Murder Mystery Game: Rules and Characters

[TanithT]

Once you've scanned over the rules well enough to get an idea of how gameplay will go, post a basic idea of the kind of character you would like to play. You don't need to get too specific on the details, but a name, an (apparent) profession and your basic appearance would be good. If your creativity is failing you, feel free to post that you would prefer to opt for a house-written character to play. Warning: house characters may be of either gender.

Pick your three Attribute numbers according to the rules. Keep those scores a secret from other players, but PM them to me.

Don't post anything on this thread that is not public knowledge about your character. If your character conception is that if you are a famous outlaw with a bounty on your head disguising yourself as a rich tenderfoot tourist visiting town, only describe the tourist part in public and let people figure out the rest - if they can.

This is a fun story and some leeway for imagination is allowed, but make sure that your character conception fits reasonably well into the Old West. Possible professions may include: traveling magician or snake oil salesman, outlaw, professional card shark, cowboy, Indian, priest, doctor, solicitor, "lady of the evening" or the Madam of the establishment, saloon girl, bartender, accountant, town mayor, sheriff's deputy, the sheriff's grieving brother or widow, owner of the general store, traveling cigar representative, rich oil baron, professional sharpshooter, horse breaker, blacksmith, wainwright, fur trapper, etc.


What is a “Play By Post” murder mystery?

Basically it’s a storytelling game where everyone plays their own character. Your character will have strengths and weaknesses as well as skills and knowledge that can help them solve the mystery and win – if they survive. You can create your own character with the host’s approval, or take one that has already been written up for you.

Collectively the players do have the means to solve the puzzle and win the prize, but working together won’t be easy when any one of them could be the killer. And some of the characters may have other hidden motives and agendas, so be careful who you reveal yourself to. The wrong move could be fatal.

Rules of play:

You will be given a “character dossier” with your character’s name, age, profession, background, skills, equipment, personality and motivations, plus some specific information that he or she would know about the other characters and the setting. If you choose to do some or all of your own character creation, you’ll still get a dossier of what your character knows and what skills and equipment he or she is allowed to have.

Attribute scores and “winning arguments” in the game

Your character has three Attributes – Strength, Smarts and Speed. You have 7 points to divide up any way you like between those three areas. A score of 1 is a little weaker than normal, 2 is average, and 3 is better than average. 4 means you excel in that attribute, 5 and higher is for Olympic level athletes and geniuses. Figure out what you want your character to be good at, and PM those numbers to the mystery host. Attribute numbers are private and known only to you and to the mystery host. Do not tell other players your Attribute numbers. You may not start with a score of 0 in any Attribute.

If you are opposing another player or creature or inanimate object with your action, the highest number wins. In some cases you may oppose one attribute with another if you can write a good justification. For instance, if one player attempts to punch another using their brute Strength, that person can post about how they try to dodge and run away Speedily. You need to actually post your action in storytelling format in order to make it happen. You can’t just say, “I try to punch that guy there.”

Everything in the story has attribute numbers, including inanimate objects. You can safely assume that the Strength of a locked steel door is higher than yours, so you can’t destroy it or open it with your bare hands. But if you have a grenade and you put it against the door, then you can add its attribute number to yours and have a better chance of making it. If you know the exact numbers of an item in your possession, again, don’t share that information with other players. You can (and should) describe it if it is visible on your person or when you use it, however.

In the case of a tie the host will be checking for extraneous circumstances and hidden actions that may be worth a +1 or –1 modifier, or else flipping a coin.

You can temporarily (or permanently) lose attribute points. Strength doubles for hit points in this game, so if you are injured, points get subtracted from your score. If that number goes below zero, you die. At zero, you are incapacitated or unconscious.

There are other circumstances that can reduce your scores, so just as in real life, be careful what you do and use good common sense. If you decide that your highly intelligent detective character will be hunting for clues in the bar while consuming multiple drinks, you still might not fare so well on a Smarts check when it comes time to spot something subtle about that man who just walked by in the crowd.

