by swaterman1 » October 28th, 2007, 9:14 pm
I hosted my first ever murder mystery party last night for my Mom's Group as our Mom's Night Out function for October. I decided to include a few of the husbands, since my own was going to be here at the house.
None of my attendees had ever gone to one of these events, so I was concerened about the *flow* of the whole thing. Would people *get into* their character? Would they instincitvely know what to do without an actual script? The idea of an unscripted party intimidated me, but after reading the forum, I decided it at least seemed a better option than the scripted kind....
Boy was I right! I shouldn't have worried. I made sure to try and assign characters according to personality...giving the main 8 to the people I knew wouldn't back out at the last minute and trying to give the shyer people in the group easier roles to play. I hit the right note with this group. The acting started immediately and continued on throughout the night. I have a three story townhouse, and all floors were used simultaneously. At one point, after the initial murder, several guests were on the 3rd floor screaming "Someone call 911!!!!" I really thought that my neighbors were going to call an ambulance, lol.
To my surprise, the secondary characters were a hoot. They really made something out of their roles. There were two subsequent murders as we discovered Montgomery and Miles in the bathroom together... dead. I swear, this party went off without a hitch and FAR FAR FAR exceeded my expectations!! I have had at least 70% of the guests email me the day after to make sure I put them on the invitation list to the next one I host.
For those who worry like I did that they *play* would be hard to get off the ground.. don't worry!!! If people RSVP for your party, they know what they are getting into! And believe me, you will be surprised at how well they get into their characters. Of course, my hat is off to the creator of this game. AWESOME work.
A tip: have a bartender if you plan to serve drinks. It really helps you, as the host, to enjoy your event. We set up a table with drinks. Originally, we were going to just have Matt Heart mix drinks, but an extra guest showed up, so we made him do it, lol. It worked out great. He even had a tip jar and shared his tips with his wife (Blair) who subsequently ended up the wealthiest player.
This party literally could have gone on an additional 2 hours, but we cut it short (at the 3 hour point) so people could return home for babysitters. We didn't serve dinner; I had everyone bring a snackto share at the main table and the action continued almost seamlessly all night.
Thanks for a wonderful experience. We will be playing Four Deuces next, and I literally cannot wait. You have created a new addict!!