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WHAT IS
DNDSPEAK?
Dndspeak is a collective community of individuals passionate about tabletop gaming.
When someone has an idea to improve gameplay, the community bands together to
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This list was created by the community over at www.reddit.com/r/d100.

Put together by Casey Willis. See more at www.dndspeak.com.

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MURDER MYSTERY PLOT HOOKS
Roll a d100 and select the result from below.
1. The town elder was brutally killed in his
home on the full moon. Large claw marks
lead to a local tavern.
2. Local blacksmith knows a little too much
about the local killings. All the victims
were killed by a well-crafted blade.
3. A young maiden husband just died.
Funny enough she is about to get married
to her new husband next week. That’s the
third husband that has died on her in two
months.
4. One of the party members wakes
up to find his weapons are wet with
blood. Later that day, someone turns up
dead… with markings similar to the PC’s
weapons.
5. A local official is dead. An ambassador
from a rival kingdom/tribe/race/etc.
happened to be in town that night, and
members of the local military are ready to
put him to death without further evidence.
6. A woman is desperately seeking
help. Every night, her family is brutally
murdered. But they always wake up fine
the next morning.
7. An impoverished tween girl with a real
force of personality begs you to help
you sort out who’s stealing her chickens.
She’s so poor she only has the chicken
coop, and she sleeps in there; but there’s
another chicken missing every day.
8. A tavern maiden appeared dead with
what seems signs of an already known
beast in the area, further investigation
show that the beast died long ago.
9. A local politician hung him/herself,
leaving a suicide note. The surviving
family insists a mind-control spell was
used and that the letter is a forgery.
10. The ne’er-do-well third child of a
local noble family was found dead,
encased in a ten-foot cube of ice floating
down the local river.
11. The local priest went missing. One
anonymous tip later, and the body was
found in a crypt that hasn’t been entered
in over 10 years.
12. The king/leader of the region was
killed by masked assassins during a
speech at a town fair.
13. The party is invited to a mansion
in the countryside along with a bunch
of NPCs and receive a secret message
from the host before they arrive. The
host is terminally ill/cursed/bored of
this whole ‘living’ thing and their life
 insurance doesn’t cover natural death/
insert other option here, but wants to go
out with STYLE, and essentially writes
the party into the will/policy/etc. if they
stage a murder-mystery. Alternatively,
the contractor is a murder mystery novel
writer looking for a publicity stunt or
something. Feel free to have either go
sideways.
14. Last week, a local wizard’s
apprentice turned him/herself into
the local jail after confessing to killing
their master in a laboratory accident.
Investigators did a cursory inspection
and found evidence of the accident, but
no body. The supposedly dead wizard
turns up alive within the week, claims a
miraculous escape to another plane that
took a week to return from, but refuses
any sort of investigation. The apprentice
dies in mysterious circumstances in jail
overnight. (Wizard is secretly a lich.)
15. An entire family of hemophiliacs
were slaughtered in their house. Some
suspect an over-zealous monster hunter
who mistook them for vampires, but is the
truth darker than that?
16. An elder red dragon takes the entire
capital city hostage until someone can
solve the mystery of the murder of its
mate.
17. The reed of a famously kind elven
bard was poisoned, and she died
playing in the local tavern the party was
staying at. Who would target such a kind
elf?
18. Bdeocles, a devilish imp and former
familiar of fifty years has been accused
of the murder of his/her master. The imp
is a wicked tempter and a natural liar,
but seemingly very earnest about not
murdering the one long-time trustworthy
friend the imp had on the prime plane.
19. Your party is attacked by two-
dozen high-level mind flayer warriors
and hauled off to their deep city. The
mind flayers’ high priest and the highest-
ranked drow diplomat in their city were
murdered. A war with the drow will
likely break out unless the perpetrator is
brought to justice. They also discovered
they have all been infected with a
memetic suggestion that prevents them
from looking at the case objectively. Even
the elder brain is affected. The brain
came to the conclusion surface dwellers
were needed to sort the mess out. Solve
the case or have your brains eaten.
20. In a locked basement, in an
abandoned house, a skeleton/corpse
is found starved to death. In their own
words, carved into the walls they wrote
who their killer is, but time has worn it
away. Finding out would depend on
finding the identity of the prisoner and
discovering their history in the town.
21. A particularly hairy man is
discovered near the woods with a
silvered knife in his back.
22. A local villager was recently killed by
some kind of creature while out hunting.
His body was returned for burial by his
fellow hunting party. Yesterday, before
the burial ceremony, his body has gone
missing.
