Advice/Help Trying to Run a "One Night Werewolf" Type RP

[GhastlySquash]

I've dabbled in forum mafia before, namely on another site. However, I wanted to add an RP element to it as well which I felt was lacking in most mafia games I'm in. One question I have is does anyone have experience running this kind of "murder mystery" on this site?

What are some pitfalls that you notice? I've been in a few murder mystery plots and they usually end before they begin.

Back on the other site, we use to have a 24 hour rule where phases would switch and the RP would continue. Do you think this is a good idea?

I figured the main reason why people dropped was because the beginning takes too long or people get bored.

 

[Damafaud]

Well, a common pitfall I found is that the roleplayers are unwilling to have their character die sometimes.

A bit strange, since dying is a part of a murder mystery, but who wants to get left out while arc one hasn't even started?

 

[rae2nerdy]

Ah I have seen this be very successful and here are some of the tricks

1. come up with all the clues and who is the murderer before the roleplay starts. This can be picking one of the players at random OR an NPC doesn't matter.

2. have a specific time limit for each clue / scene in the roleplay. Ex. You have on week to post your characters response to what is going on. At the end of the week we move forward.

3. Give the players private clues that lead them to be suspicious of one another. If the murderer is one of the players let them know BUT make sure they will not tell any of the others.

4. When a playable character is killed let them become a ghost.

I was in a battle royale style roleplay that did this and it was super fun. The whole idea was that all the characters were going to die but one so how to keep the people involved after their characters kicked it? Simple make them ghosts. They had their own separate thread where they could hang out and speculate or whatever. In this case if your doing some magic-y stuff make them actual ghosts. They don't know who killed them but they can stick around and help their remaining living friends.