The problems with a Large-Group Murder Mystery Party
Why do I have to create my own Murder Mystery plot for my party? Typically Murder Mystery Party (MMP) is done in much smaller setting. Back in 2001, when I found "The Auction", I went through all options available. Most of the plots were for smaller setting like the "How to host a murder" series. "The Auction" was the biggest set at the time, for 12-40 people, and I had to write extra plot to accommodate 45 participants. Of course, technically you can accommodate more in the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater format, like the large group set from host-party.com, but the setup is different:
The large group murder games are designed for parties with 15 or more guests. You'll need to provide 6-8 people willing to take part in the mystery as the primary suspects, victim(s), detective and killer. They'll have full knowledge of the script, which means they'll know whodunit. The rest of your guests will take on the role of detective and it will be their job to solve the case. Essentially, everyone will have a crucial part in the mystery.
"The Auction" on the other hand, is a "Free Form" style. Everybody has a part to play, but no script to memorize. The Murder happened before the party, therefore everyone at the party could be a suspect, and everyone was trying to solve the murder. But underneath of all that, each one also had their own plot line that they were trying to accomplish.
It was almost perfect, especially since all of my participants were from our youth group, they have known each others for years, so there was no problem get in characters and interact among themselves. It was a huge success.
Except for the ending. It seemed kind of rush. Even though we went through the process and nailed the murderer, but I felt sorry that all the personal sub-plot lines were glossed over at the end. It would have been better to linger on those for a while longer.
In retrospect, what happened here is the economy of scale. A big event but have no depth (where people don't know each other and don't participate, Dinner Theater style) then the event was suppose to be just a rock throw in the lake making a splash in the water. But if we have much more depth (where people know each other, where they personally committed some stakes into the event like researching character backgrounds, gathering clues, dressing/playing the part) then the rock will grow into a boulder, and the effects of the splash would even be bigger.
Principle: The impacting Splash would be the result of: 1) How big is the rock, 2) How deep/wide is the water body, and 3) The appropriate contact point (don't miss the middle of the lake). Then there also need to be enough space for the aftershock waves to be subsided.
Application: So, what I have right now is a big lake (my estimate attendance for my event would be 70 people who know each other well already). What I need is the big rock (the event itself), a target (how could the people invest themselves to the event, how the event come into contact with the people), and the environmental space (how are they going to anticipate and process this event; an on-line system could be used to facilitate this).
1952Hollywood Design Requirement: Have an on-line site so everyone can do pre-Game prepartion and post-Game processing.
This is why I need to take a blog space to think through this stuff. At the end of the event, I can even offer this as background commentary for the party.
Theological Implication: The big lake is the community of faith, we can continually foster the environment space to anticipate and process rocking events. Rocks got thrown from heaven into the lake all the time to make waves. Really big one like asteroid, once happens will change the landscape forever. Smaller rocks could be thrown by individuals, or even groups, or God's hand and the impact could be estimated by studying the contact point.
Interesting huh? I wouldn't have guessed that I arrived at that implication above...
posted by mar13 @ 7:42 AM
1 Comments:
Ok I've always want to try one of these murder mystery party games, but just haven't had the chance to yet. I agree with you about the smaller party convenience. I'd rather have to few people at my party than too many people.
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