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oddsandends2024-12-24 05:45 pm
phaiinein) wrote in oddsandends2024-12-24 05:45 pm
122nd ♫ | phosphor burned a silent mayday, my hand slipped with a dirty splash
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!
Betsy McDonough | Schmigadoon!
Age: Late teens | Species: Soprano | Occupation: Future Wife
Likes: Farming, her sisters, helping lovers
Dislikes: Not being taken seriously, her lines being cut, and
Traits: innocent, romantic, excitable
Trivia: Betsy may or may not be real! Don't tell her.
[ THIS IS SLIGHTLY A SHITPOST BUT. This is Betsy, she's a parody of Ado Annie from Oklahoma, and I think the funniest thing in the world would be her stuck in a non-curtains murdergame. Prone to breaking out into song, endless bordering on unrealistic optimism about their situation, and flirting but like in a 50s musical way where it'll be really innocent but then she'll make a wild sex joke and it's unclear if she knows that's what it was or not. This will be immediately followed by the expectation that the other person WILL marry her.
As things go on and she develops beyond her intended role there will probably be some. Growing pains. As she realizes things that don't exist in her role as part of Schmigadoon and becomes her own person? This is what happens when you give me the kind of worldbuilding you really aren't supposed to think about for more than a minute. ]
Murder-let the bodies hit the floor (RNG has chosen the suite life on deck)
[Ending up in this murder game has been nothing short of a curveball Eurylochus. Going from one ship to another, lavish and rich and vast beyond his time, separated from his great sword (until RNG blesses him with it again from the vending machine) and anyone he knew, and put in a demented game that stoke his ire. Kill to leave, that is what their overseer had decreed. That was the new world he's been forced to reside in.
It was only a matter of time before someone sacrificed their own. He was the first to come across it this Friday morning. By complete chance, after putting off the pool area for the longest time, he had finally decided it was fine time to take a dip in the water and wash all his troubles away. That motive looped in the recess of his mind, never letting him forget the image of Ctimene in chains with a mocking description: "Your captain did everything to get back to his wife. Your turn. Balls in your court, Eury.~"
When he had the slimmest of hope that no one'd be foolish enough to fall for the farce, the body of Paul Matthews, the Philistine, face down in the pool. Red overtook the serene blue water, solidifying the guy who doesn't like musicals was no longer amongst them. Damn it!
The former second-in-command to the king of Ithaca stepped out into the doorway. They need to know, they need someone better equip to inspect the corpse. He calls out for anyone nearby to hear.]
There's a body!
[Surely there's someone up at this hour that can handle this.]