Backstage Business

Backstage Business is a murder mystery game for 18 to 22  guests and one host. It is set in 1986, backstage after a 1980s hair-metal concert. Download the free introductory pdf file.

Backstage Business is a musical evening of 1980s hair-metal bands, investigation, betrayal, and music! Your guests will be in the middle of the action, and it will be up to them to wheel and deal to get what they want. Will they achieve their goals, keep their secrets hidden, and solve the mystery of Backstage Business?

 

See stories and pictures from Backstage Business.

Read Backstage Gossip.

Welcome to 1986. Eruption is a young band with loud guitars, big hair, spandex, and a lot of make-up. Recently, Eruption had a runaway hit with a sweet love song called “You’re the One for Me”. Tonight, at the end of their first, five-month tour, Eruption is back in their home city and has just finished the second of two shows at the Roxy A Go Go. It’s now time for the backstage end-of-tour party!

As with any successful band, backstage is not only filled with the band and their fans but also with managers, roadies, groupies, and charity organizations all looking to make a profit from the band.

However, things may not be going well for Eruption. Tonight, after obvious tension on stage, they played their encore without their lead singer, Slick Scott. Is everything okay?

Backstage Business lasts for about four hours and is suited to an evening. It is often played over a meal – a finger buffet if possible, to allow guests to circulate and talk in private.

 

No combat, no poison.

Does not start with a murder that needs solving.

The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to Backstage Business, a cast list of all the characters, and a copy of Backstage Gossip.

Cast of characters

Eruption

• Slick Scott: Eruption’s charismatic singer
• Hairy Joe: Lead guitarist and pin-up
• Rollin’ Gary: Bass player
• Big Andre: Drummer

Crew and entourage

• Ash Butler: Sound technician
• Robin Ford: Stylist
• Paula Gibb: Guitar technician
• Dee Hamilton: Tattooed merchandise manager
• Charlie Hill: Tour manager
• Kelly Murphy: Former model and Slick Scott’s agent & wife
• Vinnie Ricci: Drum technician
• Billie Towell: Band psychiatrist
• Julie Warwick: Hairy Joe’s girlfriend
• Cameron White: Touring keyboard player

Roxy A Go Go

• Chris Harshaw: The Roxy A Go Go’s owner
• Viv Letov: Floor manager

Visitors

• Chrystal Crawford: Groupie
• Amy Fisher: Representative for new charity Nozone
• Bobby Hewson: Ex-hippie representing charity Save Africa
• Casey Lake: Reporter for The Weekly News
• Jordan Miller: Owner of Platinum Records and Eruption’s manager
• Jacky Rodriguez: Radio DJ and owner of Rodriguez Records
• Max Wattford: Former Eruption singer

Backstage Business is for 18 to 22 guests:

• 18 guests (2 male, 4 female, 12 any)
• 19 guests (2 male, 4 female, 13 any)
• 20 guests (2 male, 5 female, 13 any)
• 21 guests (2 male, 5 female, 14 any)
• 22 guests (2 male, 5 female, 15 any)

You also need one host to organize the party and ensure everything runs smoothly. (If this is your first Freeform Games murder mystery party, you may find it helps to have a second host.)

How Freeform Games murder mystery games work

Backstage Business is unlike other murder mystery games. Although the game involves a murder, each character has several goals they must try to accomplish. While they may want to solve the murder, Backstage Business contains plenty of other plots and secrets to keep everyone busy. Backstage Business isn't scripted, and lets the players decide how to achieve their goals and thwart their enemies.

On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Roadie, and welcomed to backstage at the Roxy A Go Go concert venue.

They then receive their detailed backgrounds – including dark secrets, objectives, and money. The fun then begins as they form alliances, blackmail each other, and maybe even form a new group! Along the way they may uncover some of the mysteries of Backstage Business. What happened to Eruption just before the encore? Who is selling bootleg recordings? What happened to Slick Scott? Will Eruption tour again?

Finally, the game concludes and everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.

Recommended for ages 18+

We recommend Backstage Business for those aged 18+, as it contains adult themes and references to drugs and drug taking.

Extra characters

Sometimes you have too many guests and need more characters. So most games have free extra characters (written by us or previous hosts) included in the download when you purchase the game.

• Syndey Harrington – bartender at the Roxy A Go Go (Any)
  (by Freeform Games)

Please note that we haven't always tested these – and they may not tie in exactly with our games.

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Cast Iron Guarantee

We offer a Cast Iron Guarantee on all our murder mystery games. If you're not completely satisfied with Backstage Business then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you. See our full terms and conditions, and our refund policy.

Trouble downloading? If you have trouble downloading the game files, please first check your spam folder. If you still can't find the download email, contact us with the name of the game and the email address you used to purchase it, and we'll resend it.