancient malevolent fae figure only known as The Red Tree. The Red Tree is a kind of primordial ancient entity with limited abilities to manifest itself outside of the fae plane. It feeds on strong negative emotions, such as despair, fear, or grief. It can marginally effect those experiencing these emotions, amplifying them and drawing them to empower it in exchange for magic abilities. In some cases, this can result in the target attempting to make the Red Tree’s connection to the material plane stronger through performing summoning rituals. If successful, these rituals will eventually cause the Red Tree to take full control of the summoner as an avatar.
Over the months following her mother’s death, Lillian fell under the influence of The Red Tree. She was drawn to purchase books with her father’s funds, containing information on how to summon fae entities and lore about the Red Tree. She slowly increased her knowledge and skills and began preparing the ritual to allow the Red Tree to take control of her and become its avatar. This included creating Leshies (plant creatures) to participate in the ritual, as well as creating red pollen which induces suffocation when breathed in, although it grows inert when exposed to air for too long.
Lillian’s activities drew the attention of a secretive cult called the Purgers, who are violently opposed to the summoning of demonic entities to the material plane. They operate in cells of two and strike using distinctive curved daggers. As the Red Tree’s influence over Lillian grew stronger and stronger, the Purgers became aware of her activities and sent a cell of two assassins to kill her before she could undertake the ritual.
On the night of the assassination, the Purgers entered the castle, killing the guard at the door. They used the servant’s tunnels that link to the kitchen to get access to Lillian’s room, and were prepared to assassinate her. However, Lillian was empowered by the Red Tree’s strength, and overpowered and killed her would-be assassins. using the red pollen to suffocate them. Realising her plans were threatened, she hid one of the corpses in the tunnel, and dragged the smaller assassin’s corpse with her to use as fuel for her ritual. She fled to a cave in the forests outside the city, which she had been using as a base for her occult research.
The morning after, the Baron discovered the scene of the crime and immediately sought detectives to solve the crime. This is where the party arrives.
Session one:
The party arrive at the scene of the crime. The room is in a bad state, everything has been smashed up, books are everywhere, and furniture has been destroyed. There’s blood on the floor, but no corpses. The party investigates one of the pools of blood which appears to be going under the wall somehow and find the door to the servant’s tunnel, with the aid of Maria’s magic lantern. Upon opening it, they find the corpse of the first Purger in the servant tunnels. He’s dead and lightly dusted with red powder. They take a sample of the powder, and upon examining the corpse fully, deduce that he died of suffocation. They note the corpse is clean shaven and has an oddly shaped curved dagger.
They further examine the tunnels, which connect to various guest bedrooms of the manor to the kitchen. In the kitchen is the chef, who was up late cooking a cake last night, as she’d noticed Lillian was looking off recently and wanted to cheer her up. When she heard the sounds of commotion from the Purgers entering, she barricaded herself in the pantry. She heard the sounds of two pairs of footsteps walking in, then fighting and smashing from a room down the hall, then one pair of footsteps and a noise like someone dragging a heavy sack.
Back in the room, the party investigate the desk in the room. Lizchard finds a secret compartment at the back of one of the drawers, which contains a series of receipts and ledgers. Using his accountancy lore skill, he deduces that Lillian had been making frequent purchases at four stores: a rare book dealer, a magic supplies shop, a fabric supplier, and a pottery store. The party also discover some small airtight clay pots which had been smashed, which contained some of the same dull red powder which was discovered on the corpse. They went to check the corpse of the guard who was slain by the assailants, who was stabbed to death. The stab wounds match the curved blade found on the corpse in the tunnel.
They decided they’d investigate the sample of red powder to see how it was able to kill someone. First, they tested it on a rat, but it didn’t have any effect. They then took it to an apothecary and paid the chemist working there to examine the powder under a microscope. This revealed that the powder was, in fact, a pollen!
The party resolved to investigate the leads from the ledger, and contact one of Unstable Elliot’s underworld contacts to see if he recognised the assassin’s distinct appearance. End Session One.
