Murder at the Magic College

Introduction
Rules
Characters
- Major Characters
- Minor Characters
FAQ

Introduction

On Sunday 29th August, Ruth, JTA, Paul, and Dan will host a very special Murder Mystery night as part of the celebrations of their housewarming at their new home in Oxford - Earth.

This page acts as a resource for those guests with whom we hope to share the ocassion.

NEW! Rules

Minor Characters
If you're playing a Minor Character, you're welcome to ignore these rules; they really only apply to the Major Characters.
No Lying
You may not lie in response to a direct question (except where specifically permitted to do so by your character sheet or a script), but you may be evasive if you think it will work out in your character's interest to do so. Similarly, you are not allowed to fabricate evidence!
The Murderer Can Lie
However, if you become aware that you are the murderer, then you are allowed (and encouraged) to lie about anything you wish in order to escape detection.
Getting Started
Your Character Sheet will present you with a few suggestions of things you might like to try to get started - people you should speak to and things you could bring up with them. If you get stuck, take a look at your character sheet: have you followed all of the suggestions? Have you checked your Goals recently? Is there any way you can use your Cards to help you? Are there any leads you've got that you can follow up by asking questions of the other characters?
Find Your Allies
You are encouraged to make friends among the other guests, work out who you and your allies can mutually trust, and share information in order to reach your goals. You can also "play nice" with a character you don't trust in order to try to leech pertinent information from them.
Plot Items
All plot items that are relevant to the game (and can be traded, given away, stolen, etc.) will have a label attached to them to identify them.
Cards
Every character has a Secret card, describing something that they'd rather not let the others know (although it's not necessarily the biggest secret in their life right now) and one or more Spell and Ability cards. Some of these can be used only a finite number of times, while others can be used as often as their owner likes. Neither Secret, Spell nor Ability cards can be used by anybody other than their owner, but they can be shown to others, if you like. When you use a Spell or Ability that can only be used a finite number of times, mark the card once each time it is used.
Goals
Your primary goal is to determine the identity of the murderer (unless you are the murderer, in which case your primary goal is to get away with it!). However, your character will have a number of secondary goals, some of which will not become clear until later in the game, which you are also encouraged to try and fulfil. It is deliberately difficult - perhaps impossible - for you to fulfil all of your objectives, so you may have to sacrifice your chance at one in order to have a better chance at another.
Roleplaying
Working out who the murderer is and achieving your character's goals is one thing, but what's more important is that everybody gets into character and has a great time! If you're torn between two courses of action, ask yourself: what would my character do?
The End Of The Game
At the end of the game, there will be a vote on who the murderer is. The character who gets the most votes will be determined to be the murderer and will be executed. For the purpose of the execution, only votes from major characters who are still alive will be counted.
Contradictions
If you have any questions about the rules or anything seems unclear or contradictory, just get the attention of the host and they'll try to help you. But remember: the host won't tell you anything that you ought to be able to work out for yourself.

Characters

The following characters have been announced:

Major Characters

These characters will have a significant role to play, Spells and Abilities to use, and one of them (other than the host or the deceased, of course)... is the murderer!

For this game, the characters are divided into three distinct classes: the faculty, the students, and the muggles. The faculty are older mages, respected in their fields, some of them with powerful magical abilities. The students are young wizards and witches, just coming into their own and beginning to harness their powers. The muggles are regular non-magical people, but that doesn't mean that they don't have a trick or two up their sleeves.

