75th ♫ | my tired brethren are slumbering

[mytarget]

The Murder Game Meme



You know the script. You wake up in a place you've never seen before, with a whole bunch of complete strangers and there's a mysterious voice or a mascot or what have you ready to let you know how things are going to work around here.

The rules are simple: You're trapped here, with no hope of release or rescue. You've been provided with all the basic necessities you need to live comfortably, and all you have to do is settle down and live out the rest of your days here in peace. But if you can't do that -- if you're really so desperate to escape that you'll do anything -- then there's one teeny tiny thing you have to do first.

All you have to do is kill somebody.

But it's not quite that simple. Every death will be followed by a period of investigation, followed by a trial in which the survivors will attempt to solve the mystery and out the culprit. If the survivors guess correctly and out the culprit, the killer is executed and life goes on. But if the survivors guess wrong, then the culprit is free as a bird and everyone else is executed.

Even with the promise of freedom, can you really bring yourself to kill so many other people?

tl;dr: it's a murdergame meme. TIME TO HAVE A BIG OL' MURDERGAME BLAST.


Settings

1. High School A classic! Doesn't matter if you're too old or too young to be in high school -- you've been enrolled and the only way for you to graduate is to kill a fellow student. But hey, the faculties are nice!
2. Tropical Island Weren't you just hankering for a nice tropical vacation? No? Too bad! You're going to have a nice sunny vacation at the beach and if you don't like it, just kill someone and go home. Simple!
3. Prison It doesn't matter if you don't remember committing any crime; you've been tried and found guilty of something or other and now you can go ahead and rot away in jail. If you ever want to see the sunlight again, better put that criminal mind to good use and get rid of your inmates.
4. Mall A huge mall stuffed full of stores, places to eat and all the regular amenities like deadbolted doors and the threat of death. It's like Black Friday but even worse because you can't leave and all the rest of the shoppers might actually kill you for real this time.
5. City Holy shit, you've got the run of a whole city this time around! Maybe with all this room to keep out of each other's way, you'll be able to make sure no one starts killing people. But probably not.
6. Cruise Boat YOU'RE ON A BOAT, MOTHERFUCKER. The accommodation is all five star, even if there's no one around to act as wait staff. The only snag is that you still have this whole murder thing hanging over your head – but on the plus side, they have those little drinks with the umbrellas in, so...
7. Space Station THE FINAL FRONTIER... Maybe you're familiar with space stations like this or maybe all this future tech is fascinating to you. Not like it matters either way, of course, because you won't be getting out of here unless you lay down a murder on someone.
8. Wildcard! None of the above scratch your murder itch? Go wild and come up with your own setting!



Downtime

1. Excuse Me, Who Are You? You've just woken up in this weird place and you have no idea what's going on. But hey -- maybe this stranger's more informed than you. Or maybe you can put your heads together and investigate what's going on.
2. Social Link Go! Well, if you're going to be stuck in here for however long, you might as well get to know the people stuck in here with you. You've got plenty of rooms to explore together and there's enough to do to keep you occupied. How do you plan on passing time without killing each other?
3. Vending Machine Woes Somewhere in this place there's a mysterious vending machine that spits out all manner of bizarre items and occasionally dispenses items that belong to you and the other people trapped here. You've got a fat stack of tokens and nothing to lose.
4. The Corners of My Mind So as it turns out, your lovely hosts have been fiddling with your memories. Maybe you're just discovering this now or maybe you've had a particularly upsetting memory regain you're dealing with.
4. Wildcard! GO WILD AND BE FREE (or as free as you can be here, anyways)



PUTTING THE MURDER IN MURDER GAME

1. Motive Your mysterious overseer has decided there's not nearly enough murder going on and so they've ~helpfully~ given you a little push to do the deed. Maybe one of your loved ones is in danger, maybe they're offering more money than you could ever dream of or they're threatening to reveal your deepest darkest secrets. Whatever is it, would you kill for it?
2. Murder WELL APPARENTLY, YES. Are you a killer or are you being killed? Either way, someone's not walking away from this alive.
3. Body Discovery Rise and shine, murdergame! It's a brand new day and someone's dead. Better get investigating!
4. Trial You know how this one goes. Line up all your evidence and sniff out the killer -- or sit there and sweat and hope no one works out you're the murderer. Will they go down with a confession or put up a fight?
5. Afterparty You've survived another trial, but more of your friends have died. Even without the executions, trials are a stressful enough affair. It's time to destress and lick your wounds and support each other.
6. Mastermind It's the end. It's time to uncover all the mysteries behind this murder game -- and find out just who trapped you here. Are they really an unconnected party, or is the mastermind someone among you...?
7. Freedom Just as it says -- you're finally free, but at what cost? Have those you love been returned to you, or are you still reduced to just those who made it to the end? Are you on your own, or is anyone here to help you? And more importantly, how the hell are you going to get home?
8. Wildcard YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO


OPTIONAL FUN

Lots of murdergames have in-universe public profiles for other characters to get the skinny on yours. If you'd like to fill one out to post with your toplevel, peep at the code below!

