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Open Playtest

The Summation

The journal is officially complete. The detective has everything they need to reveal the truth to the world and put an end to our story.

The suspect that the killer rests on is the culprit. They committed the grisly crime that our story revolves around, and their attempts to hide the truth have been for naught.

The time for vague narrative beats is over. Decide together how the detective breaks the truth. Do they trick the killer into revealing themselves? Do they summon all involved to a parlor room to reveal all secrets? Do they swoop in right as the wrong person is to be accused by the police? Or do they stage an experiment to recreate every step of the murder, thus proving once and for all the truth?

Recreating the Scene

First, remove from the journal any suspects that fell victim to a plot. Explain what they knew about the culprit that was worth killing them over, and how the detective figured it out anyway. Place them on the summation tableau.

Then, go through the card ranks in the Investigation tableau and count the number cards of that rank. Resolve the corresponding prompt below that many times. So if there are 3 twos, do the two prompt 3 times. Work with the other players to resolve the narrative implications of each step.

  1. For Each Ace: Remove from the journal a number of clues that are revealed to be red herrings. Explain what other mystery they pointed to. Take these out of play completely; you no longer need them.

  2. For Each Two: Remove from the journal a number of clues that are critical to the case. Explain why the mystery cannot be solved without these. Set these on the Summation tableau

  3. For Each Three: Remove from the journal a number of suspects whose secrets are irrelevant to the case. While they’re certainly guilty of something, they did not commit murder in our story. Take these out of play completely; you no longer need them.

  4. For Each Four: Remove from the journal a number of suspects who played a part in the murderer’s plot whether they knew it or not. Set these on the Summation tableau.

  5. For Each Five: Remove from the journal a number of suspects who could have been key witnesses had they only shared everything they saw, heard, knew, or thought. Set these on the Summation tableau.

Move the remaining suspects and clues in the journal to the side of the table. It’s time to recreate the murder in a scene told by the detective explaining the whole crime. Take a look at all of the suspects and clues on the summation board. You must use all of these when you set the scene. The ones that are set aside can be used, but don’t need to be.

Roleplay the scene! Play as the different characters and walk through the events that lead to the fateful crime. Don’t hold anything back here, this is the truth as it happened. You know who did it, which clues were important, which characters heard or saw something, and which characters were involved in some way.

Lay out the suspects and clues on the table as you go to form a representation of the crime scene. I’d recommend a spatial map of where everyone is, but you could also create a timeline.

Once the murder happens and the culprit gets away, cut back to the present with the detective wrapping up their tale. Finish off by playing out the reactions to the secret being spilled.

Once everyone is satisfied, the game is over. Feel free to muse about the fates of the suspects after the story, giving them epilogues if you wish. Thanks for playing!