# murder mystery party?



## theworstwitch (Aug 14, 2006)

Has anyone hosted or been to a murder mystery party? I see you can alter the "normal" design to fit a Halloween theme.


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## llondra (Sep 29, 2004)

We've hosted murder mysteries for our New Year's Eve parties the last 3 years. They've been a huge hit and a lot of fun. There are several really good sites around that offer mysteries for download, and some of them are horror/Halloween themed.

The one we've used:

http://www.dinnerandamurder.com/

I love her format and the fact that everyone gets a character to play. There are enough guidelines in her games that it's very easy for even the most introverted to get into the game, yet it's all very simple and easy to follow. Add to the fact that she has setups that easily adapt for 20-40 people and it seals the deal. One that we've done is Murder at the Four Deuces. It's set to take place at a New Year's Eve party, and you could easily change that to a Halloween party. She also has links to other mystery sites in case she doesn't have a story line you're interested in.

This is another murder mystery company I've always been interested in, though never tried:

http://www.acemurdermystery.com/


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Ooooo - this is definitely my thing! I've been doing these since 1996. Sometimes it's a murder, sometimes the victim is a victim of thier own doing....but I always write the story and the guests get clues until they find the remains of the victim who still haunts the place to help release it from this world. I recommend writing your own. Get a couple of friends together and brainstorm. It's great fun! Giving people info ahead of time helps to get them excited and figure out a costume - and if you give them parts and secret info to share during the party, you will be amazed at the way even the quiet people can participate. I'm writing 3 for this year. Drop me a line if you need ideas


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## JosieJo (Sep 27, 2006)

i'm doing the murder mystery thing for the first time this year...i was wondering if there were any sites that give all the rules and stuff without having to buy something. i am realllly broke and am doing this party on pennies...


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Like I said...get a few friends together and WRITE the plot together. It's a lot of fun and you get something unique. Not to mention, you can actually write "roles" or characters for the guests you know are going to attend. Writing your own story is FREE - and it can also cater to your guests. Drop me a line if you need ideas. Tell me how many people - what kinda theme if you have one, or if there are any kind of restrictions. I have done this a lot and I really enjoy it. I'll give some free ones for people on this forum


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## JosieJo (Sep 27, 2006)

great_ghoul said:


> Like I said...get a few friends together and WRITE the plot together. It's a lot of fun and you get something unique. Not to mention, you can actually write "roles" or characters for the guests you know are going to attend. Writing your own story is FREE - and it can also cater to your guests. Drop me a line if you need ideas. Tell me how many people - what kinda theme if you have one, or if there are any kind of restrictions. I have done this a lot and I really enjoy it. I'll give some free ones for people on this forum



yea i need some help because i dont even know how to begin to write it. my theme is "a ghast from the past" (i made it very broad so that everyone would have no problem with costumes). im decorating with all browns, blacks and reds with all kinds of dead plants and stuff. there will be 10-12 people coming at the most...if you could help me that would be great!


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

JosieJo - I would love to help....not sure what "ghast from the past" actually means though ...

I need to know a couple of things:

#1 What is ghast from the past 

#2 Do you want ALL your guests to have some kind of "role" in the murder mystery? You have a nice small group - so you have a couple of options there.

#3 - Do you have the ability to give people some kind of clue before the party?

#4 - Are you having a sit down dinner together where you can exchange information easily? 

Lemmee know - and we can write something fun for sure!


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

I'm doing a crime scene at the front door, so that when guests arrive, they can look at the clues and try to figure out what happened. I am trying to expand on that. Can you give me some ideas please?

Here's what I have so far:
Chalk outline of a man, Crime scene tape, crime scene markers, clues so far are 1. bullet shell casing 2. half of a picture 3. wallet with money still in it (fake of course) 4. 3 Cigarette butts 5. bloody foot prints.

What I had planned was to hang a bucket by the scene with tablet, pencils and sign telling them to jott down their ideas of what happened.

I just can't seem to come up with enough clues to be more specific. Obviously it's a crime of passion, but I need to build a story line around it.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated....It'd be cool if I could tie the "Killer" game into it somehow.