23. Several patrons and a local lord
running for governor died shortly after
drinking his favorite spiced wine from a
 tavern. Funny enough, that spiced wine
was a gift to the tavern from a rival lord
running for governor, however, he claims
innocence. Suddenly, the tavern owner
joins the political race, shouting in the
square about the brutality of the local
lords and how they need to be replaced.
24. A group of children went to a lake
that supposedly can supposedly show
the true form of whatever enters the lake.
While skipping stones, the rocks appear
to transform into numerous corpses. What
psychopath has been killing villagers and
how has no one noticed them missing?
25. Victims in a small town are dying of
blood loss overnight. The only problem?
There are no wounds to show it.
26. A group of elderly men, who are
or were very prominent in the town
(councilors, wealthy merchants, guild
leaders etc.) start dying, one by one. At
first it seems to be accidents, but soon
it escalates to blatant murder. One of
the numbers had died of natural causes
sometime before, and his body was
exhumed, mutilated, and his skull left
in the house of one of the others. After
the third death, two and two was put
together and rumors begin to flow – this
is exactly the group of men that were
accused of the gang rape of a beautiful
young teen girl, many years ago. They
are now closing ranks again and have
been seen visiting each other’s houses to
confer. At the time, the power of these
men led to the girl’s family abandoning
her and accusing her of lying. She then
disappeared, apparently fled to lead a
life of her own.
27. The town’s woodworker was found
murdered in his shop, lying over his
workbench, a wood axe in his back. On
the workbench are carving tools and
shavings of a very expensive type of
wood.
28. A man was found on the street,
seemingly died from a fall, but there
are strange runic markings all over the
victim’s body.
29. A man is found dead, drained of
blood. However, he holds a large holy
symbol in his outstretched hand.
30. An entire batch of home-brewed
beverages sold in the market square were
poisoned – 20 people are dead. Is it
the work of a serial killer, or is the mass
poisoning a cover for a specific slaying?
31. A pair of twins are found dead by
strangulation on opposite sides of the
town; both seem to be killed at the same
time. Each was found holding a small
glass marble.
32. A man is found slumped in his
creaking rocking chair on the porch of
his shack, congealed wax trailing from
his head and encrusting his clothes.
His bloody eyes, mouth and ears are
each stuffed with a thick candle, wicks
shouldering in the light breeze.
33. The Lord was found murdered in
the wine cellar; his body completely
drained of blood. There were no marks
of violence to his corpse. His son has
ascended to his position, and despite
the young man’s previous know-nothing
attitude, he’s proven to be oddly adept at
 managing local affairs. Many have said
he takes after his father to an uncanny
degree.
34. The party comes to a new town
and stays the night at an inn. Everything
seems normal, but when they go
downstairs the next morning, they find
the innkeeper and all the patrons from
the previous night have been brutally
slain. (Optional: the rest of the town has
absolutely no reaction to this.)
35. A special item is going to be shipped
in secret to his future owner across the
sea. The crew has a heated disagreement
at the port tavern for some reason
(between them, or with a local or the
captain finds his daughter with one of
them). The captain spends the night prior
to the departure at a private lodging,
after some business. In the morning of
the departure, the captain is nowhere
to be seen on the ship, the already
stowed away item is missing, and a boy
is screaming bloody murder on a back
alley. It’s the captain with a bludgeoned
head and pierced heart. A chip of a
half-orc tooth is found nearby, as well
as a delicate earing inside the captain’s
pocket.
36. You, the party, awake in the
morning to find you are dead. You’ve
been murdered in your sleep, and now
as spirits flirting between the ethereal
and material plane you must solve your
murder and find some way back into your
cold bodies, lest you be really dead, like,
forever.
37. You are in an inn and you hear a
commotion you run towards it and enter
the room the only person in the room is
dead and has no pants. Upon further
inspection the pants are nowhere to be
found.
38. A powerful magic inducer is brought
to town (think transformers’ allspark). A
scholar at the nearby museum dies during
the night as if he was being chased
by some weird monster (pixies, orc,
you choose). A new painting has been
delivered the week prior and might shed
some answers to the death. The inducer
created a night at the museum scenario
and some paintings from a specific
wizardly artist gained life and roamed
during the night. The scholar wasn’t
particularly amicable but had great
knowledge and might have had relevant
information for the party.
39. The PCs are asked to investigate a
local mining company that is producing
over three, sometimes four, times the usual
amount of processed ores than expected,
with the miners having no memories of
working their shifts in the newest, deepest
shaft. The smelting workers claim that the
ore was never processed by them and
show proof that it uses an older, now-
banned technique.