Session two:
The party chose to investigate the book dealer first. The bookshop owner, a half-giant named Brent Longfoot, specialised in procuring rare or antique books. He was initially suspicious of the party, but once Elliot informed him that they were (mostly) with the city guard and investigating a murder of one of his clients, he took them to the back room to discuss his client. Lillian had been using a pseudonym to place a number of orders for obscure books regarding fae folklore and summoning rituals for the last six months. He had a book she had ordered but didn’t pick up that he was holding for her, a scholarly tome on summoning rituals written in the abyssal language. Lizchard also talked with Brent about a possible distribution deal for his latest novel. Satisfied, the party left the book store.
Next stop was the magic supplies shop. Using the ledger and receipts, Lizchard was able to use his accountancy skills again to deduce what Lillian had purchased, which were various magic herbs and ingredients, as well as the same airtight pots found at the crime scene. Maria used her knowledge of the occult to deduce that the supplies were associated with summoning rituals.
Elliot’s contact was the next port of call. Dubious Keith was a minor criminal who Elliot sometimes hits up for information. When Elliot described the assassin to Keith, he was initially reluctant to share information about them. However, Elliot used his expert interrogation skills on him to persuade him to talk. Keith revealed that the assassin matched the description of the Purgers, who operate in tight cells of two, maintain strict secrecy, and relentlessly hunt down people who attempt to summon evil otherworldly entities. He knew this because his cousin tried to summon a minor devil to make a deal for power, but was killed by the Purgers before he could complete the ritual.
The party then went to the fabric store, where the manager of the store informed the party that Lillian’s account had purchased black silk, burgundy velvet, and red herringbone fabric. (This was a little meta joke on my end – the fabric was “red herring”bone. Sadly, nobody caught it.)
At the end of the session, the party resolved to do more investigation into the Purgers, and maybe visit the pottery store.
Session Three:
The party attempted to find more information on the Purgers by asking around at local inns and taverns to see if anyone matching their descriptions had stayed there recently. After a couple of hours, they found an innkeeper who mentioned that a human and a dwarf, both completely shaved and wearing black robes, had rented a room there two nights ago. This is noteworthy as in Dwarf culture shaving is highly irregular.
They take note of this, and then decide they should find somewhere where they can read up about summoning, as well as learn more about the Purgers. They settle on going to the local Magic Academy. Taking their time to browse the collections, they discover that the red pollen is associated with The Red Tree, an obscure malevolent fae entity who feeds off strong emotions. After asking for help from the students and library staff to no avail, they’re advised to go talk to Professor Griswold Garibaldi, the summoning specialist at the academy.
Professor Garibaldi informs the party about the nature of the Red Tree and its modus operandi; specifically, how it targets people undergoing emotional turmoil and possesses them, and in some cases using them to manifest its power in the world (this is an excuse for me to lore dump to the players). Part of the preparation for the ritual also involves the use of a corpse to assist with the casting, although details are scant on this part. He also mentions that it’s not impossible to survive a Red Tree possession as long as it’s stopped before the final possession ritual is completed. They thank the professor, and head back to the mansion to see if they can track down Lillian.
They find a patch in the rear fence of the mansion’s garden that’s been broken in a way that someone could slip through. The gap in the fence leads to a trail that looks like someone was dragging something heavy through it. They follow the trail until they find a cave. Upon entering the cave, they find numerous plant pots, two of which have half-grown Leshies in them! They attack the party and are defeated. Session Three ends.
Session Four:
The party are in the cave. Against the back wall is the corpse of a bald dwarf – the second Purger who was killed by Lillian, dragged to the cave, ritualistically butchered, and used to create the Leshies as part of the ritual. Also in the cave were Lillian’s stack of books which she’d ordered over the months from Brent’s bookshop. These books were mostly written in Sylvian or Abyssal languages, but one folder contained a collection of ripped-out pages from multiple disparate sources. These were all regarding the Red Tree – some academic texts, some stories about ancient fae beings, some notes from hunters dealing with past Red Tree infestations. There was also a map of the surrounding forests, with a location about 40 minutes’ walk from the cave circled in red – presumably the site of the summoning ritual.