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Elza - is one of your party guests supposed to be the killer? I would also give some of the guests some kind of extra clue, like the victim had been seen flirting with X or he owed X a lot of money and X was getting impatient. Let those guests know that they are to gossip this information to others at the party....

The story is the most important part so having people speculate about that involves knowing what actually happened yourself, and leaking just enough clues to get everyone on the trail to figuring out the story.

It helps if the guests knew who the victim was as well. So say that the victim is the local corner store owner or something....people have little bits of gossip (see above). There are several potential killers, but there should be ONE clue in the scene that narrows it down to the actual killer. You know, if it was a woman, maybe there could be lipstick on the shell casing as a "kiss goodbye" or something...

Give me more info and I'll keep going


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Good start...I want to make the killer a woman. The picture was of the deceased and her together...only his half is left at the crime scene. One of the party guests will get to be the killer. I guess I should arrange for one guest to be in on this so she can play the role. I said I want to use the game "killer" as well. I could let everyone think that they all draw their role in the game out of the bucket "player" vs "killer", but actually have the killer pre-arranged as above. The as each person dies, there slip of paper they have drawn out of the bucket can be view by all as each slip will have a clue on it. The sum of all clues will definitely point to the killer, but there'd be a prize for who ever can figure it out before hand.

So I need:
To define the victim better so I can draw a story around it. I liked the lipstick on the bullet shell idea. 
Maybe I should make the party the hub of the story and find out ahead of time what my killer's costume is going to be...then I can work that into the plot.

Can you please keep throwing ideas at me? They really get me thinking!

Thanks!


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

You bet! I love this stuff...this could get long though....let me give you some thoughts....

Let's decide first off exactly why the victim has been murdered. The whole story will fall into place after that. We can add characters as we go, then you can give each person a "character" to play. Don't be surprised if your guests get really into it and start accusing each other when they start hearing clues 

So - I am assuming the victim is a man. What has he done to get himself in this situation? I did one of these last year at the office, and the victim was a man. I tried to tie everything into the office setting, so we were a "tv studio" and the victim was the producer. I gave everyone a character (ie - they were an actor/actress, cameraman etc)...everyone had a secret about why they hated the producer (ie: one of the cameramen had his dog run over by the producer who refuses to admit it and apologize, even though there were witnesses....the star of the show is being blackmailed to stay in a relationship with him even though she is actually in love with another star in the show...etc!) This stuff is easy once you decide WHO actually killed him and why. Then just put together a bunch of other scenarios to throw people off.

Before the party: each guest should receive their "secret info" on why they hate the victim. The day of the party, you can either have an investigator asking questions in front of everyone to draw out this info so everyone can figure it out -OR- you can just tell everyone to "gossip" at dinner about the deceased so that the info comes out. In the end, you should be able to get to the conclusion. The best part is watching your guests act! I was hugely impressed with the participation from my non-halloween office buddies!

OK - so now tell me. Who actually did the killing and why.....or shall I tell you ...mwahhhahhahaahaha


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Well, I was trying to work that out yestday....but I'm not very good at it. The only thing I have been able to do is name the victim...Wayne Hollow..(say it backwards fast). I figured a woman killed him so I came up with a wife, a girlfriend and a sister then tried to think of motives....Wife: money- insurance, or found out about girlfriend or has a lover, was discovered and became afraid she be cut out of the will. Girlfriend: found out wayne was not really going to leave his wife, or a blackmail gone bac or discovered he was even cheating on her too. Sister: inheritance or revenge....and this is were my brain died. I guess I'm no good at this mystery stuff.

Maybe I need a setting that will help develop the idea...like the one you mentioned Tv studio. But what?


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## JosieJo (Sep 27, 2006)

great_ghoul said:


> JosieJo - I would love to help....not sure what "ghast from the past" actually means though ...
> 
> I need to know a couple of things:
> 
> ...



