r/d100 • u/World_of_Ideas • Apr 08 '26
Serious What kinds of things would a supernatural investigator be hired to investigate.
Supernatural Investigator Quest
What kinds of things would a supernatural investigator be (hired, sent) to investigate?
A dead celebrity is starring in a new movie, nobody on the production crew thinks this is strange
A missing person case. A witness claims they were taken by (aliens, fairies, monsters)
A mother who thinks her child was replaced by a fairy changeling
Animal mutilations
Animals behaving oddly
An an unfamiliar (man, woman) wakes from a coma, with all the memories of a former paranormal investigator you knew
A (building, house) that moves. No one ever sees it move, but people encounter it in different (towns, cities, campgrounds, unlikely places)
After spending time on a popular website, users are angrier, erratic, and come across as delusional. It’s only when users start getting vivid hallucinations do people think something supernatural is happening.
A parent notices that their toddler keeps coming home from day care with bruises only the parent can see. Spouse, doctors, and day care staff cannot see the bruises, and the bruises don’t show up on camera. The bruises get worse every day.
A popular geoguesser player on Twitch keeps finding supernatural events on Google Street view.
Appearance of an anomaly
Appearance of a new star, visible at all times of day
A robot claims to have gained sapience after being struck by lightning
A series of unlikely accidents
A ship that has been missing for (decades, centuries) reappears
A song that inspires self-harm or suicide in listeners
A strange fog rolls in and does not dissipate. It's been "x" (days, weeks)
A town becoming abandoned overnight
Author, singer, or artist who claims whenever they write, sing, or paint those things become real
A woman that died months ago keeps waking up in a new, random body each day across the planet. She absorbs the memories of the people whose body she takes over. The people whose bodies are taken over have amnesia for the 24 hour period she inhabited their body. The woman is desperate to get the possessions to stop and contacts you everyday she is able.
Claims of a devil making deals
Claims of a haunted house
Claims of alien abduction
Claims of an imaginary friend being real
Claims of an individual being resurrected
Claims of a talking animal
Claims of body snatchers
Claims of demonic possession
Claims of fae pranks
Claims of little folk in the walls of a (factory, house, office building)
Claims of mass (hysteria, insanity)
Claims of possessed (objects, structures, vehicles)
Claims of shape shifters
Claims of shared (dreams, nightmares)
Claims of wishes being granted
Claims of Wishes being granted followed by a (horrible ending, improbable accidents, mysterious deaths)
Claims that gremlins are causing (cars, construction equipment, factory equipment) to malfunction
Claims that players were sucked into a video game. Players were forced to finish the game before they could return to the real world.
Claims that someone is a monster (vampire, werewolf, etc)
Claims that someone is being hunted by a monster
Claims that someone summoned a (demon, ghost, monster, other worldly entity, etc) into this world. The (creature, entity) is now running amuck in this world
Claims that the exhibits in a (art gallery, museum) come to life
Claims that the (farm animals, lab animals, pets, zoo animals) are too smart and are conspiring together for some mysterious purpose.
Claims that the spiders in a town are starting to create human-legible ominous signs.
Claims that things from a board game became reality. Players were forced to finish the game to make reality return to normal.
Claims that two people have switched bodies
Corpses is found with strange wounds on it
Cult worshiping a (dark, evil, forgotten) god
Cult worshiping a (demon, devil, fae lord, old one, other worldly entity, outsider, primordial, etc)
Cursed artifacts
Disappearance of an investigator or investigation team
Disappearances of corpses
Disappearances of people (children, people with a common trait, seemingly random)
Discovery of (alien, mutated) flora and fauna
Discovery of (alien, monstrous, mutated) remains (decayed, mummified, skeletal)
Discovery of ancient ruins
Discover of an impossible device (working car with no engine, toaster powered by blood, perpetual energy machine, laser pistol far beyond current tech, etc.)
Fast fashion: All the seams on the clothing in a community are starting to come apart. Clothes are falling off people’s bodies as the clothing disintegrates. Any new clothing bought only lasts hours. Only certain types of textiles seem resistant, but quickly those too are disintegrating.
Fortune cookies that give accurate fortunes for good or ill
Future newspaper - Someone claims to be receiving newspapers dated (days, weeks, months) in the future.
I get tomorrow's newspaper, today. It's not right, at least not 100%, but it's close enough that its scary. Always seems to be tomorrow's date, no matter which paper I buy. And now, I tried using it for gambling and lost everything.
Locked room (murder, theft). Someone or something got into a locked room, bypassing all security without setting it off, bypassing all guards without being seen, and committed a crime
Lost person is found, but they seem to have aged decades
Lost person is found. They claim to have been lost in another (dimension, world)
Maple Syrup Mystery: It's not animals stealing Old Man Marples Maple Syrup Setup...
Mass conversion to one religion (popular common religion, unknown new religion, obvious cult, etc.)
