After a murder mystery party we like to get feedback from our players. We primarily do this to improve our games, but I’ve started asking for stories.
As well as celebrating the party’s success, stories are the only way I get to discover what happened. (As host, I am often the last person to find out what’s going on.)
Post-party feedback
So after I recently hosted Reunion with Death, I asked two questions (as an online Google Form):
- What do you imagine your character will be doing in five years’ time?
- Who would you like to give a star to – and why? (You can give as many as you like.) (Give stars to other players, to a moment in the game, or to an element of the overall experience. For example, you can award a star for – amazing roleplay, great character moments, another player’s generosity, a mechanic of the game system that really sang etc. A star is a thing you loved about the game.)
These are examples of the wonderful responses to these questions (names redacted to remove spoilers):
Epilogues: in five years …
- … is helping to run a group of community youth groups.
- … is running a video empire and getting high in luxury places.
- … is still married!
- … through hard work and diligence, is now a detective in the Holborrow police force.
(And some epilogues were too detailed to share here! And I may have changed some details to preserve the mystery.)
Lots of stars
- … for all-round slipperiness
- … for being a serious police detective questioning all the suspects carefully
- … for one of my favourite lines: ‘Let’s be clear, if I was going to kill anyone in that situation, it would be …’
- … did the shifty anger thing very well
- … was a very good pushy, inquisitive journalist
- … was so warm and enthusiastic about piecing together the mystery, and I loved the overt pining after …
- … was easy to snark at!
Try them out
Next time you host a murder mystery, try asking those two questions as a feedback form and enjoy all the stories!
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