1. "A ghast from the past" is basically just anything from the past...like im going to decorate with dead flowers, tombstones, spiderwebs..stuff that is old. And everyones costume just had to be something from the past, whether it be a hippie or a roman. i know it is very broad but my guests have a hard time with very specific themes.

2. yes I want everyone involved!

3. I could but it wont be easy since most of the guests probably wont remember anything I give them! I would rather give it to them when they arrive.

4. Yes the whole party is broken into 3 parts: mingling and drinks beforehand, sit down dinner, and then games and chat afterwards. We will be able to exchange info easily.


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

JosieJo - that is helpful. One thing I can't stress enough is that small things can create great impressions for your guests, and they will usually reciprocate with great acting 

If you can't give them anything before the party - you can always give them something at the door too. Since you have an "old" theme happening, I would try this (I did this last year and people really took the whole thing seriously):

Just find any plain paper, make some stong tea or coffee and pour it into a baking pan that will hold the paper. Dip each piece in and slosh it around until it becomes discolored, then set it somewhere to dry. Once it has dried, write each person's character and secret information on the paper (info that only THEY know about the victim) then roll it up and tie it with whatever ribbon or string type material you have. The presentation itself will really get people thinking.

Next - for each person - you will need to have a character that likely knows the victim and preferably have had a motive for killing the said victim as well. The fact that all these people are together at the party means you need a common thread - a reason that everyone is there and how they know each other. Here are a few suggestions:

1 - This is an office / workplace party - and you are all co-workers....
2 - The victim is a family member of all present and the gathering is for the reading of the will.
3 - You have just inherited this old haunted house, and have invited close friends to view it for the first time and experience the haunting first hand (maybe to help you solve the reason for the haunting).
4 - This is a masquerade ball type setting - and the murder occurs at the party.

I could go on and on....start out by picking the thread - the reason for the gathering. Then it is easier to create characters for all your guests.

When they arrive they will get their scroll of paper, have a few minutes to read it and see who THEY are and what they know about the victim. Encourage them to share their info throughout the evening. This has ALWAYS worked well for me (even at my office where people are so NOT into this kind of thing!).

Once you have the venue/setting decided, we can start working on the characters and murder victim. With your setting I think the inherited haunted house thing could work well? Let me know!


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Great Ghoul, 
Your ideas to JosieJo, just gave me an idea. Since I have a crime scene, and most of my parties theme is around "Nic Rophilliac's Morgue" maybe I should have it so that everyone is trying to find out who the victim is rather than who murdered him..They are there to Identify the body. (Kind of work it backward from figuring out who was murdered then to the why and who the murderer is). The john doe is being viewed by people who have filed a missing persons report. I need to think on this a little... could be real different.


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## JosieJo (Sep 27, 2006)

I kept thinking of a graveyard or a crypt setting whenever I was buying decorations...maybe everyone can be gathered for a furneral but then some other person turns up dead? that seems like it would be pretty simple for my guests.

The characters could be the mortician, grave diggers, family...

Can you help me expand this now?


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Elza - that's an awesome idea!!!! I might go that route too actually....I had never thought about it that way!

JosieJo - let's talk about the graveyard setting....Something very cool that I have done, is have a "haunting" so that people have to figure out WHY the victim died (some cause other than what the supposed one was). This way, no one has to be the victim, and miss out on any fun 

At the funeral, you can have some guests (with info cards) that can give more info to the rest...For instance, the victim could have been actually murdered instead of dying of natural causes...the murderer is his/her closest sibling. Make it a jealously thing or love thing? Do up some journal pages from the victim noticing the changes in the sibling that causes them to be alarmed. Give little clues there, and from other friends of the victim that suggest he/she was concerned about being in danger.

If this is too gross - let me know...I have a million other routes we can go


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Okay, here's what I have so far... (everyone help this could be fun!)

