Role Playing Games

Roleplaying Games:

One of my favorite childhood activities and first experiences with roleplaying was getting together with friends and playing an impromptu game, which we simply called “murderer”. This would entail making up silly characters and writing them on a piece of paper and placing them in a hat along with one piece of paper marked “cop” and one piece of paper marked “murderer”. The person playing the cop would announce their identity and leave the room while the others would close their eyes and the murderer would pick one of them an tap them on the shoulder to denote they were being murdered. The cop would then come in and question the living players who would play the part written on their paper while the murder would have to make up a character and try to feign innocence and blame others for the crime. This rudimentary game was a perfect stepping stone into more intricate tabletop games and eventually into full-on murder mystery games.

It was the year 2000 when I got together to experience my first true roleplaying game. This was different from the past improv-style games that I had played before. The brand-new third edition of Dungeons & Dragons had just been released. My mom had taken me to the store and bought me some shiny new purple dice. I had my third edition player’s handbook and a cleric rolled up and ready to play. While the name of that first character may escape me, the weekly fun that we had had at our sessions never left me. I remember all the geeky bits. I remember my friends needlessly fighting and quarreling over ancillary rules. I remember killing goblins. Everybody remembers killing their first goblins, though. While I would say before that, I already had a strong interest in roleplaying games, my first few sessions of the third edition D&D are what cemented my love for tabletop gaming. It seemed like after the early 2000s though, most of the people I hung out with had lost interest in this style of gameplay. It wasn’t until about five years ago that it seemed that interest in RPGs was rekindled in almost everyone. Not only was there interest in playing games like Dungeons and Dragons but also more unique and somewhat esoteric styles of games. It was around the same time that we started to partake in murder mystery games from various online companies. At the time, the pickings were very slim, so to speak. Unfortunately, the gameplay from most other companies left us all wanting. Very few murder mystery companies out there truly created games that allowed you to craft your own story. Most of what we experienced was simply pre-scripted nonsense. A glorified way to read a short novella gathered around with your friends. A table reading of a play you’ll never actually get to perform. It is from these initial lackluster murder mystery games and a rekindled interest amongst all of my friend group in tabletop roleplaying games that spawned the creation of Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries.

---

Roleplaying Games Like D&D:

While I may not have been in touch with all of the new versions and new roleplaying games that were spawned out of the last couple of decades, that doesn’t mean that I don’t know a lot of people who have stayed inside that fold. At least regarding Dungeons and Dragons, it doesn’t sound like I missed too much with the fourth edition. Since I’ve been back in the realm of tabletop roleplaying, I have enjoyed a variety of games using a whole slew of different systems. Many of these games only use a handful of six-sided dice, many use the entire bag, and almost all of them bring new playstyles and perspectives that go far beyond what 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons has to offer. I’ve enjoyed games like Goblin Quest, Apocalypse World, Esper Genesis, Scum and Villainy, Lasers and Feelings, Vampire the Requiem, games using the Cypher System, and many more. All of them are unique and all of them have their entertaining play points and roleplaying etiquette and style. Just recently, I enjoyed a couple of playthroughs of Mörk Borg for the first time. It was, for lack of better phrasing, metal af. Although I have experienced a large variety of different tabletop roleplaying games, murder mystery style games are still probably my favorite. Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries games function differently from standard tabletop roleplaying games. There are no dice involved and you are free to fully explore the roleplaying experience of your part. While limited items and abilities are almost always involved, in our games they are a perfect balance between being rudimentary yet versatile. This style of gameplay makes these murder mysteries incredibly user friendly even for first-time roleplayers. The learning curve is exponentially smaller than almost any style of tabletop roleplaying game I have ever played. Most Dastardly Deeds murder mysteries games come with a five to ten-page (tops) list of rules and background information. If you have versed yourself even briefly in these rules and background, then you will be ready to enjoy a night of intrigue. At first, we did throw around the concept of incorporating dice (throw around, get it), but we settled on a rudimentary system of rock paper scissors to settle almost any dispute that occurs throughout the games. Every game also includes a host who acts as the GM (Game Master) or DM (Dungeon Master), depending on which terminology you like more. While I know the term game master is more encompassing, who doesn’t want to be the master of a dungeon? While there are a plethora of roleplaying games like D&D, I’m here to share my love of murder mystery games. As far as accessibility goes, murder mystery games are far more versatile than tabletop RPGs.

