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Read also : Wikipedia entry about murder party.

What is a murder party?

A Murder Party is an entertainment and a game which consists in living, during an evening and with a maximum of realism, a police adventure with its part of enigma, shudder and action.

The history, written in advance, is played by all the participants who each embody a character. Naturally, the players do not know the history that they are going to live.

More exactly, they know only what concerns directly their character: the context of its presence, its degree of implication in the intrigue and the actions which it is going to begin during the evening.

To assure the good progress of the game and the scenario, some characters are played by the organizers, sometimes called "gamemasters". They are the only ones to know all the story and it is them who set up the incidents of evening by implying possibly some players.

Some days before the murder party, the participants receive the resume of the character they should embody during the evening. it contains all the information concerning it: registry office, past, context, relations with the other characters, clothing and dress-code, scenes to be prepared… During the game, the players should respect their character and especially not leave it.

When a character dies, the player does not leave the game for all that. He can embody another character except when it arrives at the end of game. Even if he staged the death of his person, the player is not informed about the circumstances of the murder and the enigma remains whole for him. In the same way, the player who embodies a murderer does not know necessarily exactly the circumstances of his crimes.

He can so investigate, as far as he is maybe not the only murderer in the evening? If, at first sight, the purpose of the game is to find one or several murderers, it is especially to live an interactive and outside common adventure.

The others can put a lot into the inquiry, all the details of the puzzle are given during the evening, without damaging however their person or the good progress of the scenario. The success of the murder party likes also the capacity and the motivation of the participants to play the game. Stage settings take all their dimension thanks to the atmosphere created by the players. Without setting itself seriously, every participant should set himself in the game, hold his person and look after the atmosphere for his pleasure and the one of the others.

This way, no comedian's performance is required. The persons are voluntarily stereotypical and the frame is rather worldly in the style of Agatha Christie's novels, what establishes a common mark the implications of which everybody understands. The game ends in the night and each can leave his character for a well deserved sleep. The following morning, after the breakfast, a meeting gives to each the possibility of exposing its version of the facts and its hypothesis on the identity of one or several murderers. To finish, the gamemasters deliver the solution with detailed explanations on what happened "really", the indications allowing to find the solution and the identity of one or several murderers.

A Murder Party is as a play, life-size, played by and for comedians who discover a history mixing enigma, suspense, shudder and spectacle.

Conclusion: this shape of "increased reality" is to consume with a good dose of humor and a big envy to enjoy itself otherwise, to believe in the incredible and to play to be someone else, somewhere else.

Legal notice : see French version.

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F.A.Q. about Murder Party

General things about murder party

A " murder party " is a murder mystery game, isn’t it ?
Yes and no, we’re sorry. The term " murder party "  refers to the European philosophy of murder mystery games. The main difference between a murder party and a murder mystery game is that a murder party gives more liberty to the players. There are 6 families of murder parties, and the murder mystery games are classified as 1^st or 2^nd family. To learn more about families of murder party, read the classification of murder parties.

What it the difference between a 'murder party' and Clue™ ?
The main difference is that when you play Clue™, the characters and clues are always the same, and that there are pawns and cards. In a murder party, the scenario is not really written in advance, and the characters are acted by players, so their reactions are imprevisible. Then, it isn’t a turn-per-turn game : everyone plays simultaneously, together. See also the section 'what is it ?' for more information.

Scenarists

I wrote scenarii, but I don't know if I should let them on the Internet
Your reaction is normal, but you shouldn't stay here : the Internet is the best way to allow your work to be shared for other people. It's not everybody's chance to be talentuous and to write a scenario. And by the way, do not forget to sign your documents, including the pictures.

How can I put my scenario onto Murder2000 website ?
Just send it to us by email. Don't forget to sign your work, even with a pseudonym if you prefer.

Players

Concretely, how does a murder party run ?
During the game, the players use to be their characters, like in any role-playing-game, but in real size and live : you are not seated around a table, the sentences, questions, answers, actions and all the game is really done by the players.

Murder party: first steps

You choose to play a murder party. Congratulations, it is a very good idea!

Now, as it is the first time, you do not really know from which end to take the problem: choose a scenario? A date? A place? Guests? Organize or play? Buy a game box? Let it organize by others? How much will all this cost to me? Etc.

Please , don't worry, this guide is made for you. We are going to help you, step by step, for this beautiful adventure which is your first murder party.

First of all, let us be simple: there are two types of persons which are going to meet themselves in a murder party, the players and the organizers. The organizers are rarely more than a couple, the players are all other participants. There is no useless participant, and contrary to the games of Life-size role, there is no not-playing character. Everybody plays one only role, during all the game. There is an exception for possible killed people in the middle of the game, but it is everything.

Now, understand although an organizer is also a player. The only difference, it is that he knows about it more on the scenario than the "simple" players. Let us see now exactly this affair of scenario.

A murder party, it's a story which takes place in real size; as if you were playing Clue™ and of the players were really Colonel Mustard or Miss Rose. In a murder party, there are no dices, no cards, no pawns or game board : the playground it is the place (house, apartment, castle), pawns are the players themselves !

