FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Got questions? I’ve got answers
Almost every question below has landed in my inbox at some point, and I’ve answered them here the way I’d answer them in a message. Start with the section that matches what you’re trying to decide. If your question isn’t here, send me a message and I’ll answer it.
What kind of murder mystery madness is this?
I’m Line, and I write every MortalCase story from scratch, so you won’t find a recycled plot in my shop. Each game hands your guests a character with a history and something to hide, and then leaves the evening to them. Nobody reads lines in turn.
Every murder mystery game has 1 killer and 3 victims, so the night keeps turning instead of resting on one reveal at the end.
Your guests mingle, ask each other uncomfortable questions, and build a case out of what they hear. Some of what they hear is true.
General information
A murder mystery party is an evening where every guest plays a character in a fictional crime and the group works out who the killer is. Your guests collect clues, question each other, and compare stories until the case comes together. Nobody sits and watches. Everyone has a part in it.
Yes, every MortalCase game is written for a first-time host and first-time guests. Each character comes with a full biography, and the Host Guide walks you through the evening step by step, so you’re never deciding what happens next on the spot. If you’ve never done this before, my guide to preparing for your first murder mystery party covers the week leading up to it.
One thing I’d steer you away from on a first game: don’t pair it with a surprise party. Your guests need their Character Guide a few days ahead, and a surprise takes that away from them.
A MortalCase game runs on freeplay, which means your guests move around and choose their own conversations instead of reading lines in turn. Each guest gets a private Character Guide holding their role, the things they’re happy to share, the secrets they’re hiding, their relationships, and a secret task to pull off during the night.
You send the guides out ahead of the party. On the night you follow the timeline in the Host Guide, put the evidence out at the right moments, and let your guests do the investigating. There’s more on this in how my murder mysteries work.
No MortalCase murder mystery game is scripted line by line, and that’s on purpose. Your guests get a character and a set of secrets, then talk their way through the night in their own words.
There is written material where it helps. The Host Guide has an introduction to read out at the start and a short spotlight script for each murder, and the Expansion Kit adds Character Prompts, which give a guest lines and questions to lean on rather than improvising. I have compared scripted and freeplay games if you want the longer version.
Every MortalCase Core Game Kit holds what you need to run the party: a private Character Guide for each character, the evidence for the 3 murders, 12 Action Cards, an Evidence Log for Guests, 1 Voting Card per guest, 3 Award Certificates, and the Host Guide with the timeline for the night.
A DIY Host Kit comes with every game too, so you can build extra characters of your own if your guest list outgrows the cast. Each game’s own sales page lists what that kit holds, along with the Expansion Kit and the themed Game Money if you want more.
The Core Game is the complete murder mystery, and you can run the whole party on it alone. The Expansion Kit is an optional add-on that gives the evening more to chew on: extra evidence, Gossip Notes, Alibi Cards, Character Prompts, Bonus Plot Twists, Name Tags, 3 Extra Awards and the Detective role.
The Detective role is the one that changes your numbers. It’s an investigative part rather than a full character with secrets and a storyline, and you can hand it to as many extra guests as you like.
A MortalCase murder mystery game takes 2.5–3 hours from the first murder to The Reveal. Most hosts run it as the centre of a longer evening, with food and drinks around it, which is why the party itself usually runs longer than the game.
You can stretch it or tighten it. The timeline in the Host Guide shows you which beats hold the story together, so you know what to compress. I’ve written more about how long a murder mystery party takes.
MortalCase murder mystery games are rated 13+, and I write them for adults. Every game carries a note that the story contains some adult themes, because the mystery involves murder, secrets, blackmail and betrayal whichever game you pick. I don’t recommend any of them for children.
A Killer Disco Party is the one game that also comes with a Clean Game Kit, and both versions are adult games. The Clean Game Kit swaps out the one drug-related murder weapon and softens the references that lean on it, and it’s there for adults who have a reason to avoid that material, guests in recovery among them. It doesn’t turn the game into a children’s party. I have written about murder mystery parties for different age groups and which groups these land well with.
Yes, alongside the murder mystery games I make smaller party products: mini games that take 5 to 10 minutes a round, drinking cards, crime puzzle bundles you can solve on your own, and props and printables that work with any game.
They need almost no preparation, and several of them work on a screen, so they suit a night in or a group that isn’t gathering in one room. Each one carries its own age rating on its listing.
