10 Tips for Organizing Your Own Murder Mystery Game
Is it possible to create your own murder mystery game, or is it incredibly difficult? The answer... it's not entirely simple, but with a few instructions, you can organize a murder mystery game very well yourself. Don't feel like starting from scratch? Then you can download a Murder Mystery Game from Wandering Bear Games. Here are the tips to get you started:
- Theme: Choose a theme for the murder mystery game. For example, it could be a detective or crime theme.
- Murder Mystery Variant: Consider how you want to play the game. Will you play it during a dinner, a dance party, virtually via Zoom, or perhaps later in the evening with a group of friends?
- Characters: Make a list of the characters in the game and give them each a unique personality.
- Motive: Ensure that each character has a motive to commit the murder.
- Connection Between Characters: What are the relationships between the different characters?
- Location: Choose a suitable location for the game, such as a manor, a hotel, or a castle.
- Script: Write a script for the game. The script should guide the players through the story step by step.
- Clues: Add clues to the script that help the players solve the murder. Make sure the clues are not too easy or too difficult.
- Invitation and Personal Info: Create an invitation for the party, and prepare the personal scripts so that your guests know what to do in each round.
- Rewards: Provide fun rewards for the winner and for those who contribute most to solving the murder.
1 - Devise a Theme for Your Murder Mystery Game
You start with the theme; what is the story about? The theme is the framework for your party and should therefore closely align with the needs of your target audience. If you're going to play a game with teenagers, don't come up with the Wild West or cowboys. A fun theme for teenagers aligns with their world. Think about social media, influencers, or games. Here are some further conditions for your theme.
- Intriguing: The theme must pique the players' interest and engage them in the story.
- Relevant: The theme must fit the setting and location of the murder mystery game, so that the game feels realistic.
- Unique: The theme must be distinctive and not used too frequently, to make the game more exciting and the story more surprising.
- Flexible: The theme must provide enough room for creativity, so that players can adapt the story and develop their own ideas and strategies.
- Suitable for the Audience: The theme must match the audience, age, interests, and expectations of the players. A murder mystery game for children, for example, must be designed differently from a game for adults.
Examples of themes for a murder mystery game include: A murder in the football team, a murder on a cruise ship, OMG, the influencer has been murdered, the missing TikToker, Murder in the family weekend, Casino, Murder at the campsite, Murder of the secret agent, etc.
2 - Which variant of a murder mystery game are you going to play?
You can play a murder mystery game in different ways. The variant you choose determines the structure of your game. A few examples:
- Dinner Party: If you play the murder mystery game during dinner, keep in mind that your guests will be seated at the table for a large part of the time. You can then choose to set up a buffet, for example. Players can then get a plate of food each time and then start a conversation. An alternative could be that you play certain rounds before, during and after dinner.
- Virtual: If you play the game online via Zoom or Teams, it mainly involves dialogue with each other, and you have less use for physical attributes or hints. Can participants talk to each other via break-out rooms or chat, or is everyone always together in the room? Good to think about this.
- Evening Game: If you play the murder mystery game in the evening after dinner, you do not have to take into account any restrictions. You can then easily play the game in different rounds and thus create an evening-long program. Think of a fun setting, such as in a Saloon, on a Cruise Ship, in an Airplane, in an old Castle, or perhaps in a prison?
3 - Who gets murdered, and which characters are present during your game?
If you know where the game will take place and how much time you have for the game, then decide who will be murdered. Once you know who is going to die, you can start developing the characters.
Think of the names of the characters. Besides the person who is murdered, you need as many names as you have players. Start with the first name—if you don't know how many male/female players are coming, try to think of as many unisex names as possible. Consider Chris, Jesse, Robin, Kai, Alex, Devon, Dana, Kim, Morgan, Sam.
Once you have first names, think of last names to go with them.
Finally, you think of the role of the characters. What does your character do in daily life, or what is the reason these people are present at the murder mystery game? For each character, you create a role description. ChatGPT can help you with this very well.
