Added: 12/16/2005 |
It?s Not Always Easy To Discover Who Is The Murderer!A dimly lit room, a rich oil magnate with a garret tightened around his neck and 12 suspicious dinner guests! Sounds like a typical fun evening to me! Murder mystery games can provide hours of excitement at a party. In fact, discovering just who is the murderer can be the focal point of your entire evening if you want it to be. And it should! If you want to play who's the murderer it's not quite as easy as inviting all your friends over and acting like someone has been stabbed in the back. Nope, when you play who's the murderer, some pre-planning is definitely involved and above all recommended. And here's why:
The success of a murder mystery game relies on all the participants buying into the fantasy. That is why murder mysteries that you purchase in a store have a cast of characters, ideas for costumes and an entire scenario to follow that will enable you to find out who is the murderer. It's generally recommended that if you decide to host a murder mystery party, you get with your guests about a week in advance and explain to them who their characters are. This gives your guests some time to "get into character".
Getting into character is not the same as knowing ahead of time who is the murderer. Most murder mystery games keep that information in a sealed envelop. And your guests won't even know "who did it" until they actually convene at the murder mystery party. That's not to say, that during the course of the evening someone else could be murdered! Many times guest develop their own agendas, and carrying out a murder may be beneficial to the type of character they are playing.
When the actual party is happening there are some common sense rules (maybe not so common sense or we wouldn't be repeating them) to follow: Remember that SAFETY is paramount. Unless you are going to the expense of finding props - as in a prop gun, knife or any other weapon of destruction - it's better to use a slip of paper with the word "gun" written on it. Yes, you're right, that's a bit boring. But no one ever got hurt by a piece of paper. Another consideration for not using real weapons or even props is that any one who may chance up on your party and doesn't know it's a party may feel inclined to call the police if they see you fake-stabbing someone. Again, is it worth the aggravation? Trust me, use paper!
The next element to consider is when you're playing and "in character" you want to mingle and glean information from the other players. So don't be afraid to give up bits and pieces of intelligence. You can't just show up and keep silent all evening. If the other guests see you in that mode, they will assume it is you who is the murderer, even if you aren't.
Most murder mystery parties are organized around dinner. I personally have never understood why this is so. A sit-down dinner limits your movement, constricts your ability to mingle and discover who is the murderer. For my tastes, a stand-up buffet is much more interesting to eliminating suspects and discovering who is the murderer.
Whatever method you choose to employ, remember it's all in fun. The internet has hundreds of murder mystery scenarios. Most need to be purchased, but many are available for free! Have fun!
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