Game play and customization
No, the host of a MortalCase murder mystery doesn’t need to know who the killer is, and neither does the guest playing them. The answer sits in The Reveal, a separate document with a monologue the killer reads out at the end of the party to explain the motives behind each murder. Do not open it early. You cannot un-know it, and you will host the rest of the night pretending.
You get your own character and play alongside your guests, so you can investigate in the dark like everyone else. If you’d rather steer the evening, the Evidence Walkthrough explains how every clue connects and which ones are red herrings. It names the killer, so read it only if you want to know. I’ve written about whether the killer knows they are the killer and about playing along as host.
Hosting a MortalCase game is mostly admin, not performance. You pick the date, invite your guests as their characters, send out the Character Guides, and set out the evidence before anyone arrives.
On the night the Host Guide carries you. The one job worth doing early is the printing, because it takes longer than anyone expects. There’s a fuller answer in how hard my games are to host.
You can’t change the mystery at the centre of a MortalCase game, because the evidence, the motives and the murders are built to fit each other. Everything around it is yours: the invitations, the food, the decorations, the music, the dress code.
If you want characters the game doesn’t have, every game comes with a DIY Host Kit for building your own. I don’t make custom characters myself, since a new character means reworking the storyline it sits inside. My guide to casting your guests covers how to match the cast you already have.
Yes, I adapt a MortalCase game when a guest needs a change in order to take part, and I’d rather you asked. Send me a message and I’ll see what I can do. A black and white version of a colour-coded document for a guest who is colour-blind, or a detail reworked so a guest in a wheelchair can take part, is the kind of thing I handle as standard, and there’s a note about it in the Host Guide.
This is separate from changing a game for preference. Swapping a character’s gender or rewriting a role because it suits your group better isn’t something I take on.
MortalCase games are written for 8 to 20 guests. The cast is 8 Primary Characters who carry the story and the 3 murders, plus 12 Secondary Characters you add as your guest list allows, and each game’s page states its own character count.
Above 20 you have the Detective role from the Expansion Kit. It’s an investigative part rather than a full character with secrets and a storyline, and you can give it to as many extra guests as you need, including the friend who says yes on the day. Some hosts run them as undercover detectives so they still look like part of the party. There’s more in how many players can join a murder mystery game.
Your guests need to be on their feet for a MortalCase game to work. The format runs on one-to-one and small-group conversations, so people have to be able to move, pull someone aside, and compare notes out of earshot.
A seated dinner works well as part of the evening, with the game running before and after it. As the whole format it falls flat, because everyone ends up listening to the same conversation.
No, a MortalCase game doesn’t have to be printed. Every file in the kit is a PDF, so you can print what you want and read the rest on a screen.
The evidence is the part worth printing. It gets handled all evening, so thicker paper or photo paper holds up better than plain copy paper. The Character Guides go out to your guests by email or message, and a PDF opens on almost any phone, so each guest can read theirs on the way over or print it if they’d rather. If you are printing at home, my printing tips will save you a cartridge.
No, a MortalCase game needs nothing beyond what’s in the kit. The evening runs on the characters and the evidence, and both come with the game.
Decorations and costumes are a choice. They set the mood, and in a themed game the costumes do half the work of getting people into character, but the game plays without any of it. My rundown of props and printables covers what earns its place on the table.
Yes, you can run a MortalCase game short. Fewer characters and fewer breaks bring it in faster, and the timeline in the Host Guide shows which beats hold the story together, so you know what you can compress. I’ve written a whole guide to shortening or extending a party.
The part that doesn’t survive cutting is the reading time before the party. Your guests need their Character Guide a few days ahead, whatever you do with the evening itself.
Yes, buying a MortalCase game covers unlimited private use, so you can host it again for friends and family as many times as you like, with no extra fee.
What you can’t reuse is the surprise. Once a group has played, they know who did it, so a second party wants a new guest list. Sharing, reselling or passing the files on to someone else isn’t covered.
Your purchase of a MortalCase game covers private use, which means a party for friends and family, or an internal work event with no tickets sold, needs nothing extra. Anything where money comes in needs a separate Commercial License: paid events, client work, ticketed parties, fundraising and charity events where guests pay, corporate and team-building providers, and schools or clubs running a ticketed event.
The Commercial License is its own listing in my shop. 1 license covers 1 game in the version that’s current when you buy it, and the files still can’t be changed beyond the options built into them, shared or passed on. If you’re planning a work event, my post on murder mysteries for team building covers where the line sits.
Every MortalCase game includes evidence that points at the killer, and it comes out in stages, so a quiet group is often waiting on the next piece without knowing it. Some of it is a puzzle to crack, some of it is a red herring, and all of it belongs to you as host.
