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

I don't know what kind of CW covers all this but it probably needs one

[in4apounding]

[Bugs, unfortunately, don't count as participants in this game, or this might be over a lot quicker. As it is, Erina's her target. And Penny is closing the distance, leaping out and grabbing at her throat.]

[There's a moment of growing pressure, and then Penny's hands spasm.]

I must- NO! Erina!

[One of Penny's hands has released Erina's throat, clutching at the other and trying to force it away. Her eyes squeezed shut in pain, or focus, or both.]

[zweihandler]

[ The pain in her wrist is hot and fierce but it's doused almost immediately when Penny's hand tightens around her throat. It's not for long, just long enough that Erina's eyes swim and when her hand rips itself away, Erina has to gasp for breath as she backs up. Instinctively, she finds the pipe with her uninjured hand... but she knows she won't have the heart to use it.

Some Synchronic she is. ]

Penny– whatever the hell's going on, explain it! Tell me how I can help you!

cw because this probably counts as suicidal ideation by implication

[in4apounding]

I can't- it's in my head!

[Her hand spasms again, making another grab at Erina before Penny wrenches it away. Her eyes are flashing between red and green, it's honestly pretty disturbing.]

Erina, please, you need to stop me, I don't want- I don't want to-

[Her eyes squeeze shut again as she lets out a pained cry, hand moving on its own again to grab Erina.]

[zweihandler]

[ Even with her dominant hand out of commission, Erina knows she has more than enough strength in her off arm to do what Penny is asking. It'd only take one blow if she did it right, and her arm raises instinctively to ward Penny off – if she brings it down now, this can all be over just like Penny's asking and Erina can just confess tomorrow morning when they find her with Penny and it'll all be over and–

She just as to– ]

Penny...!

[ Erina doesn't bring the pipe down.

She's paralyzed.

Some Synchronic she is. ]

cw: violence, this was my idea and i still hate it

[in4apounding]

Erina-

[Maybe the pipe wouldn't kill her, she's still pretty darn durable even depowered as she's been. But it would be enough to maybe get away, get some distance, get some kind of help.]

[But the hesitation is enough.]

[Penny shudders again, her hand grabbing onto Erina's collar.]

[Her eyes snap back open, back to the eerie glowing red.]

Enacting rule seven.

[The restraint, the fight against her own body, is gone - it's all unnaturally smooth precision as her free hand snatches the pipe from Erina, fingers denting the metal as she latches on.]

[The pipe rises. And it falls, swiftly and with precision.]

cw: phas paying for his deeds and words

[zweihandler]

[ Erina knows it's over the minute Penny's hand snaps to her collar. No – if she's telling the truth, she's known it since the moment she saw her eyes flash red in the corridor. For all she pretends, for all she showboats, for all she covers it up with sharp words and sharper attitude – Erina's a soft hearted idiot. Even with her life on the line, she can't hurt Penny.

Despite it all, she meets those searing red eyes without flinching. And she realizes – oh, right. She's not looking at Penny, huh? Whatever's in there, she might as well be eye to eye with the sick fuck that put them in here. ]

They're gonna hunt you down like a fucking dog. [ She talks past Penny, all the way down the connection to whoever's got her like a puppet on a string, whoever's really holding the pipe aloft and in the last few seconds she has, Erina smiles. ] I can't wait.

[ And then the pipe comes down.

It only takes one blow for her to go limp.

Erina Estival is dead. ]

cw: me paying for my deeds while looking at the camera and asking who could hurt me so and why

[in4apounding]

[It's the dents in the pipe that point to her, in the end. No one quite believes at first that it's a handprint, but once everyone gets on that train of thought- well, even if it's not common knowledge what exactly the "human-passing" in her profile means, everyone's seen how strong Penny is in one capacity or another. From there, the damage to her hands -at first ignored due to the lack of blood, the tiny, obviously mostly-healed nicks and scratches- lead to focused questioning. Which lead to the numbing, gut-dropping realization that she didn't remember finishing her patrols the previous evening.]

Please, don't- just vote for me! You have to!

[The people that believed her- in any other circumstances it would have been a blessing, that so many did- tried arguing that she wasn't at fault, that this wasn't even an accident, that by the rules of the game it was the Warden who was responsible, that they'd reduced Penny to just a weapon. Maybe they were right, ethically and in any sane court of law. But here? Well, the Warden could add and interpret rules as they saw fit.]

I can't let anyone else die because of me!

[Penny had voted for herself, with only an instant of hesitation. Doing otherwise meant a mass execution, she was sure. She couldn't let that happen. She'd raced against the others, slamming the button marked with her title on as many podiums as she could- how many had she gotten to before she'd been stopped? Grabbed, pulled into a hug by Mr. Burnsides, Champion of Raven's Roost... she could've broken away easily, but. Not without hurting him.]

[And if Penny was being honest with herself, she didn't want to die.]

[She felt like a coward.]

I'm- ...when you get out of here. Please. Ruby, my father- don't tell them what I did. Please.

[The execution didn't hurt. It couldn't, after all. You had to be real to feel pain.]

[And then her eyes snap back open. Penny sits up, abruptly. She registers gray, dust-laiden carpeting. An un-manned, mahogany desk covers most of one wall. Dim chandeliers overhead. And a tarnished brass sign-frame, holding a plain white sign with black lettering in Times New Roman Font.]

Hopeless Peak Hotel
Now Hosting
Ex-Con Con
The Convention for Ex-convicts
Enjoy being in attendance.

What?

[She was alive? Or functioning- she felt as alive as she ever had, at least. But the only way she could possibly be alive was if the others hadn't listened, hadn't voted for her. If they had died in her place.]

No, no no no- NO-!

[Penny doesn't get up. She pulls her knees up to her chest, burying her face into her arms, and wishes she could cry.]