Murder
Express
An investigative mystery game for one
GM and three to four investigators.
©MacGuffin & Co. 2019. All rights reserved.
Murder Express
HOW TO PLAY
In a game of Murder Express, no dice are rolled. Investigators uncover information
by asking the right questions, examining scenes, sharing information with each
other and using the special abilities on their character sheets.
Each player will have one of four specific investigator roles:
DETECTIVE GENIUS AFFABLE COMPANION
POLICE INSPECTOR EAGER CONSTABLE
Each role has their own special abilities and restrictions that determine how they
can interact with the mystery, and some need to work together to be effective.
All investigators have their own specific background information for each crime.
Most of the background knowledge can be shared freely if the player chooses.
Anything marked “SECRET” is something the character would rather keep to
themselves.
As investigators interact with the crime and its suspects, they discover clues. These
are sometimes spoken aloud by the GM to the whole table, sometimes written down and
passed specifically to the player(s) discovering them, and sometimes included in the
background information given with your character sheets.
The game is over when the perpetrator is caught, or when all but two suspects are
eliminated (dead or falsely accused). In a competitive game the winners are those
who either solved the crime first, or with a more complete understanding of what
happened and why.
PLAYER NUMBERS
3-player games are cooperative, with all players working together to solve the
case. One player must play the Detective Genius, another the Police Inspector, and
the third may choose either the Affable Sidekick or the Eager Constable.
4-player games include all investigators and players can choose to what extent
the two pairings (Detective Genius/Affable Sidekick and Police Inspector/Eager
Constable) will cooperate with each other. A 4-player game may even be played as
two fully competitive teams.
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Murder Express
GM INFORMATION
You can run Murder Express with your own crimes or with one of the pre-written
crimesets that are available from MacGuffin & Co.
Before you start, you’ll need:
• These rules!
• Investigator character sheets
• Index cards, post-it notes or scraps of paper
• Pens or pencils
• A crimeset, including set-up, suspects, clues, escalation points and solution
• Two cards or tokens that look identical on one side but are clearly different on
the other. Two playing cards of different suits work well, as do two pieces of
paper or card with blank backs and a tick or a cross on the other side.
To run one of the pre-written crimesets, first read through the set-up, suspects,
investigator background information, clues, escalation points and solution. The
crimeset comes with all information that each of the investigators know before the
game starts, which should be handed out with the character sheets.
STARTING THE GAME
You can either start the game with the investigators immediately discovering the
set-up, or with a bit of role-play beforehand. Some crimesets work best with role-
play before the murder is discovered (a poisoning at a fancy party), while others
work best with the set-up right at the start (called to the scene of a locked-room
murder), but any crimeset can be run either way with a small amount of tweaking.
If you do choose to role-play at the start, try to introduce the victim and all the
suspects before you trigger the set-up (unless the crimeset says otherwise).
After triggering the set-up, place the suspect list where all the investigators can
see it.
GIVING CLUES
As the investigators role-play, ask questions and use their special abilities, give
them information from the clues list. Some of the clues can only be given if the
investigators do certain things - don’t worry if your players don’t trigger these
clues. The mystery can still be solved without them, it might just take a little more
time and deduction!
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Murder Express
Most of the clues can be read out to the table but some will be marked for a specific
investigator only. The game runs smoothest if you write these clues down on index
cards or post-its before you run the session (or print and cut up the clues list), so
you can mysteriously slide them to players at the right time.
Certain clues are given through suspect interrogation. When your investigators
decide to interview someone, you take on the role of the suspect and feed information
from the relevant part of the clue list, depending on the questions the investigators
ask. Occasionally a suspect will might have information marked “SECRET”, similarly
to investigators. This is information the suspect would rather keep to themselves.
Unless a specific situation is specified, it’s up to you what it will take for them
to share it.
LYING
You may choose to have suspects lie during interviews (and in the case of the killer,
will almost certainly have to!) The Detective Genius and Police Inspector will both
know if the suspect was lying or hiding anything, but only find out at the end
of an interview. You can signal this to the players however you wish, but it is a
good idea to prepare a pair cards or tokens beforehand (one ‘Honest’ and one ‘Liar’)
that you can slide across the table. You must always give the Detective Genius the
correct card, but can choose to give the wrong one to the Police Inspector (usually
about one in three interviews) to send them chasing after red herrings. If the
Detective Genius and Police Inspector are in the same interview, give the card to
the Police Inspector first, and make sure to hide whether it’s the same card you are
giving to the Detective Genius. The Police Inspector may choose to share this card
with the Eager Constable.
