Death in Venice – a present-day murder mystery party game with a film-festival setting for 5 to 9 people using video chat

Recommended for ages 15+
Costs US$29.99
Written by Mo Holkar

Click here to buy the game

Death in Venice is a dinner party murder mystery game for 5 to 9 people including a host – download the free introductory pdf file.

ONLINE VIDEO CHAT GAME! – this brand new murder mystery game has been specially designed to be played online by video chat, by people who are not in the same location. And the host can play too! Be one of the first to investigate Death in Venice!

Join us in an online evening of film-festival fury, movie-making misbehavior, and murder You will be in the middle of the action and it will be up to you to wheel and deal with the other guests. Can you achieve your goals, keep your secrets hidden and survive Death in Venice? It's up to you.

Death in Venice

Last night at the glamorous Venice Film Festival, controversial director Clay McFarland picked up the prestigious Golden Lion award for this season's hit movie Never Look Back. But this morning, he was found lying in front of St Mark's Cathedral – hacked to death with a meat cleaver.

The stars of the movie and some of their guests supposedly spent the night sleeping off the effects of the post-awards party, on the Casanova, their luxury yacht moored in the marina – but it seems that someone was up to no good. Traces of McFarland's blood found on the Casanova's dinghy mean that police are confident that the culprit is one of those now aboard the yacht.

Everyone now is confined to their cabins aboard the Casanova, while the police start their investigation. The only way they can communicate is online.

As cathedral bells toll out across the ancient city, on board the Casanova a frothy ferment of vineyards, memoirs, gossip, jealousy, and movie-set punch-ups will come to the boil.

Charge your glasses, put on your designer sunglasses, and join the cast and crew of Never Look Back as they try to solve the mystery of Death in Venice!

See stories and pictures
from Death in Venice Read the
Celebrity Online

Death in Venice lasts for three to four hours and is suited to an evening. It has been written to be played online using video chat – such as Google Hangouts, Skype, Discord, Zoom or similar.

The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a cast list of all the characters, and a copy of the Celebrity Online – plus details of how to buy the game.

Now available in German!

You can buy a German translation of this game – click here for more details.

These are the characters in Death in Venice:

• Célestine de Vincennes – Decadent French minor aristocrat, reputed to be fabulously wealthy
• Courtney Keller – Personal assistant to Landor Hammond. Always seems to be rather busy
• Cruz Vicente – Journalist covering celebrity material for the Celebrity Online website
• Daniel Setters – The star of Never Look Back – a strong and soulful leading man who mingles tough with tender
• JJ Kowalski – Expert film editor, responsible for the narrative thrust of Never Look Back
• Landor Hammond – Tech mogul responsible for a string of online businesses, and owner of the Casanova
• Lyra Spark – Hugely successful pop star, currently thought to be trying to develop a side career as an actor
• Mary-Lou Sinclair – The other star of Never Look Back, a skilled and versatile leading lady renowned for her ability to express subdued emotion
• Tindall Nobbs – Supporting actor in Never Look Back, famous for a friendly and approachable demeanor

Number of guests	Male characters	Female characters	Ungendered characters
5	2	2	1
6	2	2	2
7	2	2	3
8	2	2	4
9	2	2	5

How Freeform Games Murder Mysteries Work

Death in Venice is unlike many murder mystery games. Although the game starts with a murder, most of the characters have more important things to do than to investigate it.

Death in Venice is played just like a murder mystery game. You may be trying to solve the murder, but primarily you are (initially at least) concentrating on your own goals and objectives. Unlike most boxed murder mystery games, Death in Venice lets you decide how to achieve your goals and thwart your enemies.

On the evening of the game the guests are met in an online chat group by the organizer, the Chief Steward, and welcomed to the Casanova. They each have their detailed backgrounds – including dark secrets and personal objectives. The fun then begins as they form alliances, blackmail each other, lie, cheat, and deceive! Along the way they may uncover some of the mysteries of Death in Venice. Who punched who on the set of Never Look Back, and why? Who is The Child in the Sailor Suit, and who will play their parents? And, of course, who is the murderer or Mikolette Lukanis? Depending on what the players choose to do, there are several different possible endings, but finally everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.

And the host can play too! Unlike most of our other games, the host can also play a character in Death in Venice. We've provided a version of the game that means that the host can play – just be careful not to read the files before you start playing. (And if you want to host the game without playing a character, you can do that as well.)

Extra characters

Sometimes you have too many guests and you need more characters. So we've written a free extra character for each of our games that you can add in, and some of our customers have created their own characters for their parties and are kindly willing to share them.

Please note that we haven't always tested these – and they may not tie in exactly with our games.

IMPORTANT – if you've bought the game, you can download the files for these characters from the download page where you got your main game files. Contact us if you need the link and password to get back to that page.

• Alessi Enorme – Venetian celebrity chef (Any)
  (by John Mulheren)

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