So, I've been working hard on editing my Steampunk Murder Mystery Party, "Death in the Skies!" I'm hoping to release it for sale in the next two months, fingers crossed. I'll definitely keep you updated on that. But I also have committed to write another Murder Mystery Party for the Utah Steampunk Society this fall. I've been thinking that maybe sharing my process on here could help me stay focused on both projects, and maybe even be useful information for some of you; I've had a few people asking me lately about how to write a project like this.
This blog post series is meant to be me sharing the things that I've learned so far in this process, as well as the things I'm continuing to learn as I go. I'll be breaking down different elements that go into making one of these games--many of which are elements that also go into writing other projects, like a more traditional mystery story.
For both of my parties, I've found that I started with choosing the setting, so that's where we'll begin.
Why start with a setting?
Obviously setting is an important component to any story. But I think it's a crucial piece to keep in mind with a murder mystery party. The setting is probably the first thing players will learn about the game, and it's going to have a big impact on the kind of characters you'll be using.
I like to break setting down into two pieces; the world of the game, and the specific location of the game. The world can be a time period, or a fantasy world, or even our own real world. The location is the tiny piece of the world that is the stage for this particular adventure.
For "Death in the Skies!", some of the decisions about setting were made for me. Since I was designing this game for a steampunk group, the world would need to be a Steampunk one. That means sometime in the 1800s, but with little need for precise historical accuracy. (This can vary from creator to creator. Some Steampunk stories lean heavily on real history, weaving together fact and fiction to make a compelling alternate history. This is awesome. But Steampunk is a genre that thrives on anachronisms and historical inaccuracies, so it also has room for stories that color far outside the lines of real history. For me, personally, that's more fun.)
Since my world had to be steampunk, the next part was choosing a location in a steampunk world. The event that "inspired" my project took place on an airship, so that was always an option on my list of ideas. I did consider some other locations as well, but I found that an airship has a lot of features that make it a great choice for a murder mystery.
Airships are quintessential steampunk
Airships have become a staple of the steampunk genre, and for good reason! Because interest in these vehicles went down with the Hindenburg, putting a few dirigibles in the sky is a great visual cue that a story is taking place in an alternate world. They've also become something of a stock setting; so many stories take place on airships that anyone familiar with the genre has an idea of what to expect. It comes with all the tropes of a story that takes place on a sailing ship, but with a distinctly steampunk flavor.
Whatever theme you are using for your party, you want the location to make sense for that that theme. It helps immerse players in the world, and gives them an idea of what to expect.
A story that takes place in the world of the 1920s (by far the most popular world for Murder Mystery Parties) will probably use a speakeasy as a location, though any place that is tied to the culture of the time period could work. A story in a D&D style fantasy world might use a tavern as the location. And those details alone tell you a lot about what to expect, even without knowing anything else about the characters and story.
Airships are a closed environment
Once an airship takes off, there isn't an easy way for characters to come and go. This is very useful in a mystery of any kind, because it limits the movements of the suspects. It also limits the pool of potential suspects down to the people who are there.
Having a closed environment helps to explain why your players (and suspects) are going to stick around and solve the mystery instead of running away or getting the police. This might not need to be explained; theoretically your players are there because they are having fun solving the mystery, so they might not need an external reason to stay. But having good internal logic is important when you are asking your players to use logic themselves.
There are multiple ways to make an environment closed. Transportation like trains or airships or submarines are a good option, but more static locations can also work. If the location is somewhere remote and hard to get to, like an island, then that also serves as a closed environment. External factors like the weather can close an environment--like a snowstorm trapping characters in a ski lodge. Artificial barriers can also keep everyone inside the location: the police have already been called and are watching to make sure no one leaves, or someone is casting a barrier spell around the location, or the door is locked and the person with the key won't budge until the mystery is solved.
No one you know has spent much time on an airship
If your location is the kind of place your players have never been (or seldom get to go) then it automatically gives your game a degree of escapism. Your players are stepping into a different world, becoming different people, and having an experience there. Ideally it's a world and a location that your players would really like to spend some time in--because that's going to be one of the draws that makes people want to play.
So that's become my three criteria for choosing a location for a Murder Mystery Party. It should be a recognizable part of the world, but outside the everyday experience of the players, and it should be a closed environment.
Looking at my next Murder Mystery Party, I'm going to want a location that checks those same boxes. It's going to be a Steampunk world again, maybe even the same world as my previous game. But I don't want to write another airship location, or even a location like a train that is similar. I don't want the people who played last year to get bored. I also don't want me to get bored. So I need a completely different location that is at home in a Steampunk World, both familiar and unusual, and also a closed environment.
Recently for a short story, I had occasion to do some research on the Bonneville Salt Flats. If you aren't familiar, that's a massive saltpan in western Utah, left over from a massive paleolake that once covered most of that half of the state. If you've ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean 3, the scene where Captain Jack Sparrow is dragging a ship across an empty white plane was filmed there.
Once, about ten years ago, I drove through the Salt Flats after a big rainstorm. What I found was something incredible; a temporary lake where the flats had flooded, creating a massive reflecting pool. The water continued for what looked like miles but only ever went as deep as my calves. I walked in it barefoot, with the salt crunching under my feet, feeling like I'd stumbled across something magical. It's a moment that's haunted me ever since.
While I was researching the salt flats, I learned that they are often used for racing. The Bonneville Salt Flats are so big and so empty (turns out not much can grow on salt a foot deep) and so flat, they are perfect for motor sports. People have been racing automobiles there since 1912. That's a little early for the Steampunk genre--but as I said before, Steampunk has room to play fast and loose with history. So why not say that people have been racing wacky steampunk vehicles there since the mid 1800s? It's my world, I make the rules.
This location is remote and takes a lot time to travel to and from, which makes it function as an enclosed environment. I wouldn't say Salt Flats are a traditional Steampunk location--but a turn of the century car race is going to be familiar to anyone who's ever seen the first few minutes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And the American Southwest is a perfectly valid Steampunk setting; one that comes with its own characters and aesthetics and tropes. And a steampunk car race in an alternate world Old West is definitely somewhere my players haven't been but would love to go. Perfect. We have a setting. We also have a name, because if the first game is called "Death in the Skies!", then it makes sense to call this game "Death at the Races!", particularly if I decide to make this game a sort of sequel to the first that takes place in the same world.
Once you have your setting in place, it's time to think about characters. For a project like this with a lot of characters, knowing your setting first makes things a lot easier. You'll want to choose characters who make sense in this location and this world, who feel like they exist beyond the three hour block we get to experience of their lives. Characters are the lifeblood of an interactive game like a Murder Mystery Party, and next time I'll talk about some of the decisions that go into creating them. But that's for next time.
🫶Jen
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