Written by Briah Krueger
Are you looking for something unique and fun for you and your friends to do? Tired of playing the same board games? Or maybe you want to put your creativity skills to the test? Well then you may just be the right contestant for a Murder Mystery Party!
Murder Mystery Parties have been grooving along for quite some time now; ever heard of the board game Clue? This is just like that, but with a bit more depth and you get to act it out with your friends! But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s layout what exactly a Murder Mystery Party (MMP) is.
A MMP is when a group of people (small or large amount) get together for a night of mystery, fun, suspense, and, most importantly, improvisation. Don’t let the word improv scare you, I promise it’s a lot easier and more fun than it sounds!
Just like in the game of Clue, each guest is assigned a character, but in MMP you get a background and a motive. The night has a theme (Ex: Night at the Casino, Trouble in the Neighborhood) and there is a murder that takes place (this is usually set before the guests come); and the night becomes a who-done-it!
It may seem overwhelming, but we’ll break it down and you’ll be a MMP expert in no time! This article is going to explain and show you how to write your very own MMP script and how to plan an awesome night of mysterious fun for you and your friends!
If you’d like to plan a MMP but don’t want to write your own, there are a lot of prewritten MMP scripts out there for free download, but there are some that charge. You can continue reading this article or scroll down and read the party preparation portion if you’d like!
Ready to get your creative on? Let’s go!
1. Understanding What A Murder Mystery Party Is
A MMP, as stated above, is when a group of people get together and solve a mystery while doing improv. The night usually lasts about an hour or longer, and it takes a lot of preparation. However, it’s totally worth it to make the memories and have the laugh-out-loud moments with your friends!
2. Brain Storming
Before you begin writing your MMP, there’s a few things you must know: How many guests will be there, what’s the theme of the party, and where it will be held? I would say have at least a minimum of 5 guests, so things can stay interesting; but if you’re feeling ambitious you can even have up to 12 guests!
Once that is covered, the theme and plot of the night is one of the most vital parts of the MMP. You can gather inspiration of different murder mysteries from either your favourite movies/TV shows, looking up writing prompts online, or perhaps you already have an idea brewing! Once you have your idea, then you can get to the fun part – writing!
3. Writing
This part may seem daunting, but it’s a lot of fun once you get into the groove and really get a feel for your characters. There are several steps to take when writing your MMP.
– Writing the characters for your guests: Writing up a character for your friends is super fun; give them something you know they would like to act out and they’ll have a ton of fun with it! Give each character a name, age, background, which characters are their friends or enemies, and give them a motive and alibi. Giving each character a motive and alibi will give each of them suspense and have purpose for the night. The only character who doesn’t need a legit alibi is of course is whoever you choose to be the murderer; typically, I wait for the murderer to find out they’re the murderer either the day before or the day of the party.
– Making sure the characters intertwine: That heading may sound odd but believe me it makes sense! A who-done-it is incomplete without having secrets and plot twists woven into the story. So, when writing your characters, make sure they have secrets between other characters (blackmail, hatred, affairs, etc.) so as the night goes on there can be action and surprises.
– Writing the “script”: I put air quotes around script because it isn’t a script per se, it’s more of a layout for the guests to follow with improv throughout the night. With a MMP script, there’s typically 4 to 6 rounds. Each guest is given a printed-out booklet with each written round for them, and within each round are 3 to 4 bullet points of information they need to look out for or say. Here is an example of what a page would look like for a round:
Round 1:
- When introducing yourself, be cautious but also a little bubbly, you don’t want to come off as suspicious.
- When your ex-husband starts talking about himself, scoff at the things he tells the group that you know are false.
- If anyone asks you how you knew the victim, try not to come off as nervous, just smile and tell the truth.
So that’s an example of how a round would look! You give each character just enough information to know what they should do or say, but they have the freedom to act how they would like and really make the character their own! Each round you should try to have some sort of exciting twist or secret come up, that way the suspense stays alive throughout the whole night. And the very last round should be the clever reveal of who the killer is. Let them make their grand confession!
4. Planning
The first thing you should do when planning a MMP is getting your guest list set in stone. Find a time and date that works for everyone you want to invite, and stress to them the importance of being able to make it. The one small flaw of an MMP is that everyone must make it and play their part, otherwise it just doesn’t work. In my own experience, I’ve been planning and writing MMPs for 5 years, and 4 out of the 5 I’ve had people not be able to come and I’ve either had to ask someone to come last minute or play the part myself- so it can be stressful, but if all your guests commit it’s a lot of fun!
After you have your guest list you can start writing! I write the character bios first (Name, Age, Occupation, Relationship to Victim, Secrets, Motive, Friends, Enemies, etc.), these can be up to one or two pages long. It doesn’t have to be super in-depth but give them enough material and information, so they can really become the character. Once you have these written, try sending them out about a week or two before the party. That way your guests can get to know the character they are playing and can get a costume if they desire. Be sure to stress to them that they are not to tell anyone any information about their character.
The week of your party print out and staple your booklet of rounds for each guest. So, let’s say for example you have five guests, and five rounds for the party. You must write five separate rounds for each guest, and those rounds must intertwine with each other to make things interesting and for the story to make sense. So, let’s say one character has this bullet point in their round:
Round 3:
- Your ex-husband has been telling lies for too long, you know his secret, he’s been having an affair with his secretary. His reputation would be ruined, but you can’t take it anymore. You spill the beans.
Then the other character would have a bullet point like this to correspond with that character’s bullet point:
Round 3:
- You don’t know who, but you have a feeling someone may be dropping a secret. If it has nothing to do with you, try to calm down the situation. But if it does have to do with you, you’re completely caught off guard and very surprised.
5. The Day of The Party
The day of the party can seem stressful, but we can de-stress it by making a to-do-list! So, let’s make a sample one below.
- Remind the guests (either individual messages or a group chat) of the set time everyone is supposed to be at the destination.
- You can either ask your guests to bring a dish to pass, or you can provide a simple meal like pizza and some bowls of chips!
- Depending on your theme for the night you can choose to decorate or not, and as the host you can choose to dress up or not. (Depending on your theme, you as the host usually fit into that theme. For my past MMPs I have been a police officer, a lawyer, and a detective).
- You can choose to write introductions/transitions to each round that you as the host would read if you choose. Otherwise before the round ends, ask the group if anyone has anything else to say, and if not, they can go to the next page/round.
Murder Mystery Parties are a lot of fun and a completely unique experience. You can find lots of examples online to model after (but don’t copy, that’s not nice) and create your own MMP script that’s personalised to you and your friends.
And if you end up liking it, you can have a Murder Mystery Party a tradition for you and your friends like I have! This will be my sixth year, and this can be your first of many!
Get your MMP on!
Trying to run a murder mystery party can be very stressful especially when it’s your first time to do so, and you’re a complete newbie when it comes to handling the event! However, there’s nothing to worry about since a murder mystery party event has cue cards you can rely on–as well as willing party guests who would be playing along with the entire scheme of things. If I had a chance to run one of these events by myself I would find myself always consulting the cards just to check if I’ve been doing everything right or no.