Tips for Death on the Gambia

by David Learoyd
(Cooma NSW Australia)

I am hosting this game this weekend. I am a little unsure about a couple of things.

The "Evaluation" ability; does it mean that if someone negotiates a price they have to pay the price that the person with the ability has? I don't really understand how the ability is going to be used.

Also, does Sharpe ever give the reward for finding his daughter? If so, where does the money come from?

I am playing Sam Ironheart. What if someone tries to kill me?!

Will all these things become obvious on the night?

Any other advice you can provide?

My response:

Hi - this is normally something I would recommend you use the Freeform Games discussions forums for (as I can't normally answer these types of questions). But I know quite a bit about Death on the Gambia so I can answer your queries:

Evaluation just gives the person with the skill knowledge of the "true" worth of an item. What they then do with that knowledge is up to them - but it should prove useful in negotiations.

The reward for Sharpe's daughter happens "off camera" at the end of the game. If someone wanted to pay off a debt, however, they might regard his daughter (should she be in the game!) as a walking pile of cash!

It may well happen that someone tries to kill you. As the host, I recommend that you play to lose (see here for more on that). So at best, you should simply try to get away. At worst, your character will be killed!

I hope that helps - have a great party and tell me all about it when it's over.

Click here to learn more about Death on the Gambia.

One too few for Death on the Gambia

by Tim Fowler

Firstly congratulations on such a great product! I found you on the web and made the purchase without being too certain how I'd find it, but I've been delighted. It's so much better than the boxed set plots you see in all the high street shops!

That having been said, I have a bit of a problem. Myself and 9 others are renting a farmhouse in Devon in a few weeks - ideal for Death on the Gambia, I thought. However, one of our number is now not going to be able to come, and it's too far from home for anyone else to travel up, for a late night, mid-week.

I appreciate that it might be best to cancel the murder party, and do it another time - but it would be a shame and a bit of a disappointment.

Can you please recommend a best (least worst?) way to run Death on The Gambia for only 7 of the 12 original cast?

I'm expecting you to recommend I wait until I have more guests, but any advice you can offer would be gratefully received.

My response:

Hi - I'm glad you like Death on the Gambia. If you need to drop a character, I suggest that you drop Jane Carter. Hopefully you can drop her without affecting the major plots too much.

Jane does have a couple of key items with her - so you could say that she's taken ill in her cabin. Then if anyone thinks to check, they can find the items there.

I hope that helps - do let me know how your party goes (Click here for the form).

Late Characters in Death on the Gambia

I'm thinking about hosting Death on the Gambia, but one of my guests will be arriving an hour late...is it possible for them to still be a part of it (could I just cast them as one of the non-essential characters?)?

My response:

It will be hard for your late guests to fit into the game particularly well as after an hour or so the game will be in full flow.

I would agree that they should have one of the non-essential characters, but the trick will be to get them into the flow of the game as quickly as possible.

If you can time your guests arrival with the game-break at Mansa Konko, then that would be a good time to introduce the new character. If I were you I'd get everyone to formally introduce themselves, and allow and extra 20-30 minutes before allowing deaths to occur.

I hope that helps - have a good party.

Click here to learn more about Death on the Gambia.

Could Death on the Gambia accommodate 15 players?

by Claire Bell
(Glasgow)

I bought the Cudham Riding Club game from you years ago and had a brilliant night.

It's my 35th birthday in November and I'm looking for a game for 15 people. I really like the look of Death on the Gambia, but it only accommodates 11. Is it possible to add a few "witness" type characters. Some of my guests are a bit shy and would probably be quite happy to hang back a bit.
May not be possible at all, but thought it was worth asking.

My response:

Officially, Death on the Gambia is for up to 11 players, but there are five extra characters that you also get that have been written by other hosts - so you can easily cater for up to 16 players.

You will get access to the free extra characters when you buy the game from Freeform Games.

Click here to learn more about Death on the Gambia.

The host plays the Captain?

by Sandra
(SanJose, CA)

What if the host is a hostess?

My response:

I'm guessing that you're talking about Death on the Gambia, where the host (or hostess) may play Sam Ironheart, the captain of the Christabel?

In this case it doesn't matter if you are a host or a hostess as Sam is a gender neutral character - and can be a Samuel or a Samantha.

Admittedly a female captain is probably less realistic than a male captain, given that Death on the Gambia is set in 1939. But it's not impossible...

And Death on the Gambia gets much stranger than that!

Gender of Characters

by Josh
(Vancouver, WA)

I'm thinking about purchasing the Death On The Gambia game, but I'm hosting a party with all men. I love the sound of the game...so I was wondering if it would work if I just made three of the female characters male. I might need to switch some of their history around, and perhaps their abilities, but I'd be willing to do that. Do you think it would work?

My response:

Yes, it would work. It obviously needs a bit of rewriting (and when you buy the game you can request a Word copy from Freeform Games), but I don't think it would be that difficult.

Click here to learn more about Death on the Gambia.

Replayability

by HC
(US)

Hello,

I'm planning on purchasing one of these games, probably Death on the Gambia (depending on my final guest list) and I was curious about how re-playable these games are. I understand that there is no script, but by the end of the night character's secrets are revealed, correct?

I saw that you said you have hosted the Death on the Cambia game three times, was this with three different sets of people? Can the same people play the same game again? If so, how would you recommend carrying this out?

Thank you,
Hazel

My response:

I have run Death on the Gambia three times, but each time it was with different people. It's very hard to play it again as everyone's secrets will be basically the same.

If you are re-running it you might be able to re-cast one or two people who have already played, but if you do that you need to brief them not to spoil the game for those that haven't played before.

I hope that helps.

Click here to learn more about Death on the Gambia.

Timing For Death on the Gambia

can you advise approx how long the Death on the Gambia game takes?

We have a 3 hour limit in the venue.....Thanks

My response:

Death on the Gambia takes about 2.5 hours to play through, so you have enough time.

However, you will need everyone to be prepared to play when they arrive, though. I find there's often a bit of time as people gather and read through their characters. So if you're time limited, I would send out characters in advance, and stress the importance of arriving on time.

You may also lose some of the wind-down time at the end, where people informally swap stories with each other. But there's no reason that can't happen somewhere else - in a cafe or somewhere else.

I hope that helps.