Adding characters to your murder party
By Steve Hatherley
Imagine that you are running a murder mystery game and it's full - and at the last minute someone wants to bring a friend....
What do you do?
Well, assuming that you don't say "Sorry, we're full", you have several options:
First, you could actually have someone help you host the game - particularly the larger games. You might assign them a particular duty - so that they deal with telegrams, or the horse-racing or whatever the murder mystery involves.
Second, In a game like Death on the Gambia (a 1930s game set aboard an African riverboat), where the host is also a character (the Captain), they could play the Captain while you remain as the Host. This would require some explanation (because the rules refer to the Captain), but you could have your person play the owner of the Christabel. Her goals might include things like, "Make sure the boat is safe and arrives on time," and, "You need to find an extra £100 somehow to pay off your last repair bill - otherwise the Christabel will be repossessed!"
Third, you could give one of the characters an assistant. They would probably have similar goals, but you could change them slightly. Depending on who you gave an assistant, you could also give them a goal to keep an eye on their boss.
See this tip for more detail.
Fourth, you could create a completely new character. In Death on the Gambia this might be a scientist. One of their goals might be: "You've heard that peanut oil has some remarkable properties. You're an up and coming scientist - find out what you can."
If you have time, you should write out their goals and brief background (you don't need to be as detailed as the "proper" characters). You will also need to tell everyone about the new character as they won't be mentioned on any of the sheets. Finally, you can just print out some of the abilities and items (travel papers, etc) again for them. (I wouldn't give them too much money though as you might unbalance the game.)
Incidentally, Freeform Games have already done this - they have created "Ginger" Roberts, a roving reporter. Ginger fits into most of their games and you could, with a little bit of work, fit him/her into parties such as The Auction or Murder at the Four Deuces (both of which are by other publishers) as well. Click here to read more about Ginger.
Adding even more characters to a game
If you need to add even more characters to your party, then you can do a mixture of the above, but if that still isn't enough you could try one of the following:
First, you could purchase one of the extra character packets from Dinner and a Murder Mystery Games. Click here to learn more. However, these are only written for Dinner and a Murder Mystery Games' parties, and while you can use them for other interactive games, they will need a bit of work to get them to fit properly.
Second, you may have some guests that don't want to be fully involved in the mystery - or perhaps they just want to observe. If that's the case you you could create some generic characters so that they fit in with the party, but don't obstruct the game. If they decide, during the party, that they want to become more involved, you can tell them they have help solve the murder.
For example, in Murder at the Four Deuces
(a 1920 gangsters game), you could have some people
play generic gangsters, cops, politicians and molls to make the club a
bit more crowded. To give them something to do you could set up a
blackjack table, or give them some simple tasks such as
serving drinks and food.
Third, you could write a set of completely new characters - with a backstories, their own plots and goals. Be warned, there can be quite a bit of work in doing this - but it has its rewards as well.
If you do take this route, I recommend contacting the publishers of the game that you're adding to. Not to get their permission, but to see if they would be willing to purchase your characters from you once you've completed them. For example, Freeform Games already produce a set of 10 extra characters for their Curse of the Pharaoh game, and I know they are interested in producing more.
The only possible negative side to this is that the publishers
will have requirements that you need to meet (they'll have a
house-style, if nothing else). Their requirements will probably be more
onerous that you would need just for your friends, but as you've got
the whole game you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. So
go ahead - write those extra characters!
This article may be re-published as long as the following paragraph is included at the end of article and as long as you link to the URL:
Article by Steve Hatherley. Find out more about hosting interactive murder mystery games for your friends and family at http://www.great-murder-mystery-games.com.