This issue is a bit short this month as I've just moved house and am still surrounded by boxes...

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November 2003, Issue #13

Table of Contents

1 News

2 Your Questions

1 News

New Mystery for Kids

Not content with one new game for kids, Mysteries on the Net have just released more games - The Curious Case of the Lost Elephant (for 8 to 20 9-12 year olds), The Mysterious Case of a Quarterback in Space (for 8 to 24 13-16 year olds) and The Hair-Raising Case of Rapunzel's Green Tresses (for 12 to 30 13-16 year olds).

And if that's not enough, more games are on the way.

Click here to go to the Mysteries on the Net site and find out more.

2 Your Questions

Here are some of your recent questions.

I'm throwing a surprise birthday party and have no idea how many people will actually show as I've issued blanket invitations. I'd like to do a game where I hand people a character as they arrive and let play from there. What game would work so that everyone who comes can participate but if only 15 show up, it won't affect anything but would also work for, say, 25?

Games such as The Auction (which is for 12-40 people) work fine for any number in between, although it can be a bit tricky casting properly if you really don't know how many people are turning up. The games do assume that you know!

Why in Death on the Gambia should I wait until the day of the party to hand out the full character sheet? Can I send it out with the invitations?

Yes you can, but I don’t generally recommend sending out the whole character background in advance. If you do that, you run the risk that your guests (particularly close friends and partners) may actually start playing before the evening! They may well accidentally give away secrets – and unintentionally spoil the evening. You also have an even bigger problem if someone drops out – you can’t give their character to someone else (because they know things about their first character) so you would need to try and find an extra person from somewhere.

So for that reason I always hand out full character sheets on the evening.

Are there any murder mystery party games for 20-40 women? Or do they have to include men?

I only know of a couple of single-sex murder mystery games, and they're both for fewer than 20 people. (Both are by Tailor Made Mysteries.) All the other games involve male characters - but just because they're male characters doesn't mean that you need men to play them.

I've quite often had men playing women and women playing men in my murder mystery parties - and it hasn't mattered at all. It only matters if the players playing those roles (and those who are playing the husband/wife/lover) want it to matter - so you may need to cast carefully.

I'm thinking of hosting a murder mystery game at home with 10-14 friends. We're looking for nothing too boring - we're all consenting adults, and nothing too taxing (some of the games look very complicated).

With 10-14 players, I would recommend The Final Curtain, Murder at the Four Deuces or Happy Birthday RJ - or if you thought you could get to 20 players, Cudham Riding Club (which although advertised for 14-40, really works best if you can get to 20). These are all "interactive" games - there's no "who's turn is it?" as everything happens simultaneously. Everyone takes on a role and has goals and objectives, and while there are a few set events, generally it's up to each person what they do. So if they decide they need to talk to another person, they go an do just that. They also have the opportunity to wheel and deal and scheme with their friends. The games suit a buffet better than a formal dinner party. All of the games contain full instructions on how to play and host them. They're a little more involved than the boxed games you find in the shops - but only a little (and I think that they're much more fun!). You should download the introductory pdfs to find out which one you like the sound of best.

That's it for this time. Have a great party - and tell me all about it!

--steve

Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think!

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