A few suggestions for roles:
- The butler
- A jealous Ex
- Banker
- Boss
- Owner of the hunting lodge
- Lord of the castle
- Brother/sister
- etc.
4 - Devise a motive for each character
Every character in your murder mystery game must have a reason to commit the murder. This requires some thought, but it should be difficult for the players to figure out why the murder was committed. Only when everything comes together during the game is it possible to identify the murderer - so location, murder weapon, motive.
Reasons to commit the murder:
- Money - this is often a very good reason to commit the murder. If someone dies, it could be that someone receives a nice inheritance, or a business deal went wrong and the victim had to pay for that.
- Jealousy - your victim is super successful and not everyone can handle that well. The murderer is extremely jealous of the victim and someone has to pay....
- Oops - it wasn't the intention to murder someone and it was an accident.
- Power - someone can become very powerful if the victim is eliminated.
- To set things right - a murder may have been committed because of something that happened a very long time ago, and that needs to be rectified.
5 - What are the relationships between the characters?
Now that each character has a reason to commit the murder, it's time to deepen the characters. If there is only one topic during the game, the characters will quickly run out of things to say. You make the game more fun by having multiple storylines running through each other.
- What has each character recently done in relation to the victim
- Where was your character at the time of the murder
- What relationships does your character have with other people present
- What secret does your character have that must not come out
- Also give your character something to do during the event - think of a number of assignments
6 - Location - where does it take place?
Before you start on the more detailed script, you need a location. In what setting does the murder mystery game take place? In a castle, a sauna, a bar/restaurant, or perhaps in the office garden. Once you have figured out the location of the murder case, you can also include these details in your story.
7 - Script
You now have everything to start creating the script. Start with a detailed description of the course of the day up to and including the murder. You coordinate the behavior of all your characters with this schedule. At the time of the murder, only 1 person can have been present at the murder location, and if you plan it well, all other players are elsewhere at that time. You can play the murder mystery game in a number of rounds. Here is a structure of a number of possible rounds. Each round has its own purpose, and you get a step closer to the denouement.
- Introduction round: Everyone arrives at the event and you announce that a murder has been committed. Everyone gets to know each other based on a first profile description that all participants have received.
- Interrogation round: In this round everyone starts interrogating the fellow players. You give some more information about the murder case - for example information that the police found on the victim's mobile phone. In this round you also inform the perpetrator that he/she is the perpetrator. The characters must try to find out the motive of the other people and try to get an overview of the timeline.
- Denouement. You give one last hint, and after playing for about 10 minutes, the players have to explain to each other who they think committed the murder.
8 - Clues
Throughout the game you can have a number of clues appear. These clues can help to find the murderer. Think for example of:
- A number of messages from the victim's phone are revealed.
- The stagecoach passes by and delivers packages.
- A love letter is found.
- A part of a treasure map is found.
- A page from a diary lies somewhere on the ground.
9 - Invitation and personal information
When your script and your game are ready, it's time to make the invitations. Start with a save the date to make sure the murder mystery game is in everyone's agenda. Then you make a personal invitation in which you describe which role the invitee will play. For each role, you include a clear role description. Also, think of tips on how the characters should dress up during the party. Then you make a set of information for each character that must be handed out in each round. You can put this in an envelope, for example, with the character's name on it.
10 - Winner, winner, chicken dinner
Think of a nice prize for the winner(s). This could be a beautiful certificate, or something tasty. You can also think of prizes for the characters who have dressed up the most beautifully.
Download a murder mystery game
Useful tips, but quite a lot of work to come up with and organize a murder mystery game yourself. Wandering Bear Games has done the hard work for you and you can download a murder mystery game here. You will receive instructions on how to prepare the game, information that you send to all participants and instructions that you give to the participants during the game. Play the murder mystery game in about 3 hours with a group of teenagers or adults
Ready-to-Play Murder Mystery Game
- From 6 to 12 players
- Invitations to send
- Description of characters
- Instructions for each of the 3 rounds
- Clear guidance and instructions for the game leader
