Who Killed the Young Housewife?

Hannah Brymann had seemed to all to be the perfect wife--happily staying at home and hosting gatherings for the friends and neighbors. Everyone claims to have loved her... but someone must be lying, because someone murdered her.

It's been a while, but here's another one of our Random Murder Mysteries. The idea is that you roll an eight-sided die against the tables below to randomly generate the outline of a murder mystery for the player characters in your roleplaying game campaign to solve. Some of the main results have sub-results that must also be generated. (If some results don't seem to match, you can either re-roll, or use them to deepen the mystery... or make the murderer seem more insane or evil.

WHERE WAS SHE FOUND?

   1. In the backyard.
   2. In the master bedroom.
   3. In the dining room.
   4. In the kitchen.
   5. In the garage.
   6. In the bathroom.
   7. In the trunk of her car.
   8. Stuffed into the yard waste recycling bin.


HOW WAS SHE DRESSED?
   1-2. What she commonly wore around the house.
   3-4. Exercise clothes.
   5-6. Clothes for working in the yard.
   7. Underwear and dressing gown..
   8. A bath towel.


HOW WAS SHE KILLED?
   1. Hanged.
   2. Drowned in the bath tub (1-6); in the pool (7-8).
   3. Strangled with a power cord (1-2); blinds cord (3-4); scarf (5-7); bed sheet (8).
   4. Head bashed in with a (1-3) meat tenderizer; (4-6) hammer; (7-8) silver candlestick.
   5. Suffocated with a throw pillow.
   6. Throat slit.
   7. Run over with her car.
   8. Stabbed 1-8 times.


WHO KILLED HER?
   1. Her Husband.
   2. Her Mother-in-Law.
   3. The Postman.
   4. The Poolboy
   5. The Pastor.
   6. The Police Officer.
   7. Her Ex (1-4) Boyfriend; (5-6) Girlfriend; (7-8) Husband.
   8. Her Estranged Step-Sister.


WHY WAS SHE KILLED?
   1. Revenge. (Roll on the Dark Secrets table.)
   2. Jealousy.
   3. So she wouldn't reveal killer's secret. (Roll on Dark Secrets table.)
   4. So her soul could be married to a demon in a paranormal shotgun-style wedding.
   5. She rebuffed the murderer's sexual advances.
   6. She was the latest victim of a serial killer. Another victim will die in 1-8 days.
   7. Revenge for her husband's betraying a (1-3) drug cartel; (4-5) demonic cult; (6-8) secret assassins guild.
   8. She was blackmailing the killer with pictures of kinky sex acts. (If the Husband was indicated as the killer, he is being framed by the actual killer. Roll again on the Who Killed Her table to see who it is. Ignore and reroll additional results of 1.)


WHAT IS THE DARK SECRET?
   1-3. The Young Housewife had been given a new identity after testifying against a mob hitman who was sent to prison for the rest of his life. She was recognized by the killer, and he killed her for the bounty the mob put on her.
   4-5. The killer and the Young Housewife were members of the same cult devoted to serving and worshipping a demonic entity. She wanted to leave the cult behind.
   6-7. The Young Housewife and the killer were con-artist partners, and she was supposed to rob her husband of all his money. She truly fell in love with him, and she wanted nothing more to do with the killer. (If the Husband is the killer, he murdered her in a fit of rage, and is framing her partner for her death. Roll on the Who Killed Her table to determine who the partner in the con was.)
   8. The Young Housewife was raised and trained to be an assassin and agent for an international cabal, but she wanted to leave that life behind. The killer was sent to eliminate her... and will target investigators when they start snooping around.

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If you found this post useful and entertaining, check out Murder Most Random, a collection of 12 random murder mystery outline generators. Sales will encourage us to make more... as would comments on this post. For example, is there a generic type of person you'd like to see made a murder victim? Let us know!

The Necklace of Harmonia (for the d20 System)

We now return to the secretive world of the Amazons with a description of the legendary Necklace of Harmonia. It has been lost to the Amazons for millennia, and if player characters come into possession of it, they might gain them as powerful allies or deadly enemies.