Name	Class	Description	Played by...
Dandalf the Greying	Host	A wise old wizard whose arrival was foretold by the clattering of the radiators when the central heating came on this morning. He arrived just in time for dinner, as is his way, and - as the senior wizard in attendance - he'll be in charge of making sure that the murder investigation goes smoothly, and acting as your host for the game.	Dan Q
Lewis Sloman	The Deceased	The deceased, found dead in his office, seemingly of a heart attack - but all isn't as it seems. He was a moderately well-respected academic but it was his tight and effective management of the College's finances that earned him the highest regard. A shrewd businessman, he famously upset the hundred year-old balance of finance by shifting the research and teaching priorities to "get the most out of each gold coin."	N/A
Alan Tworings	Faculty	Professor of Cryptomagicology - that is, the decipherment of ancient spells and texts. A slightly eccentric old fool, Alan spends most of his time buried deep in some ancient tome or another, peering through his spectacles or his magnifying glass in an effort to decode some ancient runes or a long-forgotten curse.	Andy R
Sybil Scrawny	Faculty	The college's only lecturer in the field of Divination, not least because she single-handedly discredits her own field with prophecies are so vague as to be useless. Often drinking alcohol well before midday and frequently even during the classes she teaches, she's mocked as much by the staff as she is by the students (many of whom she can be seen with at the bar on an evening).	Doreen H
Vesper Martini	Faculty	Head of the department of Potions, a no-nonsense professor with a disdain for muggles and undergraduates. A practical man with a hands-on attitude to magic and a tendency to gesticulate wildly while he's talking (which is almost all of the time), Vesper is very good at what he does, but doesn't much care for anything else, except perhaps for a particular star pupil of his.	JTA
Maggie Vixen	Faculty	A researcher in the field of necromancy and the spirit world, her macabre fascination with the morbid is both as dark - and as controversial - as her sexy and suggestive outfits. A favourite among the male students, this modern witch is unashamed to use her looks to get what she wants. Her office, her classroom, and (so some students say) her bedroom are decorated with the skulls of strange and foreign beasts.	Liz H
Eric Lazyman	Faculty	The head librarian in the College's extensive libraries, Eric is responsible for looking after magical texts and ensuring that they don't fall into the wrong hands: also, that they're returned on time and that people are quiet in the reading room. His extended exposure to Ω-rays (which are inevitably produced when any sufficiently large volume of magical texts are stored in one place) has rendered him incapable of following a train of thought for any extended period of time: during longer sentences, he'll often drift off and...	Rory L
Harriet Plotter	Student	A prodigious young student of magic who is almost as talented as she is obnoxious. Full of herself, she sees most of the academic staff as being lesser mages than herself and thinks she "knows it all" already. Harriet carries a wand that she was given as a baby - perhaps as a magical "comfort blanked" - but insists that she could give it up whenever she likes. She has an unusual lightning-bolt shaped birthmark on her forehead.	Liz V
Daniel Paulson	Student	The college's newest addition, a student who doesn't seem to have a clue what magic is really about. He carries a black-and-white wand and insists on doing "tricks" involving cards and similar props (not always successfully). Without a hint of magical talent whatsoever, it's only his family's significant donations to the establishment that keeps him enrolled. He uses words like "abracadabra" and "shazam" in place of expletives.	Andrew S
Ronald Ferret	Student	A snivelling little undergraduate with an inferiority complex and a tendency to assume that he's to blame for anything that goes wrong. Over the last few years, he's specialised in no less than four different disciplines, but managed to excel at none of them. Ronald is an acne-covered teenager determined to lose his virginity as fast as he possibly can.	Simon G
Eskarina Smythe	Student	A young witch with a sickening obsession with romantic literature and stories of true love. She's a promising young potion-maker but for the fact that she constantly neglects her homework. Like many witches, she's accompanied by her familiar, Greykin, wherever she goes. For a witch, she dresses in a particularly feminine - perhaps even "girly" - way.	Ruth V
Old Betty	Muggle	The green-fingered college gardener, highly dedicated to her job of maintaining the campus' gardens and the upkeep of both it's magical and non-magical plants. Nobody knows if she owns any clothes other than her characteristic gardening overalls and wellies. Speaking in gruff tones, she's often one of the first people new students meet, as she shouts at them to stop walking on the magical grass (before it eats them).	Siân R
Mark Woodbury	Muggle	Wide-eyed tourist from the "muggle world" (Earth) who hopes to better-understand what magic is and how it works so that he can make a magic-themed amusement park when he gets back. Ludicrously rich and with an infantile inquisitiveness, he tries his hardest to join in with conversations between the spellcasters, but sometimes he just makes up long words to sound clever.	Becky H
Melinda Spoolreel	Muggle	An apothecary, come to the Magic College to sell supplies of magical herbs to the spellcasters. She's a simple, plain-spoken lady who lives in a run-down cottage in a fragrant herb garden some miles away. Melinda hikes to the College twice a week by foot, and is a well-recognised face around the campus, often seen fleecing some new student by tricking them into buying far more supplies than they actually need.	Rosalind W
Alison Sloman	Muggle	The wife of the deceased. Just a muggle, which - while pretty-much acceptable now - was a source of gossip and controversy when she and Lewis, a non-muggle, married 20 years ago. She's a dictatorial and short-tempered woman whose presence on campus is usually accompanied by the closing of Lewis Sloman's office door and followed by a few days of him being somewhat more meek than previously.	Jenna

Minor Characters

There will be a supporting cast of Minor Characters. Guests playing these characters will not be required to stay in character at all times and none of them are the murderer. However, their character might know something about the murder, so don't forget to talk to them!

