88th ♫ | electric, a stun gun pulse surges through the crowd buzzing out the shadows

[sakurabeam]

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

Sara Werec | Strain: Strategic Armoured Infantry

[onlyyoucan]

Name: Sara Werec | Champion Reasoner / Armoured
Age: 17 | Species: Human | Occupation: Reasoner cadet
Likes: Dolls, ballroom dancing, particularly persistent would-be friends
Dislikes: War crimes, loss, dumpster diving
Traits: Prodigy, headstrong, bereaved
Trivia: Still doesn't know what's so funny about "Ram-Dass."

[Sara is standoffish at first but comes to thaw out around people, especially those she relates to herself or to important people in her life. Oh, and once she gets Emily, a doll the size of a small child with a weird machine pod installed, she can be found talking to her, taking her around sometimes, and referring to her like a person. You'll get used to it.

Apparently, the mastermind has also gotten used to it, because if Sara dies, your profiles will note that her participant status has transferred to the doll.]

Name: Emily | Champion Mimic / Lonely
Age: 600+ | Species: ??? | Occupation: Mimic
Likes: Sara, "big brother," freedom
Dislikes: Death, isolation, being taken apart
Traits: Innocent, legion, inanimate object
Trivia: Emily was one of the first Mimics ever produced!

[...but no, I'm not playing Emily in the meme, this is flavour text and I just wanted to do it since I know I couldn't get away with it in Unknown Seas. (Though if you want to thread out complaining that you have to put in a vote on behalf of a doll and drag her to the courtroom in someone else's thread, feel free.)]

[yochamp]

[Though Pikachu has yet to drop (gacha catch 'em all...) and Red's a mute, unhappy mess, he lifts his chin a bit with interest when he sees Sara's new doll friend. After a pause, he tilts his head questioningly.

Who dis?]

[onlyyoucan]

[Sara blinks, looks at the doll, and then back at Red.]

Oh, Emily. She's my Mimic. I've been searching for her ever since I got her, and she was in the prize machine.

[yochamp]

[Red's eyes widen, and he reaches into his pocket for a clunky red device. After poking at it a bit, he turns it to show Sara some kind of brief encyclopedia entry.

Mimikyu: the Disguise Pokémon. A lonely Pokémon, it conceals its terrifying appearance beneath an old rag so it can get closer to people and other Pokémon.

He looks meaningfully at Emily. It's the most focused he's appeared this whole time.]

[onlyyoucan]

[Sara smiles a little despite herself.]

That's cute... Emily's not the same as that. A Mimic is what helps a Reasoner make a psychic link with their Strain. But she's my friend, too.

[yochamp]

[Oh. That deflates him a little, but then he nods and pokes some more at the PokéDex. The new entry makes him sigh softly before he shares that with her, too.

Pikachu: the Mouse Pokémon. When several of these Pokémon gather, their electricity could build and cause lightning storms.

The dejected slump to his shoulders might hint that he's missing a friend of his own.]

[onlyyoucan]

...That's your friend from home.

[She nods slowly, shifting Emily in her arms.]

I'll watch for them. If she was in the machine, and people are getting things like cats...

[yochamp]

[He looks up again, considers, nods, and--]

...Thank you.

[It means a lot to him. His partner means a lot to him.]

[onlyyoucan]

[Another nod, understanding.]

Your friend must be thinking of you, too.

And They Were Roommates (some sort of afterpart shit)

[impurifies]

[ Yuri doesn't do well with afterparties. She tries her best to at least show her face so people don't fret about her too much, but the combination of everyone having Feelings and Yuri's own immense stress over being around so many people when she's in such a state herself means it's pretty inevitable that she'll take a plate of food and duck back to her and Sara's room within about fifteen minutes of arriving.

However long it takes Sara to return, though, Yuri looks as though she hasn't moved from her seat on her bed, and her food is untouched. She looks up when Sara walks in and... doesn't even bother with a smile. Instead she just nods. ]

... H... How is everyone doing...?

[onlyyoucan]

[She's not there for long, and just sits down and sighs.]

Not well. ...I don't even know why I went. You didn't, huh?

[impurifies]

[ Yuri slowly shakes her head and then turns her attention back to the untouched plate in her lap. ]

I'm... not good with big groups anyway, s–so I thought it'd be better if I kept to myself... I don't think I'd be much help even if I stayed, anyway.

[onlyyoucan]

...Maybe that's just how it is. [sigh] I don't think anyone knows how to deal with it, whether they're there or not.

[impurifies]

Mm. I think that's pretty understandable.

[ She hesitates for a moment, not really sure if she should ask or not but... she can't just leave Sara to sit in silence with her own discomfort. ]

Are you okay, Sara? Ah, maybe that's a stupid question to ask...

[onlyyoucan]

...I don't know why everyone's trying to worry about me. [She frowns and looks at Yuri.] You're all hurting already. Don't you have enough to deal with? It's nice, but I guess I don't get it.

[impurifies]

[ That's... a strange response. Strange enough that Yuri lifts her head and gives Sara a puzzled look. ]

Isn't it just... natural to worry about each other in a situation like this?

[onlyyoucan]

...[A quiet, resigned sigh.] I don't want anyone to die, either. But you're a civilian. I should be more worried about you. And...

["And I don't deserve it, anyway."]

Afterparty

[ordinarythings]

[Surolam's already talking to her own cane a lot, so Emily isn't too much of a surprise. And she sometimes pauses to talk to the doll as well-depending on if powers are active or not, she might even be able to get a response. So it probably won't come as a surprise to Sara when she drifts over to them during the afterparty.]

Are you two alright? That was...a long trial indeed.

[onlyyoucan]

[Sara hesitates to answer, but she's got Emily sitting at the table, looking as sad as a doll whose facial expressions don't change can.]

I can't believe we almost fell for that. We spent three hours chasing the wrong person just because we took an obvious lie. And now someone else is dead anyway.

[ordinarythings]

[Surolam sits down as well, setting down her cane, Donphan-tooth, so that he's leaning against Emily comfortingly.]

It's always hard, to distrust those you've bonded with. [Decades of murdergame memories, and still she keeps trying to trust people.] But...it's probably better in the end not to lose that ability to trust.

[onlyyoucan]

Unless we can find a way to keep anyone else from dying, it'll happen either way.

[ordinarythings]

That's true... But being able to trust people is what keeps you alive, in a place like this. People need contact with others, to survive.

[onlyyoucan]

...You're really into this, huh? It'd be nice, I guess. If we could all be friends. But if we keep losing more like this, I don't know what we can do.

[ordinarythings]

[Surolam rubs her cheek slightly.] We keep trying. We keep searching for clues as to what's going on here. And we believe that eventually, there will come a time where no one falls for any of the motives.

[onlyyoucan]

Then why aren't we at that now? Everyone keeps reaching out, but then it comes back to this.