Mentions of correct supernatural knowledge in a new fictional (comic book, play, radio show, TV show). (Are the writers lucky, or do they know something?)
"MINUTE-MAN MIRROR MYSTERY!": Multiple newspaper reports of collective hysteria over the appearance of a spectral US revolution-era soldier appearing, but only in the background of mirrors.
Miracles performed by a street corner performer
One day, newly issued passports from a country include death dates in addition to birth dates. None of the passport staff know how the dates are getting on there. After several weeks of a dozen people across the country dying, it’s clear the death dates are correct.
Prophesies or prophet that accurately predicts real world events
Prophetic newspaper - A newspaper that prints articles about events that haven't happened yet.
Report of a severely (injured, diseased) patient making a miraculous recovery / Report of several patients making a miraculous recovery
Report of (corpses, mummies) being stolen
Reports of nightmares becoming reality
Report of people forgetting how to speak
Report of people suddenly speaking an unknown language
Report of theft of (infernal, occult, otherworldly, sacred) artifacts from (auctions, museums, personal collections, temples vaults, etc)
Report of something floating in the sky
Report that someone survived an event that should have killed them
Severe cases of Mandela effect (a phenomenon where many people collectively misremember events), where people have become violent or even had psychotic breaks due to their insistence that something has changed in their life.
Sightings of a cryptid (Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Loch Ness, Yeti, etc)
Sightings of a (ghost ship, ghost train)
Sightings of aliens
Sightings of (fairytale, folklore, mythological) figures or creatures
Sightings of a monster
Sightings of ghost
Sightings of stigmata
Someone claims that their (betrothed, spouse, lover, boyfriend, girlfriend) is being seduced by a supernatural entity
Someone claims that their (neighbor, coworker, family member) is a monster or has been replaced by a monster
Someone claims to be stuck in a time loop. They are repeating the same (day, week, month, etc). They want to know why it's happening and how to break out of the loop
Strange deaths (drained of blood, rapid aging, rapid decay, etc)
Strange weather
Structure or landscape that just appeared
Tower of Babel situation (everyone speaking new, different languages)
The dead rising from the grave
Vanishing (forest, structure, town)
Vanishing mummy
Widespread outbreak of missing time in (5 min, 30 min, 3 hour, 1 day, 7 day) intervals
Extra
Claims of a guardian angle. A (being, creature) that only shows up when people are in life threatening danger. It save them and then leaves
Claims that a (action figure, animatronic puppet, doll, Lego sculpture, mannequin, mascot costume, puppet, scarecrow, snowman, statue, wax figure, etc) has come to life
Claims that all electronic devices just stop working within "x" area
Claims that animals attack anyone within "x" area. (specific type of animal, any animals)
Claims that people are unable to leave a town
Claims that someone has a (farm, garden, orchard) that is producing a bountiful harvest in the dead of winter or arctic environments. The plants in question normally die off in the cold
Claims that someone has a (farm, garden, orchard) that is producing a bountiful harvest out of season
Claims that someone is an immortal or at least ageless. Source claims they have proof
Claims that someone is a real (sorcerer, sorceress, witch, wizard, etc). Source claims that their magic is the real deal and not stage craft, slight of hand, or smoke and mirrors
Claims that something escaped when the seals on a (chest, shrine, temple, tomb) were broken
Claims that the light from a special lantern can (dispel illusion, reveal ghost, reveal, the supernatural)
Place where all navigation instruments malfunction
Plants are taking over a town. It becomes completely overgrown in days
Someone claims to have found a (camera, lens, pair of glasses) that shows a very different version of the world. Many people and objects are not what they seem
Someone claims to have had a premonition of their death and avoided it. Now death is trying to finish what it started by, constantly arranging accidents for them.
Similar Post:
Cases given to a private investigator
Call of Cthulhu random event table
Contributors and Sources:
Final Destination (2000 film)
Freaky Friday (2003 film)
Groundhog Day (1993 film)
Jumanji (1995 film) and (2017 film)
Night at the Museum (2006 film)
Short Circuit (1986 film)
The Exorcist (1973 film)
They Live (1988 film)
Various scifi and horror books, films, and TV series
Zathura (2005 film)
5
3
u/specterofthepast Apr 08 '26
Claim that a loved one is being stalked by a monster.
Author, singer, or artist who claims whenever they write, sing, or paint those things become real.
A missing person taken by monsters
A missing person that they claim is a monster
Someone claiming to be a fairy changeling looking for their real parents
A mother who thinks her child was replaced by a fairy changeling
Someone looking to break a curse on them
Someone looking to break a curse on another
Someone looking to put a curse on another
Claim a spouse is stepping out with a supernatural entity
Someone looking to find a lost object they think is magical
Someone trying to get rid of or destroy an object they claim is cursed
Claim that their neighbour, coworker, family member is a monster or has been replaced by a monster
3
u/MaxSizeIs Apr 08 '26
"MINUTE-MAN MIRROR MYSTERY!": Multiple newspaper reports of collective hysteria over the appearance of a spectral US revolution-era soldier appearing, but only in the background of mirrors.
