Murder Mystery Mechanics

Long time no post! I have been working hard on various games, especially the murder mystery party I'm hosting next week. This time, we're trying to introduce some simple mechanics into the game, in order to give people an incentive to participate and provide a more straight-forward way of solving the mystery. Here's some of the flavor text I've shared with the players so far:

This murder mystery will be a mafia-inspired game of informed minority (Conspiracy) vs uninformed majority (Innocents). You can try to bribe, intimidate, or trick your fellow players into giving you clues. The team that has the most clues/cash at the end of the night wins. But be careful - there’s a murderer on the loose, and you never know when they’ll strike next!

How To Write A Murder Mystery

Someone recently sent me an email asking to use of my murder mystery party games. Sadly my notes are in no way, shape, or form coherent enough to be used by someone other than me. However! I did come up with this pretty thoughtful response, which I thought you on the internets might enjoy. Take this as my apology for not blogging in so long... or don't, like I care.

If you are thinking of writing your own murder mystery, here's the formula that has worked for me (still in development):

1. Start with writing the setting and figure out who will be your victim (usually played by the author)

2. Come up with your suspects - three people with reasons to want him or her dead

3. Figure out three alibis and/or provide exonerating evidence for all three

4. Compromise one of the alibis/pieces of evidence (usually via your supporting cast)

Casting is often the biggest challenge. You need three people who will do the extra work of being suspects and one person willing to take on the job of solving the murder - the detective. I sometimes ask certain supporting cast members to be "allies" and give them a bit of information that may be helpful in solving the mystery. Duplicating clues (providing the same information in more than one way) will probably speed things along. In my experience, if I think my clues are way too obvious they are probably just right.

A few other thoughts - You'll probably want to have other games/activities going on while the detective figures out the mystery, cause people will get bored. These can be tailored to fit the theme, and can help maintain the fantasy (along with decorations and costumes). Themed food is also fun, but can get labor-intensive. Anyway, hope this helps!

Gaming Digest

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Regina Fierce and the Alligator's Eye: For my birthday week, my friend Kevin ran a game of Pulp-Era Savage Worlds for us at our favorite local watering hole. I didn't love the pre-gen hero, so I revamped him into a strong black woman named Regina Fierce. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY, DAMMIT. It's an interesting system - no d20s and combat-light, kind of like the Serenity RPG, and the mechanic of "exploding the dice" had pretty hilarious results. Kevin did a good job of balancing genre tropes (apparently the hallmark of the Savage Worlds system) and meaningful character choices. 9/10, would play again.

Once Upon A Crime: Also for my birthday week, Mac wrote a fairy-tale themed murder mystery party. I played the Evil Queen/detective - I wore an old's bridesmaid's dress with a Party City crown and striped wrist-warmers. In other words, HAWT. My goal was to solve the poisoning of my brother, the Dark Wizard (played by Mac). The characters were hilarious, both in writing and execution, and everyone got really into their costumes. We learned our lessons from earlier murder mysteries, and had little games/activities for people to do while I was detecting (cookie decorating, card games, and "stay dry" apple bobbing). I also realized that I REALLY like playing an evil character, especially when I get to play to lead role at the same time. Should I be worried...? 

Regular games (Serenity, D&D: Silver Company, and D&D: Family Ties) after the jump! 

Murder in Grisly Gulch

To the townsfolk of Grisly Gulch, you are all cordially invited to join me for a night of celebration and surprises at my home, across from the Bank on Main Street. I have an important announcement to make that I know will be of interest to you all. I daresay it will shake the very bedrock of our little community!

Sincerely,
E. Feingold, Esq.
Banker

Last Saturday I put on another murder mystery party, this one with a Wild West theme. These are something of a tradition amongst my friends, which got started two years ago when I asked Maggie and Mac to throw me a murder mystery themed birthday party. Since then, several of our friends have taken turns writing and/or hosting these parties - we've done Sci-Fi fantasy, Greek gods and goddesses, 20's gangsters and Vegas casino themed parties. They're always a blast, and we keep improving the format with each iteration.

