Mar 17, 2024 8:09 pm
Recently I was gifted a copy of Culinario Mortale: Expedition of Death, which is a murder mystery game designed to be played over a dinner. However, it is near impossible for me to find people to play it face-to-face with, and so I am trying to adapt it to a forum format instead, with myself as the GM. It's quite experimental, and I'm not sure how well it will work here, but if you're willing to try... Perhaps you'll find it to your taste, pun intended.
By nature it is a roleplaying game, with players encouraged to play as their characters instead of just following instructions, which I believe will work well in the forum format. The social aspect is harder, but I suspect the mystery itself mostly relies on consistency between everyone's testimonies - the murderer has to lie in a way that won't contradict everyone else.
Admittedly, I haven't read *all* of the material yet, since the game is supposed to have the host join in too, and i want to preserve some sense of surprise for myself. :D But I don't think it'll suddenly add something impossible to do on a forum, so it should be fine...
Premise from the game:
You had expected this expedition to be nothing less than an archaeological miracle. For two months, you’ve all been in the Peruvian rainforest looking for the remains of the Moche people, an advanced South American civilisation that preceded the Incas and has hardly been studied.
You knew you were on the right path, as you had found countless small vases, tools and other artefacts over the past few days. Late in the afternoon, you finally found the tomb of the priestesses. This important find would have been another milestone in the career of Mary Stonerock, the UK’s youngest professor of archaeology.
Mary decided to celebrate the find with a hearty feast and an evening of drinking. You raised a toast to your joint success and speculated as to what the tomb, which was to be opened the next day, might contain. But the evening took a tragic turn when Christian discovered Mary’s corpse at around midnight in the entrance of her tent.
Director Gustavo Navarro has since notified the police using the camp’s radio. They are due to arrive at the remote excavation site in a few hours. Until they arrive, you are all on your own in solving the mystery. What happened? How could this expedition have ended so tragically?
Empty space for formatting purposes. :P
Game Process
Before the game, each player receives a personal booklet which gives them information about what their character has seen in the last few days and which clues to the murderer's identity they possess. One of the characters is the murderer, and the player for them is the only player allowed to lie during the game, with their goal being to get away scot-free.
The game consists of three rounds, during which players discuss information about different time periods of the day of the murder. After the third round, they decide which character is the murderer by a majority vote.
You can also read the game's official basic rules on its site.
Adaptation notes
- The copy of the game I own is not in English, which means I'll be translating the material myself before sending it to all players. Ideally it won't matter if I have enough players, but if I have to play some of the characters myself, I'll do my best to separate player and character knowledge.
- To make it fair in regards to posting rate, I'll ask players to stick to a somewhat strict posting order - the "don't post again until everyone else posted once" kind.
- I generally prefer slower games, so expect posting rate of about 2-3 posts per week. It's not a very long game and it has a defined round structure, so hopefully it won't drag even if we slow down.
- Also, I'll probably randomize the characters per player - not yet sure about that, but I think it'll be fun! Although if players prefer, we can do a draft instead.
Obligatory disclaimer:
I'm neither an archeologist nor a Peruvian, so I might commit an accidental cultural faux pas if the game decides to involve actual history. However, I believe its focus is mostly on inter-personal drama - but I haven't read all of the material yet, so I can't say for sure.
Let me know if you're interested! :D I'm probably willing to go as low as 3 players with myself taking other characters, but the perfect number is 5 to 7.
Thanks for reading!
By nature it is a roleplaying game, with players encouraged to play as their characters instead of just following instructions, which I believe will work well in the forum format. The social aspect is harder, but I suspect the mystery itself mostly relies on consistency between everyone's testimonies - the murderer has to lie in a way that won't contradict everyone else.
Admittedly, I haven't read *all* of the material yet, since the game is supposed to have the host join in too, and i want to preserve some sense of surprise for myself. :D But I don't think it'll suddenly add something impossible to do on a forum, so it should be fine...
You had expected this expedition to be nothing less than an archaeological miracle. For two months, you’ve all been in the Peruvian rainforest looking for the remains of the Moche people, an advanced South American civilisation that preceded the Incas and has hardly been studied.
You knew you were on the right path, as you had found countless small vases, tools and other artefacts over the past few days. Late in the afternoon, you finally found the tomb of the priestesses. This important find would have been another milestone in the career of Mary Stonerock, the UK’s youngest professor of archaeology.
Mary decided to celebrate the find with a hearty feast and an evening of drinking. You raised a toast to your joint success and speculated as to what the tomb, which was to be opened the next day, might contain. But the evening took a tragic turn when Christian discovered Mary’s corpse at around midnight in the entrance of her tent.
Director Gustavo Navarro has since notified the police using the camp’s radio. They are due to arrive at the remote excavation site in a few hours. Until they arrive, you are all on your own in solving the mystery. What happened? How could this expedition have ended so tragically?
Empty space for formatting purposes. :P
Game Process
Before the game, each player receives a personal booklet which gives them information about what their character has seen in the last few days and which clues to the murderer's identity they possess. One of the characters is the murderer, and the player for them is the only player allowed to lie during the game, with their goal being to get away scot-free.
The game consists of three rounds, during which players discuss information about different time periods of the day of the murder. After the third round, they decide which character is the murderer by a majority vote.
You can also read the game's official basic rules on its site.
Adaptation notes
- The copy of the game I own is not in English, which means I'll be translating the material myself before sending it to all players. Ideally it won't matter if I have enough players, but if I have to play some of the characters myself, I'll do my best to separate player and character knowledge.
- To make it fair in regards to posting rate, I'll ask players to stick to a somewhat strict posting order - the "don't post again until everyone else posted once" kind.
- I generally prefer slower games, so expect posting rate of about 2-3 posts per week. It's not a very long game and it has a defined round structure, so hopefully it won't drag even if we slow down.
- Also, I'll probably randomize the characters per player - not yet sure about that, but I think it'll be fun! Although if players prefer, we can do a draft instead.
Obligatory disclaimer:
I'm neither an archeologist nor a Peruvian, so I might commit an accidental cultural faux pas if the game decides to involve actual history. However, I believe its focus is mostly on inter-personal drama - but I haven't read all of the material yet, so I can't say for sure.
Let me know if you're interested! :D I'm probably willing to go as low as 3 players with myself taking other characters, but the perfect number is 5 to 7.
Thanks for reading!
