Upstaged

The Royal Globe Theater is preparing for it's next big production; Antony and Cleopatra. Produced by a renowned director and with auditions having already taken place, the stage is set. As Auditionees, friends, family and industry insiders, you have been invited to the "role reveal" party where you will find out who gets the leading roles and who will play supporting bits. Tensions are running high and egos are large. Who will come away with the role of a lifetime, and who will we all forget? Surely nothing could go wrong...

What is a murder mystery party?

A murder mystery party is a wonderful excuse to have your friends and family gather together and tell a collaborative story where you play the main characters. It's part improv, part interactive theater, part role playing and part game. Some players will dress up to help them really get into the theme. Each player is given a character background and a booklet that tells them what they should be thinking about during each "scene". There will be a series of revelations and you'll be interacting with the other guests throughout the night. 

Oh and did I mention that there is a murder? Sometime during the evening, a body will be discovered. Will it be your character or will you be the murderer? Everyone has a motive and everyone is suspicious. It's your job to unravel the mystery and work out whodunnit!

Upstaged Specifics

It's designed to be played with 13-20 players and will take 2-3 hours. All materials are provided and in an easy to print format. There are some references to violence (murder) and insinuations to sex, so Upstaged may not be appropriate for all ages. If it were a movie, it'd probably be rated PG-13. It's a one-shot game so after you've played it once, you'll know all the secrets. 

What makes this different from other Murder Mystery Party games?

I've played lots of murder mystery party games in the past and I've always found them lacking in several areas:

1) Most murder mystery games have a list of characters and with descriptions. I've always wanted to know what my character thinks about the other characters I'm interacting with. I have developed relationships between almost every pair of characters. How do I know them? What's their personality like? Do I like them? Do they like me? In this game, just because you have a positive impression of a particular character, does not mean they feel the same way about you!

2) I want every character to feel interesting and for every character to play an integral role in the overarching story. When you get a revelation in Upstaged, it's incredibly fun to work that into conversations going forwards. It helps with character development and helps your character be remembered by the other players. 

3) The murderer does not know who they are until the final reveal. I purposely chose this because some people feel uncomfortable lying for half the night (or the entire evening in some cases). This has the added benefits of keeping suspense up and allowing everyone to participate in the final guessing. 

4) Many times the theme is pasted on - themes are there just for the sake of having a theme. For example, I cannot even imagine what a St. Patrick’s day theme might look like in-game. I've gone out of my way to make sure that the theme is something that everyone can relate to, where tensions are already high and where people don't feel obligated to dress up. The characters and the story are woven carefully around the theater production to help you get in the mind of the characters. 

5) Several of the roles are gender neutral. This helps when assigning characters to remove the need for some players to gender-swap (which can make people very uncomfortable). 

6) As already mentioned, it plays 13-20 players. I have listed out the 7 optional players in order of preference for inclusion to help you decide which of the optional characters might be the most interesting to play if you don't get the full 20 player count. 

What's included in your purchase?

• Information for the host (pdf)

• Setting invitation and rules (pdf)

• Cast list (pdf)

• Character Backgrounds (pdf)

• 20 X Individual Character Backgrounds (to email) (pdfs)

• Character Evening Booklets (pdf)

• Players and characters (word doc to fill in)

• Revelations (pdf)

• Player guesses (pdf)

• VIP Pass (pdf)

The Cast List

• Shell McGowan - Photographer

• Alex Hardtack - Reporter

• Sergeant Billingsworth - Police Detective

• Sara Wellington - Actress

• Dr. Scarlet Wellington - Physician

• Barbara Black - Actress

• Jeremy Plowman - Historian

• Jamie Davenport - Lawyer

• Mark McArthur - VIP Fan

• PJ Denson - Actor

• Mindy McArthur - Exec. Assistant

• Amy Livingston - Office Admin

• Byron Hammersmith - Actor

• Mel Beeswax - Theater Owner

• Daryl Dennis - Actor

• Steve Noman - Stagehand

• Geoffrey Livingston III - Director

• Micah Freeman - Theater Critic

• Mr. Benson - Retired Teacher

• William (Billy) Black - Nightclub owner

Excerpt from the game

The Royal Globe Theater is a local landmark in the city of Burnside, IL. The historic theater is celebrating 80 years of business under the Appleby family. Two months ago, the last of the Appleby family passed away and the theater was quickly purchased by the wealthy Beeswax Enterprises. Mel Beeswax, CEO of Beeswax Enterprises, currently owns and operates the theater and has a dedicated team to ensure things run smoothly during this transitional period of change. Most theater staff have stayed since the acquisition but directors and actors work on a contract basis per production.

The next performance at the Royal Globe theater will be the production of “Antony and Cleopatra”, produced by renowned director Geoffrey Livingston III. Mr. Livingston takes great pride in his work and he expects this production to be nothing short of perfect. The casting call has been put out and has gained a lot of interest from the local acting community, including several returning cast members from the previous production of “Romeo and Juliet”. Auditions have been completed and the results are eagerly anticipated by all auditionees. Livingston plans to release the cast list during a “role reveal” party of actors, theater staff, friends and family, set for Nov 1st, 2015.

MEL BEESWAX - THEATER OWNER
BACKGROUND
You are the CEO of Beeswax Enterprises. You’re 100% self-made in the business world and you’ve worked very hard to get to where you are today. Some have accused you of being ruthless. Those people just don’t understand what it takes to make a business work and be successful. You’re not married – you don’t have time for that, not when there’s money to be made.
Beeswax Industries reaches all across the city – in retail, office space and even some manufacturing. Your latest venture is the acquisition of The Royal Globe Theater. You don’t have any interest in the so-called “fine arts” - it just so happens to be sat on some prime real-estate. When the property came on the market, you snapped it up as quickly as possible. The Theater probably should be a historic building but there are no papers to protect it. That’s why we need to remove it as quickly as possible. You’ll come up with some story to appease the community when you demolish it – termites or mold or something.