The story centers around a sleepy little hamlet of Wayne’s Hollow. It’s October 28th, and the town is celebrating its annual Pumpkin Festival. This year’s pageant queen is Ophelia Gourd. The ceremonies are being presided over by the Mayor Y.Z. Pompous. In attendance at the festival are the following towns people:
Mayor’s wife, Ima Pompous; town’s beautician, Eve L. Shears; the Pharmacist Aachen Payne and his wife Flo N. Payne; the town Doctor Gerry Attrics and his sister Betty Kilder; the Postmaster Seymour Dirt and the postman, Justin Ash; the newspaper editor, Dee Penrot; newspaper photographer, Al Wayspeepin; Garage mechanic and Betty’s ex-husband Willie Kilder; The Pharmacist cousin, Al Coholic, the pageant queen’s boyfriend Peter Frenly; Real Estate agent, Robin Daily; the shoeshine boy, Britton Buff and the Mayor’s gardener, Doug Deeply. 

The local Police Officer, Richard Head, was working crowd control when the “Bucket o Bones” restaurant owner, Terry Fry, came running up. Seems Terry Fry had found a body in the alley behind the restaurant when she was opening up for the after pageant dinner rush.

Officer Head, being a police force of one, grabbed the newspaper photographer from the crowd and rushed to the scene. There they found a male Caucasian who had been stabbed, shot, bludgeoned and left so bloody that identification was not possible. Al Wayspeepin took photographs and ran them over to the Pharmacist for development. Nic Rophilliac was called to take the body away to the morgue and then Office Head returned to the pageant to make the announcement that a murder had been committed.

This created much pandemonium and confusion. Once Dick Head had the crowd under control again, he asked everyone to look around and find out who was missing. To Dick Head’s surprise, the final tally of missing persons ended up being:
1.	Doug Deeply, the mayor’s gardener
2.	Al Coholic, the pharmacists cousin
3.	Peter Frenly, Ophelia’s boyfriend
4.	Willie Kilder, mechanic and ex-husband
5.	Justin Ash, the postman
6.	Britton Buff, the shoeshine boy
7.	Robin Daily, the local Real Estate Agent.

Officer Head then told the towns people to all show up at Nic Rophilliac’s Morgue at 7:00 pm so that the identity of the victim could be determined. (Little did the towns people know that Dick Head also intended to find out who the murderer was as well).


So, now I need to develop some clues and stuff to fill in what happened...Help from everyone would be appreciated!


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Elza - you rock!!!! Those names alone had me on the floor laughing! I think I am getting way more benefit from this thread than anyone else!!

I would give that script to all party attendees before the party. Maybe assigning them actual characters (you seem to be very gifted at that!) 

Now - who is the dead guy? The best thing is to work it back from there, and have each of the potential victims ALSO be a potential murderer of the the victim. That will keep people going for a while 

For instance: If the victim is:

Doug Deeply (mayor's gardener)....

He has potentially had a fling with Ima Pompous as well as Eva L Shears...Eva L Shears could be in love also with Al Waysapeepin....so he has caught her in the act with Doug Deeply while suspicious of her activities away from him...so he ALSO caught him with with Ima. He is in a strong position to show images at the party  This can throw people off the scent of the real murderer.
So you can see this can get VERY complicated. But it is SOOOO easy once you know who the VICTIM is and who the MURDERER is. You have a wonderful list of characters that you can really run wild with. Tell me who did it to whom 

---ideally you don't want your guests to figure it out TOO quickly - the more they talk about it the more fun they can have (just don't have them talking when they are supposed to be finding the murder weapon burning in the fireplace that you THOUGHT was stainless steel but ends up melting like chocolate LOL!).


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

great ghoul,
Thanks for those ideas, I can use doug's activities...I don't have a fireplace so I'll have to have some other items hidden that will help.