Whenever you give a clue to the Police Inspector and the Eager Constable can also
see or hear it (this includes an interviewee’s honesty), you must let the Eager
Constable know if the information is helpful or misleading. Irrelevant
information is also considered misleading. You can either agree on a covert signal
beforehand or use the tokens/cards similar to those used during witness interviews.
Whenever the Affable Companion makes a wild conjecture, you can again use a covert
signal or the tokens/cards above to let the Detective Genius if the guess is correct
or not (feel free to set a limit of once per scene on this if your Affable Companion
is abusing this power).
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Murder Express
ESCALATION
Each crimeset comes with a few escalation points to move the story along and give
the investigators some urgency. These are the big dramatic moments so, when they’re
triggered (either by in-game events or by time), be sure to play it up and give them
some space to react and roleplay. Just after an escalation point is the perfect time
to have a break, grab a drink and gather your thoughts before diving in for the
next bit.
WHAT IF MY INVESTIGATORS DO SOMETHING UNEXPECTED?
That’s fine! If they’re trying to interact with something small but irrelevant (e.g.
one of them decides there’s definitely a secret drawer in the very unimportant
desk), you can quickly describe what happens before telling them they don’t find
anything, or say that they find something but that it doesn’t look relevant.
If your investigators try to investigate an avenue that’s not provided for in the
crimeset (such as going for a field trip to a neighbouring town mentioned off-
handedly in one of the clues), spend some time describing their interactions and
investigations without going into too much specific detail. Try to limit their
opportunities for role-playing with NPCs while they’re chasing this loose thread.
If the players don’t figure out they’re on the wrong track after a minute or two,
trigger the next escalation point to bring their focus back to the core of the
mystery.
Of course, sometimes your players will come up with something totally unexpected
but really fun or clever! If they do, reward them, either by giving appropriate
clues from the list, or by making up your own details, either for fun or to point
them towards leads.
No crimeset can cover everything your players might want to interact with so, as
with any role-playing game, you should feel free to make up your own elements and
change things as much as you like!
CONTENT WARNINGS
As Murder Express is primarily a game about crime, it’s inevitable that some of the
darker aspects of human behaviour will come up. We try to present it in the style
of classic detective stories like those of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie,
focusing on the deduction rather than revelling in the seedier parts of the crime.
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Murder Express
That said, there will be elements of any given crimeset that might not be fun for
everyone (and everyone having fun is very much the point of games).
We put content notes at the start of every crimeset to let you know what sensitive
topics are included and we recommend you share these with the whole group before
starting a game. If you’re worried that sharing content notes will ruin the
mystery, be assured we keep our content notes broad and sharing them really does
let everyone at the table relax and have a good time. If you’re still really worried
about it, discuss it with your players and get their views on it, but if any player
asks you for the content notes, you must provide them.
You can assume all our crimesets come with a content notes for violence, crime,
murder and law enforcement. We never use sexual violence or hate crimes in any of
our crimesets.
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DETECTIVE GENIUS BACKGROUND INFORMATION
You notice every relevant detail
during the investigation.
You receive extra information about
some clues.
You know if a suspect lied or
withheld information during an
interview (but not what they lied
about/omitted).
You may point things out or draw
attention to details, but may never
directly share information (such as
whether a suspect was lying), nor can
you confer, or discuss your theories
or reasoning with other players.
AFFABLE COMPANION BACKGROUND INFORMATION
You have more contextual and
background knowledge than the other
investigators
You may freely confer and give this
knowledge to other players.
When you ask questions and examine
clues, the Detective Genius receives
additional information as though
they were the one doing so.
“Am I on time?” - once per game, you
can negate any action by a suspect
through perfect timing and blind
luck: perhaps by opening a door,
dropping something out of a window
or happening upon them in a lane
and starting a friendly chat.
POLICE INSPECTOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION
You receive more information than
any other investigator but some of
it is misleading
You may share information freely
with any other player
You usually know if a suspect lied
or withheld information during an
interview, but your instincts may
mislead you.
“We’ve got ‘em dead to rights” - once
per game, you may chose two suspects.
The GM will pick one of them, and
that suspect is arrested and removed
from the game. The GM must pick an
innocent suspect, and provide any of
their clues they feel appropriate to
the Detective Genius.
EAGER CONSTABLE BACKGROUND INFORMATION
You know which of the Police
Inspector’s clues are irrelevant
or misleading (this includes the
honesty of a witness).
You can never tell the Police
Inspector that they are wrong. If
they ever ask you to choose between
clues or avenues of investigation,
you must answer “Whatever you think’s
best, Chief” or words to that effect.
“Gym time is mandatory” - you are the
only player with enough stamina to
chase or restrain suspects.
