There are 2 types of murder mystery games – scripted and improvised. The majority of games are scripted. Every character has lines that they need to read out in order for the game to make sense. These can still be quite fun, but they have a lot of limitations and aren’t difficult to edit if you want to replay the game.
With improv games – players are given clues and suggested topics of conversations. They are free to say and act out their character is the way that suits them. This leads to a lot more funny moments and dramatic events. The plot evolves as each person needs to react to accusations, and hidden secrets that come to light.
Improv Murder Mystery Games
In our popular murder mystery game Shadows Over Shrouded Island, every character has a secret that no one else must find out about. Each character can only reveal their secret if someone guesses it correctly. These secrets can be based on a character’s personal life, career, hobbies, or even on other characters at the party. They also have actions that they can choose to perform (that are unique to every character).
This means that one character might only talk about certain things out loud if another person is present (action), which could lead to another character needing to distance themself to avoid their secret becoming public. There are a bunch of interwoven stories and connected secrets that could keep the game going for hours – if you choose so. And every character will feel deeply involved and invested in the overall story, before the murders even take place.
And that’s what makes improv murder mystery games so much fun! New and exciting things can, and will, happen every time to play an improv murder mystery.
Is It All Improv?
Here’s the thing. In order for your players to be able to figure out who the killer is, there has to be a little bit of structure. Every attendee will have a Biography, Talking Points, Costume Ideas, Secrets, Relationships and Actions. These are all provided to them on a handy foldable card that they can keep with them throughout the game. Their character’s improv will be based on all of this info that they have in front of them.
Clues to the murder will be “found” after each murder occurs. These clues are all pre-printed and will give attendees a more focused direction to place their suspicions. However, it will take a lot of talking and interrogating to actually find out who the killer is.
Games require at least this much structure, but all dialogue will be improvised by players. And it’s them getting into character and asking the right questions that will lead to finding the killer and discovering everyone’s secrets.
