Nightmares of the Black Goat [ACR-002]

I took the time to write up a mystery/investigation adventure based on what we started in the previous session.  The players are still mid-adventure after another session, so I can't write up everything, but a few notes until we get where we are going.

Writing a Good Mystery Adventure is Tough, but not impossible
Writing any sort of adventure is tough, but coming up with a plot that is intricate enough to be interesting but not so convoluted as to be unplayable as a game is a tough line.  I took my notes from the first session and put together 3 things

1. The Story of who did what and why
2. A Timeline of events both past and possible future
3. A Location and Character point-map

Then I let things go and the players will drive the actions. The timeline of possible future events is based on the party not wrinkling the plans ... those will change as the NPCs react to events.  I'll post up more details about the above once the adventure is completed.

The Adventurers as Sleuths
The fun part of this is there is a building sense of dread without any direct conflict.  The party is getting involved in something that is happening - sticking their nose into some dark business and becoming part of the story. They can see that murder is definitely involved, a botched thieving job, love and jealousy, treachery, a class conflict between nobility and the common, and of course dark magic, mind-control creatures from the patchwork kingdom (the Venenum Somnia or Dream Poison), possible infection and outbreak, and the machinations of the most wicked and vile Cult of the Black Goat. Watching the players find clues and weave them into a narrative and expound on possible theories is somewhere in between a law and order episode and True Detective (Season 1, of course).  They seem to be having fun and I'm LOVING it.

NOTE
This post was delayed ... I was expecting a write-up of the adventure from one of my players but it didn't happen, which is too bad.