If the room goes quiet, put the next piece out and send your guests to talk to someone they haven’t cornered yet. The Evidence Walkthrough tells you how every clue connects, so you can nudge without handing over the answer. There is a whole guide to organising the evidence before the party.
The clues in a MortalCase game are built to be solvable without being obvious. They mix logic with things your guests look at and interpret, which gives the group more than 1 way in.
You can move the level up or down, but only if you read the Evidence Walkthrough first. That’s the document that tells you which pieces point at the killer, which ones are red herrings, and how to break the coded clue, so reading it spoils the ending for you. Once you know, you can read the clearest clues out loud and put all of the evidence out to make it easier, or hold the pointed pieces back and lean on the red herrings to make it harder.
Skip the Walkthrough and you investigate blind alongside your guests. That is the better night if you want to play, and the game runs at the level it was written for.
Some groups get there and some don’t, and a MortalCase game is built so both endings are fun. There’s 1 killer, the evidence points at that person, and the case can be solved from what’s in the kit. There are also red herrings, and the killer is rarely the most obvious suspect.
Guessing right was never the point. What the evening runs on is the arguing, the accusations and the case your guests build, and there’s an award waiting for whoever reasons it out best.
No, a MortalCase murder mystery is a group game and needs at least 8 people. The whole thing runs on guests questioning each other, so there’s nothing to play on your own.
If you want a case to solve by yourself, my crime puzzle bundles are built for that. Each case has 1 correct solution and works solo or with a group. You’ll find them in my Etsy shop.
Purchasing and delivery
Every MortalCase game is sold through my Etsy shop. Pick the game you want, add it to your cart and check out, and the files are yours as soon as the payment goes through.
The Expansion Kit and the themed Game Money are separate listings, so you can add them at the same time or come back for them later. Each game’s page on this site links straight to its listing.
MortalCase games and party props are digital downloads, so nothing is shipped to you. The files arrive as PDFs, some as PNGs, inside zipped folders you unpack on your own computer.
Download them from a computer rather than a phone or tablet. The Etsy app cannot handle digital files, and this is the single most common reason a download appears to be missing. A few games and props come through a OneDrive link instead, because the files are larger than Etsy allows, and you don’t need an account to open those.
Yes, your MortalCase files are available the moment Etsy confirms the payment, so you can be reading the Host Guide the same evening. Nothing is sent out by post and nothing waits for me to approve it.
Write to me if a MortalCase download won’t open or your link has expired, and I’ll get the files to you another way. I’d rather hear from you than have you sitting with a folder that won’t open.
Before you do, check the usual causes. The Etsy app can’t handle digital files, so use a computer. And a file that looks corrupted often opens after you delete it and download it again, or after you open it in a proper PDF reader rather than a browser tab.
No, MortalCase murder mystery games are written for a room with people in it, so there’s no Zoom version. The format depends on guests moving around and talking privately, which a video call takes away.
My smaller products do work on a screen. The mini games and the crime puzzle bundles can be played remotely with almost no preparation.
No, every MortalCase game and product is written in English only, and there are no translations planned. Nothing exists in another language, so there’s no version I can send you.
Groups who read English comfortably host these games all over the world, and a good part of my customers are outside English-speaking countries.
No, I don’t make custom or personalised MortalCase games. A new character or a reworked storyline means rebuilding the game around it, which is a job on the scale of writing a new one, and I’d rather put those hours into the next game.
What comes with every game instead is the DIY Host Kit, which holds what you need to build extra characters of your own. Accessibility is the one thing I do handle myself, and there’s a separate question about that further up this page.
Reviews and feedback
Your feedback shapes what I build next, and I read all of it. MortalCase is a one-woman shop, so every guide, every piece of evidence and every reply to a message comes from me.
If something about your game isn’t right, tell me before you leave a review. I’d much rather fix it while there’s still time to save your party.
Love It Guarantee (return policy)
I stand by my games and props. Look everything through, and if it isn’t what you had in mind, tell me within 7 days of buying it and I’ll refund you. It’s rare on a digital download, but that’s how I like to run my shop.
My opening hours
I work from Denmark, which puts me several hours ahead of most of my customers in the US. I’m online Monday to Friday and answer as quickly as I can. Weekends are family time, so a message sent on a Saturday will wait until Monday.
The game is already written and ready for you
You’ll pick the date, the food and the guest list. The characters, the evidence, the timeline and The Reveal come already written, so the only thing left to decide is which story your friends should spend the evening inside.
