Murder in the Dark

A group game where several murderers attempt to kill the detectives, while the detectives attempt to convince the group to lynch who they think are the murderers. The game takes advantage of the Institute's awesomeness as a historic house that is spooky in the dark, to foster paranoia and general fun.

Victory Objective

 * Murderers: Kill all the detectives


 * Civilians & Detectives: Lynch all the murderers

Gameplay
People are given roles by picking selected cards that represent the three different roles; nobody knows each other's role, other than the murderers and detectives. The lights are turned off, and people mill around the house, often clumping together for safety. The murderers "murder" a person by going up to them, making a slashing motion with their hand at the person's throat; that person must then silently collapse to the ground lifelessly, and stay that way until discovered by somebody. When a dead body is found, "MURDER" is yelled, and everybody reconvenes in the main room. The murdered people (discovered or undiscovered) are sequestered away for the rest of the game, while the rest of the group gathers to discuss who might be the murderer. With the rest of the group's eyes closed, the detectives are allowed to choose one person for the game organizer to reveal to them whether or not they are the murderer. Afterwards, the group discusses who might be the murderer; this usually erupts into a lynch mob-like atmosphere of accusations, lies, panicked defenses and fragile alibis. At the end, one person is chosen to be lynched and removed from the game; that person then reveals their role. The lights are turned off, and this cycle repeats until all the murderers or all the detectives are dead.

Notable Games

 * The Incident that brought about the No-Suicide Rule. One game, the one surviving murderer knew that he was likely to be lynched at the next go-around and wasn't likely to kill the detectives, went on a murder spree and quickly killed five people. Before anybody could see, he quickly killed himself and fell to the floor. Everybody was in confusion when it was discovered that both detectives had been killed, and since the murderer had "killed" himself, it was decided that nobody had won.
 * That time Greg Monson killed seven people in three seconds