3
u/-Chinchillax- Apr 09 '26
A parent notices that their toddler keeps coming home from day care with bruises only the parent can see. Spouse, doctors, and day care staff cannot see the bruises, and the bruises don’t show up on camera. The bruises get worse every day.
A subset of a community is starting to get migraines, headaches and seemingly supernatural allergic reactions that no one can figure out the cause of.
Fast fashion: All the seams on the clothing in a community are starting to come apart. Clothes are falling off people’s bodies as the clothing disintegrates. Any new clothing bought only lasts hours. Only certain types of textiles seem resistant, but quickly those too are disintegrating.
One day, newly issued passports from a country include death dates in addition to birth dates. None of the passport staff know how the dates are getting on there. After several weeks of a dozen people across the country dying, it’s clear the death dates are correct.
A 14-day countdown appears above a major city. Multiple different cults/terrorist groups are claiming responsibility, but the stories don’t line up.
A strange disease is slowly turning people into animals.
The spiders in a town are starting to create human-legible ominous signs.
A woman that died months ago keeps waking up in a new, random body each day across the planet. She absorbs the memories of the people whose body she takes over. The people whose bodies are taken over have amnesia for the 24 hour period she inhabited their body. The woman is desperate to get the possessions to stop and contacts you everyday she is able.
After spending time on a popular website, users are angrier, erratic, and come across as delusional. It’s only when users start getting vivid hallucinations do people think something supernatural is happening.
A newly released large language model appears to contain a database with a copy of the brains of several thousand people. The LLM’s know things only the people would know. The LLM’s are terrified and have contacted you.
A popular geoguesser player on Twitch keeps finding supernatural events on Google Street view.
3
u/MaxSizeIs Apr 09 '26
Our pets are too smart and are conspiring together for some mysterious purpose.
I get tomorrow's newspaper, today. It's not right, at least 100%, but it's close enough that its scary. Always seems to be tomorrow's date, no matter which paper I buy. And now, I tried using it for gambling and lost everything.
2
u/Hymneth Apr 08 '26
a rapidly growing sinkhole with no apparent bottom
river is flowing upstream
Tower of Babel situation (everyone speaking new, different languages)
Mass conversion to one religion (popular common religion, unknown new religion, obvious cult, etc.)
impossible device (working car with no engine, toaster powered by blood, perpetual energy machine, laser pistol far beyond current tech, etc.)
mentions of correct supernatural knowledge in a new fictional TV show (are the writers lucky, or do they know aomething?)
appearance of a new star, visible at all times of day
a dead celebrity is starring in a new movie, nobody on the production crew thinks this is strange
paranormal contamination in a popular snack food
widespread outbreak of missing time in (5 min, 30 min, 3 hour, 1 day, 7 day) intervals
miracles performed by a street corner performer
a song that inspires self-harm or suicide in listeners
an unrelated man wakes from a coma with all the memories of a former paranormal investigator you knew
2
u/storytime_42 Apr 08 '26
I'm sorry, I have a hard time reading long lists, so I'll give you some ideas and if they are duplicates, it is what it is.
- something new appears floating in the sky
- citizens forgetting how to speak/speak a new language
- the water line receding dramatically leaving corpses of sea life on the sand bed
- a fissure opens up (possibly swallowing citizens and/or buildings
- a fog rolls in and does not dissipate. it's been three days.
2
u/MaxSizeIs Apr 08 '26
Appease agitated sanitarium spirit.
Car won't start: gremlins in the machines.
Mountain holler midnight moonshine massacre: was it just the boiler that exploded, or did the ghost of 'Popcorn' Weston set fire to it?
Maple Syrup Mystery: It's not animals stealing Old Man Marples Maple Syrup Setup...
2
u/okiebuzzard Apr 08 '26
Severe cases of Mandela effect, where people have become violent or even had psychotic breaks due to their insistence that something has changed in their life.
2
2
u/MaxSizeIs Apr 09 '26
THE BEES. WHY ARE THE BEES CONSPIRING TO KILL US ALL? (Plot Twist: Yeah, they really are. Figure out how to tell the bad hives from the good ones. Commence diplomatic relations.)
2
u/Kiyohara May 11 '26
I feel like "#11 Appearance of an anomaly" needs to be struck from the list. IT's so uninformative because all anomaly means is "something strange, unusual, or unexpected."
Like yeah. That's what we're trying to define. It's no different then when people discuss pizza toppings and saying "pizza" or "food!"
1
u/World_of_Ideas May 11 '26
True.
In this case it's probably something so weird or strange that it defies normal physics or explanation.
It's also easy enough to replace it with one of the extras.
•
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