THE NECKLACE OF HARMONIA
The Necklace of Harmonia was given by the goddess Harmonia as a gift to an Amazon who fell in love with an outside male, Cadmus, the first king of the ancient Grecian city-state of Thebes, and left her people behind to be with him. The necklace was meant to bring her health and happiness and for a time it did... but she was eventually assassinated by a cult of sorcerers in revenge for Cadmus slaying the water dragon they worshipped. They stole the necklace, and, although Cadmus had every member of the cult and their families hunted down and killed, it was never recovered.
   The Necklace of Harmonia has for centuries been a much-sought after treasure, because it is rumored give any woman who wears it eternal youth, beauty, and good fortune. However, the reality has been quite different for those who have found themselves in possession of it: They have come to swift and brutal ends, or have vanished without a trace... and the necklace has always gone missing again.
   The Necklace of Harmonia is crafted from gem-encrusted gold and shaped like two serpents with their tails intertwined and whose bodies are draped around the wearer's neck, with their heads meeting below the jugular notch. If inspected with detect magic, it radiates faint transmutation and abjuration magic.

Powers of the Necklace of Harmonia
The rest of the text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms.
   Standard Powers: A female who ages in the fashion similar to that of a typical human wears the Necklace of Harmonia for at least 8 hours every day from one full moon to the next sees her physical age gradually reverse itself a year. The continues until she is physically 27 years old. She remains this age until she stops wearing the Necklace of Harmonia for the time between two full moons, at which point she begins to age normally again.
   A female who wears the Necklace of Harmonia as described above, gains a +2 bonus to all saving throws and initiative rolls, as well as a +4 bonus to all Charisma-based skill checks.
   Amazon-Specific Powers: When worn by an Amazon, the Necklace also grants immunity to attribute- and level-draining attacks, spells, and spell-like effects from any creature who isn't a literal god--a divine being with the ability to grant spells to followers and so on.
   For Amazons who possess the True Love feat, the saving throw and initiative roll bonuses are extended to the identified object of her affection. Additionally, that person will age more slowly so long as the Amazon wears the Necklace of Harmonia, aging only 1 year for every 10 that pass. (To activate this effect, the Amazon must offer a prayer to Harmonia under a full moon. The target must be aware of the Amazon's desire and willing to have his life extended.)

   Drawbacks: For an Amazons, there are no drawbacks to the Necklace of Harmonia, so long she does not blaspheme against Harmonia or Harmonia's parents, intentionally betrays an Amazon or Consort, or intentionally betrays someone she has said she loves and who has been a loyal lover and friend to her in return. In such a circumstance, the Amazon loses all benefits from the Necklace and is immediately subjected to a curse that imposes a -4 enhancement penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks. The curse remains in effect until the Amazon atones for her transgressions and begs forgiveness from both Harmonia and the person she betrayed.
   When a non-Amazon wears the Necklace of Harmonia, she must roll a successful Fortitude save (DC18) or lose the benefits of the Necklace. Additionally, she is subjected to a -2 penalty to all Charisma checks, as well as automatic Hostile reactions from NPCs in any situation that might warrant it. These curses remain until she prays to Harmonia for forgiveness and passes the Necklace onto another person, or until she gives the Necklace to a representative of the Amazons. No matter what, she will never enjoy the benefits of the Necklace ever again.
   If a non-Amazon who is gaining benefit from the Necklace of Harmonia intentionally betrays someone she has said she loves and who has been a loyal lover, she loses all benefits of the Necklace and immediately ages 1d20 years. Every hour thereafter, she must roll a successful Fortitude save (DC22) or age 1d20+10 years.
   This rapid aging persists until the woman atones for her transgressions and gains forgiveness from the person she betrayed. If the aging is stopped before she dies, the woman still remains aged. If not stopped, the aging continues, causing the body to rapidly decay and eventually turn to dust.

In Observation of April 1st...

A d20 System feat like no other....

MOE OPTIONS [General]
When you wake up in the morning, you are blessed with a supernatural benefit granted by the Three Great Spirits of Nyuk-Nyuk-Nyuk.

   Benefit: Roll 1d6 once per day and consult the table below. The character gains the indicated benefit until he or she goes to sleep that night or is dropped below 0 hit points.
   1-2. Damage reduction 10 for injuries suffered from unarmed attacks and blunt weapons.
   3-4. Successful unarmed attacks deal no damage, but instead you poke the opponent in the eyes, blinding them for 1d2+1 rounds.
   5-6. When in the company of at least two other PCs, the character may force all opponents to make Will saves (DC5+your character level) at the beginning of an encounter. Those who fail the saves are confused for 1d2+1 rounds. This is a standard action.

(All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2020 by Steve Miller.)