---

Tabletop Roleplaying Games Online:

There was already an abundance of systems in place before quarantine struck to provide online players with a good tabletop roleplaying game experience online. Tools like Tabletop Simulator and Roll20 were already well-established. The transition for some has been way harder than it has for others. Regardless of many people being reticent to shift their play styles, there is simply no denying the power of some of these tools. Despite how powerful these tools are, I noticed some of the best tabletop roleplaying games I’ve played recently have used nothing more than video chat and a set of dice. There certainly is a little bit of trust involved if you are rolling your dice at home, but the fact of the matter is, lying about dice rolls is just a bush league thing to do. Online games from Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries simplifies this process a step further by taking dice out of the equation. Our games require nothing more than a video-capable device and an active internet connection. You can successfully play a DD game on a laptop, notebook, tablet, phone, or pretty much any device that has a camera, microphone, and speakers. If you’ve been trying to get you one of your friends into playing roleplaying games with you, one of our murder mystery games may be an excellent gateway drug.

Once we are all no longer relegated to our domiciles, the freeness offered by DD in-person games is unparalleled. You’re not tied down by dice and you’re not tied down by a structured dinner theme that some murder mystery parties do (you can read about my hatred of murder mystery dinner parties here). In a Dastardly Deeds game, you are free to move about whatever gameplay area has been designated by your host. You’re free to interact with the other players. You’re free to keep filling your drink. You’re free to eat all the pigs in a blanket before anyone else gets a chance! You monster. To sum things up, we have crafted our games to be a free and open roleplaying experience with minimal rules and absolutely no previous experience required. Whether you’re playing one of our games online or in-person, it is a unique experience unlike any other tabletop roleplaying game out there.

---

Online-Roleplaying Games:

As mentioned in previous articles, we initially had no intention of creating online roleplaying games. When we started by crafting Wrestling Murder Mystery as an in-person game, we’d only gotten through our initial playtesting phases when everyone went into full-on lockdown. We quickly conceptualized our experience with roleplaying games into new and unique scenarios. These newly designed online roleplaying games are meant to offer the same amount of flexibility and accessibility to newcomers that were originally intended for our in-person games. They are specifically crafted to play from the comfort of your own home. We quickly found out that there were a whole bunch of benefits to online roleplaying games. First and foremost is the ability to play again with our friends who live in different states or different countries. In the past, so many of our friends living abroad have been left out of our in-person murder mysteries and tabletop roleplaying games. But now that Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries online roleplaying games are up and running, we have been able to playtest murder mysteries with people on almost every continent of the world. Not only does this type of diversity spice up our playtests, but it also allows for us to finetune gameplay experiences for people around the world. On top of that, it’s been an absolute delight playing with far-flung friends from around the globe. Because of this, I don’t see any of us ever going exclusively back to in-person games in the future. Even after things have settled down, I can tell that online roleplaying games will always be a very important part of the Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries lineup.

---

Roleplaying Games Basics:

I will never forget as a teenager when I did get that first third edition book of Dungeons & Dragons. I would never say I’m the sharpest tool in the shed, but I always thought of myself as being relatively intelligent. That was until I got put in my place by that third edition rule book. Looking back on it now that I’ve played a bounty of different roleplaying games, I know how unprepared I was for third edition D&D. At the time I understood the basic mechanics and I understood what was being conveyed by the rules, but having never played any tabletop RPGs before I know now how much I was missing out on. I was honestly flummoxed by the complexity of the rules at the time. As roleplaying games have increased in popularity over the last decade, so has the ease of use. As new inexperienced players enter the realm of tabletop roleplaying games, more and more companies are picking up on the fact that they need to make their games more accessible to newbies. While I have absolutely no qualms with a rule slog now and then, the ease of use is one of my favorite things about Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries games. The rule set is practically as rudimentary as one can make any style of roleplaying game. Along with a relatively open gameplay system also comes the proclivity for a variety of different outcomes in any of our games.

As events take place throughout the night and players’ various motives, objectives, and secrets are revealed and exchanged, the game will inherently adapt an evolve in new and unforeseen ways. It will naturally adapt in a way that fits into the comfort zone of the individuals playing. I’ve seen during our playtests absolute newcomers to any type of roleplaying sit in the corner during an online game and meticulously calculate and plot their moves until the very end. I’ve seen them then, in essence, win the entire scenario just because of their patience. While on the flip side, I’ve seen the most boisterous and experienced roleplayers strong-arm other individuals into giving up their clues and secrets early on, thus assuring their hypothetical victory by the end of the night. There is no set outcome in any Dastardly Deeds murder mystery game. Based off how individuals interact with one another throughout the night, the endgame of any scenario will be shaped by the players themselves, with minimal guidance from the host. As the host in any of these games you also have the luxury to add your own flavor and nuances as you see fit. If one of these scenarios ends up going off the rails, ride with it. Go with the flow and modify the gameplay as you see fit in a manner that you feel is most appropriate to accommodate your current players. With this new era of roleplaying games upon us, the basics have never been easier to comprehend. If you’re ready to expand your horizons to entirely new styles of gameplay and perhaps invite people you never thought you’d see roleplaying into the fold, there’s never been a better time to try out new games from Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries.

---