<center><b>Name:</b> NAME | <b>TITLE (Super High School Level, Ultimate, Champion, etc)</b> <b>Age:</b> AGE | <b>Species:</b> SPECIES | <b>Occupation:</b> OCCUPATION <b>Likes:</b> LIKES <b>Dislikes:</b> DISLIKES <b>Traits:</b> A HANDFUL OF NOTABLE TRAITS <b>Trivia:</b> A PIECE OF TRIVIA</ul>

Comments

[in4apounding]

[Yeah, any kind of response takes a second. The door cracks open, and Penny peaks out.]

[She kind of looks, in clinical, emotional terms, like shit.]

Ah, salutations, Erina. I'm sorry, I should have- are you all right?

[For as much as Penny might genuinely care, that is absolutely the tone of someone trying to deflect their problems by asking about someone else's.]

[zweihandler]

[ The instant the door opens, Erina is right the fuck there and smoothly wedges her foot into the opening to make absolutely sure it won't be shutting again. Well, not unless Penny goes ham and slices her foot in two but that's apparently a risk she's willing to take. ]

Yeah, yeah, cool, never better. You know me. [ she says this all very fast without a pause for Penny to break in. ] What about you?

[in4apounding]

[She's more likely to break the door, honestly. Though who knows, with weirdly-soundproof murdergame architecture.]

I'm. Fine? [hic]

[...yeah that tell has almost certainly been noticed as A Thing by now.]

[zweihandler]

Penny. I may be dumb as a bag of fucking rocks, but you are literally the worst liar I have met ever, in my life, including me.

[ She l e a n s in, just super casually pushing the door open a little more. You know, like a normal visit between homies. ]

What the hell happened to you?

[in4apounding]

You're not dumb.

[Said just a little defensively, even in the middle of whatever the heck this is.]

[She rocks back and forth a little on the balls of her feet before answering, looking down.]

There was- ...I think Mister Ironwood was right.

[zweihandler]

[ Ah, hell. She was prepared for this, but it's looking like this talk is going to turn into a Talk. Apparently confident that Penny won't be slamming the door in her face, Erina leans back a little so she can look up and down the corridor to make sure they're alone. There's no one coming, but this still feels like a conversation that needs to happen behind closed doors. And this is just the start of it. ]

... C'mon. We can't talk about this out here.

[ She gives Penny's door a good ol' nudge with her foot, but she holds back on just barging in. ]

Let's go sit down and work this out.

[in4apounding]

[There is, in fact, just a second where Penny moves to slam the door in an existential panic and resume her attempts at hermiting. But just a second.]

[She pulls the door open and steps aside to let Erina in.]

I don't know that there's actually much to work out. But come in.

[zweihandler]

[ And Erina strides in with a breezy confidence like she hadn't been worried at any point that Penny would slam the door in-slash-on her face (which is, you know, a lie). In keeping with that faux-casualness, she grabs a seat from the desk, spins it deftly on one of the legs and clonks it back down so she can flop in it backwards and rest her chin on the back of the chair. It's... pretty unnecessary. ]

So. It's Sunday.

... You want me to go first? Take the pressure off a little, so I'm not like, interrogating you on what they plopped into your head.

[in4apounding]

It is indeed Sunday.

[Yup definitely not putting this off as much as possible, no sir.]

...Yes. I mean, if you want. Or don't mind. I guess.

[zweihandler]

I mean, it wasn't anything majorly interesting. Just me and a bunch of the clowns from back home sat around talking about school stuff. Uh, I guess the big thing was now I know me and Hilda got into the Seven Sisters Tournament? So that was pretty dope. No clue if we actually got the chance to go through it before I turned up here, but getting in's a pretty good start.

[ She gives Penny a vague attempt at a grin, but it's a little lopsided and off. Not her best showing. ]

How about you?

[in4apounding]

Oh, congratulations! I'm sure you did sensationally. Or- would have?

[There is a brief moment of genuine happiness before the reality of the situation sets back in, so good job on that front?]

[But then she folds in on herself just a little as the conversation turns again.]

There was an attack. On this big public gathering.

[She fidgets for a moment silently, tugging at the fingers of her gloves, adjusting the already perfect fit.]