40. Your adoptive Mother, who took care
of you and your brothers in childhood on
orphanage was found dead in the woods
with an amulet from one your brothers.
41. A Cranium Rat approaches the
party and asks for their help. Someone
in town has been killing Cranium Rats
to the exclusion of killing other forms of
rodent pests and somehow, the psychic
connection between the Cranium Rats
 breaks before death, denying the Hive
from knowing their killer.
42. An apprentice to the community’s
wizard is in jail for killing his master. It
seems a Clay Golem they were building
tore the head off the wizard and then
ran into the woods. The only people who
could have given orders to the Golem
were the wizard and his apprentice so
it’s obvious the apprentice did it, yet he
claims he is innocent.
43. Two powerful wizards have been
feuding for years, but until today it
was always fairly civil: written letters,
disputations published in scholarly
circles, and the occasional annoying and
irritating curse (May your nose hair grow
ten feet!). Today one of the wizards was
found dead in his/her lab with the other
wizard’s dagger in his/her back.
44. The Local Lord’s poison taster fell
grievously ill during a dinner party and
everyone panicked. The Chef and all
of her staff were arrested on grounds
of attempted murder, the Alchemist was
seen in the kitchens and so he too was
arrested, and the King’s cup bearer is
under suspicion as well. On top of it all,
the neighboring Lord is riding about the
border ‘hunting bandits’ and sending
patrols into the local county…
45. A serial killer is loose on town! The
fourth body has been discovered and
all share a shocking trait: each one is
a dwarf, recently come to town to work
the nearby mines. Is someone targeting
dwarves or is there another link between
them? And why now?
46. A prominent businessman in the
timber industry goes missing. His body
can be found with a tree growing from
his chest in the forest.
47. A righteous, or perhaps not so
righteous warband/military unit, was
completely slaughtered overnight in their
fort. There are signs of a massive battle,
but all the carnage is within the walls.
48. First it was random children of
peasants that had gone missing. When
the city watch began investigating,
the children of watchmen started
disappearing! Can the PCs, who have
been selected because they have no
family, determine the cause of the child
abductions? Without endangering any
other children?
49. The entirety of a town gets invited
to the noble‘s annual dinner party at
his colossal mansion. Shortly after all
the guests have arrived the noble has
seemed to have disappeared, but his
body was found later with a dagger in
his back. Then the lower-class guests
start disappearing and dying in various
different ways. The killings seem to be
gradually going up the social ladder.
50. An adventurer asks you to solve their
own murder. They and their party were
exploring a dungeon, but got separated,
then the adventurer was killed instantly,
but the body was later found and
resurrected. The only people that should
have been in the dungeon were their own
party.
51. In the evening a bard gives a song
in gruesome detail of a brutal murder.
 The next day a body is discovered that
is multiple days old but matches the
description of the bard.
52. In the middle of a stunning
performance, the band’s lead singer and
bard were murdered! The culprit was
covered by the mist and fog created by
the band’s crew as special effects, who
could have killed them on stage in the
middle of all this chaos?!
53. A little boy is found slain inside a
locked room; his throat slit. A doll, his
favorite, of a small woodcutter is found
on the floor next to him. In its tiny hands
is a tiny knife.
54. A man is found dead in his home,
his body completely drained of blood. All
1.5 gallons of his blood have been neatly
stored in glass jars around the corpse.
55. Corpses have been showing up near
the town. They all have the odd quirk of
the victims seemingly asleep, if it weren’t
for the total lack of all organs and the
corpses randomly being cut into pieces
with near surgical precision. Also, the
town’s medics are all clerics, with nobody
having the sort of precision tools or skills
to cut super finely through bone.
56. The party receives a letter from a
noble, calling them forth to his court.
Soon, he reveals that a threat of murder
is afoot. A devil walks among them, and
the party must route them out.
57. A family moved away from the
village further into unsettled territory. It
has been almost a month since anyone
has heard from them, and it appears that
after some madness and violent ends,
the surviving family fled to a lighthouse
owned by a relative.
58. Tasked to retrieve an item from
an old castle and village, the party,
contractor, and an extra crew make their
way there to loot the location. However,
as storm sets in and a crew member is
found dead, something foul is afoot.
59. Seemingly out of nowhere, a
screaming body comes plummeting
towards the ground. It appears to have
maybe been aimed at someone…
60. A few days after the party where
the local woodworker was drunkenly
bragging to a PC about how he has a
shipment of rare wood used for detailing
and instruments, he was found dead,
murdered with his own wood axe.
