Are there murder mysteries that feature fully rehearsed acted out scenes?

by C.J. Allan
(Melbourne)

Dressed to kill

I just wanted to say that I think your website is really great! You seem passionate about murder mystery parties and I can relate to that. I've often dreamed of owning a murder mystery weekend resort, what a fun business that would be.

I've decided I want to do a proper job of a MM for my 21st this October.

Although I did not find a pirate themed one for more than 16 people, I appreciate how resourceful and helpful your site is.

I have a venue picked out called the "Matthew Flinders Tavern" it sort of looks like the interior of a ship... if the ship in question had a tavern onboard...

Ideally I'm looking for something that has scenes that can be acted out by myself and a couple of my more theatrical friends,

Interactive but also observatory, I'm not sure if I can actually purchase anything like this, so will most likely have to try and write my own... a daunting thought.

I want something where guests dress up, are entertained by a show with performers but are also involved.

If I had found a good pirate murder mystery for 25+ people I might be willing to settle for that! but I have my heart set on 18th century pirate, and also for putting on a good show.

I will keep searching, maybe I can find some pirate comedy skits/play scripts I can buy.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

My response

Thanks for the lovely words about my site, I'm glad I could help.

I'm surprised that there aren't more pirate murder mystery games published, as it's a popular genre.

Writing your own murder mystery from scratch is likely to be hard work - it's probably a lot easier to add characters to an existing game. I mention this because although A Dead Man's Chest is written for up to 16 characters, there are actually 8 extra characters on the publisher's website for that game - most of them written by customers.

So you could add a few extra characters of your own.

A Dead Man's Chest isn't really a "performance" game, but I think you ought to be able to create a few short sketches for your friends to act out. Normally in these games there's a bit where everyone introduces themselves - you could write a couple of short scenes where the characters introduce themselves.

(If you do this, I'd love to hear all about it!)

I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Click here to learn more about A Dead Man's Chest.