FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What is required of a referee?
A: A Referee should have some basic presentation skills, a reputation for fairness and the respect of others. It is not necessary that the Referee be a great entertainer, in fact all the Referee has to do is follow the instructions in the Referee's Guide and lay out three sets of clues during the game. It may be necessary to answer some simple questions during the game, generally these questions can truly be classified as simple. A typical example of a question you might get is, "how do I talk to other characters?" The answer is common sense but can sometimes elude players who think it should be more complicated than just going and talking to them. The answer to almost all questions are extremely simple.

Q: Can the referee play a character as well?
A: Yes! The referee will usually play a character like everyone else but will explain the rules at the beginning and do the wrap up at the end. During the actual game the referee will generally have only about 5 to 10 minutes when s/he will need to act as a referee.

Q: Can I assign the characters myself? How do I know which ones are the most important?
A: YES you can assign the characters yourself. The kit explains how to do this and there is a ‘module number’ on each character envelope to indicate the importance of the character.

Q: Will some characters be more central to the plot than others?
A: Not really. There is a central public plot usually involving the murderer however the huge number of subplots means that there really aren't any central characters. It's important to have the characters from the public plot played though. Every character is the centre of their own adventure. The level of involvement is mostly up to each player.

Q: How hard is it to fulfill the costume requirements?
A: We keep the costume descriptions simple. This enables those that are not too keen on costumes to easily satisfy the requirements and gives a starting point to those that want to go all the way with the costume.

Q: Should we have a sit down meal?
A: It is best to have a buffet if you have the choice. This gets players moving around and socializing.

Q: Do you provide place cards for seating or should I make some myself?
A: NO! Absolutely not! We do not provide place cards and strongly recommend that you don’t either. Just follow the Referee's guide. It is important that people get up and move around. If they have place cards they will assume that they are not allowed to move around and this will have a detrimental effect on their enjoyment of the game.

Q: Can we have people watch the game?
A:  It is inadvisable to allow spectators as the presence of spectators makes many people self conscious and it can curb their enjoyment. It is not a show, it's a game.

Q: How much room is required?
A: Generally make sure you have enough room to seat 20% to 30% more people than you will actually have attending.

Q: Should we play music during the party?
A: Music makes little difference to the enjoyment level of the murder mystery party.

Q: Is each character important?
A: YES!  

Q: Can we still have the party if someone can't turn up. 
A: Yes. Few things in life come off perfectly and for this reason the scenarios are written to be able to be played with some characters missing. This is explained fully in the Referee's Guide in the kit.

Q: Exactly how does it work?
A: Put simply, everyone at the party has their own character with it’s own Aims and Objectives while other characters have sometimes opposing, sometimes complimentary Aims and Objectives. This sets the scene for drama, conflict, betrayal, heroics and success and challenge. In short, it’s an adventure! The system has been honed over almost a decade and works reliably when you follow the instructions in the manual provided with the kit.

Q: What decorations should we put up to set the mood?
A: This is very much up to you. We have found that decorations do not affect the enjoyment level of the party very much. The simple scenario descriptions can be used to trigger your imagination about what might be good for your group in your venue.

Q: Should we have the meal before, during or after the party?
A: It is best to have the meal during the party, but after the few minutes it takes to explain the rules at the beginning of the game.

Q: Do we stop playing the game to eat?
A: No. If there is a meal during your party, simply play your character while eating.

Q: How does it all get started?
A: The referee explains the rules and then one of the characters makes a scripted speech. Some players may be a bit unsure of what to do. This lasts at most two minutes and only requires one person to start talking privately to someone else to get the game under way.

Q: Do we get clues through out the game?
A: Yes. The referee will regularly place clues in an accessible area for every character to take through out the game.

Q: How do we know when the game ends?
A: The scenarios are written with a natural wind down effect weaved into them. The referee will also make announcements if necessary warning of the impending end of the game.