Interest Check: Murder Mystery

[Blinkin]

This is not a completely written out concept. If enough people show interest, I’ll flesh it out and present it in more detail for the game/ooc threads.

Samuel Hastings is a media giant. The owner of 2 publishing houses, several large newspapers and radio stations, he’s a moving force in the business… and he’s the cause of your own ruin.

When you receive a telegram inviting you to a gathering at his vacation home and strongly urged to attend, you start thinking that maybe it’s time to even the scales; an opportunity to confront the man who destroyed everything that you worked for. Can you really refuse the chance?

But, suddenly, you’re stuck out on a lush tropical island, cut off from land and there’s a murder in your mist! Hastings is dead and if you don’t discover who the murder is… you may be next! Who can you trust? Who do you suspect?

In the finest traditions of such amateur detectives as Perry Mason, Sherlock Holmes, Jim Rockford, Columbo and Agatha cristie, your character must find the clues, put it all together and learn the truth behind the murder of your most hated foe. You’ll have to figure out who you can trust and who you can’t as each character will have information that others may not and some vital piece of the puzzle could be in the hands of another.

How clues are discovered and information gathered will depend on what and how your character does things, how you decide to investigate the crime; remember that the closer you get, the more dangerous things could get if you confide in the wrong person… the murderer!

A few things to keep in mind:

1.   All of the characters have been wronged by the victim in some significant way. How that is up to you, but it must make sense and be a motive for wanting Hastings dead.
2.   The killer WILL be one of the characters played by the participants
3.   What your character knows or learns is entirely dependent on what he or she does in play. This means how he/she looks for things, interacts with others and puts things together. There WILL be false clues and leads so it’s up to you to figure out who did it.
4.   Both PC’s and NPC’s may have information, but they may also be helping the killer, if not the killer themselves.
5.   To keep things interesting and moving, a lot of information will be conveyed via PM and it’s up to the players to decide what to share with characters and what not to. If you want your character to be the one to break the case… or even survive… you will have to help each other. I will ask that anyone interested be able to post at least twice a week.
6.   To make things a little different, this will be a period setting. The spring of 1934, but I’m not going to be overly critical on accuracy of the setting.

[MzHyde]

I'm totally in for this. Does it have to be so early though? Could it be a touch more modern or is the year set in stone?

[Ixy]

This sounds like fun :)  It sounds like quite a challenge for the game master, a task I don't envy you at all-- but I love the ideas:  I like your choice of an antiquated setting, should it be 1934 or just an old, eclectic house with no phone, cellular reception, etc.  It would be great fun to have a small group of guests living a "Clue"-like scenario, each holding secrets and watching each other, if the players are willing to collaborate and share details freely/without 'breaking the game'. 
What level of eroticism/kinks are you considering?  And have you got a specific post length/frequency in mind?

[MzHyde]

I get the Clue-like part of the antiquated setting. I just don't know anything about the 30's! :P

[London]

Count me in. I love the idea.

[Blinkin]

I'm willing to play with the time setting a bit. I pulled 1934 out of thin air. What I want to do is limit the communication and analysis capabilities so that the characters can't simply hop on the net and make things multitudes more difficult for me ;) The era also has a certain flair of adventure and simplicity. As I said before, I'm not expecting nor requiring anyone to be too accurate on the details of the setting. I'll leave the time frame open for those who ultimately join in to have some say in. I will not go any further than 1946 though. This could add in some experience from WW II and a little depth to characters.

The level of eroticism, kink or even perversion is totally up to the individual player. If things start to look like it could take up a lot of time in the game, I'll be happy to create side threads for it and tie it all into the main story. I would not put it beyond the scope for the murderer to toy with potential victims. The motive of a character may actual be sexual in nature; IE: Hastings got someone pregnant or ruined someone by creating/reporting a sexual scandel.

The concept is actually from "How To Host A Murder Mystery series of party games, although it does have a certain Clue like feel. But, yes, the characters will depend on each other to figure it out before the murderer decides that someone else has to die... or how to frame someone else for it.

Thanks for your interest and I hope that we'll have a great gaming experience!

[MzHyde]

Ooh, I can dig 1946-ish. I'll have to think of a good character.

[Blinkin]

I'll work up a character sheet to use. Once I'm sure that we have whatever participation that we're going to have, I'll start looking for our murderer. *wicked grins*

[MzHyde]

The butler did it!

[Blinkin]

Ah, but who was Hoover calling?

"I'm A butler, but not THE butler."

[Ixy]

I still laugh thinking about that movie.  I just... can't... stop.  "Flames.  Flames, on the side of my face... with hea-- breathing, hea-- heaving breaths..."

[Blinkin]

A double negative leads to proof positive!

You mean you have pictures?"

[Chrystal]

*hugs Blinkin* Good luck with this, hun.

I've tried twice!

[Blinkin]

Thanks... I think I'm going to need it... I had 12 interested people until I started the OOC thread... now it's 3 and only 1 has actually completed the character sheet... I see the throuble. *chuckles*

[Ixy]

I saw two in the sheet thread..?  Hope mine's complete

[Blinkin]

You're cool Ixy, you are ready to go. I'm waiting on motives from the other two... and as for the other 9... well, we'll see. I may be recruiting all over again.

[Ixy]

Bummer, that.  I've been there.  We can still do it :)

[Blinkin]

Ok, for anyone who might be reading this, I'm officially throwing the doors open again.  If you're interested in joining in, jump in and give out a shout. I'm officially looking for a murder again as well.

[Chrystal]

Okay, damnit. The idea is the same one I have tried to run twice. I got it going the second time, but then everyone seemed to wait for everyone else to post....

The way I did it I had my character as the evil bitch everyone hated, but she was alive at the start. Problem was we didn't get as far as the actual murder.

So I'm going to say I'm interested, and see what happens.