[Gamemode/Event] Murdery Mystery™

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Phaseus
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[Gamemode/Event] Murdery Mystery™

Post by Phaseus » #657982

Preface:
This is a gamemode idea that I've had churning in my head since... an hour ago, while I was in the shower.

I've been playing on /tg/station for about six years now, and out of all the servers, Manuel has always been my favorite thanks to the MRP setting.
Because if this, I've been trying to think up some gamemodes that spark roleplay, and especially intrigue. This gamemode involves 1-4 semi-antagonist players in differing roles.

Enter: The Murdery Mystery™!

There's been a murder! A body has been discovered in the maintenance tunnels, or the bomb testing site, or in some other godforsaken location around the station.
The corpse (a randomly-generated non-sentient carbon) has too many wounds to identify, and the murder weapon is nowhere to be found.

This is the basis for the game-mode, and where all the different roles come into play.

- The Murderer
You did it. You can't hide that fact from yourself, but you CAN had it from the crew, if you play your cards right.
You have a set of objectives centered around shifting blame and blending in.
If there is a Witness present, they will have some form of incriminating evidence that could lead to your arrest, or worse...
You may have additional objectives centered around The Witness and whatever evidence they might have.
Edit: Meant to put this in during the initial post, but it goes without saying, you start with a random bloody murder weapon. A knife, a revolver, maybe even a traitor weapon.

- The Witness
Someone committed a murder, and you have some sort of evidence that might help station security track down the killer.
You start with an incriminating photo, a DNA sample, or an anonymous tip.
You aren't sure exactly who killed John Doe, however, and because of this you might find it difficult to trust anyone...

- The Framed
You've been framed! Someone has false evidence that could get you convicted! Do whatever it takes not to get caught!
An alternative to The Victim that has an option to play as a more traditional antagonist.
You can try and prove your innocence, fabricate even MORE fake evidence, or even commit a REAL murder to cover things up. Of course, now you have another problem on your hands...
Whatever happens, stay alive, and outside of that shuttle brig at all costs.

- The Detective
If there is a detective on board at shift-start, they will also gain a special, station-aligned role.
An anonymous tip informs him that a murder has been committed in a department or otherwise general location.
The goal of The Detective should be obvious here; arrest that scumbag so they can face justice at Centcom!
Alternatively, if they were to have an... 'unfortunate' accident...
Edit: Another idea I had is that the detective wouldn't start the round with their special role. They'd need to find the body, the location of which is only known to the other roles.

- The Victim
A plot twist, the Victim has come back as a specter, seeking retribution for their unfortunate demise!
This is a ghost-role that can be spawned midround in order to give the detective some assistance if the Murderer has been particularly evasive.
It will not spawn if any of the other roles are dead and/or not present.
The Victim is able to be seen by the Detective, and only the Detective. The detective cannot hear the dead, of course, but the ghost will have the ability to point in a direction with a short cooldown.
Ideally, they should not be able to influence the round too much, but should be able to serve as a sort of Observer+.
Admittedly, this is the weakest role with the potential for grief (OOK IN ICK) so I'd be totally cool if this one didn't make it to the final cut.
I just wanted to have some references to detective/ghost games like Murdered: Soul Suspect and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.
Maybe instead of being seen, the Victim could manipulate some objects around the station with a short cooldown. Red phones aren't used anywhere, right?

Why it's good for the game:
A lot of gamemodes tend to turn dynamic games into a chaotic mess. It makes it difficult to have meaningful interactions, even on MRP.
Having an additional mode in the pool that cools the start of the round down without removing the interesting bits might be healthy for the player-base. Having the whole station go on a manhunt, or pass theories and secrets around could have people at each others throats out of sheer suspicion.

Another point is that these roles can be handed out to 'normal' crew so they have an alternative goal in case they don't 'roll antag' for the third round in a row. Having four different roles seeded into one gamemode will start to draw barriers between the normal antagonists, the Mystery group, and the rest of the crew. These barriers make for great RP when trying to play around them.

Why it's bad for the game:
I haven't given MUCH thought to how this would actually play out in a real round. Maybe it's better to leave as an admin event idea, but I'd really like to get inputs on how this might work in an automated mode, whether there could be more useful roles, or if this even sounds like an interesting idea in the first place.
Last edited by Phaseus on Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rohen_Tahir
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Re: [Gamemode/Event] Murdery Mystery™

Post by Rohen_Tahir » #658011

amogus
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Phaseus
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Re: [Gamemode/Event] Murdery Mystery™

Post by Phaseus » #658033

Rohen_Tahir wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 9:18 pmamogus
You have no fucking idea how difficult it was for me NOT to make any 'mogus references.
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blackdav123
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Re: [Gamemode/Event] Murdery Mystery™

Post by blackdav123 » #658039

I remember one time the crew was being terrorized by a heretic so I grouped up with a few people in the bar which had been fortified to keep the heretic out and we teamed up to solve the mystery. As is custom on a mystery hunt, we immediately split up into groups. Unfortunately for the miner I split off with, he was my sacrifice target. Deception is surprisingly easy as an antagonist if you just overdo the roleplaying and seem like a larper to everyone else rather than someone out for blood.
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Phaseus
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Re: [Gamemode/Event] Murdery Mystery™

Post by Phaseus » #658062

blackdav123 wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:32 am I remember one time the crew was being terrorized by a heretic so I grouped up with a few people in the bar which had been fortified to keep the heretic out and we teamed up to solve the mystery. As is custom on a mystery hunt, we immediately split up into groups. Unfortunately for the miner I split off with, he was my sacrifice target. Deception is surprisingly easy as an antagonist if you just overdo the roleplaying and seem like a larper to everyone else rather than someone out for blood.
I think that's a perfect example of how people should be playing antagonists, if they have the experience to do so. Sounds like it was a fun round.
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