How to play

Start by walking in and introducing yourself at the opening scene of action so that you can start interacting. For less experienced players, the host will be providing a “boilerplate” of text that you can use as your first introduction to the scene. Basically you should provide a brief description of what your character looks like and what he or she is doing.

You can have your character speak their name or say “I’m a doctor” to another character in one of your posts, but you shouldn’t just type in that your name is such and such and include those facts about your background if you’re just joining the game. You can do that later on in the story when everyone does know all those things, but the people who are standing there when you walk in have no way of knowing much about you unless you tell them. You can also show rather than simply tell any facts about your character that should be obvious to others. Here’s an example.

The gunslinger strode confidently into the saloon and sat down in front of the roughly polished wooden bar. He was wearing a sharply tailored vest with cufflinks that glittered tantalizingly bright in the last of the afternoon sunshine. Anyone with half an eye could see that the stones were real, and not small either. He signaled for the bartender, and then spun his chair round to face the room. “Game of cards, anyone? I got me six pouches of good gold dust that say I can beat any man standing.” His accent was a deep Southern drawl that most folks would be able to identify as being from the heart of Texas.

He hasn’t said his name yet and he’s a stranger in town, so no one knows it. Unless your dossier included the information that your character does know a rich gun-toting gambler from the Lone Star State, all you know is what you see right here. You’ll have to ask around or start interacting with him if you want to know more. This is all the information you should be giving up to other players until they interact with you directly or ask for details about what they see on your person. Remember, revealing too much too soon could be risky, even if you don’t happen to run into the murderer. There are other dangerous characters in this game, and one of them is you.

OOC requests and investigating

Most of your posts should be “in character”, or in the format of a fictional story stating what your character is doing or saying. But sometimes another player may say something that confuses you, or you aren’t sure how to pose your intent in what you are looking for. In this case, tag that part of your post OOC or “out of character” and ask the other player or the DM for clarification. Always use the OOC tag for anything on your posts that is not part of your storytelling entry.

If you want a closer look at something in case it contains a clue, pose your investigating as part of the story. You can also further clarify your actions “out of character”.

Here’s an example. Let’s assume that Mary-Jane has already introduced herself by name earlier in the story, so she can go ahead and use her name in her poses. She’s a slender, wiry-looking woman with a weatherbeaten face and a black leather bag by her side. By now everyone also knows that she’s the frontier town’s doctor.

Mary-Jane Beaumont turned her head in response to the gunslinger’s challenge. “I ain’t no man, but I do play cards. When the game’s fair and the stakes are right that is.” Unobtrusively, the doc attempted to get a closer look at the gambler’s diamond cufflinks.

OOC: I am trying to determine whether the cufflinks look familiar to me.

Secret Actions

Sometimes you want to do things where the other players can’t see you, and sometimes the information you may get from your investigation or OOC question may not be something that other players can see. Obviously if a player is selected to be the murderer, he or she will be taking a lot of actions in private messaging. But there’s plenty of reasons why a player who isn’t the killer might want to do something “out of sight”. Be warned that your attempt at concealing your actions may not always succeed. If that happens, the host will let everyone know what they saw.

Don’t use secret actions if they’re not necessary. If you’re on the other side of town searching somebody’s bedroom for clues, it’s true that the other characters can’t see you. But unless what you are doing is part of a contested action, go ahead and post it openly. Secret actions in PM are reserved for more nefarious stuff where you are directly opposing another player.

Here’s an example of how secret actions work:

PM from the mystery host to Mary-Jane: With your score of 5 in Smarts, your powers of observation are quite keen. You look at the diamond cufflinks, and your worst suspicions are confirmed. They are the very ones that belonged to your fiancee who disappeared under mysterious circumstances somewhere in Texas.

