122nd ♫ | phosphor burned a silent mayday, my hand slipped with a dirty splash

[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

[selfreliar]

That's...

[What Yakko's describing lies well outside Aqua's realm of experience, but he rises gamely to the task of understanding it, frowning. He's always been a smart guy, after all.

His frown deepens. He doesn't like the logical connection he's coming to.]

Doesn't that mean others will try to kill you for it?

[foolprocessing]

Yeah…

[Her arms cross at the thought. Of remembering close calls.]

There’s a lot of conditions that makes avoiding them easier—it can only happen at night and certain things have to happen. Each curse is based on a different local legend… so there should be, uh, I think eight other people.

[She thinks.]

I should really get rid of it but I… don’t really want to, yet.

[selfreliar]

[Aqua's usually understated expression sharpens along stern lines, as though he has any right to chide her when she's a year his senior. Maybe it's the big brother in him.]

What? Why not? That's your life you're playing with, there, not something you should risk so easily.

[Or maybe she's actually struck a nerve.]

[foolprocessing]

[The way she winces is genuine. She’s heard similar things before but—]

I don’t know. Even here every time I think about giving up on it… it feels like it draws me back in. Maybe curses are like that?

[selfreliar]

[Seems like he might have more to say to that, Ticked-off Older Brother written all over his face. But Yakko isn't his sister, and she didn't have to tell him all this. Aqua forces the concern and anger out through his nose.

Mostly. He still looks kind of sour.]

...Fine. How do you get rid of it, then? Is there some kind of... purification ritual you'd have to do?

[foolprocessing]

The curses are channeled through an object called a curse stone. If someone took it from me, it would transfer to them.

[She knew that probably would be a better idea. She knows people who could handle it better but, well. She’s at least not flinching now.]

I don’t have it here so that’s a good thing, right?

[Yakko, no.]

[selfreliar]

[Note to self: if he gets any weird rocks out of the gachapon, he cannot return them to Yakko.]

I guess with any luck, someone will take it while you're gone. Then you'll only have to worry about surviving this deadly situation and not the one back home, too.

[foolprocessing]

[Or wooden sculptures! Especially creepy ones telling you to kill. Being from a horror canon is Fun.]

Mm… maybe my classmate will. She’s like a paranormal prodigy, she can handle that sort of stuff better than me.

[And who has been constantly asking Yakko to give it up.]

It’s kind of weird how I jumped from one to another. Though, one with a lot less ghosts.

[selfreliar]

I hope there aren't any. If there were a bunch of ghosts hanging around, I'd have to believe these 'games' have been going on here for a long time.

[...He wonders, what counts as a ghost? Something to chew on later, maybe.]

It's not like we need things here to be any more like a horror series.

[foolprocessing]

Mm, yeah, that would be bad.

[Oh no. What’s up with that mischievous smile?]

Say, Aqua-san… does that mean you’re scared of horror stories?

[selfreliar]

Not really.

[He doesn't even miss a beat.]

[foolprocessing]

Oh, really~? We have a movie theater. I bet they have some to see.

[selfreliar]

Oh? Are you asking a younger man out on a date, Sakazaki?

[Aqua still looks (and sounds) mostly impassive, even though he's teasing, but we're all working with the icons we have, here.]

If you want, though... I don't really mind. My first role was in an indie horror film, you know.

[foolprocessing]

Hey—! You know I’m only a year older!

[Definitely a pout here. Oh the icon wors are real. There’s a blush but just because—]

And it’s not a date or anything—! I just bet I can make you jump!

[And a pause.]

Wait, really? It was?

[selfreliar]

We'll see about that.

[About making him jump, not about the date. Who would date in a murder game? It just screams bad idea.]

And yeah. I had a small part in a movie called How It Began. The director threw me in at the last minute because he thought the way I talked was suitably creepy. I had weird mannerisms for a preschooler, I guess.

[foolprocessing]

[Dating never ends well in murder games. True facts.]

I thought it must have been a commercial not a horror movie!

[A beat.]

I could see that, though. You look like you’d be a serious looking kid… aren't horror movies filled with creepy little kids?

[selfreliar]

Yeah, they're a staple of the genre. Even if the kid can't act, it's easy to send a chill down people's spines if they don't behave like a kid 'should.'

[And he never was good at that. His sister has more of a talent for acting. Even now, as a working professional, Aqua's convinced on that point.]

So you like horror, huh, Sakazaki? You seemed pretty sure that you wouldn't jump if I did.

[foolprocessing]

[Ah…

There is sudden look of sheepishness on her face.]

W-well! If I consider it a fight it should be fine! I haven’t lost a fight against boys yet!

[selfreliar]

So it's like that, huh?

[Heh.]

Well, maybe you're right. I've lost to girls plenty. No reason I wouldn't lose to you, too.

[foolprocessing]

Exactly. This way you might have a chance of winning.

[selfreliar]

Should we go see what's playing, then? If you're serious, I'll treat it seriously, too. That is, I won't lose to you on purpose, Sakazaki.