Rationale
Sometimes you are caught with the need for a novel investigation without the lead-time to deeply read and internalise a new module. Without specially designed tools, it can become easy to default to cliché and stereotype.
This tool rapidly forms the crux of a nuanced investigation without the “mad-lib” tendencies of other random generation systems.
Method
You will require a random oracle device (be they Tarot cards or story dice) and a grasp of the following acronym:
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Site - the location where this takes place
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Persons - the humans involved
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Entity - the supernatural or extranormal incitement of the mystery
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Action - what happens when the previous two interact
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Result - what happens as a consequence of this
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Superstition - either some additional thematic depth, or a long forgotten resonance of the mystery (optional, but especially useful for vast and ancient mysteries).
Rather than rolling a dice or drawing a card for each heading, instead you roll or draw nine symbols total, and draft from this selection. You cannot use the same symbol twice or reselect your symbols. It’s a case of looking over the symbols and deciding which of these is the site, and so on. The process of drafting is key for thematic resonance.
Taken together, this can easily be boiled down into a hook and a horrid truth, and an investigation structure of your choice be applied on top (be that a linear thread, a node based investigation, or a reskinned Five Room Dungeon).
Worked example
Nine cards of the major arcana are drawn: the Sun, Strength, the Fool, the Moon, the Lovers, Temperance, the Chariot, the High Priestess, and Death.
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S - the High Priestess - a nunnery
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P - the Fool - pilgrims
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E - Death - ghosts
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A - Temperance - a mellowing or lessening of the pilgrims’ souls
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R - the Chariot - the pilgrims are taken to another realm, having been weakened
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S - the Moon - a reflected inversion of their piety remains
Hook: An acquaintance went on pilgrimage two weeks back. She has yet to return. This is merely one case amongst many this month.
Horrid Truth: Ghosts at the pilgrimage site have woken (why? perhaps a broken / stolen relic) and have been assaulting the pious through grievous dreams and visions. The pilgrims’ spirits are stolen away and their bodies charged with revenant energies in a hellish inversion of their devout former lives.
Other applications
The draw 50% too many and draft procedure can easily be applied to other systematic ways of describing gameable elements - GRAPES for regional description (geography, religion, achievements, politics, economy, social structures), the 5RD (guardian, puzzle, drain, climax, twist), &c. The possibilities are considerable.