Typically, the writer (me!) plays the victim and then comes back as a minor character. This time, I divided the rest of the cast into five categories: Detective, Suspects, Allies, Adversaries, and Observers. The role of the Detective is to to actively solve the mystery (and finish the story). Suspects put the "who" in "whodunit" - they are the main characters. Allies and Adversaries are more like minor characters - they participate in the story by either helping or hindering the Detective. Finally, the Supporting Cast can just sit back and watch the shenanigans. I usually ask people what role they are willing to play, and assign parts accordingly. This is what the final cast list looked like:

DETECTIVE

• Marshall Frederick (Mike) is a Federal Marshall fresh out of training. He is on a routine visit to one of the small towns in hisjurisdiction, Grisly Gulch. The banker, Ephraim Feingold (Sri), invites you to a party where he plans to make a "big announcement. When Feingold is suddenly murdered, it's up to Marshall Frederick to solve the case! 

SUSPECTS

• Barry Cade (Zach) is the mayor of Grisly Gulch. He is a notorious flirt, but his wife keeps him on a pretty short leash. He is up for re-election this year, and will probably use this party as an opportunity to campaign.
• Miss Sugar (Maggie) is the madam of the town brothel, the Heart of Gold. Everyone knows that the banker, Ephraim Feingold, has been mooning after her for years. But she considers herself married to her work, and is fiercely proud of what she’s built.
• Powell P. Lay (Chris) is a successful rancher. Currently, he is attempting to buy out several other smaller ranchers. He is an influential man in Grisly Gulch.

ALLIES

• Cassie Cade (Lauren) is the wife of the Mayor, Barry Cade, and is an avid missionary. She frequently makes proselytizing trips to the nearby Indian reservation, plans fundraisers for starving orphans, and leads the Women's Bible Study group.
• Charles "Sleepy" Knapp (Mac) is the sheriff of Grisly Gulch. While he excels at breaking up barroom brawls and chasing down train robbers, he's never had to deal with something as complex as drawing-room murder.
• Suzanna Spice (Sri) is a saloon girl at The Heart of Gold, and a voracious reader of the Old Sleuth dime novels.
  

ADVERSARIES

• Anita Lay (Priya) is the daughter of influential rancher, Powell P. Lay. Her father's connections got her the job of schoolmarm, and he never lets her forget it. Also, he is constantly trying to marry her off. 
• Growling Bear (Chuck) is the Chief of the local American Indian tribe. He is openly dismissive of the authority of the White Man.
• She-That-Is-Pleasant (Amy) is the sister of Chief Growling Bear. She is much friendlier than her brother.

SUPPORTING CAST

• Fast Fanny (Carly) is a female gunslinger with a chip on her shoulder. 
• Ian Briate (Alex) is the town preacher who loves his communion wine
• Kitten Kaboodle (Katja) is a traveling entertainer, whose song and dance routine is being hosted at the Heart of Gold brothel.
• Vani Singh (Nalini) is a vaudeville magician.
• Ranch Hands (Mike and Monique) just stopped by for the free booze.

Each suspect had an excellent motive for doing away with the victim, Ephraim Feingold. Miss Sugar and he were lovers who had recently had a falling out. Powell P. Lay was afraid Feingold would realize that his dealings with other ranchers were not strictly on the up-and-up. And Mayor Barry Cade knew that Feingold held in his hands some damning evidence of his recent affair - one that could cost him his re-election bid.

I hoped the physical evidence I planted would exonerate two of the suspects, but I'm afraid I fell into the trap of, "Well, I don't want to make it too obvious!" I always have these big revelations about how I should've written these things as soon as we're done solving them. Which, I suppose, is how we can keep improving the model... Anyway, the most important thing was that people had fun!