Unsolved Mysteries – d12 Inexplicable Events to Rattle Players

I am probably a bit cruel as a DM, but I like to occasionally mess with players, especially in games or settings where things are supposed to be at least a little strange. Some of these things have happened quite organically. For example, the bits of shell thing below came from a session in which one of the players had to leave the table for a bit, and the others placed bits of broken shell into his character’s pockets while he was away.  Now and then over the next several gaming sessions I would describe lumps of shell dust and little iridescent pieces of something falling our of his pack or pockets, and I enlisted the aid of the other players, so they all kept quiet about it.  Shortly afterward I read Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren and this idea was born (though it could just as easily have come from watching a David Lynch movie).

It can be fun to recruit players into this scheme, but you might have to be careful with this; the aim here is not to make anyone feel “picked on” or isolated, but just to give them a riddle or mystery they can wonder about. I am fortunate enough to play with folks devoid of that kind of paranoia, but I might alter my approach a bit depending on the personalities present.  These things can be as sinister or as silly as you want them to be, but they should never be explained. I like to wonder about things, and I like things to wonder about, so I consider a riddle without an answer a gift. Of course, it may also unsettle players or characters, take them just a little out of their comfort zone, and I am absolutely all right with that.

If you’re feeling really evil, don’t acknowledge the change in any way, play it totally straight, simply describe what is happening and move on, if questioned act as if they really SHOULD know what’s happening and why.

1. The sun doesn’t rise for a day, or rises on the wrong side of the horizon.
2. Persistent cloud cover for a week breaks to reveal a different-than-expected number of moons in the night sky. For example, if the planet usually has one moon, make it two or more. If it has three moons, four or more moons are present, or half a moon, or none.
3. The sun rises bloody red and MUCH larger than normal, gets smaller as the day progresses, eventually dwindling to nothing. The day is much hotter than usual until the sun approaches close to “normal size” and cools to freezing as it vanishes to a pinprick.
4. The next time the PCs spend the night in a civilized area, everyone they have met is different in the morning. They use the same names, but they are different people. For example, if the innkeeper who checked them in is named “Rory Tavnick” and was fat and bickered with the help (his wife) in the way that only couples with the security of 25+ years of marriage can bicker, then in the morning, he is still Rory Tavnick, but he is pale, and thin, and he and his help are not only no longer married, they barely speak to one another. These people will insist that they are the same as the people the PCs met the night before, but will describe the meeting and interactions differently and as if they were the person they are now – so, in Rory’s case, if someone asks him “Don’t you remember bickering with your wife and joking with us about how she can’t keep the rooms clean?” he will say, “No, that never happened. You checked in and I showed you to your room and we both noted how clean it was. You said you were glad to have a washbasin.”
5. (Needs player buy in) One of the characters awakes and suddenly is not themselves. They have all the same skills, but they claim a different name and personality. After a day or so, allow the player to revert to normal if they wish, or they can keep going with it if they so desire!
6. (Needs player buy in) One of the characters wakes and is unable to communicate, even with gestures. They follow after the party and fight, but otherwise act as if they are basically catatonic. The actions they take are without any passion and seem somehow mechanical.  After a day or so, allow the player to revert to normal if they wish.
7. One or more of the players begins to find things he doesn’t remember picking up in his pack and pockets. These are never major items, and might just be things like sand, dust, bits of shells. But it keeps happening, sometimes on the same day even after the character shakes containers empty.
8. Convince the party that they are being followed but never let them pin down their follower. There is never any true visual confirmation - only sounds, very occasional signs, and the sense of being watched. This need not be pervasive, and may come and go over the course of many sessions.
9. Something is visiting in the night but is going unnoticed no matter who is on watch or what the precautions are. Nothing serious ever comes of this, but players note things moved around, items exchanged between packs, perhaps a footprint or other tell-tale in the middle of camp, etc.
10. This requires a bit of planning, but have the characters wake up somewhere different than where they camped. This could be a different locale in the same setting (went to sleep in a dungeon and wake in a village or in the wilderness) or it could be a completely different universe / setting. It should have at least a couple of its own adventure hooks, though you need not develop them too far. Follow this for as long as you want to (at least until they camp again or until the session breaks) and then return them to the place they were. I think this might be most effective if done between sessions and specifically when the players have NOT camped. Pluck them from whatever world and adventure they are in, place them in another, then return them to the original setting after that without acknowledging that anything weird is going on.
11. The players wake and it is apparent that a long period of time has passed. This could be anything from a week (few changes, but advance the world accordingly) to some months (they go to sleep in the spring and wake in the fall) to centuries (the world is a different place now, villages, cities, people, etc. they were familiar with are gone, others have sprung up).
12. This requires a bit of setup, potentially. Change some small and unimportant, but known detail about the world the PCs inhabit. It could be which ruler’s face is on the coins, or the name of the country they are in, or the name of one of their contacts (who otherwise stays more or less the same person).