So for all this to work, it is necessary that there is a common history. This is the scenario. Often, it is inspired by police novels or thrillers (Agatha Christie, J.-D. Carr, etc.). It is about a police inquiry on a murder, and as accidentally each of the present players is a potential murderer: had he (she) a motive, a weapon, or the time to kill? Such is the question which should return all evening long.

The purpose of the game is simple: find the murderer... Except for the player who will be this murderer! The murderer is necessarily one of the players (which includes the organizers also).

How to choose the perfect scenario, especially for the first murder party? First of all we'll have to proceed by elimination. The first constraint is your place.

The place ? Yes, because you shouldn't play the same murder party if you just have a small studio or a complete manor house as playground. According to the size of your place, choose a scenario of 1-st , 2-nd or 3-rd generation. This choice should be also guided by a simple rule: if you are a player, you can play whatever generation of murder party from the first time, but to organize, the first time, please choose a murder party of 1-st or 2-nd generation.

The next constraint for your choice is the delay which stays between today and the date your murder party will take place. If you are totally free, foresee two or three months. Otherwise, well we're going to do the best to help you. The less time you have, the more it is necessary to choose a low generation. If you have less than a week in front of you, abandon any idea of murder party with the exception of the murder parties said "for initiation" which are generally classified 3-rd generation, very short and more close to the intellectual puzzle than to the real murder party.
Well, but all this is going to reduce your choice only of two thirds, and you have another big range of scenarios available. Now, you have the choice between a scenario "in a box" and a scenario downloaded from Murder2000. The scenarios to be downloaded present the advantage to be free and obtained at once, while the scenarios "in a box" are for sale in games shops.

As a general rule, you'll find scenarios from 10€ (for CDROM generally, as the one we sell ourselves, end of the ad) up to 40€ or more. Remember all taxes are always included in prices in France. As usually, the most expensive are not necessarily the best. You can buy game boxes in most of the games shops , you can also order via Internet . Most of the scenarios of the business are of 1-st or 2-nd generation.

The main element which is going to help you to choose now is the number of players and their sex. If you are a dozen guys or a group of six couples, the scenario to be chosen is not the same. First constraint, so: the number of players. This number should be that of the players of which you are absolutely certain of the presence, with a margin of error as weak as possible. If a player withdraws in the last time, you will indeed be blocked (even if it is always possible there to go out, as we explain HERE). Please, count so how much you have of girls, how many men, and count a beautiful total.

The game boxes are built very generally for ten to a dozen players. We recommend you to begin with no more than 10-12 players for your first organization.

How to find out the killer in 7 easy steps ?

To find out who's the killer, you just have to follow some rules. Here they are.

Trust everyone.

Searching who's the killer in a Murder Party is the task that will occupy most of the players. Except if you get a miracle, you have NO chance to find it alone. So, you need to talk and exchange information with the other players. You'll try to know what the others know. As far that you have no way to know if someone lies to you, you'll need to trus everyone. It may be useful to ally with one or two players to go ahead.

Trust nobody.

It will never be said enough : in an Murder Party, EVERYONE is suspect. Never forget this. What will be told to you will probably be false, or incomplete. The killer maybe will like you to be accused in his place! So, don't talk too much and trust nobody. Don't hesistate to break your alliances... discretely, of course!

Lie.

seeking information or evidence does not force you with all to acknowledge with the come-first player. Be sure of yourself, lie with conviction, in a coherent manner, adding truth in your lies, mixing all enough that the people you talk to won't be able to see what's true and what's false. This may help you to hide something while telling it, as far the others would imagine it's a lie and won't trust any part of if.

Do not lie.

If you lie too much (or too badly), Si vous mentez trop ou mal, people very quickly will notice it and you will lose any credibility; by consecutive effect, it will be very hard to obtain any valuable information. However, one of the most important things of the play at the time of a Murder Party is Getting Information.

Do not proceed by elimination.

If you use the method of eliminating one-by-one the suspects, you'll fail. Of course. The scenarist, the organisator and the killer have envisaged this method. Surely. The alibis provided by thirds can be false (complicity or blackmail for example) , but you can can be yourself the victim of a trickery, for example if the murder did not take place at the time indicated. Example : if the murder took place 2 mins before, the killer could then come towards you at the time supposed from the assassination, and thus forge an excellent alibi... And this is just a simple easy example...

Always, the paraplegic one made the blow.

This famous sentence is taken for the adventures of Gideon Fell (J-D Carr). ,It unfortunately too often applies. Of course, it means especially that the culprit designated by the indices is not the good one, and that you need to understand who put the false evidences : this one is guilty ! Of course, it's not an absolute rule.

The more obvious it is and the less you find.

Corollary of the precedent, it is good sometimes to take one moment of retreat, alone, and make a point. Too much often you'll skip this possibility, which however is very useful to advance.

Whith all these rules, you'll easyly find out the killer. But... what will you do with this information ? It depends of your character ! Anyways, never forget that it's your CHARACTER that plays, not YOU. All you do must be logical for your CHARACTER. Never forget this !