Pros and cons to knowing you’re the murderer in a murder mystery game.

We decided early into our game creation that it was going to give a better experience NOT to tell the murderer they’re the murderer at any point in the game.  This is primarily because we’re players ourselves and before we started writing our own we had one too many parties where someone would say:
“It’s says I’m the murderer… so do I need to do something specific?” or just let out a big “oop / squeaky noise” when they read they were the murderer which gave the game away for everyone else.
But there are a pros and cons either way.

Finding out you’re the murderer vs Not knowing.

Pros:
If you are the murderer you can often lie and invent stories and get really creative.
You get to see all your friends struggling to piece together the plot knowing you know the answer. (it’s nice being omniscient!)
You can throw accusations wildly around and have fun trying to ensure everyone else picks another guest.
You can be as devious and as sneaky as you like.

Cons:
You know the answer, it’s you, so you aren’t having fun actually “playing” and trying to work out whodunnit.
You might give the game away by accident slipping up at some point in the game.
You might read the “wrong thing” and spoil the game for other players.
You might get bored as you already know the outcome.

Obviously the pros and cons are largely affected by WHO becomes the murderer on the day and on the type of guests you’ve invited along. If you’ve got a super gang of “think on your feet” style people who are good at concealing what they’ve read and have a good “bluff face” then whether the murderer is revealed in the material doesn’t matter.  But if your group contains even one person like the friends we have – finding a game where the murderer isn’t told may suit you best.

If you have friends like ours – then we may be the right firm for you.

If you have devious friends with good poker faces – then you may want to try another company out like d’Avekki Studios who allow you to pick the murderer on the evening.