Incorporating Personalization in Custom written murder mystery games

Every successful murder mystery game has an engaging story at its core.
A well written game will immerse players in the setting and theme, giving them engaging characters to portray.
To get the most out of the custom written experience then we ask for input into every aspect of game creation.

Customized Character Profiles

The characters in your game should fit your guests.

In custom written murder mysteries your guests should receive profiles specifically designed for them based on their traits or known personalities. These unique profiles make the game feel personal and ensure that they are playing to the strengths ensuring they get a role that best suits their personality.

The more personal the design, the more invested the players feel so it’s important to get the characters right. Cast your more flamboyant personalities in flamboyant characters who can carry the party and them for the players, and create roles for your natural wallflowers that will allow them to remain quiet but in character.

Creating the perfect role for everyone is paramount. Having a role they are comfortable with – will ensure everyone remains engaged, enjoys the event and isn’t being asked to do something that will potentially ruin the event for everyone if it goes “undone” or is done badly.

For any event, we usually spend the most time working with you on the characters as its these characters that create the immersive experience. So getting them right -is the most important job in any customised game.

Themes and Narratives

When designing a custom game, we always ask you to provide us with the overarching theme you are aiming for. Themes can encompass everything from classic whodunits to modern challenges based on pop culture, fantasy or science-fiction. For private parties we can create games to suit any theme, even those that are usually impossible due to copyright as it’s a private party and therefore outside the remit of copyright law. (Please note – we cannot do this for any commercial events, ticket selling events, or public events. However we have worked with brands on copyright projects when they own the original Intellectual property, and have worked with them on derivative work as well.)

It’s always important when planning them theme and narrative to consider where you’ll be hosting the event. If you are planning to “set dress” the venue or have a specific venue in mind that will suit a unique setting, then tell us what you want! But if you’re going to be hosting in your own home, and are likely to be unable to provide much by way of scene setting, then consider your guests… are they good at “suspending reality” or will they enjoy a game set in a more realistic theme.

For instance a sci-fi themed murder mystery may not need you to go crazy with a futuristic space station in your dining room if your guests are all committed Trekkies and will turn up in full regalia!

Whereas another family will prefer a game set in a garden, because that’s easier to achieve outside at their own house.

Venue

Custom games can be tailored to work in any venue, and we can include ideas for theming, or suggestions of ways to include objects or specific rooms.
Whether your gathering takes place at a cozy home, a grand banquet hall, or an outdoor space, customizing the game to fit the physical environment creates a experience that will give you an immersive feel. If you have a great venue, then let the venue becomes part of the experience, and allow us to write some of the specifics of the venue it into the plot to create an even deeper sense of immersion.

Surprise features

Custom games often include unexpected plot twists, extra deaths, or dead bodies on arrival. They needn’t be murder mysteries. They might be mystery only. We’ve written games where the murder hasn’t even happened yet – and the mystery is WHO will get murdered and why, with the group trying to identify the killer before they struck. We love a challenge. It’s easier to create a murder mystery… but we’ve done all sorts of other things too – so don’t feel constrained by the need to have a dead body. You can have more than one, or less than one and the game will still work!

We can also adjust any of our standard formats to create a surprise within the evening. We’ve helped custom write a number of marriage proposals and gender reveals – so just ask if you need something working in!