92nd ♫ | the quietness, profoundly consuming silence

[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

[crypddyd]

It is.

[He picks it up and holds it out (blade to the side) for her to see. It is simple but clearly very well made and deadly sharp]

I gave this to someone important to me many years ago... It should not be possible for it to be here now.

[impurifies]

[ It's certainly a well-made knife and in basically any other circumstances, she's sure they could find an excuse to change the subject and talk about that instead... but she gets the feeling the question of how it got here is a little more pressing. ]

Could it have been brought here the same way we were? ... I'm not sure why they'd bother, but...

[ She's also not sure why they'd bother bringing someone like her, so obviously their motivations for any of this aren't easy to puzzle out. ]

[crypddyd]

To taunt me, perhaps, with how easily they could bring its owner... but it seems such a roundabout method when they have already made more direct threats.

[impurifies]

[ Yuri stays quiet for a moment, nibbling on the inside of her mouth. She wants to say something to comfort him but... what if she makes things worse?

Eventually, she plucks up enough courage to say; ]

Um... F–forgive me if I'm overstepping but... is it possible that it could've found its way back to you? Th–there's still so many things that we haven't remembered, so...

[crypddyd]

... that is a possibility I had not considered.

[It makes him look a bit sad, actually. Not upset, but a dull melancholy]

[impurifies]

[ The immediacy with which she looks kind of distraught at his expression is... almost funny, in a sad sort of way. ]

Ah– I–I'm sorry...! I didn't mean to... I just thought that...

[ Her tongue tangles itself up in her haste to try and apologize for the perceived slight and she decides it's safer to just shut up. Way to go, Yuri. ]

[crypddyd]

Please, there is no slight done. I am just... well, if it was returned then it likely would mean my childish feelings were rebuked. It is not unexpected but...

[impurifies]

[ Childish feelings rebuked... ah. That sounds like a rejection, doesn't it? ]

I... I see...

[ Her brow furrows a little. ]

I–it's... never easy... or pleasant to have your feelings rejected like that. I'm sorry.

[crypddyd]

It was likely for the best, if that is the case. I just wish I could remember...

[his brow furrows like he's focusing very hard and not enjoying it. But after a momnet-]

Ah, I am sorry Yuri- I'm sure you had a purpose of your own that I have completely side tracked.

[impurifies]

Ah– [ Oh, she'd kind of forgotten she also came over here with some of these coints, huh. ] N–no, it's fine...! We came here to see what might come out of this machine, after all... s–so it doesn't make much difference which of us is putting the coins in.

[ Of course, she's fiddling with her own coins even as she says that... ]

[crypddyd]

It does- you wish to see something familiar, correct? Please, be my guest!

[He steps aside a bit awkwardly but with a gentlemanly half bow]

[impurifies]

[ Her cheeks manage to light up an even more impressive shade of pink as she steps up to take his place at the machine. She doesn't exactly forget that Dimitri is a prince, but it... slips her mind sometimes with all the other things that happen in this place and it always throws her off a bit whenever he does something like that to remind her.

With a moment of fumbling, she pops the coin into the slot and hears it clatter its way down into the machinery. Nothing clatters down into the exit slot, though, and for a moment Yuri thinks nothing has come out. Then she leans in to see and realizes what's been dispensed is a neatly folded piece of... notebook paper?

Brow furrowed in confusion, she cautiously fishes it out. ]

What could this be...?

[crypddyd]

A note? What an odd thing to be in there... not that anything that comes from it is exactly normal...

1/2

[impurifies]

Could it be someone trying to send us a message...?

[ Yuri unfolds the paper. ]

[impurifies]

[ It's not a message. ]

[crypddyd]

[Hoping it was a message, Dimitri peers over her head to read along.

It's... a lot. Yet is speaks to something in him. A jittering paranoia and hyper awareness he pushes down every day since Duscur. He trembles behind her]

A... poem?

[impurifies]

[ Yuri doesn't say anything at first. In fact, she's... unsettlingly quiet. But then she speaks up and her voice sounds as though it's coming from very, very far away. ]

Wh... what... is this?! This– this is my handwriting, but...!

[crypddyd]

You don't remember writing it?

[he whispers, as if this was something secret they weren't supposed to be seeing]

[impurifies]

O–of course not! I never would have written something like this...!

[ But the protest sounds shrill and false, even to her own ears. There's so much they're yet to remember, after all. ]

Th-this has to be some sort of trick...!

[crypddyd]

A trick... It's an intense poem, but it's not exactly bad...?

[impurifies]

Wh...

[ She looks at him uncertainly, almost as if she's expecting this to be a trick as well. ]

B–but it's... so messy. A–and the handwriting and the imagery, it's all so... m–manic. You don't think there's something wrong with it...?

[crypddyd]

Well, isn't poetry supposed to express your feelings? If someone was manic when they wrote it, then that's to be expected.

[impurifies]

[ He means it kindly – Yuri's sure he does – but his words make her stomach turn itself into a knot and she shrinks in on herself. ]

B–but...

[ She doesn't know what she's protesting. Just that she knows the average person would see this and reel in disgust – and that Dimitri isn't. It leaves her wrongfooted and faintly alarmed all at once. ]

A poem like this... I must have been having horrible thoughts to put them on the page...! S–so why are you so... calm about this?

[crypddyd]

[He looks a bit awkward, like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't, and his lips thin to a colorless line while he tries to smile. It's tense, unnatural.]

Horrible thoughts... I suppose... everyone has those. I know I do.

[impurifies]

You–?

[ The change of his expression jars something loose in Yuri's head and she realizes – oh. She'd been so rattled by this thing arriving that she'd gone and snapped at him, hadn't she? While he was trying to help. She hastily covers her mouth and looks away, a flush of shame stark on her pale face. ]

I... I'm sorry. [ Her voice shakes a bit. ] I didn't mean to– I m–mean, I shouldn't have...!