… here's a magic item for your d20 System RPGs (like Pathfinder and such).
Candle of Peace Candles of Peace are found in churches and shrines to good-aligned deities. No one knows how they are created or by whom. They just seem to appear in dark corners bundles of 2d4+4, on random festival days for the deity a given shrine, church, or temple is devoted to. If subjected to detect magic, candles of peace radiate faint auras of divine magic, but nothing more specific can be determined. Roll 1d6 to determine what color the candles are: 1-2 red; 3-4 white; 5-6 green.
When lit, a candle of peace provides a +2 bonus to Will saves to resist fear effects, and a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves to resist disease, venoms, and poisons (magical and non-magical) within a 10-foot radius and sight of the candle's flame. Each candle can burn a total of 48 hours before completely expended. It can be lit and extinguished any number of times during that period. (Each time it is lit, the GM can assume that a minimum of 1/4 of an hour of burn time is spent.)
A candle of peace cannot be wet or submerged in water to work. It can be used to ignite flammable materials and substances. It can be extinguished by any means that would extinguish a normal candle.
Up to four candles of peace can be lit at the same time and their benefits will stack, for a maximum bonus of +8. They cannot be more than 4 inches apart for the bonuses to stack. The radius of the effect never expands beyond the 10-foot radius.
Best Holiday wishes from your friends at NUELOW Games! Here's Mike Oldfield's fabulous version of "Silent Night" to help set the mood!
She told top movie stars and pop musicians which projects to pursue, she spoke to the spirits about the afterlife and the future... but she didn't foresee her own murder!
Zaynah, Clairvoyant to the Stars, has been killed, and it's up to the player characters to discover who did it and why in this randomly generated murder mystery!
WHERE WAS SHE FOUND?
1. In a woodland grove, deep within a National Park.
2. In the celebrity chef's personal vegetable garden.
3. In the bedroom of a rival psychic.
4. In her bedroom.
5. In the parlor where she conducted her psychic readings.
6. In the shower at the gym.
7. On the altar at the cathedral.
8. Outside the state attorney's home.
9. In the famous director's pool.
10. In the VIP lounge at a hot night club (and rumored organized crime front)
11. In the ally next to a police station.
12. On the beach.
HOW WAS SHE KILLED?
1. Strangled.
2. Beaten to death.
3. Stabbed.
4. Throat Slit.
5. Choked by Tarot cards shoved violently down her throat. (Roll 1d12 to see where the Tarot deck came from. 1-4. Her own Tarot cards. 5-8; Tarot cards belonging to a rival psychic; 9-12. An antique deck of Tarot cards that once belonged to a notorious devil worshiper.)
6. Skull bashed in with a crystal ball. (Roll 1d12 to see where the crystal ball came from. 1-4. Her own crystal ball; 5-8. A crystal ball belonging to a rival psychic; 9-12. A prop crystal ball from a horror movie.)
7. Drowned. (Roll 1d12 for the kind of water in her lungs. 1-4. Sea Water; 5-8. Chlorinated Pool Water; 9-12. Fresh Water.)
8 Shot 1d6 times.
9. Hanged.
10. Poisoned.
11. Impaled on an ancient spear with a tip made from a stag's antler and coated with juiced wolfsbane.
12. Roll two more times on this table, ignoring additional results of 12. She was killed by both methods. If the same result is rolled twice, the killer was particularly thorough and brutal.
WHO KILLED HER?
1. The up-and-coming 1-4 actor; 5-8 actress; 9-12. singer.
2. The has-been 1-4 actor; 5-8 actress; 9-12. singer.
3. The hot 1-3. actor; 4-6 actress; 7-8 singer; 9-12. director.
4. The television executive.
5. The celebrity chef.
6. The screen writer.
7. The priest.
8. Her lover. (Roll 1d12 to see status. 1-6. Current; 7-12. Former.)
9. The private detective.
10. The crimelord.
11. The rival psychic.
12. Roll two more times on this table, ignoring additional results of 12. The first result is the murderer. The second result is being framed as the murderer.
WHY WAS SHE KILLED?
1. Hatred
2. Jealousy
3. She spurned the murderer's romantic advances.
4. She was blackmailing the murderer. (Roll on WHAT WAS THE DARK SECRET to see what she knew.)
5. The murderer feared she had discovered his or her dark secret through her psychic powers.
6. She was the latest victim of a serial killer targeting psychics. (If the Rival Psychic isn't the murderer, he will be murdered in 1d3 days if the characters don't crack the case before then.)
7. The murderer was angry over a bad reading she gave.
8. The murderer wanted to make sure she never revealed her dark secret to anyone. (Roll on WHAT WAS THE DARK SECRET to see what it was.)
9. She was going to tell the murderer's spouse about the affair he or she was having. (Roll on the WHO KILLED HER table to determine who the murderer was having the affair with. Ignore rolls that duplicate the killer; if 12 is rolled, the killer was having multiple affairs.)
10. Revenge.
11. Greed.
12. For a ritual that required she be sacrificed to an evil god so that the murderer would gain her powers of Second Sight. (Roll 1d12. 1-4. The murderer is insane and there is no evil god; 5-8. The murderer gained her psychic powers and uses them in an attempt to avoid being caught by the party; 9-12. The evil god tricked the murderer, because the psychic was a fraud.
WHAT WAS THE DARK SECRET?
1. The big entertainment companies are infiltrated and mostly run by demon worshipers and actual demons, and they are using their products to spread corrupting magic around the world.
