Murder on the Northpole Express: a DOTG Murder Mystery CC

On December 20th 2017 at 8:00 pm Server Time, the Defenders of the Galaxy invite you to the Millennium City Power House Theater for a Holiday Themed Murder Mystery CC. Prizes are Keys, Gs, any rare loot we come across during the Holiday Event, and prizes donated by others.

The Back Story:
Your character is riding on the North Pole Express-- a passenger train bound for the North Pole, Christmas Town, and Santa's Workshop. You have your own reasons for why you are on this train. Among the passengers on this Train is Santa Claus. One day before the train is due to arrive, a murder most foul happened-- someone has killed Santa Claus. Thankfully, the Defenders of the Galaxy (DOTG) are on the case!

This murder mystery party will be very similar to our last murder mystery CC. You do not need to read that post but you are welcome to: DOTG Murder mystery CC.

The Party will consist of 3 parts: a costume contest, a story/bio/description contest, and a murder mystery.
You are welcome to participate in 1, 2, or all 3 contests.

Costume Contest:
For the CC we will have one theme: Holiday Murder Mystery. Dress as though you may be a suspect in the murder of Santa Claus. I will expand on ideas for costumes in the murder mystery section. Our team of Inspectors lead by Inspector Piffle (or Inspector Noelle) will carefully examine your attire for clues and awesomeness. As usual, the number of winners will be determined by the turnout.

The Murder Mystery Contest
You do not need to be involved in the bio contest for this part, but in order to be eligible to deduce the murderer,you will need to edit your description and include the following information:

• What type of character you are,
  
• Your weapon type,
  
• Your motive.
  

Character Types are broken down into these categories:

• Legendary/Mythical Peers and Rivals: The Easter Bunny, the Christmas Angel, Jack Frost, a Santa Claus synonym (Père Noël), the ghost of Christmas Past, Jacob Marley, Clarence the Angel
  
• North Pole Staff: Elves, Reindeer, and anything or anyone else that could work at the North Pole.
  
• Mortal (fictional or otherwise): Scrooge, a mall Santa, a disgruntled child on the naughty list, an adult that is sick of Christmas, someone whose heart is 2 sizes too small
  

Weapon types will be broken down in to the following categories:

• Firearms. this includes but is not limited to everything from a small water pistol that shoots grape Jelly to a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and "this thing which tells time" (a sundial) .
  
• Archaic weapons. this includes but is not limited to: knives, swords, bows, spears, and anything else that is a weapon that doesn't fit the Other categories. Maybe they are made of candy canes or perhaps ice.
  
• Blunt objects. this includes but is not limited to: a menorah, a fruitcake, a lump of coal, Tiny Tim's crutch, a 39 and a half foot pole.
  
• Character Item: items that are specific to particular character and/or that may or may not fit one of the other categories. Examples include but are not limited to: antlers, ribbon, that old silk hat, a doll, frankincense. a strand of Christmas lights, etc.
  

Motives: And you will need a motive. For simplicity's sake I am narrowing down motives into the following broad categories:

• Greed: this includes wanting more gifts or cookies, control of something, property dispute or any other resource driven motivation.
  
• Passion: love, anger, revenge, betrayal, lust, unrequited love.
  
• Class Conflict or politics.
  
• A secret. Was killing them the only way to keep the secret or did they find out something they were never to know.
  

There is a lot of room for Holiday Stuff in there. Perhaps someone was on the naughty list. Maybe they shouldn't have laughed and called that mutant reindeer names. Maybe a parent really wanted to get their kid a sold out toy and kind of snapped.

An example of what to include your description is:

• North Pole Staff: Elf
  
• Archaic Weapon: a sharp candy cane
  
• Passion: Revenge for never getting the winter off.
  

Ultimately, you will need to decide what category your character and items fit into. For example: a candy cane could be like the candy cane weapons in game, or it could be a considered a blunt object, or if you character is made of Christmas Candy it might be a Character item. if you have questions about how to categorize something, please ask me.


I will start reading bios and taking notes as people take the stage. If you have questions about if your suspect information looks right, feel free to ask me in game. Even though you will likely add this information to your backstory, please have it in the format above for simplicity for myself and others. Having it before your bio will make it easier.

Shortly after the CC kicks off I will reveal clues to help narrow down the suspects. Do not worry, the clues will be obvious. For example, I may say "our guys in forensics have determined that the the cause of death was not blunt force trauma to the head (the Weapon is not a Blunt Object)."

Once I believe I have given enough clues to narrow it down to 1 suspect, I will ask you to send me via in-game e-mail your pick. Please make the subject line include your pick (ex. "Subj: I suspect Panda") I will then use a random number generator to pick winners from the correct guesses. 20% of the correct answers will get a prize with a minimum of 3 winners.

And yes, you will need to take notes and read descriptions in order to pick your suspect. 1 guess per person. You may guess yourself as a suspect.

If you are the possible suspect, do not reveal or hint to others. The suspect will get a prize for being our pick and IF no one suspects them (other than themselves) they will get another prize.

Description/back story/ Bio Contest:
My judges and I will be picking our favorite murder mystery backstories and giving prizes. 20% of participants will get prizes with a minimum of 3 winners.

To be eligible, your description should include a story about why you were on the North Pole Express Train and why you might have a motive for killing Santa Claus. Further more, you should probably explain why you have a particular item or weapon.

If you want to bring your main character and do not wish to lose your bio and still participate in this, I recommend cutting and pasting your regular bio into a text document and saving it.

The last time we did this people said they had a lot of fun. We hope to see you there.