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]

Now? Well, okay...

[Just two guys playing with swords in the closet--

With a doubtful look on his face, Aqua lifted the sword from his shoulder and shifted into a more proper sword-fighting form, both hands on the sword's hilt, tip up. When he closed the distance and swung, however, two things became clear: he swung to be blocked, not to strike; and he had no actual desire to hit Ardyn at all.]

[scourgingstars]

If you're being attacked, it won't be in an ideal environment. Better to understand your surroundings, in case you can't choose your battlefield.

[remember you asked for this, aqua.]

[That noncommittal swing was met by sudden motion. Something flashed in gold eyes, and suddenly the harmless and unassuming pacifist moved with far more speed than someone his build should have had--darting through the openings in Aqua's inexperienced stance and bringing down his own sword-]

[-in a light tap to the head, followed by a smile.]

I'm afraid you'll have to put much more into it than that.

[selfreliar]

[Aqua's usually underplayed expression morphed from startled to embarrassed. You know, in a grouchy tsundere way. He batted Ardyn's sword away from his face with his hand.]

Look, I told you. It was acting when I did it. The point is to not hurt your coworkers.

[>BT]

[scourgingstars]

Yes, and that is something you'll need to quickly relearn. The good news is, your basic fundamentals aren't that bad. A little adjustment on your stance, and we may have a good baseline from which to start.

[selfreliar]

[Oh. Well, that was good. For all that he'd tried to make a case for himself before, Aqua looked faintly surprised to hear he wasn't awful.]

Really? Huh. [He glanced down at his sword again and almost seemed kind of pleased.] Guess I should thank the theater company for that. They did a lot in just a month's rehearsals.

[Anyway. Aqua lifted the sword once more and firmed up his grip.]

Okay. What am I missing?

[scourgingstars]

Your footwork, mostly. It's fine at a glance, but your stance is a little unstable in practice. Easy to throw you off balance, easier still to cut straight through your defenses. [Lightly tapping Aqua's shin with the practice sword.] This one, a little to the left. The other, just slightly back.

[selfreliar]

Mm.

[Adjusting as instructed, Aqua gauged the new positioning and distance between his feet first with his eyes, then by shifting his weight from one leg to the other, as if to memorize the feel. Here was a more visual learner than a kinesthetic one, and more studious than intuitive.]

Like that?

[scourgingstars]

Better. Keeping a stable footing will leave you with less openings to exploit, so it's a vital thing to learn and put into practice.

Secondly, you need to strike like you absolutely mean it--with no hesitation. Assume your enemies will have no such reluctance, so you need to be sure you don't give them the chance.

[selfreliar]

[Aqua pulled another face.]

Ugh. I know, but I've never actually had to hit anyone before. It's not like I want to hit you, either.

[scourgingstars]

Aqua, I promise you couldn't hurt me if you tried.

[A short laugh followed that, as if it was a joke only Ardyn found particularly funny.]

Come at me with everything you have. Challenge is an excellent tutor.

[selfreliar]

I can't tell if that's a dig at my physique or not...

[Well, whatever. Weird joke or not, Ardyn was almost certainly right. He hunted demons or whatever for a living; on the other hand, any way you looked at Aqua, he was a beautiful teenage linguine noodle.

He sighed.]

Fine.

[Before he moved, though, Aqua closed his eyes. He imagined, for just a moment, what it would be like to stand armed like this in the hall on that day, just as his mother reached to open the door.

Then, with a sudden change of expression, he rushed Ardyn again, slashing horizontally with twelve years of pent-up rage and grief behind the wooden blade.]

[scourgingstars]

Much better! [The blade struck against Ardyn's own still held in one hand, his stance still lazy and careless as anything.] Now, remember not to extend your reach too far, or you won't be able to meet a counterattack-

[He moved to sweep Aqua's sword aside, intending to bring his own up in a strike to the shoulder.]

[selfreliar]

[Oop, yeah, guess what, this boy had no combat instincts at all. Easy hit for Ardyn. Aqua's eyes could follow the motion, at least, but his body had no idea what to do with the information in the short time he had to react.]

