Tag: murder mystery

The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Two

Warder

The Book of the New Moon Door cover image: A book with yellowing, wrinkled pages lies open on an old wooden desk, with a sprig of lavender lying in the center.

Table of Contents

Isabel sits at the small table across from Brother Risoven, her tea growing cold and a piece of bloody-colored fungus lying on a scrap of paper beside it. It’s stained the paper a wet reddish brown, and it’s shriveled a bit, but otherwise it hasn’t changed noticeably from when she pulled it off the side of a shack in the Shell District last night. In the thin early morning light from the high, narrow windows of the chapel’s living quarters, it looks rather like a severed finger, dark and twisted from putrefaction. 

Continue reading “The Book of the New Moon Door: Chapter Two” →

New project!

Next week, I’ll be starting a new multi-chapter story, The Book of the New Moon Door. As always, it’ll be completely free to read, and released one chapter a week on Wednesdays until further notice.

The world is changing.

The old orders of the world fade away. The church’s power wanes, replaced by secular states. Magic gives way to science.

Berend was once a member of the Sons of Galaser, the most prestigious mercenary company on the continent. Now, the Sons are no more, and only a handful of his former companions remain, one of whom was dismembered last night in what appears to be a demon-summoning ritual out of an old legend.

Isabel is a Sentinel of Ondir, the god of death. Armed with bell, book, and candle, her job is to send restless spirits to the afterlife–and there has been much need of that, of late. Asking the ghost of a murdered ex-mercenary if he saw his killer before he died is a simple task, but she soon finds that things will not be so easy: though everything Isabel knows tells her it’s impossible, it appears his soul has been damaged.

As Berend and Isabel search for a murderer who can dismember a soul, and navigate their places in the changing world, they discover the terrible secrets hidden behind the veil of progress.

Singer Lake, part two

Singer Lake cover image: winding road goes through trees silhouetted against a sunset. Mountains are visible in the background, with a sunlit lake at their base. A timelapse of the Milky Way arcs through the sky. Text reads: Singer Lake, a module for the Chronicles of Darkness/NWOD system

Table of Contents

Young Jimmy Thiess, student and member of the Hounds of God, has been murdered, leaving behind few clues to follow. Fortunately, Jimmy’s friends know who killed him, but now they intend to take matters into their own hands. The players will need to work to uncover the secrets behind Jimmy’s death, and beneath Singer Lake itself, if they are to prevent the situation from getting worse.

(As usual, this is a fan-made module, and I am in no way associated with Onyx Path Publishing, White Wolf Games, or the creators of World of Darkness or the Chronicles of Darkness storytelling system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, rather sanitized gang activity, police, child neglect and potential endangerment, proselytizing.)

Continue reading “Singer Lake, part two” →

Singer Lake, part one

Singer Lake cover image: winding road goes through trees silhouetted against a sunset. Mountains are visible in the background, with a sunlit lake at their base. A timelapse of the Milky Way arcs through the sky. Text reads: Singer Lake, a module for the Chronicles of Darkness/NWOD system

Table of Contents

Singer Lake is a beautiful Colorado college town, situated in the wooded hills surrounding the eponymous lake and surrounded by idyllic countryside. It is the home of a University of Colorado campus, the rapidly growing Legend biotech corp, and the headquarters of Life & Family Ministries, an international Christian organization. 

The town also has secrets—gears are turning unseen beneath the bustling, modern facade of Singer Lake, and a plan centuries in the making is about to come to fruition.

This adventure was originally written to be the start of a campaign with one Storyteller and only one player, playing a human character who starts out with no awareness of the World of Darkness. It should be fairly easy to adapt it to a party of player characters, and with a little tweaking, it will allow for PCs who represent other World of Darkness archetypes. 

(As usual, this is a fan-made module, and I am in no way associated with Onyx Path Publishing, White Wolf Games, or the creators of World of Darkness or the Chronicles of Darkness storytelling system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, occult imagery, horror, police.)

Continue reading “Singer Lake, part one” →

The Well Below the Valley has returned

I’ve finished my edits, and all the links on the table of contents are now active again!

I made a few new handouts, and moved some clues around in Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens to make the mystery both more mysterious and more solvable. Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily is also available again.

You can go here to start the module from the very beginning, here to begin with Chapter One, and here to start Chapter Two. As always, all available material is accessible from the “Read my writing” tab at the top of the blog.

I’m back on my alternating schedule from here on out. Next Wednesday, I’ll post a chapter of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea, and I’ll be back the week after to start Chapter Three of this module, “The Singer of Tales.”

Enjoy!

Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part Two)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The investigators return to London after gathering clues in Oxford and learning of the tragedy that befell Professor Ragnarsson’s expedition to the North Sea. While they try to hunt down the professor’s murderer and make sense of what he left behind, they find that something far stranger is happening here—and they are all in grave danger.

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, mentions of sexism and racism, drowning, possible mind control, discussion of WWI and loss of loved ones.)

Continue reading “Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part Two)” →

Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part One)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

It is February 13, 1922, and it is a cold and rainy Monday morning in London.  Three days ago, Professor Emundr Ragnarsson was found dead in his hotel room. The investigators will visit and revisit various important locations, speaking to witnesses and gathering clues in order to find out who killed the professor.  Meanwhile, a rival detective at Scotland Yard will be conducting his own investigation, and an acquaintance of the victim’s has his own theories as to what happened. The real killer is out there, however, and the investigators must discover the truth before he and the mysterious organization he serves strike again. 

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, mentions of sexism and racism, memory loss/mind control, drowning.)

Continue reading “Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part One)” →

The Well Below the Valley: Player Characters/Session Zero

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

As a gamemaster (“Keeper of Arcane Lore,” in Call of Cthulhu parlance [1] ), I design campaigns that are very character-focused, and so this module was written for my players’ four characters. To introduce each of them to the campaign, I designed a “session zero” that would draw them into the mystery, give them some early clues, and teach the players the game system. It was a good way to get players invested early on and establish their connections to the game world. 

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: death, violence, mentions of sexism and racism, some discussion of WWI, and a very brief mention of the Armenian Genocide.)

Continue reading “The Well Below the Valley: Player Characters/Session Zero” →

The Well Below the Valley: Introduction

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

It is February 13, 1922. Three days ago, Oxford professor of archaeology Emundr Ragnarsson was found dead in a London hotel room. At first, it was assumed that his death was a natural one, but there are too many questions surrounding it. Who has been following the professor around Oxford? What happened on his last field expedition, that was cut short and declared a failure? What does his work have to do with a mysterious blight affecting plants around the country? And how did he drown, miles from the harbor and with no other sources of water nearby? 

Continue reading “The Well Below the Valley: Introduction” →