Writing your own murder mystery for a party can seem intimidating but it is easier than you think. It does require a little time and a little planning but the result is a customized party that people will remember for ages.
Pick a theme
There are plenty of genres to choose from – from some traditional party themes (Ancient Rome “aka toga party”, superheroes, western) to more obscure (Flash Gordon, Ninjas, Rock Band Reunion, Steampunk).
Once you’ve got a theme, brainstorm 5-10 stock characters. For instance, if we were doing a “Rock Band Reunion”, you could expect the members of the band (lead singer, bass player, drummer, guitarist/keyboardist?) and then some related characters (band manager, roadie, groupie, obsessive superfan) and maybe a few characters related to the murder (detective, lawyer, family member of the deceased).
Next step is to look at your guest list – how many women and men are going to be there and are they introverts or extroverts. You want to make sure that the big personalities in your party are characters closest to the murder. If you have some shy guests, perhaps slide them into supporting roles as the detective or lawyer, where they are less likely to be concealing secrets.
Once you’ve got your guest list figured out and loosely matched to your character ideas, it is time to start fleshing out the characters.
Pick a Victim
Next decide who bites the dust. Preferably it is a character connected to all the attendees – so that each person coming has a potential motive and is a suspect.
The victim is not assigned to a guest. They are already “dead” by the time the party happens. But that doesn’t mean you can write them off, you will need to figure out their character because everyone will be talking about them!
Building Memorable Characters
There’s no such thing as a boring character. Guests will want to put on a persona and be someone different for a change so don’t go small. Make your characters loud, exciting and neurotic.
So in the above example, make your lead singer a complete diva with ridiculous demands and maybe an obsession with cat imagery. Maybe your keyboardist is just a fanatical fan of Star Wars. The band manager? Popping pills like candy and constantly calling everyone “toots”. Add these quirks and your guests will play them up to a tee.
Add the Secrets
Each character should have some sort of secret from the other characters. Maybe the keyboardist is about to set out on their own and launch a solo country album? Maybe the groupie is actually a con artist trying to steal memorabilia. Maybe the lead singer is actually a space alien. Once you start brainstorming, the ideas are endless.
This is when you should start building your spreadsheet.
Here is an example of a spreadsheet from one of my free murder mystery kits. I’ve listed all the characters on the top and the side along with the murder victim (in orange at the top). This way, you can figure out how each character thinks about or relates to each other.
Write the Character Sheets
Next, create character sheets for each guest that details some background, where they were on the night in question and some tidbits about other players to get conversations started. Feel free to download one of the free murder mystery kits to get a feel for what they look like.
Make sure for each secret (say, the motive for the murderer or the location of a missing jewel) that there are TWO guests have know this information besides the person keeping the secret. The whole point of the party is for the information to circulate and if only one other person knows the secret, they may not share it. Better to have too many people know than too few.
That’s all you need. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me.
Free Murder Mystery Parties 