Shit--

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn pulled back slightly when it became obvious Aqua wasn't able to block, harsh strike landing as little more than a slightly hard tap. Casual as he was about his approach, it was increasingly obvious that 'skilled' was an understatement.]

Very good; you were able to see what I was doing. The next step is to train the rest of you to keep up with your eyes.

[selfreliar]

[Taking one hand off his sword to rub at the tapped shoulder, Aqua murmured:] Right…

[What his body wasn’t trained to respond to, however, his mind worked furiously to take apart. The desperation he’d just tapped into couldn’t be wrestled back so easily; might as well channel it into working things out his way.]

I’m right in thinking what you just did wasn’t easy, right? Pulling back so you wouldn’t hurt me. It looked like you had a lot more momentum than that.

[scourgingstars]

As with all things, restraint takes practice.

[Ardyn shrugged, eyes briefly darting around as he searched for the right words.]

I have been able to hold a sword since I was much younger than you, and acutely aware of my overabundance of strength for many years as well.

[...That felt like the best way to put it. Not a lie, but miles safely away from the full truth.]

Merely keeping up with that was impressive of you.

[selfreliar]

[It was almost painful to watch Ardyn contort himself to hide things. What did he think Aqua would do, judge him? Rat him out to the others? It wasn't like his own situation was all it appeared to be.

Of course, since it didn't serve him to corner Ardyn on any of it, Aqua let it go without comment.]

Well, good looks and observational skills are all I have going for me.

[That didn't sound like modesty, but old, resigned fact. Aqua returned both hands to his sword and moved his feet back into the positions Ardyn had shown him, then went slowly through the motion of swinging to see if he could identify when he'd extended too far.]

It's okay. I don't need to be as good as you, Ardyn. If I get to the point where I can make a difference before something like the other day happens again... that's plenty.

[scourgingstars]

Observation is as useful in a fight as physical strength. [He lightly tapped Aqua's arm with the shinai when he started to overextend, lowering the sword and gesturing towards his midsection to indicate the opening as he continued speaking.] Being able to pinpoint how to disarm or disable is a more valuable skill, as far as I'm concerned.

[He paused for a thoughtful second, laughing under his breath.]

You have admirable resolve. Reminds me of someone, really.

[selfreliar]

[Strictly speaking, what Aqua had was unresolved trauma, but potato, potahto.]

Hm?

[scourgingstars]

[you say that like ardyn knows the difference?]

Oh, just... [Another careful pause, but the elaboration was heartfelt and sincere:]

I know someone who is as sharp as steel and twice as unyielding. Most often think him cold or difficult, and he always had few friends--while there may be considerable truth to that, behind it all he is a deeply devoted person. So when I see your insistent need to see the others protected even at risk to yourself....I don't know, I suppose you make me think of that person at his best.

[selfreliar]

[Aqua looked a little piqued at the part about this guy having few friends--direct hit, the move was super-effective!--but then his expression turned more open and surprised, an instant before shuttering again.]

...Don't get me wrong. It's not like I have some pure, heroic motivation. I just... don't want to see anything like that again.

[His hands tightened on the hilt.]

[scourgingstars]

Oh, he surely would have said just the same. He saw the danger our people were in, and he loathed it. There was no heroism in his actions, and if there was purity it was only in his all-consuming need to put a stop to that needless suffering.

...We agreed on very few things, but on that point and perhaps that point alone we were of one mind. But does it matter one's motivation if their actions themselves are heroic? The right thing can be done for the wrong reason, as can the inverse; it doesn't change the results.

[selfreliar]

[...Grumblegrumble.]

I guess that's true. [Lies were love and all that.] Just don't go around thinking too highly of me, all right? I don't think I sound anything like that guy 'at his best.'

[Sharp as steel and twice as unyielding? No way.]

I'm... more fragile than that.

[scourgingstars]

Oh, don't worry. I don't think highly of him at all. [Ardyn smiled, mischievous and troublesome.]

And just between us, he could do with a little more fragility himself. He would have had plenty of friends back them, if he'd dared act like he was fallible.

[selfreliar]

Is he your brother or something.