PM from Mary-Jane to the host: I need to get my hands on that man and make him tell me all he knows. I want to unobtrusively reach into my doctor bag under the table and palm some knockout drops up my sleeve so I can slip them into his drink.

It’s fine for players to make multiple poses in a row, as long as they aren’t assuming anything about the environment or about the effects of their actions on other players, so Mary posts again.

The town doctor’s skirts swirl around her as she makes her way towards the gambler, a lean and hungry smile on her face. “There’s other games I surely do like to play,” she says softly. “Here, let me get you a drink.” She crooks a finger imperiously at the bartender, hoping that he’ll put the drink in front of her first.

Don’t assume all your attempts succeed

You can’t immediately post the results of an action that may be contested by another player or difficult to achieve in the story. Success is never automatic! It is pretty safe to assume that you can walk across town, pick up and carry a bag of groceries, buy a drink in a bar or swat a fly. You can go ahead and post a segment of story where your character has done those kinds of things. You cannot post that your character wins a race across town, lifts a 300 lb anvil, picks up a member of the opposite sex in a bar, or knocks someone cold with a punch. Those are contested actions, or complicated actions, and that means the mystery host needs to check some numbers behind the scenes before deciding whether or not you succeed.

You can post that you attempt to do any of those things, but stop your post short of deciding success or failure. You don’t actually know whether or not that punch is going to land until the mystery host checks the opposing numbers, so your storytelling turn is over as soon as you wind up for a strike. If another player is involved, they get a chance to post their attempt to use Attributes or skills or items to contest what you are doing. The host will step in to continue the story with the consequences of your success or failure.

Note that in the previous example, Mary-Jane did not automatically assume that the bartender would put the drink in front of her, or that she would be successful in doping it up without anyone else seeing. Generally you are allowed to assume that you can successfully complete a normal, uncontested action like getting a drink in a bar, but the current round of activity makes this situation a contested action. The gunslinger’s player didn’t state that he’d received his drink, though it would have been perfectly legitimate if he had. So the bartender hasn’t responded yet, and now it actually matters to the plot who gets his service first. It’s up to the mystery host to determine what happens next, based on the Attribute scores involved, any secret player actions previously taken, and sometimes on the roll of the dice.

Cheating and lying

Your characters may cheat, steal and lie, or attempt to do any other dirty deed for that matter, as long as you do it in character. But players cannot lie or mislead other players about what it is that they see. You must accurately describe your actions and anything visible on your person. If you are attempting a secret action, like picking someone’s pocket, the host will let you know whether it succeeds or fails. If you are not sure as to whether you are allowed to mislead another player (eg, using a secret action), wait until the host makes that determination.

Some actions are unlikely to succeed as secret actions, so you might not want to try them unless your character dossier specifically lists skills in that department. Other actions will almost always succeed in being kept secret if no one is in the immediate vicinity to see them, eg, sneaking out at night to set an abandoned building on fire.

Good guys and bad guys?

There are likely to be conflicts between characters in the story that are not as clear cut as “good guys vs bad guys”. You can’t assume that the town doctor, a dedicated and compassionate young woman, might not be a deadly danger to you. How did you get hold of her missing fiancee’s cufflinks, anyway? It’ll be in your character dossier, and you’ll know how you came by them, but she won’t. Will you tell her the truth? Will she believe your explanation? Your life could depend on it.

Staying in character

You determine what course of action your character takes, but if you act completely out of character for the role you selected at the beginning of the game, your Attribute scores will be penalized. “Metagaming” in particular is strongly discouraged, eg, having your character take actions that they would not reasonably be motivated to do so that the player can win the game.

Yes, it’s true that if you kill all the other players, you win by default. But unless your character is specifically written as having a strong motivation to commit mass murder, doing this to win the game will be heavily penalized. Any act that you can justify based on your character’s background and motivations is fine, even if it does involve killing, cheating, lying or stealing from other players. Just remember that dirty deeds can be hard to get away with, and when payback comes, it might be a b*tch.