117th ♫ | aren't i filthy? why won't you kill me?

[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></center>

Comments

[liedol]

Avril Lavigne... [ do you know how badly typing these words hurt me ] I don't think I've ever heard of them...

[ Though realistically she knows that even if she had, it's not like the name would've stuck in her head regardless. It sounds like a solo act, so it's not like B-Komachi would've been competing with them in any real way... ]

What kind of music was it?

[ yes i AM going to make you make brook describe avril lavigne's discography. suffer. ]

[reaperrabbit]

Hell if I know. Most of the music they play these days sounds the same to me.

[Most of the time, Brook's aggressively teenage mien makes it hard to remember he was born over a hundred years ago. The other participants here could be his great- or even great-great grandchildren.]

If I had to guess, probably something edgy and angry? To go with the spirit of the times. What do they call it... punk?

[liedol]

Edgy and angry, huh...

[ Ai mulls over that for a moment... then promptly puts on her most dire, grave and serious face and narrows her eyes, doing her best to give Brook something approximating a stony glare.

All while totally not about to crack up laughing, of course. ]

What do you think? Have I got the chops for it?

[reaperrabbit]

[Pff.]

I've seen hairless cats edgier than you.

[liedol]

Whaaaattt?

[ Said in the most exaggeratedly dismayed tone imaginable. ]

I could totally pull it off! I've got edges you've never even heard of before!

[reaperrabbit]

[Playing along:]

Take it from me. You're a hundred years too early to pull off "edgy" when you're that tiny and pink.

[Yeah, Brook, you'd know, huh.]

[liedol]

Aren't you exactly as small and pink as me?

[ right for the throat. jesus. ]

[reaperrabbit]

[He has, like! Two or three inches on her! Maybe!]

And I've been at it for a hundred years, give or take.

[liedol]

Maybe so, but I wouldn't say you're edgy. At least, not the way you're trying to sell it to me. You're a little too cute for that.

[ Whether this is something she sincerely means or she's just saying it to get a bit of a rise out of him... well, uh, this is Ai so it's literally impossible to tell! ]

[reaperrabbit]

...I still kill people, you know.

[He doesn't wanna be That Guy, especially when they're having a moment and especially when it's Thursday and they're this emotionally battered, but. C'mon, girl.]

Being pink and a rabbit doesn't change that.

[liedol]

Well, sure. I know that. [ Does she, though, when she's looking at him with such a guileless expression? ] But when people talk about edgy, they usually mean scary, right? But I've never been scared of you even once while we were here.

[ Now that's a lie for sure. She's been scared of all of them since hour zero – how could she not be, knowing what's on the line and how utterly helpless she'd be if anyone decided to target her?

Brook hasn't done anything to raise him about her baseline levels of fear and caution, though. Well, he has, but not by much. And that's almost the same thing, right? ]

[reaperrabbit]

...I guess that's fine. It's not like I really want to scare you.

[It's strange that it's an option. He typically receives one of three reactions from people: sudden, pants-shitting fear; baffled dismissal; or mercenary interest. How can they make use of someone like him.

Then again, most people Brook meets don't have more than a minute to form an impression of him before he rips them in two. The situation here is so, so different. These people talk to him, day after day. People like Ai tell him they're friends.

So. He can appreciate the novelty.]

You're okay. And you have good taste in animals.