While treating their wounds, Lizchard took an hour to read through the folder, while Maria (the only Abyssal speaker in the party) read through some of the books. Through doing this they learned more about the Red Tree, and specifically the characteristics of those possessed by it. The Red Tree does additional damage to those experiencing emotional turmoil, but has a vulnerability to damage from axes. With this knowledge in hand, and their wounds tended to, the party resolved to go to the site marked on the map and hopefully end it, once and for all.
The party follow the map, and find the ritual site. Lillian has mostly been overtaken by the Red Tree, and is standing chanting in the centre of a stone circle, accompanied by two Leshies. They’re chanting ominously in an unfamiliar tongue, and despite there only being three entities there, there’s at least four voices in the chorus. Initiative is rolled, and the party attacks. Through use of a necklace of fireballs, and some well devised stratagems, the party was able to disrupt the ritual and subdue the possessed Lillian. Through deft use of occult knowledge, they were able to exploit the Red Tree’s weakness to axes and remove the possession from her body, leaving her unconscious – but alive. They brought her to her father’s manor, who was extremely grateful for their work.
General Reflections:
I knew I wanted the Red Tree to be the ultimate villain of the story, with the Purgers being somewhat of a red herring. I’d originally planned for Lillian to be actively complicit in the Red Tree cult, as some kind of nihilist “burn it all down” type person, but I changed this because it didn’t feel like it made sense, and also it felt particularly cruel to have Baron von Trappenbridge to have to deal with a dead wife and then a cultist dead daughter.
I planned for the Purgers to attack the party at some point in a scene at one of the shops. The shopkeeper would have asked the party to come back when the shop was closed, but then when they returned the Purgers would have already killed the shopkeeper and then attacked the party. Turning them into a more clearly defined militant anti-demon cult just made more narrative sense. Cutting out an unnecessary combat encounter turned out to be very good in terms of pacing. Also I really should have come up with a better name for them, I improvised the name “the Purgers” on the spot and it feels kind of lame.
The structure of the campaign was broadly as such: Crime Scene -> four leads -> cave -> ritual site. It’s fortunate they followed them roughly in order, because I didn’t really have a plan to lead them to the cave outside of the pottery store saying, “we were instructed to deliver them to this weird cave”, but I suppose I could’ve said that for any of the stores. However, they managed to sidestep this by finding their own way to the cave so it’s a moot point. In a better constructed mystery, they would have been able to go pursue all four locations in the ledger in any order and only know the cave location after visiting all four, but it worked out well regardless.
In terms of inspiration, I took the Red Tree character/motif from Deadly Premonition, although it’s a very different interpretation of the same idea. The idea of an inscrutable ancient entity only able to influence the mortal plane through an avatar was also partially taken from Deadly Premonition, but also partly from the Chzo Mythos series of adventure games. I took the idea of the Purgers as being assassins who use curved daggers to kill from the Sicarii, an ancient Jewish assassin group from the Roman Empire, but that’s where the similarities end – the idea of shaving all their head hair was an original.
Post Mortem – What Went Right?
The vibe. I used only greyscale maps on foundry, and every scene had the rain effect on. It wasn’t planned, but all the players used black and white tokens for their characters. The only colour I used was a red glow light effect on the ritual circle in the final encounter. Not sure it had the cool impact I thought it’d have but I liked it. I intentionally went for a pulpy noir type vibe and I think I got it down pretty well.
The system. Pathfinder 2e wasn’t exactly “essential” to run this mini-campaign in, and you probably could have done it with, say, Call of Cthulhu, or something like Gumshoe. However, there were a lot of instances where niche, specific character choices came in useful; for example, Lizchard’s Accounting Lore, Elliot’s interrogation feats, Maria’s Abyssal language proficiency. Some of those were planned, some of them were coincidental, but I think they’re a strength of the system.
