Example
As an example, I 'rolled' up the following:Motivation : Kill Witness (Caught in Act)
Means : Theft (Specific Item)
Complication : Villain clumsily incriminates to 'protect' another
Everyone has a motive and no alibi
I rolled up four suspects (by rolling 'relationship'):
Coworker/Business Associate
Wide-ranging Criminal of Opportunity
Neighbor
Coworker/Business Associate
As its hard to kill someone by stealing a specific item, I rolled again for the means of death: poison. So here we have someone who tried to steal something specific, but was caught, and as a result killed the victim with poison. The first person in our list is a Coworker/Business Associate. This is the real criminal. The others are solid suspects. When working out the exact details, its important to know what TL and genre of mystery you are working with. I'm planning for a police procedural with the elements of a cozy, set at TL8.
The thing that's going to be hardest to make work is suspecting a criminal who has never met the victim before of poisoning him for catching him stealing a specific item. Perhaps the criminal is someone who simply needs to be ruled out: He's been caught stealing similar items in the area. Or perhaps he was merely seen and reported by the victim stealing, and is thus a possible candidate for the murder.
Having two coworkers/Business associates is suggestive, particularly when considered with the item 'clumsily incriminates to protect another'. We now know who is going to 'cover' for who. It also suggests knowledge of the item is widespread at work.
Speaking of which, what is the item? It could be jewellery. It could be a famous painting, an antique car, or some other 'old wealth'. Or, it could be technical data, hidden in the home for some reason. It needs to be something that would bring suspicion on both co-workers and neighbours, and even the random thief. Lets go with a very rare coin collection.
This crime obviously happened among fairly wealthy people, but who have true business associates and would engage in murder over a rare coin. Lets say that the victim and the true murder are wealthy through their day jobs (doctor and a lawyer?), and the other business associate is the top manager of a joint investment -- a restaurant.
Now we have to come up with a crime senario -- how did the crime actually happen in such a way to incriminate all four suspects? The victim needs to have ingested food that all four suspects could have had a chance to access -- the sneak-theif is easy, and all three business partners could have had dinner together, but how to include the neighbor? Did he offer something to the poor victim on the way home? Did he drop off a 'neighbourly gift'? are the two good friends?
At this point, we have pieces lying all over the place. We still have lots of work to do: what is the victim's family like? why aren't they suspects? Exactly how is the Doctor going to 'cover' for the restaurant manger? What was each of the suspects actually doing when the murder occurred? What type of poison was used? Why didn't the victim report the thief when he was first caught? Is the coin actually missing? (murder for a crime never completed is a nasty twist) What secrets do the suspects have to hide that aren't murder quality? What precautions did the Doctor take to not get caught?
But we have the shape of the crime. We have suspects. We have a list of things to do.
Final Notes
Its worth pointing out this method does NOT generate convoluted twists like those Agatha Cristie is capable of pulling off. You have four suspects, and you have to build up evidence against one and whittle away evidence against the others. And this is a good thing. The crazy puzzles make good reading, but terrible playing.Now, If you want something that can be read rather than played-- yes, this can still be useful. It stirs your brains. It gives you practice, and it can help you flesh out the circumstances surrounding your fiendish twist.
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