I'll have to give them their characters and what they did, heard and saw as they arrive. I'm coming as Elvira this year, so I'll intro the whole thing as though I'm introducing tonights feature. Then I'll call on Dick Head to read his opening statement to the crowd..."You're all gathered here tonight to identify...etc. He'll then call on Nic Rophilliac to show everyone to the "cold" room for the viewing and identification of the body. But when Nic reads his scripted intro...he'll announce that there's "just one little" problem...someone has done off with the vic's head! (I have a paper mache head that I made for the last Halloween party's guillotine and I'll use that at the end of the story). Now we have to use clues to figure it all out. And as everyone was wearing the official Pumpkin Feastival T-shirt ...they can't be identified by the clothes! Dick Head will call on Al Wayspeepin for the pictures he had developed and Al will tell him that they're gone!...(Oh, the plot thickens...i'm making this up as I type. It helps to be "suedo" discussing this) 

I also had a thought...I always have late arrivals...so, they can be one of the missing persons...solves two problems: they can still participate even though they are late (gotta hussle to catch up) and it will help to eliminate some of the missing persons. If they don't show...that happens too...well the clues will end up eliminating that character anyway. Now as for the reason there were so many missing people....why there was a secret meeting of ___________(??)!...one of those guys thingy's where they have a Grand Pooba. Need help here...come on guys...I know your reading these....so give me a funny club name.

Please keep feeding me ideas...it's really helping....and thanks again to Great Ghoul...why you are "Great"!


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

Wish I could help with the name but nothing's coming up. Besides you are soooo creative yourself that I'm sure anything I could have come up with would pale in comparison 

LOVED the names lol 

Keep on going, I'm curious how it comes out lol

MsM


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Okay...need help here.

The secret meeting of The Grand Order of ____________.

something halloween and funny...(just hasn't come to me).

One other question...does the fake blood you buy at the Halloween shops wash off of concrete?

Oh, I'm loving do this!!!!!


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Elza - the only thing that springs to mind for the Grand Order is "The Stonecutters" - which was a spoof done by the Simpson's a while back.

That fake blood stains everything - BUT - if it's something bleachable you'll be fine. I got it off my counters and driveway no problem...but all my coloured clothing will have the permanent "in surgery look" I'm afraid.


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

I used a combination of ideas from goolie and spat and came up with this for my organization:

the secret meeting of the Grand Mystic Royal Order, of the Nobles of the Temple of the Thirty and One Nights!

It fits with the silliness of it all so well!

Will post more and the characters, the victim and who-dunit this weekend when I have a chance to finish things up. 

hee hee hee cackle cackle ack gag choke.............................i'm okay.


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Very Bad News.....I am going to have to cancel doing the murder mystery and my crime scene...I'll still have the party, but it would be in very bad taste right now to do the crime scene/mystery as I just found out yesterday that my Boss's niece was abducted last friday and it's not looking as though this is going to have a good outcome.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

Hi Elza,

Sorry to hear about your boss's daughter. What a shame you have to cancel the game when you've worked so hard on it. Perfectly understandable though that you would want to cancel it.

I'm kind of wondering how my next door neighbor is going to react to our party this year. His second wife passed away a few weeks ago. His first wife also died. Normally this time of year he is always outside smoking and makes it a point to come check out what Pieter is making for halloween under the carport. He also participated in our game last year. Guests went on a scavenger hunt and one of the items they had to find was at his house. He never comes to the party himself, but really liked seeing all the crazy people in costume at his front door.

Since his wife died, we never see him outside anymore. His wife was the reason he smoked outside. Perhaps now that she's gone, he's smoking inside or perhaps he's just too depressed for idle chitchat with the neighbors.
We plan on toning our party down a bit this year as well....out of respect for him.

MsM


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## great_ghoul (Aug 14, 2004)

Oh - I am so sorry to hear that  A few years ago, something similar happened to me. After finding skeletal remains in an out of the way place in the forest, I was unable to use my skeletons that year. It just didn't feel right. It's still hard now, but everyone else loves it.

I hope they recover your boss's daughter safe and sound.


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

The found her body buried under a newly poured concrete slab in the back yard of the suspect...Well at least they have the guy.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

I wasn't sure I could do the mystery game I had planned. I wanted to do a crime scene type game. I was worried about the weather. The space I have available is out in the open and if the weather is bad, I can't image that anyone would be interested in investigating a crime scene. Additionally, I was afraid that if it rained, the chalk would wash off. I'm VERY limited with space.

