Murder Before Hibernation
Murder mystery dinner for 5 to 7 players in an autumn forest of talking animals
- Players
- 5–7 players
- Duration
- approx. 3 hrs
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Ages 12+
- Cast: 3 male, 3 female, 1 any gender
- 2 optional roles
- Host plays along
Content notes: A death by poison (only hinted at, nothing bloody), Theft and fraud among animals
One-time purchase · digital download (PDF)
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What's it about?
The last Saturday in October, the first ground frost lies on the moss. In his den “The Honeypaw,” Bruno Bear hosts the farewell supper before hibernation: honey wine, mushroom wreaths, a long table. Everyone at the table is a talking forest animal, and almost every one has something to hide. Soon after the toast the mood is gone, and nobody can leave the forest before the Forest Council arrives at dawn.
The kit has seven roles: Bear, Roe, Fox, Magpie, Badger, Squirrel and Mouse. Each role has a backstory, observations and a small secret rooted in the character's nature: the magpie loves anything that glitters, the squirrel counts acorns, the badger digs tunnels. Over three rounds you compare times and routes, two props come to the table, and twice the forest doctor reports in with new findings. At the end everyone makes an accusation, and then the sealed solution is opened.
The tone is humorous, the case is of medium difficulty, and the evening takes about three hours. Anyone who listens closely and lines up the times will find the trail. The host plays along; the host guide contains no solution. The evening can be played with five, six or seven players; for five and six there are sealed instructions that tell you what to read aloud in addition.
The kit comes as a Print version with one role booklet per character, which you print and fold yourself, and as a Digital version in phone format for sending.
The characters
Bruno Bear
Elder of the Forest, honey brewer and host of the Honeypaw
Bruno is big, good-natured and tired by nature; for weeks he has been longing for his hibernation. His honey wine is famous all over the forest, his memory in autumn is not.
Mika Roe
Forest Courier
Mika carries the mail through the whole forest and knows every path and every sender. Mika is faster on the runs than in conversation, but not by much, and flinches at every crack in the underbrush.
Frieda Fox
Tracker and honorary Forest Police Officer
Frieda reads tracks the way other people read the newspaper. Because she is a fox, she is the first to be suspected of every misdeed in the forest, and she takes it with dry humor.
Hanna Magpie
Curio dealer and collector (anything that glitters)
Hanna deals in anything that glitters, rattles or ended up in the two-legs' trash. She talks fast, flatters freely and has a story for every piece, usually a better one than the piece deserves.
Dieter Badger
Master Builder of Earthworks and Tunnels
Dieter digs tunnels that hold, and hates shoddy work wherever he finds it. He rarely says more than he has to, and what he says can usually be measured.
Egon Squirrel
Master of the Stores of the Community Granary
Egon keeps the books on the whole forest's winter supplies and knows at any hour how many acorns are lying where. He talks fast, counts constantly, and is convinced that without him winter wouldn't even take place.
Maria Mouse
Herb gatherer and tea supplier
Maria knows every herb in the forest and supplies her tea to half the neighborhood. She is small, quiet and polite, and when something goes missing in the forest, everyone looks at her first.