Advice/Help Murder Mystery

[zippy]

This is somewhat a spin-off of this thread by still watching fma , but my question is slightly different and that thread is a bit old as well so I see no point in reviving it. As you can discern from the title, I'm interested in GMing a Murder Mystery RP. However, I don't have an interest in filling the cast with fluff characters to kill off. Given the subject of the RP and the necessity of killing characters, do you think this (along with a very plainly worded warning) is enough to attract people who don't mind their characters dying?

Additionally, I am open to other ideas as well. Only killing one character. Things to do for players whose characters have unfortunately died. Or even just the advice to not try for this sort of RP at all. Honestly, I'm open to anything and everything you folks can offer me, even if it's just passing thoughts or recountings of past experiences. Thanks Pals!

And sorry for the ping fma, but I felt it'd be a bit wrong to not mention your thread.

 

[zippy]

Of course that excluding people whose characters died is not right. So, why not including new characters that can be played by such players? Maybe people who have some type of connection with the character who died, for instance.

Actually... this is a really good idea. I think in my head I was wanting it to be a closed setting. Isolated. But perhaps if I open things up it brings opportunity for players to jump back into the game if their character bites the dust.

 

[zippy]

Oh, were you planning on some "murder lockdown" type of thing, if I may ask? Those are interesting! But yes, I guess that including new characters is a way of making it work

Yes, essentially! I have come to the decision to have NPCs that can be picked up by players after theirs dies.

 

[Grey]

I usually have four NPCs max to kill off, and I try to keep my scenarios like this to three or four players these days.
As long as players know they could die if they make a bad decision or the dice are especially unkind, it maintains the tension.

And you can threaten fates other than death. One of my most successful scenarios is four players trapped on an oil rig with a belligerant Glaswegian career criminal who is, technically, their boss.

 

[Onmyoji]

I've been thinking about that kind of rp too. But in a closed murder setting, while killing player characters is fun an brings tension, it would likely still exclude them from the subsequent scenes which is not fun for the players.

What I thought was, start off with killing a character. It can be an NPC or a player character, but a player must agree to have their character killed. But do it early, in the beginning of rp.

Then play the plot as rewind backwards, where the character was still alive and rp what could have lead to their death.

 

[SCSaya06]

I think it can be done so long as its properly communicated and built up well. In the event of a surprise kill leading to a whodunnit scenario, Onmyoji's suggestion works. Alternatively, you could have players ready more than one character in case they still want to continue. (Just don't kill both off immediately after each other)

And as with Grey's, having other fates than just death can be just as riveting. Losing items, getting trapped, being framed etc. can drive the tension just as well.