But I got to thinking and since I already have my 'hard rot cafe' space...I decided that I could turn that into a sort crime scene. I brainstormed this idea today at my work. Its the one time that working with people with psychiatric problems worked out to my benefit lol They were very creative lol I'm not really one for blood and gore, I'm more of a humor type halloweener.

So this is what we came up with:

Scene: Hard rot cafe. In the cafe are 3 skeletons. Two of them are sitting at table and the other one is behind the bar.

Object: split the guests into CSI teams and have them solve the mystery of what happened in the hard rot cafe.

Conclusion: Hopefully they will determine that the cause of death was 'boredom' lol They were bored to death.

How: Seems the bartender booked the wrong singing duo for the cafe. He booked 'Lucas and Gea' instead of a more famous pop/rock duo(still to be determined). Lucas and Gea are local folk musicians here where I live. If they performed in a hard rock cafe it would be like an accordian player performing a polka in a hard rock cafe. That's the type music they perform. Their music bored them 'stiff'.

Clues: ear plugs, rotten tomatoes, a bussiness card from oude pekela (the town they originate from), a torn piece of sheet music with part of the name of a famous song they sing.

Where I'm a bit stuck at is how the bartender managed to book the wrong act and what clues to use for that. Some possibilities I got today were that the bartender was dexlexic and transposed the telephone numbers, he was drunk and dialed the wrong number, he was the long lost brother from Gea and wanted to give her her big break, or he has a gambling problem and lost the money to book a real act and had to settle for hiring Gea and Lucas.

Anyone care to jump in with ideas or suggestions? 

MsM


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## Elza (Jun 21, 2004)

Wow, great idea...I think you got it covered for the bartender...I like the gambling problem.

Well, I have news...My murder/crime scene is back on...The owner and family will be out of town that weekend....so the rest of my guests are going to be okay with it. I just have to keep it silly enough not to offend. Gotta finish the plot up (clues) But the murder victim is the postman Justin Ash, and he was killed because he discovered that the newspaper editor Dee Penrot used to be David Penrot...(Sex change operation)....Found a picture of a man in a Prince Valiant costume and created a article from a news paper showing the picture and talking about "David"...it becomes on of the clues...

This is gonna be fun!


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

We played the game at the party last night. I didn't have the time or energy to expand on the story. So I went with my original idea of letting them come up with a story themselves. The bar scene and characters were the same but I threw in a few extra items for them to build a story on....a small gun, lipstick on a glass on the bar, a telephone number written on a piece of paper. playing cards, etc.

We split into 3 'csi' teams and they had a blast. Here are the stories they came up with. The third one was a poem written in dutch....so haven't translated that yet.

"The Story of the Hard Rot Cafe" 
by group 3

Herman Brood was tending bar that night when in walked his therapist/girlfriend. He served her a shot of whiskey and tried to argue his point about which is better, Heineken or Hoegarden. His girlfriend said she had had enough of this arguement and said it was over. Herman grabbed his girlfriend and shook her trying to bring her to her senses. She reached in her purse and pulled out a small pistol perfect for a ladies hand and in their struggle, Herman was shot. The cardplayers (skeletons) playing WAR died waiting for their drinks the dead bartender would never serve. The girlfriend fled the scene forgetting that her lipstick was on the shot glass. 

We assume Herman had tried to call his girlfriend since her number was present prior to her arrival with no luck as she was on her way to the bar. After all it is Halloween and the headless waiter was put at the scene just to throw us off. 

"The Story of the Hard Rot Cafe" 
by group 2

Barbara and Pieter met at the Hard Rot Café back in 1992. At that time the Café was beautiful and romantic. They fell in love there. A few years later the Café started to play different music. Music from Herman Brood and Lordi. Barbara and Pieter hate that type of music and wanted revenge. Pieter is an electrician. Barbara seduced the bartender and gave him her phone number. But this was all part of their plan. Pieter electrocuted the people in the bar (the skeletons were held up with wire) and they died on the spot. Barbara poisoned the bartender. Together they cut off the waiter’s head. The fat rat ate the flesh up.
Now that the story is revealed, Barbara and Pieter’s secrets are no longer secret.


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