110th ♫ | all the things making us sick and tired turn into bubbles and disappear

[phaiinein]

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

[fionnuisce]

It's also not an obnoxious long title with a number on the end.

[gonepostal]

And fortunately, I have taken the initiative to shorten it for you. [even does a little gesture of holding her hands out and squishing the distance between them before she's gotta set her crutches back down lest she just topple over and eat shit after a long day of fucking standing]

[fionnuisce]

...

[He fixed her with an irritated frown, almost visibly weighing his options for a minute or so about how annoyed he wanted to be for the forseeable future.]

Fine. This keeps up, I'm likely to get horribly maimed or worse anyway given I look like an easy target. Better to go out with someone around here knowing that much, not like it's going to get back to anyone I don't need hearing it.

...it's Waver. Waver Velvet.

[gonepostal]

...Waver. [She nods once. It feels like a serious enough admission, even if only to him, that she doesn't return immediately to her usual irreverence.] Got it. Consider yourself condemned to shitty nicknames only in the company of others, then.

[fionnuisce]

Y-yeah, well...just don't go around telling everyone.

[gonepostal]

Secret's safe with me. Thanks for trusting me with it.

[fionnuisce]

[He shrugged and put his sunglasses back over his eyes, trying and failing to hide the faint shade of red he was turning.]

W-whatever. Just quit calling me dumb shit so often.

[gonepostal]

[You can TELL how much RESTRAINT is going into not just bullying the everloving shit out of him right now. She's grinning but you can see it in her face how hard she is trying to keep herself from just noogieing him for being flustered.]

We'll see. C'mon, get your soup and let's head back to tables-and-chairs territory before your coffee gets cold or someone's leg gives up the ghost and one of us eats shit.

[fionnuisce]

[He Chooses Not To See It]

F...fine.

[this man's entire life is being bullied one way or another, god help him.]

[gonepostal]

[At least they make it all the way back to the table without additional bullying!! Su Fei has mastered the art of balancing items in her hands while still getting around, but when they finally make it back to the table and her soup is gently deposited, she sits down heavily with a big heaving sigh, finally leaning more comfortably in the chair and setting her crutches against the wall. She lives here now. She's so done with walking.]

I figure you're overestimating your chances of getting maimed, now that I'm thinking about it. [CONVERSATION OPENERS OF ALL TIME] Too many of the kids like you too much.

[fionnuisce]

[Waver shrugged as he sat down; legs crossed just the same way, but held perhaps a little less rigidly now.]

I'd hope as much, they need some kind of stability in this mess. But that won't stop anyone if things get desperate enough, and frankly between the two of us I would put my bets on you winning a fight long before myself. Especially without access to magecraft.

[Normal things to discuss as calmly as the weather.]

[gonepostal]

Admittedly I'm more used to being unlegged than unarmed [WOW] but I can hold my own in a fight and then some, sure. So the other thing I figure is I gotta be strategic about hasslin' you. Stick around just right so you don't get jumped.

[fionnuisce]

I'm used to assassination attempts, if nothing else. And even without my usual abilities, I can safely say I'm never completely unarmed.

['elaborate-' no]

Between us we've about got a pair of functioning legs, so a little teamwork can only help us.

[gonepostal]

[She takes the assassination bit in stride, but that comment about being armed does earn a quirked eyebrow.] You been holding out on me?

[NO. ELABORATE.]

[fionnuisce]

I'm weak, not stupid. Obviously I wouldn't go around being entirely helpless, magecraft or no magecraft.

[gonepostal]

I know, I know, that's not what I meant. [leeeeeans in, lowers her voice conspiratorially] Can I guess? [inclines her head towards where he's set his cane] Secret sword?

[she sounds really excited about this idea???]

[fionnuisce]

Do I look like the kind of person who can use a sword? Maybe I should think that flattering.

[Sighing, he again seemed to be weighing his options; the element of surprise was crucial to his survival in this case, but...]

[Well, he'd already trusted her with his name, and fully expected they'd be able to look out for each other. A little reluctantly, he took hold of the silver handle and lifted the cane slightly--with a small click a short blade emerged from the other end, resembling nothing so much as it did a short (and unconventional) lance.]

[gonepostal]

[loooow whistle, and she waits until he's put the blade away before she leans back and takes a sip of her soup right outta the bowl before nodding once as she sets it down.]

A sword would have been cool, but that looks good enough to get by. [It reassures her, somehow, to know that he's got some means of defense.] Well, that's good. Ah, I'm so nosy and you're so full of secrets! I'd say I'll stop bothering you, but I don't like to lie.

[fionnuisce]

Like I said. [leaning the cane back against the table] I'm used to assassination attempts.

And I'm used to people asking questions I don't want to answer. The difference on that last one is I'm a little less concerned about the answers getting back to the wrong people.

[gonepostal]

What an exciting life you must lead, huh? Not that I didn't believe you when you said you'd seen worse. Teaching a real cutthroat profession where you're from, Professor?

[she is SO clearly making fun of him with this 'professor' shit, but she's not one to talk when her title just has to do with delivering the fucking mail]

[fionnuisce]

That's mage society for you. I got my title because the previous Lord El-Melloi died, and there are more than a few people who would love to see me dead for the same self-advancement.

...That, or they just don't like me. Could be either, could be both.

[gonepostal]

Could be some other exciting unpredictable third thing, with what little I know about the nobility. Going "nah, actually, not my scene" and stepping down from the title not an option?

[fionnuisce]

Probably, but unfortunately I'm just as cutthroat and ambitious as every other bastard mage I work with. I requested this title, the current rightful heir was too young to inherit it and I think she likes having someone else draw off a few attempted murders.

[gonepostal]

Mhm.

[It isn't that she's doubting him, necessarily—she has not been so outspoken about it as she has with her opinions on the nobility, but she has Thoughts on magic and mages, too—but she notices the way he mentions that heir even after trying to excuse himself as vicious and she notices how good he is with the gaggle of teens they've collected here and she's just kind of like. Hm! Interesting! She makes no effort to keep this thought off her face.]

Well, lucky her to have you around, eh? I haven't decided if I'm surprised or not that magic and mages are just like each other from one world to the next.

[fionnuisce]

[Whether he was aware or not that the glaring contradiction in his entire life had been accurately summarized (and he was not), Waver didn't comment on the matter. In his own mind he was every bit as vile and coldhearted as any other mage, in method if not motivation. Given what could be said about where good intentions led, he didn't really see a difference.]

I can't say it shocks me that much. Brutality, classism, general insufferability, and everything in between are all so deeply ingrained into our society that it almost seems natural the same could be said for multiple universes.