61. The party arrives at a port city
and finds tensions running high. The
local nobility, guild masters, working
class and underworld are in a four-way
standoff over expected payments, quality
of products and working conditions:
negotiations were already tense and
then the first body showed up. So far, the
victims have been the children of working-
class leaders, but now the daughter of a
prominent and universally respected guild
master (thought to be the best chance at
a peaceful resolution) has vanished. The
cities ruling family has been silent on
the matter, mercenaries are pouring into
the city and maritime trade has dropped
sharply…
62. The party wakes up in the crypts of
a large town or city, with no recollection
 of their deaths and each carrying an
invitation to a formal event, dated two
days ago. Investigating the event’s
location reveals that it is currently locked
up by the city guard to investigate a
mass killing, the victims being the party
members themselves!
63. Tragedy erupts in the quiet hamlet
of Miramide, as the morning patrol finds
the body of the woodworker, murdered
in the night. All apparent evidence points
to the murder being the work of Illid, a
golem created for the express purpose of
protecting Miramide.
64. A room at the local brothel was
found covered in blood with drag marks
leading to the nearby river.
65. A series of brutal killings are going
on, every month a new victim is found
torn to shreds by a wild animal. At first
the town suspected Mr. Lazuli as he got
bitten by a werewolf last spring and the
local priest hasn’t come to remove the
curse. Only these killings take place on a
New Moon, while Mr. Lazuli transforms
on a full moon …
66. The city has a serial killer on its
hands! Maybe? There’s a new death
every few weeks, but always killed in a
new way, cut, shot, impaled, tortured.
The strange thing is the victims look
identical, not like anyone the police
recognize. But the bodies are all the
same man. Dying with a grin on his face
… 71. Household ‘Otto-Servant’ warforged
67. A lich wants you to solve his own
murder. He insists on coming along with
you to play “good cop, bad cop”.
68. A mysterious man in red has been
killing violent criminals and corrupt
officials throughout the city. The mayor
was positively gleeful at first, but ever
since his cousin’s ties to a crime ring have
been made public, he’s been pressing the
guards and bounty hunters to find and
capture the man in red under the mantra;
“Vengeance is not justice!”.
69. The man in red, a vigilante who’s
been killing violent criminals and corrupt
politicians in the city, has been found
dead. The city guard aren’t touching
this case because the man in red had
powerful enemies, and it looks like one of
them had him killed.
70. A person explodes in a gout of
fire. Then 2 more nearby. A creature
is possessing these victims before they
ignite. Then the creature turns on the
players! It could be that the victims (or
at least one of them) are connected
somehow. Are there more victims
throughout the city? It’s clear that the
heroes must find this out before it
happens again! Chasing the clues might
reveal that the creature was summoned
and specifically targeted (at least one of)
the victims! What do the players do when
they find out that original summoner is
attacked? Did the victim(s) deserve it? Is
the threat resolved? Does the creature
make another attack?
automatons have recently become a
trend among the well to do. The inventor
sends a message to the players asking for
 help using an unassuming middleman as
cutout. It seems the inventor fears for their
life. Then the inventor is attacked by one
their inventions! Rumors of the devices
spread like wildfire, and copycat attacks
seem to be happening! Can the players
protect the life of the inventor, and prove
that the automaton WASNT the source of
the attack? Has the inventor died by the
clamps of their own creation? Perhaps
there is a competing product being used
to ruin the inventor’s reputation! Maybe
the inventor stole the idea, and the
original creator is getting revenge?
72. No Body at all. Victim of a
disintegrate spell.
73. A body is found with no visible
injuries on the outside, but an autopsy
reveals the internal organs have been
burned and melted together. (Heat metal
on a surgical implant.)
74. A man was seen crying in the middle
of the street. When someone tried to
pull him out, he screamed and collapsed
dead. Autopsy reveals heart attack.
(Mental Prison).
75. A large number of people have
seemingly contracted a dancing sickness.
They keep dancing no matter what. Ones
without anyone to feed/water them die of
thirst. (9th level mass suggestion, which
lasts ‘a year and a day’)
76. A wealthy brewer was found dead of
extreme dehydration. (Blight)
77. A body is found with what appears
to be a plant growing out of its mouth.
(The victim consumed some seeds and a
Druid caused them to rapidly grow inside
the victim’s body.)
78. A man mysteriously dropped dead
during a heated argument. It appears
to be a freak accident but a detect
magic spell reveals he was killed with
psychic damage. (The other person in
the argument killed him with vicious
mockery.)
