How many roles have "real" parts?

by Tara
(Westchester, NY)

I'm interested in purchasing one of your murder mystery games for about 11 people. I've played many of these before from boxes, and usually, if it's for 8-10 people, there are 8 "real" parts (that have booklets etc) and the other 2 are sort of host-type roles, where you are characters, but you don't really have a specific part. Are yours like that? I'm not sure how else it would work if you have, say 8-13 people...if they are all real parts, then are some people doubling up if you have fewer than 13? And if you have the max number, do all the parts include a booklet with the kinds of things to say, etc? Or are some just a character with no booklet? Thank you!

My response:

Hi - good question. None of these games are like the boxed games you find in stores - they are much more interactive and freewheeling. There are also more plots than just the murder - and the "optional" characters cross a number of plots, including the murder.

Additionally, the different publishers do things slightly differently. Here's an overview:

All the guests in a Freeform Games party have full characters - but they require a dedicated host who doesn't have a character. (They host the game instead.) I've tried to make that clear by on the game pages putting "10-11 guests plus one host".

Everyone in a Dinner and a Murder Mystery Games or Murder Mystery Games Ltd party has a character, including the host. However, the host has a more minor role than the others, simply because they have to host the party as well.

Mysteries-on-the-Net take a different approach - their games have a small number of suspects (with detailed characters) and everyone else is a detective.