murder mystery parties

[muffyn]

I know over the years this gets brought up every now & then, but more questions than answers

looking for one of the packaged games I found several companies with different formats of them.

any suggestions out there of which companies you used & how you did your party?

I am kind of confused as to the basic plan ones,, the characters get clue books & just read their clues out loud every halfhour/hour or so to the group?
when mingling after that, is there anything else you do? talk to anyone? are there more hints in the books?

or there are the bigger groups where there are a set group of players who all know the 'plan'

then there are a couple more formats....

very confusing.

[Tinijocaro]

I did an 80's murder mystery party that was a huge hit a few years ago. I bought it online, downloaded it and printed it. It was about $40.00.

It is not scripted and I really liked it that way. Each character gets a character summary the week before the party, info on who they used to date, who they hated. they had to study it a bit so they had a plan when they arrived at the party It was up to them to start up conversations with all the people to try to figure out who the murderer is. As the host, I knew who the murderer was. There was even an additional murder during the dinner party that I the host didn't even know about!

Everyone came in their 80's gear, I decorated in an 80's style, had 80's music playing, we tried to use some 80's lingo here and there. It was just fun.

I didn't do a full-out sit-down dinner because I felt it would have taken too much time away from the mystery so everyone brought different appetizers and I had a Frogmoore stew all set to go. You don't want to have to be preparing, cooking and serving in the middle of all the drama.

http://www.dinnerandamurder.com/

This company is very thorough in planning every detail. They have many different themes, so if the 80's isn't your thing, try another one. The one I did was called "A Killer Reunion".

The website has a forum where people who have done these parties post pictures and discuss what was great, what wasn't so great. I would definitely look for a non-scripted mystery rather than scripted. Every person's personality came out and there was so much room for play within the characters.

[KandD]

I hosted one a few years ago on Halloween. I bought a "mystery" online and printed out all of the clues. Everyone came in costume. If I remember correctly, the clues were something that were worked into the conversation not really something that was just read aloud. Everyone had a clue for appetizers, then dinner, then dessert, and then everyone guessed.

It was a lot of fun BUT the only complaint I have is that the party was for 8-12 guests. I had 8 and it got a little confusing because people had clues pertaining to characters that weren't represented. I would like to try it again but I would get a game for the exact amount of guests.