79. A town guard is found dead having
been cooked alive, but his armor is fine.
Upon close examination the armor is
slightly warped from extreme heat. (Heat
Metal)
80. Victim has several holes blown
through their body; autopsy shows signs
of acute blunt force trauma. (Magic
Missile)
81. Victim dropped dead for no
apparent reason, autopsy showed that all
vital organs seized up at once and their
heart had completely decayed. (Power
word: Kill)
82. Victim found foaming at mouth and
showing signs of a Seizure, Autopsy
found that their brain had boiled in their
own skull (Synaptic Static/Mind Spike)
83. Victim’s lower half found but other
half has not been located, cut appears
completely clean having gone through
their armor with little apparent resistance
(A creative use of Gateway/Astral Gate)
84. A house was destroyed and all
inside were killed. Strangely, half of the
house exploded outward in an incredible
fireball, the embers of which are still too
 hot to approach. While the other half
was encased in a sheet of ice so cold
that touching it with a body part requires
the skin to be pulled off to let go. If you
pass a high arcana check you realize
that the murder was most likely caused by
someone using the demon Maxwell.
85. Body frozen solid, found in an
environment not cold enough to freeze it.
86. Body melted into goo. Only
identifiable by the clothing, equipment &
jewelry, that the victim had on them at the
time.
87. Body partially phased through a wall
or other solid object.
88. Body transformed into sand. Only
identifiable by the clothing, equipment, &
jewelry, that the victim had on them at the
time.
89. Skeletal remains of someone who
was alive just a day ago. Identified by
clothing, equipment, and bone injuries
that the victim suffered during life.
90. Witnesses say the victim was struck
by lightning, while inside a building.
91. Body found in an alley behind a well-
known tavern that is frequented by high
societal patrons who don’t want to know
or seen visiting with specific types of
people. (Thieves, murderers for hire, drug
dealers. Dealers of other material that is
not quite common to keep around.)
92. A body apparently exploded into
large chunks, a significant amount of
mess on the floor but no blood on the
walls. (Flesh to stone, topple the statue,
dispel).
93. In the city’s main temple, a well-
known noble is found dead in the
inner sanctum. It is known there is only
one way in or out, and it is by being
accompanied by a member of the
temple’s high court. Upon investigation,
the cause of death appears to hanging
(broken neck and rope burn around the
neck) but there is no rope to be found
and nowhere in the sanctum to be hung
from. (Rope Trick).
94. A roughly circular area in the slums
of the city contains an emaciated corpse,
several dead rats, and a good number of
dead insects. (Circle of Death).
95. A body that clearly feel from the sky
in the middle of town with no trees or real
buildings around.
96. An archeological dig at an ancient
tomb has been going on for weeks. But
the crew are no fools. They’ve brought
in experts and priests to avoid traps
and curses the place has on it, as well
as hiring the party to take out any other
threats that lurk in the depths. It’s good
pay for several days of killing bulettes,
cloakers, umber hulks, and the occasional
mummy that may arise, etc. There are
protests by the locals of disturbing a
sacred site, vocal but nothing violent.
The head archeologists are very secretive
however, and seem to be searching for
something specific, dismissive of other
treasures. Then, one night, the main team
is found dead in their study area, lungs
filled with sand, clutching at their latest
notes.
97. The dock-master has gone missing 100. An experienced herbalist is found
for several days, and the harbor is in dead in their ransacked store. There is no
disarray, wondering where he went. That sign of struggle.
is, until a group of children find his body
tied up and beaten to death in their secret
cove hideout that they thought only they
knew about. The bruises look like they
were made by a fist wearing rings on
each finger. In the dock-master’s inside
coat pocket is a letter blackmailing him
with instructions to find and come to this
cove.

98. A hermit witch is both feared and

revered by the locals for her seemingly
dark powers but also the magical potions
and tonics she sells to the village to fix
various mundane problems like hair loss
or love interests. Last night, a horrible,
blood-curdling scream was heard
throughout the entire village, coming
from the remote hut. Upon investigation,
the witch is nowhere to be found, except
with a message scrawled on blood on
the floor: ‘THE BLASPHEMOUS AND
HER FLOCK SHALL BE PUNISHED’. The
villagers are begging you to find the
culprit and save them from whatever is
coming.

99. A collection of incredibly realistic

sculptures are found in the courtyard
of a local noble’s home, delivered
with a single letter signed ‘W’. Each
statue depicts a different member of
his family in the exact garbs they were
wearing the night before, when they
had coincidentally been at a dinner
party. They had returned much later than
expected…