102nd ♫ | sell your soul to the devil on the street corner

[superorbit]

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

[springblooms]

[ For a moment she's surprised by their response – but then she remembers, that's right, everyone here is from worlds completely unlike her own. And even back in her own world, there's sure to have been people in the same position as them, no opportunity to see a library like this even if the circumstances are... a fair bit different.

She nods, more to herself than them. ] It is a big library... even the one at my school doesn't have this many books. It's strange to think that we'd be trapped here and threatened... but then given so many books to read.

[nbofthestate]

...school?

[That's a word they have never heard before. But clearly it's some place with books- though not as many as here...]

[springblooms]

Ah, um–

[ Oh, lordy. How does she describe 'school' to someone with such a befuddled look on their face? ]

It's... a place children are sent to learn things. You have teachers who educate you in all the things you need to learn, like reading and mathematics and, um...

[ ... She was doing so well and then she stumbled over her words and her mind went blank. There Are No Other School Subjects. ]

W–well, anyway! It's where people in my world learn things.

[nbofthestate]

[Their eyes are huge. They already knew the people they met here knew many things- had skills beyond what anyone they grew up around had. Things they had to fight and scrounge to discover for themself. Now it makes sense]

So... you can read, then?

[springblooms]

[ She nods once. ]

Mm! Only in Japanese, though. ... ah, actually, while we're here, I suppose I could read anything I wanted, if everything is being translated for us...

1/2

[nbofthestate]

[What the heck is japanese]

[nbofthestate]

[How to ask without it coming off like they're accepting her help though? Or... is that even an issue? She DID offer... would accepting be too much?

Screw it, boldness has always favored them]

What are these books about.

[springblooms]

W–well, there are all sorts of books in a library, but these ones are...

[ She takes a step forward so she can slide one of the books out and check the cover. ]

It looks like these are geography textbooks... [ Then, realizing the person who had no idea what 'school' is might not have heard the word 'geography' she hastily adds: ] Oh, um–! Geography is... well, it means studying how the land and the world around us all work.

[nbofthestate]

Oh, like farming?

[Not exactly but close enough??]

[springblooms]

Mm! Sometimes, I think. But it's also things like, ah... what certain types or rocks are made of, or why earthquakes happen. It's about helping you to understand why the Earth works the way that it does.

[ Her smile turns a little sheepish. ]

B–but I'm not very good at geography, so I don't know all that much about it...

[nbofthestate]

[And that makes them smile slightly in turn, a rarity]

You know more than I do, and you're willing to share it. That's more than enough.

[springblooms]

[ Oh – that's the first time she's seen them smile, isn't it? The sight of it surprises her a bit. She's so used to seeing them alert and severe that the way it softens their expression leaves her a bit wrong footed. Like that, they could easily be mistaken for a regular teenager just like her.

It's nice. And maybe that's a strange thought to have, but... well, it is nice. Sakura manages a smile in return. ]

I can do my best, at least. Or, um– [ Ah, she's had an idea. ] I–I've found some books from my own world in here before, so... if you're interested, I could see if there are any of the textbooks I would've read back at my own school? So you can see for yourself.

[nbofthestate]

... sure. If you're not busy.

[ she is taking a lot of time out for their curiosity, after all. But it's not like they have any specific tasks to do here... maybe she's bored? ]

[springblooms]

Oh, not at all!

[ She says that a bit too quick and a beat after, her smile thins out just a little. ]

If anything... I've been trying to keep busy, but there isn't really much I can do here to help when we need it.

[nbofthestate]

[They nod, glancing away awkwardly]

I... me too. I usually just follow whoever seems to understand what's going on.

[At best they are good at pressing on a target during trials, but it's almost never due to their own investigations and deductions]

[springblooms]

Really?

[ She blinks at them, earnest surprise showing all over her face. ]

Y–you always seem so... um, not confident I suppose but... composed, maybe? L–like you always have a handle on things...

[ She flushes just as pink as her name. ]

Th–that's a bit of a strange thing to say though, I guess...

[nbofthestate]

I'm used to dangerous situations like that. But it's usually at the end of a blade, not... discussion.

[Oh, she's blushing. Did they say something weird? Or well, she's saying SHE said something weird]

It's not strange, it's a compliment, right?

[springblooms]

Ah– well, yes, but–

[ But what? Just... give her a moment to be done tripping all over her words and she'll figure it out. ]

I don't want to say something that makes you feel like you can't ask for help while we're all here.

[nbofthestate]

Ah, that...

[They blush, running a hand through their shaggy hair]

I'm not... used to that. How casually you all offer...

[springblooms]

R–really? Ah, the last thing I'd want to do is trouble you, but...

[ If they're blushing... did she say something wrong? Has she embarrassed them somehow? ]

In a place like this... I think it's good that we can all at least try and rely on each other...

[nbofthestate]

I know you don't mean anything bad with it. It's just... a lot.

[springblooms]

Are you... not used to people wanting to help?

[ ... she's definitely prying more than she should, but when they make a face like that... how can she not ask? ]

[nbofthestate]

[they chuckle wryly]

No, not really. Not outside family or... or a lover. It's not normal. It's considered questioning the Gods for their choice of task.

That's not the case for me now, but I'm still getting used to it.

[springblooms]

Ah...

[ She's wise enough not to voice the thought that immediately comes to her – which is how terribly sad that sounds. To go through life with so few people to rely on, to not be able to offer help when you see someone struggling... it's not something she'd ever be able to bear. She's a chronic meddler, which isn't always a good thing, but when she hears them talk like that...

Well, maybe it's not so much of a flaw after all.

She steels herself, balling her hands into tight fists, then takes a decisive step towards them. ]

Y–you know... if there's anything you ever need help with, y-you can always ask me! [ She's gone beyond pink and flushed scarlet at this point. It feels like she's doing terribly rude but more than that, this feels like something she needs them to know. ] If there's ever anything on your mind, or anything at all you think I could help you with... I–I'll do my best, no matter what it is!

[nbofthestate]

[Her burst of passion makes them startle slightly, not quite backing up but leaning away slightly.

But once they realize what she's actually saying then flush as well. Oh...]

You shouldn't promise big things like that sight-unseen, Braid.

[They kinda pat her head- it doesn't feel like the right gesture... but it's what their brother used to do, and that's really the only physical affection they know]