32nd ♫ | every step we took that synchronized, every broken bone

[voicetested]

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. 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. 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

Comments

[prettybomberhead]

If that's the case, why are you taking so long?

[ One look at the mess still waiting to be taken care of tells her enough; despite how long Dia's been in here, the stack of ceramic plates coated in frosting and yellow crumbs is still quite daunting. It's a bit funny, she can't help but think, how even though they're down 16, the remainder of them still have an appetite to match their original number, and then some...

Still, the massive unfinished stack coupled with the fact that Dia's hands must be scalded right now (how long has she been working on that same dish?) tells her far more than words ever could. So while, yes, she gets the message, Dia should know that asking her to go away is expecting far too much. ]

Let me at least help you, okay? Scoot over, andiamo.

[ She doesn't even wait for a response; with all the grace of a bull, she barges right in next to her and turns the temperature of the water down, just so it's not hot enough to burn her hands. As much as she wants to cling to her right now, even Mari isn't so tactless that she would grab at her when she's so clearly distressed. ...Or, at least, she isn't now. Spend about a month and a half in hell and you start learning these things the hard way. She takes a dish and starts scrubbing; something else she had to learn the hard way, after 18 years of having this sort of thing done for her.

Only Mari can cut in so abruptly and do it with such a smirk on her face. She's looking for a reaction, obviously. That's just how she is. ]

The cake was very good, by the way. Did you sneak a piece in here when I wasn't looking?

[shinebrightlike]

We only have so many plates, Mari-san. And I daren't think too hard about what would happen if someone were to get sick eating from a dirty plate. I'm just being thorough.

[ It sounds like a laughably weak excuse even to Dia's ears but she doesn't look up until Mari all but elbows her away from the sink. Though she doesn't want to, she can't help but letting her gaze drift up to Mari's face where she knows there's going to be one of those smirks, like Mari's the cat who got the cream at Dia's expense. For a moment -- just a moment -- she hates it a little but just as quick it's washed away. She's too tired to be at all as hot blooded and fired up as she might have been able to get not a few hours ago.

With Mari taking one of the plates, Dia takes that as her cue to start drying. There's only one plate that she's actually cleaned so that's the only one she can make a show of toweling off before setting it to one side. ]

I don't want to eat just before going to bed, though. I don't have much of an appetite this late.

[ Not that it's ever really stopped her before.

She hates herself for being so short with Mari but she knows if the other girl manages to coax any more words out of her then everything else is going to come spilling out as well. And though she's loathe to admit it... Dia's scared. She doesn't really want to know what else is locked up in there, waiting to come tumbling out. ]

[prettybomberhead]

[ ...Hm. Usually that works to at least get a face, she figures; she can't help but pout a little, deflating from the lack of a response. But just as quickly, she's handing Dia her clean plate to dry off before taking another. Things like this always work better in a system, and as easy as it is for Mari to channel her energy into nonsense, she's always been a force to be reckoned with when she puts her mind to something, even when they were kids.

Besides, it's probably better for Dia to stick to toweling them off; it might be bad if she put her hands back in the hot water. We wouldn't want those lovely fingers of hers to get burned. ]

If you don't eat something, you'll starve, though! If I know you, Dia,[ and she certainly does ] you've probably barely eaten a thing all day. And I can't let you go to bed hungry, I won't allow it! I'll make sure you eat myself if I have to! Even if it's just whipped cream!

[ If the implication of that doesn't get her, she can't imagine much else will. Where'd all of that tact from earlier go..? ]

[shinebrightlike]

[ And it does. Because no matter how hard Dia tries to be cool and aloof, she's still Dia. And Mari knows exactly how to push her buttons. She gives a little yelp and her face colours red. She fumbles with the plate she's holding and very nearly drops it. And, of course, she looses her cool. ]

Mari-san! [ AND THERE GOES HER VOICE CRACKING ] Is now of all times right for that sort of-- that sort of debauchery?!

[ You can tell she's really flustered because she's using her big girl words now. ]

If you're simply trying to get a rise out of me, then please drop it this instant.

[ the fact that her voice is now measurable in multiple decibels is sort of telling that Mari has done a very good job of doing just that, though. ]