What's in the yellow bottle? While we provide item cards for all the key items in our murder mystery games, you can create a better atmosphere if you replace the cards with real props. There’s an obvious practical reason we use item cards in our downloads as opposed to physical props, but there are other issues with using real props that we’re...
Players scheming in a corner in Venice Last month Mo and I attended the annual Peaky freeform writing weekend along with 27 other like-minded writers and players of freeform roleplaying games. We formed into six groups and over the course of Friday evening and Saturday each group wrote a freeform. On Sunday we played five of them. It’s a...
Our games aren’t always perfectly suited to your exact needs. Perhaps you want to set Casino Fatale in the 1920s, or perhaps you want to change the names of the characters in A Dead Man’s Chest to those of your favourite movie. Or perhaps you want to run Curse of the Pharaoh for children and need to rewrite the inappropriate plots. Some companies...
Today we launch Lord and Lady Westing’s Will, our 25th murder mystery party game. This time we’re visiting Derbyshire, England in 1935 and a party held to celebrate the life of Lord and Lady Westing, who recently died in a tragic air balloon accident in Switzerland. Guests include famous authors, weapons manufacturers, aristocrats, a ballerina...
Here’s an idea that you may wish to include in your game. (Note that if you’ve not played our games before, we suggest that you stick with the basic rules – but if you’re an old hand, go crazy!) Reporting the news! Reporting the news: We have written a free extra reporter character, “Ginger” Roberts, that can be used for many of our games. You...
This could probably be filed in the “should have done this sooner” drawer. We’ve just finished an analysis of our many and various abilities. We’ve copied all the abilities into a single spreadsheet so that we have everything in one place. ("What's an ability?" you ask. Well, each character in our murder mystery games has three abilities that...
In some murder mystery party games you are instructed not to lie about the details in your background. This is because to solve the murder everyone needs all the clues - but unfortunately my experience is that some people can’t just help themselves, and they don’t always tell the truth. We, on the other hand, are absolutely fine with people lying...
Last weekend Mo and I attended The King's Musketeers, a weekend long game set in the swashbuckling world of Cardinal Richelieu and Queen Anne, of D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers, of the Duke of Buckingham, Rene Descartes, and Cyrano de Bergerac. I was Count-Duke Olivares and ruled Spain and Mo was Count de Soubise, a scheming rebel hero....
We’ve had a couple of questions about “Information” lately, in particular what do we mean when an ability says something like “After talking briefly with another player, you realize that they revealed more than they intended. They must show you their Information.” Of course it’s obvious to us - but that doesn't mean it's obvious to everyone. So...
Here’s an idea that you may wish to include in your game. (Note that if you’ve not played our games before, we suggest that you stick with the basic rules – but if you’re an old hand, go crazy!) Here's a poker chip from us for "best beard" if nothing else! Rewarding great play: You can reward great play when you see it. Simply keep some poker...