Afterwards, people started blaming me.

[zweihandler]

What the fuck.

[ nicely put, Erina. don't think just because she's taking this seriously, she's going to stop talking like an awful little gremlin woman. ]

I'm one hundred percent sure you couldn't even squish a bug. But people were seriously out there thinking– what, you were just throwing hands at folks who were standing around, doing nothing? Fucked up.

[in4apounding]

...Is the bug evil?

[This is not a gagtag, she's partially curious, partially dodging the issue some more.]

[zweihandler]

– Uh. I was gonna say yeah, because I hate bugs, but. I mean... can a bug be evil? Like, if it doesn't understand what good and evil actually is, can you call something evil? I don't pay attention in philosophy class, so I've got no clue.

[ this is unsettlingly Deep Talk from Erina of all people. ]

[in4apounding]

I don't know, the Grimm back home don't really understand morality and I'd say they're still pretty evil? They just kind of kill any people they come across.

[There's probably some bug-looking Grimm, that would count.]

I'd definitely squish an evil bug, anyway. Or a really aggressive, dangerous neutral bug if there wasn't a way to- you know, do that thing where you get it between a glass and a little card or something and take it outside.

[zweihandler]

Yeah. So, like... you'd never hurt anyone for zero reason. Or even for any other reason that wasn't keeping other people from getting hurt. You're like a golden retriever that's been kitted out with a gun turret.

[ She... probably means that as a compliment. ]

So why'd people jump to blaming you?

[in4apounding]

[Ah, and back to reality. Yay.]

Everything was really chaotic, all most people could see was just- a bunch of fighting. And at the end, I was still there.

[zweihandler]

So they just figured you were guilty 'cos you survived. Nice.

[ It's not nice, as her tone of voice very clearly demonstrates. ]

But, like– what does that Ironwood douche have to do with it?

[in4apounding]

Mister Ironwood is not a douche.

[That's sort of one of her dads, yo.]

But- he warned me something like this might happen. That people might not understand and if they knew I wasn't r- wasn't human, they might get scared.

[zweihandler]

[ Erina's quiet for a long moment, in an uncharacteristic show of thoughtfulness. She tips back on the legs of her chair, gnaws at the inside of her mouth and then finally lets the whole thing clunk back down to the ground. ]

Does it...

[ No, that's not right either. She hesitates for another moment, then continues. ]

It's not great. Having people be wigged out about you, 'cause you're different. Man, here I was thinking I could give a bunch of sagely advice, but I got nothin'. That just fucking blows. I'm sorry, Penny.

[ This is... an unprecedented amount of emotional sincerity coming from Erina. ]

[in4apounding]

Yes. Me too.

[She sits quietly on the edge of her mostly-unused bed, hands folded between her knees. It's a long moment before she speaks again.]

You're a good friend. Thank you. I didn't really have many, back home.

[zweihandler]

Sounds like all the people back where you come from have bad taste. ... Apart from your friends, I guess. Sounds like they've got pretty good taste, if they're hanging out with you.

[ Man. Penny's basically a death machine shaped like a cute girl (not that she would ever say any of those words outloud to her or anyone, ever) but right now, like this... she looks really small. ]

You really miss them.

[ It's not a question. ]

[in4apounding]

Ruby and her team are pretty amazing, yeah.

[Erina, you almost certainly already know Entirely Too Much about Ruby Rose, you probably don't want to set that off again here.]

I do. And my father. ...Sometimes I kind of wish they were here? Only, you know, not. With everything that's happened. It'd be nice if they were here if there wasn't so much murder.

[A brief pause.]

But I'm glad you're here too, and that we met. ...Aside from it, um, being HERE here.

[zweihandler]

Yeah. I get you. Like, it fucking sucks being here on your own, but at least they're not, uh, at risk of death every week? That's a pretty big plus in my book. And at least I'll have a really cool story to tell when I get back home.

[ She's rocking back and forth a little now, with the chair balanced on its back legs, because of all the things Erina does wrong, sitting normally in chairs is probably the thing she does The Most Wrong. ]

... I'm glad, too, though. [ Which is gay as hell, so she has to immediately make it sound less gay, somehow. ] At least we'll always have a good 'how did you guys meet' story. Like, "This is Penny, we went through a traumatic incident together, but it's chill now".

[in4apounding]

Not from murder, anyway.

[Being a Huntress and shonen protagonist squad is still pretty dangerous.]

Heh. It'll definitely be an interesting story.

[That is definitely one way to spin things as less than horrifically traumatic and scarring.]

We'll have to tell it to my father and Ruby after this. You'll like them.