Halloween Night

Halloween Night is an interactive murder mystery for 8-24 people (and a host) aged 18+ and published by Murder and Adventure Games in the UK. I’m not sure who the author is, as they are uncredited.

The game is set in 1892 Transylvania, at the castle of Count and Countess von Falcate. There, a tour party gathers for a social evening. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck lately – three local villagers have been savagely attacked and murdered. But who did it?

Note: I haven’t played Halloween Night yet. I have bought the game and read the materials. When I do play it (and I expect I will, I just need to find the right time), I will update this review with my thoughts.

Halloween Night - the contents

Halloween Night, unusually for modern murder mystery games, comes in a box. Inside the sturdy box I found:

• 24 full-colour double-sided A4-sized character sheets printed on thin card, each with a portrait of the character
• The Cryptonia Enquirer, a newspaper giving the background
• Four character background booklets, with the cast list and basic setting information
• Two booklets for running the game (a general guidance and more detailed guidance)
• Full colour nametags
• Full colour item cards
• A stack of money
• 24 clear plastic nametag holders
• Instructions for downloading pdf copies of the files (this isn’t obvious – it’s on the outside edge of the bottom half of the box)

So you get a fair amount of stuff for your money.

The characters

Here’s the cast of characters in Halloween Night:

Locals – Castle occupants

• Count von Falcate – the mysterious count who only appears at night
• Countess von Falcate – the count’s Catholic wife
• Thrutch – their loyal manservant

Locals

• Doctor Aconite – a recently-retired GP
• Doctor Myieze – Doctor Aconite’s successor
• Inspektor Brasov – head of the police and investigating the murders
• Lucy Skye-Diamond – a travelling herbalist
• Erica Barbotine – farmer and landowner

The tourists

• Jacqui Kooke – tour guide leader
• Arkwright Buttyboy – Yorkshire mill owner
• Professor Camp – Cambridge University don
• Sir Roger Linhay – British diplomat
• Doctor van Houngan – Austrian consultant
• Bertha Jargonelle – German party goer
• Arabella Lugosi – Spanish opera singer
• Lady MacMurchan – widow looking for a cure for her illness
• Charlie Middler – American tourist
• Nicky Perkele – American collector and entrepreneur
• Evelyn Rugulose – South American tourist
• Dr Stevie Smith – Egyptologist
• Andrew Strange – poet and musician
• Geoffrey Treggings – newspaper columnist
• Lucrecia Vittcelli – Italian businesswoman
• Vernon Zarow – American brewer

What the cast list doesn’t make clear is quite how many traditional monsters Halloween Night uses. Most of the characters have secrets, which may involve vampirism, lycanthropy, crazy science, bargains with the devil, and more.

WHat I liked about Halloween Night

I like Hallowen Night’s components. They are significantly better than anything I can print at home.

I like the general setting. A spooky Transylvanian castle filled with classic movie monster tropes is ideal for Halloween.

I appreciate that they provide electronic files, allowing you to send them to your guests in advance.

Halloween Night is a LARP

Fundamentally, though, Halloween Night is more of a larp than it is a murder mystery game. (And by larp, I mean “live action roleplaying game,” and it expects more from the host than the murder mystery games I talk about elsewhere on Great Murder Mystery Games.)

Like the games from Freeform Games, it provides players with a full character and a couple of abilities, and instructs them to interact with other players. It doesn’t give them a script or break the game into phases. However, unlike the games from Freeform Games, it expects much more from the host – and isn’t as helpful.

(And I should note that I am a partner at Freeform Games and have written several of these games. I’m biased, but I think I’m biased in a good way.)

There are murders, but Halloween Night allows the host (whom it calls the “Referee”) to decide who is responsible, depending on how the events progress. While there are a small number of likely suspects, none of them is sure that they are the murderer.

Arguably, this is a strength of Halloween Night. You could run it again and get a different result. However, for that to be true, the Host/Referee really needs to be on their toes and know exactly what they are doing. I suspect that this flexibility is much easier for the author than it is for anyone else. (I’m pretty experienced, and I larp, but I’m not sure how I expect this game to play out.)

Other signs that it’s a larp:

• It talks about “time out,” which is a larping term for the action stopping while the referee/GM makes an announcement.
• The post-game debrief has everyone taking a minute to say what they were really up to. I dislike this style of debrief, especially when there are many players involved, as it can take a long time.

What I felt Halloween Night could do better

Unfortunately, this is a longer list. As I said above, I’m a partner at Freeform Games. We’ve been publishing fully interactive murder mystery games for nearly 25 years, and we’ve learned a bit along the way. So these thoughts reflect my experience (and a lot of customer feedback).

The font is a little small. In my experience, these games are often played in dim lighting (for atmosphere) by people with poor eyesight – and I found the font size uncomfortably small.

Characters should know more about each other. Characters typically only know something about one or two other characters. Even though the tourists have been travelling for a month, and the locals are all, er, local, few characters know anything about each other. That seems odd – and information about other characters is a great way to start conversations.

There is no game timetable for the host. There isn’t even a list of things the host is supposed to refer to. For example, one character is undercover, and at some point, their accent is supposed to slip. According to the character sheet, “A referee will tell you when to do this.” But there is no mention in the referee’s booklet when this is supposed to happen – and if the referee hasn’t made a note to remember, it won’t happen.

Many abilities are vague and undefined. Characters usually have at least one ability, but many are vague and rely on the host/referee to interpret them. For example, “Knowledge of the Region’s Cultural Scene (art, music, design, etc). Ask a referee how it works and what any such knowledge is if specific issues in this context arise.” There’s no advice for the referee on how this ability works or what to do should anyone use it. (And as a player, I’m not sure how I’d use it!)

No handouts. There are no in-game handouts. Not even a welcoming announcement to start the game, nor a solution speech to wrap everything up.

It could do with an edit. Despite the professional layout, the text feels like it needs an edit. The language is amateurish, with a few typos, and the two referee advice books lack coherence and would benefit from restructuring.

Not specific enough: Personally, I would prefer Halloween Night to have a specific murderer and a more traditional clue trail rather than relying on a busy host’s judgement. I don’t know how many times a referee is actually likely to run it – and I can’t imagine playing it more than once.

Do I recommend Halloween Night?

So, do I think you should purchase Halloween Night?

As your first interactive murder mystery game – no. I don’t think novice hosts are given enough guidance.

But as an experienced host (or you have run larps or ttrpgs), then yes. (Although I think other games are easier to host.)

And if you like the idea of running a Halloween game set in Transylvania with vampires and werewolves and other monsters – then go for it. Halloween Night is the only game that I can think of that does that – and if you can put up with its idiosyncrasies, I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

Click here to order Halloween Night from Mystery and Adventure Games.