September 15, 2004
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September 2004, Issue #19
Table of Contents
1 News
2 Murder Mystery Tips - Photographs
3 Your Questions
1 News
Snow Business - new murder mystery game from Freeform Games
Freeform Games has just released their latest game - Snow Business, an interactive murder mystery party for 10 to 12 guests (plus host) set in the ski lodge in the French Alps. Two families are on vacation - but all is not well...
It's Halloween!
Before we know it Halloween will be upon us - and we all know what Halloween means! Not ghosts and goblins and witches and warlocks - but parties!
If you're thinking of hosting a Halloween murder mystery party, I suggest that you start thinking now about choosing a game. You'll want to give yourself plenty of time so that you can throw a really great Halloween party.
Click here for ideas for throwing a Halloween-themed murder mystery party.
2 Murder Mystery Tips - Photographs
Murder mystery parties are great occasions for taking photographs. I've taken lots of photos at murder mystery parties - and far too many of them have been mediocre or worse. Here, then, are my tips for making sure that your photos are something to be proud of.
(Note - when I put this on my site, I'll include a few photos to show what I mean.)
Digital v film: Whether you prefer a digital to film photography is mostly a matter of personal opinion. I prefer digital photos, but then I like to share mine on the web. A much under-rated advantage of digital photography is that it costs as much to take a dozen photos as it does to take one. (Unlike film, where processing costs can be expensive.) And when I've been around professional photographers, the one thing that marks them out from the rest of us is the sheer number of photos they take. So if you have a digital camera, take lots of photos!
Timing: I prefer to take photos at the start of a party. There are two reasons for this - the first is that I am usually hosting the game, and I find I am often too busy once the party gets rolling. The other reason is that the costumes are usually better at the start of the evening - after a while ties and buttons are undone, hats are removed and costumes generally look a little more ragged.
On the other hand, taking photos at the end of the party can be good as well. If the party has gone well, everyone is buzzing and that can really come over in a group photograph.
Backgrounds: One thing that can really spoil a photograph is a poor choice of a background. A plain wall is often best - some kind of theme backdrop is even better.
Posed or unposed: In short - posed. Whenever I try and take unposed photographs at a murder mystery party, I tend to get an awful lot of photographs of people's backs...
Groups v couples: I find that taking photos of couples works really well - it's best if you hold the camera on its site and take "portrait" style photo rather than landscape.
Taking photos of groups is okay, but there's a point where you can't tell who everyone is, particularly with cheaper cameras and large groups.
And that's about it - have a good party and take lots of photographs. If you would like to me to publish them on great-murder-mystery-games.com, do get in touch with me.
3 Your Questions
Some of your recent questions.
I've hosted both The Last Gasp and Cudham Riding Club for the same guests, and I was thinking of hosting All at Sea for them. I know that Freeform Games use ability cards in their parties, and I'm wondering if that would feel like a step backwards for my guests who have played a game without ability cards? Do you think the ability cards would seem silly for people who have already played a completely freeform game - and can the Freeform games be played without using the ability cards?
I'm not really a good person to ask about ability cards, because I really like them. They certainly don't seem silly to me - and Freeform Games uses them primarily as a way of ensuring that information is passed around.
I guess you could play the Freeform Games murder mysteries without the cards - but it's not something I've tried (and if you do - please let me know how it went).
Click here to learn more about All at Sea.
Do the games have scripts for each player?
It depends what you mean by "scripts". If you mean words to read aloud, then a few of the Tailor Made Mysteries do have scripts. If you mean background information and the like, then they all have scripts.
The interactive games notably don’t have scripts you read from, because instead they are interactive and what happens is largely up to your guests.
Click here to learn more about Tailor Made Mysteries.
I am interested in hosting Murder at the Four Deuces - however, not all of my guests are extroverts and I'm concerned they may not get involved enough. Do you think that will be a problem?
It's certainly true that in Murder at the Four Deuces (and other interactive murder mystery games) some roles suit extroverts more than introverts, but as a relatively shy person myself, I've not found it a huge problem and have found myself doing things I wouldn't normally expect to.
If you're worried that your guests might struggle with an interactive game, you could print out the tips for playing that I've got on my site. Click here for more details.
That's it for this time. Have a great party - and tell me all about it!
See you in November!
--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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