The Minor Characters may include some of the following:

Name	Description	Played by...
Mr. Plumpy	A muggle. He and his wife are visiting their son, who's a student at the Magic College.	NEW! Andy P
Mrs. Plumpy	A muggle. She and her husband are visiting their son, who's a student at the Magic College.	NEW! Jemma W
Hannah Monk	A postgraduate student, writing her thesis on The Evolution of Magical Language.	NEW! Zara B
Dirk the Dragonslayer	A boy from Wales who fell through a magic portal and now lives here in the world of magic.	NEW! Paul M
Zach Kralik	A vampire from the world of magic, disguised as a human to go to the muggle world to hunt and feed.	NEW! Peter H
Keiko MacNeille	Half-Japanese, half-Irish witch writing a dissertation on the History of Magical Theology in Indonesia.	Available as an 'extra'
Brenda Sweetpea	The head chef at the Magic College's cafeteria.	Available as an 'extra'
Lord Tomjon	Ruler of a local castle, invited to the Magic College to open the High-Energy Spells Laboratory, later this week.	NEW! John T

Frequently Anticipated Questions (FAQ)

How do I get to Earth?: Follow the directions. If you need to know the password, ask a resident of Earth.
Can I stay over?: Yes! Please do! Just (a) let us know and (b) bring a sleeping bag, because you're likely to end up on a couch or even on the floor. You're also welcome to camp in the garden, if you bring a tent, or else we can provide details of nearby accomodation on request.
Can I make a weekend of it?: Yes! Please do! We'd love to hang out with you over the whole bank holiday weekend. Catch up with the Earthlings, help Paul unpack his boxes, play video games and board games... all while Dan stresses out while he finishes the inevitable last-minute tweaks to the Murder Mystery script, filling in plot-holes and re-writing whole characters to make up for the one person who's decided at the last minute not to come!
It feels like you've really written this character "for" me? / Is [person] going to be the murderer again? / How do you choose who gets which character?: In order to ensure fairness, Dan writes all of the characters and then presents a short description of each - basically the one you see above - to Ruth. Ruth then allocates characters to guests, based on whatever the hell criteria she chooses. This ensures that the person who chooses which character is the murderer is not the same person that chooses which player is that character, and keeps things fair. It's also fascinating because Ruth and Dan inevitably have different opinions about who would be well-suited to what role, and leads to some interesting character development on the night.
What should I wear?: If you're a Major Character, you're expected to be in costume. Take a look at your character description for some ideas, and use your imagination. Faculty might want to consider professor-style tweed, or wizard robes and hat, or something else entirely. Students could dress as conventional "Earth" students, or in wizardy robes, "good witch" wear, or something else entirely. All of the non-Muggles should have an air of magic to them: consider bringing a wand, staff, or pointy hat! Muggles perhaps have the hardest job: look at your character description and think - what would that person wear? You can always get in touch with us if you want suggestions or want to run an idea by us.

NEW! If you're a Minor Character, you don't have to come in costume (but you can if you like!).
Will the murderer know that they are the murderer?: Not to begin with: at the start of the game, everybody will believe that they are innocent - we've found that this makes it easier for the murderer to lie convincingly (they don't know they're lying!) and keeps the tension up. The murderer will be quietly advised that "they did it", and how, at some point during the night, and will then have to lie in order to protect themselves and attempt to get away with it!
I have special dietary requirements.: Please tell us! Note, however, that there'll be copious quantities of vegetarian-friendly food, so there's no need to let us know that you're a veggie.
What do I do if I get stuck or confused during the night?: Just talk to the host and he'll set you right, as best he can.
I've never been to a Murder Mystery before. I'm scared.: Don't worry: it's pretty easy, once you've gotten into the swing of things. A quick alcoholic beverage earlier in the evening can really help you to get into the spirit of roleplaying your character, and the evening will begin with some scripted dialogue (reading from a script) to make things as easy as possible. After this, your character sheet will have a few guidelines of who you might want to talk to and what you might like to say. Soon, you'll have found out who your friends (and enemies!) are, and you'll be ready to start collecting clues.
I've done Murder Mysteries before: how is this one different?: If you've used a Murder Mystery boxed set before, you're likely to find that this style of game offers a similar experience, but a great deal more flexibility: far less is scripted, and you'll be encouraged to come up with your own lines of enquiry. Also, you'll have a few special abilities or magical powers that you can use to manipulate others, to discover truths, or to keep your enemies at bay! If you've been to a freeform-style Murder Mystery before, there are still a few surprises in store during this one that will keep you on your toes, particularly towards the end of the game!
Why do some/most of the characters have "To be announced" for the person playing them?: Most of them are actually assigned, but have been left as "To be announced" until we're absolutely sure that all of the people who've been assigned to them are able to come: in the unlikely event that anybody has to cancel (it's happened before!), we may need to re-jigger some people around. The actual names will appear on or soon after Saturday 21st August 2010.