Murder She Did

Murder She Did is a riff on the ideal that Jessica Fletcher, the character from the TV show Murder She Wrote is actually the person responsible for all the murders that she encountered on her travels across America.

In the game you collectively create a setting and each player a character within that setting. You create relationships between the characters and finally which other characters this character wants to protect from prison and who they would like to see go to prison.

Then one of the characters is randomly selected, they have been murdered! They have been killed by the “little old lady” who then investigates her own crime for her own entertainment. Effectively she tries to pin the blame on one of the other characters. During this phase the detective/murderer tries to uncover or reveal the relationships between the other characters in-game (out of game the player will obviously know the relationships as they took part in creating them).

After an agreed amount of time the police arrive and the little old lady accuses someone and unless someone can use a relationship to disprove her argument the accused is arrested for the murder, otherwise any character can make an accusation and ultimately the accusation that seems the most compelling to the police (the players as a whole) is accepted. This allows people to bring in their vendettas against one another and also opens an avenue to maybe revealing the true killer (thought how likely is it that the old lady is a serial killer?).

The game plays for me a bit like a swifter A Taste for Murder there is the character swap between the victim and the “detective” and the development of the motive as a story.

This game packs a lot into just 200 words but to be honest I think you need to expand on it at little bit to get the best out of it. The endgame isn’t exactly clear on what constitutes a successful defence or a plausible accusation. How do the police get represented in the game when everyone else is portraying a character? Are you meant to be playing scenes after the arrival of the little old lady and if so how should they be constructed?

The framework of the game is strong though and players are given strong motivations to achieve during the game. It’s going to favour confident improvisers who can throw accusations but also throw their characters in harms way to save others.

I’d definitely play again but I would would use the variants I’m suggesting here.

Variants

A lovely little town

Expand out the description of the town a little. What purpose does it fulfil? Describe some communal places that people from the town gather and social places where they might meet. If useful sketch out a map. Think of any big events there may be in the town’s calendar.

Play a round of scenes that occurs before the murder. Each player should try and frame a scene that involves their relationships and explores any tensions or ambiguity around them. Conflicts or friendships should be illustrated so there is a sense of loss or a motive if this character is murdered. The scene framer decides when the scene is done and can invite other characters to participate. They are also free to do a directed narration about what the character is doing.

Once everyone has played a scene, check whether it is necessary to have another round or perhaps an ensemble scene so explore anything that hasn’t been touched so far. Otherwise move on to the murder!

I have gathered you here…

After the murder happens we flash-forward to the denouement. The police have arrived and the little old lady is making her case as to how the murderer is.

Firstly she describes the victim and their role in the community. Then they point out that a web of intrigue surrounded the victim. She then describes surviving character and their role in the community. This can be as skewed and as leading as she likes. Each player may have a sentence or two of rebuttal but essentially the portrait of them with the police is as the lady describes it.

Then the little old lady should describe where the murder victim was found and how they were murdered. In doing this should try and bring in any details known about the character. They should also look for a method of murder that might implicate the remaining characters based on what we know about them. For example being bludgeoned with a wrench when one of the characters is a mechanic or poisoned with hemlock if one of them is botanist.

The little old lady then essentially frames scenes where she describes flashbacks to her “investigation” where she frames scenes and conversations that happened before. Such scenes end when the little old lady has revealed something that supports her version of events.

The other players should be able to ask for their own scenes, these can either be flashbacks to interactions with the other characters after the murder or small directed narrative scenes where they describe their own feelings and actions since the murder.

When the little old lady feels she has enough “evidence” she then summarises her case against her chosen “murderer”. The target can defend through a revealed relationship and if successful then play is as per the normal rules. However if they can’t defend another player can volunteer to confess in their place or another player can defend them by revealing a relationship that contradicts the little old lady. Otherwise the accused is taken away by the police.

In this version there is no chance to turn the tables on the little old lady but each character is allowed a final speech before they leave the room and here it is allowed to express scepticism of the account that has been given of events.