Star Wars Murder Mystery

[Eater of Clowns]

My friends and I have done a Murder Mystery for the last four or five years on New Year's Eve. This year I think we were all sick of subpar scenarios that we still had to pay for, so I offered to write one myself. In the Star Wars universe. It'll be really Star Wars trope heavy, just enough to the characters are unique and accessible to play as. But since I've never done any design before, I thought I could run it by folks who have.

I grabbed a bit from previous modules we ran and from the Mafia parlor game (or Spiders, as we have it here). A few goals were:

-Have a clearly defined winner. Other ones we played it was a bit anticlimactic in that they felt like the players' actions had little effect on the result.
-Make trust necessary for success, but also dangerous
-Add a high risk/reward element with secrets
-Add some structure, because previous games had a few people losing focus

Players come in knowing their characters entirely - what they can tell people and what they shouldn't. However, some characters know secrets about others that they bring up in conversation to get the other talking. This is set up on Round Cards. There are three rounds and each has a Round Card. The card explains who you need to approach and what key phrase you need to use to get them to divulge information. It also says what information you need to divulge when someone approaches you with a specific key phrase. So during the social part of the round, the players MUST talk to at least two other people, and may talk to as many others as they like, saying to them what they like.

The players also start with a fixed number of credits. I'm playing the role of an Information Broker, holding one additional piece of important information on each player. Broker info is unique in that it can be either good or bad, depending on the player, so there is incentive to control your own as much as others'. After the social part of the round, any player can open bidding on any player's information - including their own. Bids are secret, so they hide a number of credits in their hands and all players reveal their hands at once. All bids, whether they win or lose, are final, and the Broker keeps those credits.

Once players have the information, they can choose to do with it as they wish. If it helps to clear their name, they can let others know. If it helps condemn someone, or if it's not entirely clear which, they can accept bribes in credits from other players, who then are free to keep it to themselves or say it aloud as they see fit. At the end of each round the Broker presents to everyone one new piece of evidence in the case that will point toward the murderer.

At the end of three rounds, a simple majority determines which player gets brought to the authorities - using the acquired information from the broker, social rounds, and evidence, they have to convince each other to turn someone in. If the murderer is not chosen, they win. If the murderer is chosen, the winner is the player who voted for the correct person and has the highest remaining number of credits.

I'm really looking for simplicity here, but with the potential for enough strategy that it's still interesting. Any feedback is appreciated!

[hooplala]

This sounds great!! How did it end up going?

My wife and I have put on a few murder mysteries, including one we wrote ourselves, which actually turned out best.

I look forward to hearing the results of his one.

[Eater of Clowns]

I just got a PM about this and I realized I never followed up.

I thought the game was a big success. Everyone had fun, which was the main goal for me obviously, and accusations went in so many different directions that the murderer ended up winning. It's not the most satisfying of outcomes for players, but I think it struck a good balance of writing and game design where it could have gone either way.

The murderer was played by a smart guy who made a few savvy moves, but also made a few mistakes that both he and I thought were glaringly obvious and went unnoticed by everyone else. What really led to his victory, though, was lack of trust between the players. Everyone was so focused on hoarding their credits to secure their own win that they neglected to share vital information and everyone only got part of the picture. If they'd worked together, made concessions in both buying and selling information, they would have found out a few secrets that would change their votes.

[KhaosIsKey420]

This idea shall be revived with my unimportant reply (Greedo Shot First)

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This idea shall be revived with my unimportant reply (Greedo Shot First)

YOU SHUT YOUR HOAR MOUTH 

[Don Coyote]

This idea shall be revived with my unimportant reply (Greedo Shot First)

YOU SHUT YOUR HOAR MOUTH 

BESIDES IT WAS CLEARLY SPOCK WITH THE GLAIVE ON BABYLON 5

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This idea shall be revived with my unimportant reply (Greedo Shot First)

YOU SHUT YOUR HOAR MOUTH 

BESIDES IT WAS CLEARLY SPOCK WITH THE GLAIVE ON BABYLON 5

[Don Coyote]

This idea shall be revived with my unimportant reply (Greedo Shot First)

YOU SHUT YOUR HOAR MOUTH 

BESIDES IT WAS CLEARLY SPOCK WITH THE GLAIVE ON BABYLON 5

IT'S OK YOU CAN ADMIT YOUR ADVANCED AGE HAS MADE YOU FORGET ALL THE SHOWS OF YOUR YOUTH AND LEAD YOU TO CRAFTING AND SHARING (HORROR) BAD FANFIC ABOUT SOMETHING CALLED "STAR TREK" AND "STAR WARS"