97th ♫ | i'm not lonely at all! i'm not lonely at all, although. . .

[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

[chiwalry]

Guess you do gotta shake it...

[Before trying that, though, Kazu gets right down on his knee and sticks his hand fearlessly up into the machine's innards, feeling around for anything that might have gotten stuck in the delivery chute.]

my paid ran out so here's the actual au journal

[mnemon]

[ Ryoko's eyebrows shoot up and she considers, for a moment, intervening and pulling him back from the machine. But then his hand bumps against something and the whole machine gives an ominous rumble and she decides that if Kazu loses his hand in the guts of the vending machine then she absolutely doesn't want to be involved here.

Thankfully for literally everyone, rather than taking Kazu's hand as payment, the machine gives another grumble before spitting out not one but two capsules with such force that they skid across the floor. Ryoko jumps back a step, startled – but then she relaxes a touch. ]

One got stuck on the way out...? Has that ever happened before?

[chiwalry]

[Kazu returns her gaze with a wide-eyed, I-almost-lost-my-fingies stare, having all but thrown himself away from the machine. He bites his lip but shakes his head as he sits up again and pulls his beanie back into place.]

Like I'd know? No, I ain't heard of it doing anything like that.

[He opens and closes his hands and shakes them out, as if confirming for himself, yes, they're really still attached, then rolls onto his feet to chase the capsules down.]

Maybe you're just really lucky?

[mnemon]

I don't know if lucky's the word I'd use. [ Especially given that Kazu just got nearly behanded. ] But you have to take what you can get in a place like this.

[ That said, she's got a curious expression as she scoops up one of the capsules. It looks for all the world like a regular gachapon prize but she knows better by now. ]

You can open the other one, if you like.

[chiwalry]

Isn't it yours? It was your coin and all.

[He picks up the remaining capsule and dusts it off on the front of his hoodie.]

I mean, I can open it for you if you need.

[She's so small and frail-looking, like no other girl he's ever seen. What if she breaks a wrist trying to twist the thing open?]

[mnemon]

[ Ryoko gives him the dead-eyed flat stare that, at this point, everyone has probably gotten out of her at least once. What a charmer. ]

I think I can probably manage. [ And besides, she doesn't count on their delightful hosts to be even accidentally generous without some sort of catch. Might as well halve the odds of her getting something that's going to blow up in her face. ] And you were the one who risked your hand fishing them out, anyway.

[chiwalry]

...Okay. If you say so.

[He holds the capsule up for examination, shakes it once, and shrugs.]

Welp, here goes.

[And he pulls off the top. Once you pop, the fun don't stop...?]

[mnemon]

[ She half expects a flashbang, or one of those childish pranks like snakes in a can. It's the exact sort of juvenile prank she'd expect from their captor. But the top of the capsule pops off with absolutely no fanfare and she feels relieved and a little foolish all at once.

But then as the contents of it roll out into Kazu's hand, Ryoko stiffens. It's... some sort of accessory – like a small hourglass with intricate gold decorations, faceted glass and the sand inside shifting in iridescent colours. Ryoko's staring at it like she's just seen a ghost. ]

It couldn't be...

[chiwalry]

Huh? What couldn't?

[He's already half-taken with it, though, lifting the hourglass up to the light to see it better. It's so pretty and shimmery, and, damn, all those little decorative bits, like the infinitesimally small workings of chip, motor, and wire that make A-Ts A-Ts...

No, it's more than that, isn't it.]

...It's like a Regalia.

[It actually isn't, not really, except that something about both this tiny hourglass full of dreams and Air Treck's most sought-after parts feels like magic. Like possibility--like an Infinity Atmosphere--could be inside.]

[nmc0204]

[ On the one hand, it makes her feel a little squirmy inside to see him examining it so closely - he doesn't have any idea what he's holding, of course, but Ryoko still feels a little jittery about it, like she's the one under such close scrutiny. And yet at the same time... it feels a little gratifying to see something so precious to her be treated with the awe and care she feels it deserves.

She shifts her weight a little from one foot to the other and – doesn't relax, because Ryoko never relaxes, but softens just a bit. ]

... It's mine. We call it a "Sandglass".

[chiwalry]

O-oh, my bad.

[Immediately, he offers it back to her. It looks entirely out of place in the palm of his too-real, too-imperfect hand.]

It's pretty. What's it for?

[nmc0204]

[ She doesn't answer him immediately, instead reaching out to take the trinket from him. For a moment, she just holds it expectantly as if waiting for something to happen – and when it doesn't, she looses a long, disappointed sigh. Getting her hopes up in a place like this is silly, of course, but she'd wondered if, just for a moment, maybe she could... ]

When it's working, it's supposed to take me... somewhere else. It's a place we call the Dream Sphere. I thought... maybe if it was here, I'd be able to travel over.