Clues for Ordem Paranormal 2: prepare a connected investigation

A useful clue lets someone make a decision: look for a person, visit a place, compare information or test a hypothesis. When preparing an investigation for Ordem Paranormal RPG 2, start with those decisions. Then choose the documents, objects and witnesses that might lead the group to them.

This article presents an original narrative preparation method, with a fictional case to demonstrate the connections. It does not add official procedures to the playtest. For when to roll, how to set difficulties and how to resolve consequences, consult your group's chosen version and the official Playtest Alpha guide, in Portuguese.

If the actual play brought you here, our A Vigília and RPG 2 guide collects references for learning the system. Here, we will organize the material that belongs in the GM's notes.

Write the truth before hiding the clues

Prepare a paragraph answering three questions: what causes the phenomenon, where is its source, and what can change it? Keep this information in your notes. Players will reconstruct it through other routes.

Original example: Inventory of Shadows. A municipal storage depot received a mirror from a collector. While uncovered, it replays recent conversations and duplicates signatures on nearby papers. Lia, the collection manager, moved it to the dehumidification room after staff began receiving contradictory orders. Returning it to its felt-lined crate stops the manifestations. The collector wants it back before an examination reveals where it came from.

The group has been called to locate the object and preserve the altered records. Lia is in the building and willing to talk. The investigation therefore has a purpose before anyone understands its supernatural cause.

Turn the truth into conclusions people can investigate

Choose three discoveries that change what the characters can do. Prepare more than one source for each. The number below is a writing choice; adjust it to your available time.

| Conclusion | Physical evidence | Another way to discover it | Possible next action | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The alterations began with the mirror, item 17 | The delivery receipt and first duplicated orders share a date | The driver heard their own voice coming from the crate | Examine the object and its packaging | | Lia moved the mirror to the dehumidification room | A movement record bears her signature | Lia explains the move; trolley marks lead to the room | Enter the room or ask her to accompany the group | | The crate's lining stops the phenomenon | A transport instruction is attached to the lid | Lia remembers the voices stopping when she covered the glass with the felt | Retrieve the lining and test the isolation |

These sources need not repeat the same sentences. The receipt establishes a date; the driver's account describes an event. Together, they support a hypothesis the players can test.

Connect locations without requiring a fixed order

The depot has three areas: reception, the movement archive and the dehumidification room. Reception offers the receipt and access to Lia. The archive holds duplicated orders and the crate. In the final room, the group can observe the manifestations and test isolation after retrieving the fabric from the archive.

If the characters speak to Lia first, they can reach the mirror directly. The archive remains useful for establishing provenance and documenting evidence. Avoid making a door depend entirely on a code hidden in a document found only beyond that door.

To check your network, pick any area as the starting point and ask whether it offers enough information to choose a next step. If progress depends on guessing exactly what the GM had in mind, add an observable connection.

Prepare consequences alongside discoveries

Separate information, uncertainty and consequence in your notes. Finding the transport record, interpreting an alteration and removing a dangerous object are different situations. Resolve them using the procedures in your chosen playtest, rather than treating this outline as an automatic-success rule.

Before the session, record alternatives for approaches that do not reveal the expected information. The group can seek a witness, compare documents or try another entrance. A complication might change access, available time or Lia's trust. It should fit both the fiction and the agreed rules.

If players work out the solution early, let them test it. The question can change from “what is causing this?” to “how do we preserve the evidence while the collector demands its return?” Choices sustain the investigation without retroactively concealing discoveries they have already made.

Give every handout a job

Start with two documents: a receipt identifying item 17 and a transport instruction suggesting an action. This note is original text you can adapt:

Item 17. Transport in the lined crate. The fabric must cover the entire glass before the object leaves the room. The empty packaging is in the movement archive. Responsible staff member: Lia.

The text connects an object, a procedure, a location and a person. Aged paper can help the presentation, but the main information must remain readable. Keep a transcript available and share only the parts the characters have found.

Our Ordem Paranormal handout guide explains how to adapt existing templates. The investigation collection offers visual options; check each preview and its access conditions. To choose between a letter, report and photograph, read the handout creation guide.

Review the session from the players' perspective

Before playing, check four things:

• Each important conclusion has alternative routes the group can investigate.
• Names, dates and locations agree across documents and GM notes.
• Characters have reasons to cooperate, and the group has discussed horror boundaries during a session zero.
• Sheets and action resolution use the same version of the material; include the Ordem Paranormal II Playtest template in that check.

To try these connections in a short adventure, use Station Without a Signal, our original horror scenario with clues, documents and possible endings. It offers another mystery to adapt without revealing events from A Vigília or the official adventures.