2. She was finishing a tell-all book about sexual harrassers and rapists in the entertainment business, and she was going to identify them all by name.
3. The psychic was selling information gleaned during her readings to tabloids and rival studios and recording companies.
4. She was preparing a ritual that would have opened the literal Gates of Hell and give Earth to Satan, but had a change of heart.
5. Her 1-4 Husband, 5-8 Male Lover, 9-12 Female Lover is a Russian agent devoted to disrupted US society through popular media, and his or her secret had to be protected. (The Russian agent may not even know that she was murdered to protect him or her.)
6. She was the heiress to a massive fortune, but was abducted as a young child. Her identity had been traced, and she was killed by those who have been benefitting from what should have been hers.
7. She not only told fortunes, but she also took money to cast curses that ruined careers and ended lives.
8. She was helping the government build cases against a variety of criminals who provided her clients with services.
9. She was once raped by the murderer, and she had decided to go public.
10. She was the literal daughter of Satan, but she refused to embrace her heritage and assume leadership of his servants.
11. She was the literal daughter of Satan and was about to help the Anti-Christ come to power.
12. She and the Rival Psychic were actually business partners who exchanged information on each other's clients and sold trade secrets and plot ideas and drafts of songs and artwork to competitors--but she only did it to those who were the rival's clients and visa-versa.
He flew jets through the friendly skies, but on the ground someone was decidedly unfriendly toward him... because they killed him.
Welcome to another Random Murder Mystery for your RPG campaigns. This one can even be easily converted to a sci-fi setting--just make the airline pilot a spaceship pilot. Roll 1d12 against the tables below to generate the outline for a murder mystery for the player characters to solve!
WHERE WAS HE FOUND?
1. In the plane's cockpit.
2. In the first class restroom.
3. In an overhead bin in coach.
4. In the plane's rear storage compartment.
5. On a luggage carousel.
6. In the 1st Class departure lounge.
7. In the airport parking garage.
8. In a suite at the Airport Hilton.
9. In the alley behind a strip club.
10. In the ally behind a gay bar and sushi restaurant.
11. Outside the home of his ex-wife. (Roll 1d12 to see which one. 1-3. Ex-Wife #1, 4-6, Ex-Wife #2, 7-8 Ex-Wife #3, 9-12 Ex-Wife #4.)
12. Roll Two More Times. His body was found at the first location indicated, but he was actually murdered at the second. If the same result is rolled twice, the location where the body was found and the place he was murdered are the same. Ignore additional results of 12.
HOW WAS HE KILLED?
1. Electrocuted.
2. Strangled.
3. Drug Overdose.
4. Frozen to Death.
5. Stabbed Once.
6. Stabbed 1d12+2 times.
7. Shot Once.
8. Shot 1d6+1 times.
9. Asphyxiated.
10. Poisoned.
11. Drowned. (Roll 1d12 to see what kind of water he drowned in. 1-4. Chlorinated pool water, 5-8. Soapy bath water, 9-12. Fresh water fish tank.)
12. Roll Two More Times. His death resulted from a combination of methods. If the same number is rolled twice, there was only one reason for his death. Ignore additional results of 12.
WHO KILLED HIM?
1. The Ex-Wife. (Roll 1d12 to see which one. 1-3. Ex-Wife #1, 4-6, Ex-Wife #2, 7-8 Ex-Wife #3, 9-12 Ex-Wife #4.)
2. The Co-Pilot.
3. The Flight Attendant.
4. The Air Marshall.
5. The Frequent Flier.
6. The Congressman's Wife.
7. The Aircraft Mechanic.
8. The Rabbi.
9. The Safety Inspector.
10. The Luggage Handler.
11. The Has-Been Pop Star (1-6. Male, 7-12 Female).
12. His Current Wife.
WHY WAS HE KILLED?
1. He spurned the murderer's romantic advances.
2. He discovered the killer's criminal past and was going to reveal it.
3. He discovered the killer was blackmailing one of the other suspects and started blackmailing both of them. (Roll 1d12 on "Who Killed Him" to see who was being blackmailed.)
4. He discovered the killer was being bribed and threatened to expose him or her (1-6); blackmailed him or her for a large portion of the money (7-12).
5. He discovered the killer's criminal past and was blackmailing him or her, and the killer finally had enough of his demands.
6. He discovered the killer was key to the effort to hid the existence of UFOs.
7. He discovered the killer was involved with an ongoing criminal enterprise. Roll 1d12 to determine what it is: 1-2. Smuggling Drugs, 3-4. Human Trafficking. 5-6. International Industrial Espionage. 7-8. Murder for Hire. 9-10. Kidnapping Ring. 11-12. Art Theft and/or Forgery.
9. Roll again on the "Who Killed Him" table. The pilot was having affairs with both people indicated. They found out and they teamed up to kill him and then to provide each other with alibis.
10. He broke off the affair with the killer, because he was also having an affair with one of the other suspects. (Roll 1d12 on "Who Killed Him" to determine who this other person was. If the result is the same as the killer, there was no other affair, just the pilot wanting to get away from an insane partner.)
11. Revenge for his well-compensated role in a cover-up of a mechanical issue that led to the crashes of several planes.
12. Roll two more times on "Why Was He Killed". Both reasons apply. Ignore additional results of 12. If you roll the same number twice, only one reason applies, but the killer was VERY strongly motivated by it.
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And here's a theme song for this mystery: "Five Miles Out" by Mike Oldfield. Enjoy!
