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December 12, 2016 8:46 AM Subscribe
Great murder mystery party/parlor game?
At our big annual family Christmas party this year, we’d like to hold a murder mystery game - complete with costumes, accents, all that jazz. There will be quite a few people, possibly 12-15, (although some may just observe), ranging in ages from 21-55. We’re looking for a game where we can send people their characters ahead of time so they can prepare, and then when we all get together we can spend a few hours playing. As far as genre, Christmas or horror themed would be cool, but not required, and we want to avoid any overtly sexual stuff (cause y’know, family). Have you played (or know of) any awesome murder mystery party games?
At our big annual family Christmas party this year, we’d like to hold a murder mystery game - complete with costumes, accents, all that jazz. There will be quite a few people, possibly 12-15, (although some may just observe), ranging in ages from 21-55. We’re looking for a game where we can send people their characters ahead of time so they can prepare, and then when we all get together we can spend a few hours playing. As far as genre, Christmas or horror themed would be cool, but not required, and we want to avoid any overtly sexual stuff (cause y’know, family). Have you played (or know of) any awesome murder mystery party games?
The How to Host a Murder franchise is pretty solid.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:10 AM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:10 AM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went to a murder mystery holiday party this past weekend and it was wonderful. Shot In the Dark Mysteries is the company the host used. She chose "A Christmas Party Murder" and we all got emails a couple days ahead of the party describing our characters and how to play the game. We played for about 90 minutes before learning who the killer was but you could easily scale that to fit any length of time you want.
I just checked the site and you can purchase up to 18 suspects but there's an option to contact the game maker if you need more. Let me know if you have any questions. It was really a blast!
posted by _Mona_ at 9:26 AM on December 12, 2016
I just checked the site and you can purchase up to 18 suspects but there's an option to contact the game maker if you need more. Let me know if you have any questions. It was really a blast!
posted by _Mona_ at 9:26 AM on December 12, 2016
I remembered those "How to Host a Murder" boxes in stores from when I was younger, but searched the web for an electronic option (i.e., PDFs and digital audio and the like), and found Playing With Murder.
I hosted a party with the "Set Sail for Disaster" story, and it was AWESOME, and it looks like they have some horror-themed ones, too!
posted by knownassociate at 11:21 AM on December 12, 2016
I hosted a party with the "Set Sail for Disaster" story, and it was AWESOME, and it looks like they have some horror-themed ones, too!
posted by knownassociate at 11:21 AM on December 12, 2016
Re: "Playing With Murder", the PDFs are especially helpful for sending to family members from afar in advance.
posted by knownassociate at 11:22 AM on December 12, 2016
posted by knownassociate at 11:22 AM on December 12, 2016
We ran one earlier this year from Freeform Games. They seem to design most of theirs around just the party size you're planning. You will need someone to act as the facilitator - to know the plot lines, trigger certain events, and deal with player requests. Every player ends up with a dossier, a bunch of background information, and possibly some other goodies.
The biggest drawback we had was that many people didn't know (and didn't pick up on my hints right away) just how broadly they could explore, which hampered some of the early game. There were certain items that were important that didn't get introduced until the game rules instructed the facilitator to bring them out; they could have been discovered by players earlier and made things more interesting, I think. However, if you're good about being a little more direct about what people can and can't do (and explain clearly just how much freedom there is to check things out), then you can probably avoid the same problem.
We had a lot of fun doing ours, and I'd definitely pick up another one. I ended up facilitating, and even though I didn't really have a "role" the job required a lot of creativity and on-the-feet decision making to keep things going, which I felt was very satisfying.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:00 PM on December 12, 2016
The biggest drawback we had was that many people didn't know (and didn't pick up on my hints right away) just how broadly they could explore, which hampered some of the early game. There were certain items that were important that didn't get introduced until the game rules instructed the facilitator to bring them out; they could have been discovered by players earlier and made things more interesting, I think. However, if you're good about being a little more direct about what people can and can't do (and explain clearly just how much freedom there is to check things out), then you can probably avoid the same problem.
We had a lot of fun doing ours, and I'd definitely pick up another one. I ended up facilitating, and even though I didn't really have a "role" the job required a lot of creativity and on-the-feet decision making to keep things going, which I felt was very satisfying.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:00 PM on December 12, 2016
Oh, and as for pre-made - everything is delivered digitally, so you will have to actually print out all the parts, but other than that it's self contained. There are cards for items and other points of interest which you could easily replace with props, but the cards worked fine for us. I opted to bring the files to Staples and have it all printed on heavy card stock. There are also name tags for each character; I put them in plastic name card sleeves with safety pins (also from Staples) or you could probably print them on sticker paper or even just use binder clips or paper clips to hold them on to people.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:03 PM on December 12, 2016
posted by backseatpilot at 3:03 PM on December 12, 2016
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posted by DulcineaX at 8:48 AM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]