The mystery. Partway through the final session, I offered Hero Points to the party if they were able to piece together the full mystery of the campaign, which they were able to do. This is something I took from the game 5 Days a Stranger and I thought it was a good little way to make sure everyone understood the story I was trying to tell. The party seemed generally engaged with the plot, and they followed the clues roughly the way I expected. They never went to the pottery shop, but I’d intended that to just direct them to the cave anyway. Their choice to go to the academy (which was all improvised) allowed me to dump some lore on them about the Red Tree which I appreciated.
The story. I thought the mystery of the Red Tree was compelling and unfolded at a good rate, incorporating twists and an interesting set up. It would have been nice to incorporate some more female characters especially as I did use the classic “damsel in distress” trope, even though I feel I subverted it to an extent. This is mostly because I can’t do a good feminine voice which is something I should work on in general.
What Went Wrong?
The classes. The idea of the “one class only party” is one that people seem to like, and in PF2e you do have a lot of leeway to create distinct characters with the same class. However, Investigator and Thaumaturge are really finnicky classes, and they’re not easy for less-experienced players. The first combat was really dragged down by this especially as it was three sessions in, and what was meant to be an easy combat encounter turned into a massive slog. It didn’t help that foundry updated and disabled all the QoL modules I used.
Out of combat, the Investigator class features related to actually investigation didn’t really get used much. In part this was because they rely on the player remembering to trigger them (although it didn’t particularly matter as the players acted like investigators regardless). If the players had had more experience with Pathfinder 2e I think this wouldn’t have been as much of an issue, but for a party of newer players it dragged the pace down.
Similarly, we used the Free Archetype variant rule, which was mixed. Detective archetype didn’t come up much but when it did it felt pretty thematically on point. Celebrity archetype only came up a handful of times, and most times when it did it felt good, except for the Upstage Reaction which is worded really ambiguously. I had to make a ruling on the fly in the middle of a combat which was already a bit of a rules slog and it didn’t feel satisfying. Ranger archetype is useless. Maria’s player had hoped for another feature that would let them hunt monsters, but the bonuses it provides are basically useless and not worth using. Also it added another level of complexity for a group of newer players, so I think it would have been better to skip it this game.
The combats. As mentioned above, as well as the first one being a slog, it was also surprisingly brutal. The players were all level 6, and the encounter was against 2 level 3 “Leshy Crafters”. They’re apparently from a society scenario but they seemed really strong for their level. It’s likely this wouldn’t have been as much of an issue with more experienced players, too. Conversely, in the second/final encounter, I nerfed them as well as the Red Tree character (a custom monster using the Mi-Go as a base, with sneak attack changed to trigger on frightened characters, and adding a breath ability). Subsequently it felt a little easy and anticlimactic.
While I think everyone was somewhat fine with the combat not being super intensive, I do think it failed as a climactic conclusion to the mystery. Maybe some kind of extra out of combat mechanic for the ritual could have been cool, but then again that might just be another level of complexity that would have dragged it down.
The pacing. We played the first two sessions in successive weeks, but then there was a month or so long break between the second and third sessions, and then two weeks between three and four. Originally I “intended” it to be a two session campaign, but that was pretty optimistic, especially not knowing that combat would be such an ordeal. Not really something that can be controlled for considering we only played this as a backup when one of our regular players was away, and to the party’s credit they kept track of the mystery pretty well over the course of the campaign.
Final Thoughts
I feel like, while it’d be nice to have at least one investigator in the party, restricting the classes ultimately ended up being not as impactful as I expected. Instead, it would have been better to declare a mystery campaign and let players pick their own classes. However, I think the basic elements of the mystery, with the structure of the clues and the overarching story, worked really well. Overall though I consider it a success :) I have ideas for how I could do a follow-up, but I think I'm fine letting this party rest and move on to different ideas.
Your feedback is appreciated!