Event E2/Proposal Pianoman1125
While this entry did not make the shortlist, you are welcome to continue discussing & planning to run your event after the E2 event period. A new thread has been started for non-shortlist entry discussion.
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This is an entry for E2: The Event Event. |
| Pianoman1125 Sherlock Bones and the Mystery of Lady Witherby’s Pearls |
A murder mystery in 3 parts. Including a pillage, tournament and clue finding section, and writing competition.
| Player Profile | Timeline | ||
| Audience | Anyone who enjoys mysteries and clue finding and dramatic writing. | Elapsed time | 2 weeks. |
| Unit of Entry | Individual entry | Participant Time | Sections 1 and 2 - Pillage and clue/tournament section: approx. 4 - 5 hours.
Section 3 - Writing contest: However long it takes them to write the final story. 1 Week max. |
| Expected Participation | Section 1: Pillage - Up to 60 pirates and 15 predetermined cast members from my flag and friends totaling 75 on a Frigate.
Section 2: Clue/tournament section - Unlimited. Section 3: First 150 entries received for ease of judging. |
Judging Time | 1 week to judge section 3, the stories. |
| Platform | Sections 1 and 2: Midnight Ocean. Section 3: Forums. | ||
Contents
Details
Event Description
A fine day for a pillage. Detective Sherlock Bones and his friends embark from Jorvik Island for fun and adventure on the high seas. But what’s this? A scream from the crow’s nest! All aboard rush to see what the commotion is only to find that Lady Witherby has been murdered and her priceless pearl necklace has been stolen! Sherlock Bones will not stand for this and orders the ship to port at nearby Eta where the festivities had been planned to continue. So as not to arouse the suspicion of the guests/potential suspects, Bones has the scheduled tournaments continued and begins his investigation. Later that evening, the mystery is solved but Bones knows he must report this information to the seas. He enlists all present to write their version of the evening and only one will make it into the world’s newspaper.
Section 1: The pillage - This section will be pre-registered via forum PM owing to the limited capacity of the war frigate. Total people on board will be 15 scripted cast members plus 60 pirates. Should 60 people not register for the pillage ahead of time then an ocean wide broadcast will be made with jobbing information. The Frig will pillage from Jorvik to Eta, approx. 4 or 5 battles, with small introductory narration and the murder will take place shortly before reaching Eta.
Section 2: The clue finding and tournament section. This will take place in a villa located on Eta island. Tournament boards will be set up throughout. This section will last approx. 2-3 hours depending on the length of the tournaments. Sherlock Bones will be lurking around and our 13 other cast members (Bones being one and Witherby being the other for the total of 15) will be acting as if they are normal guests. All chat except for tournament announcements will be on room chat. During this time, there will be numerous free entry drinking, sword fighting, and treasure drop tournaments local to the villa with large pots. This is also the clue finding time. Each cast member will have a back story detailing their character, their occupation, and their relationship with Lady Witherby and the other cast members. Anyone may ask any cast member any question. However, there is an inherent problem here. The cast members now know they are suspects and will most likely lie to ensure that they are not accused. You must then "purchase" the truth from these suspects. Each cast member will have a task, riddle, or trivia question that you must complete to ensure that you are receiving accurate information. Players are welcome to question the cast members without completing their task but cannot then guarantee the accuracy of the information they receive. Once you have purchased the truth from a cast member it is in effect for the entire event and you may ask as many questions as you like of them. The murderer however will not be swayed by this and still lie. All questions and answers will take place in /tells to avoid prying ears and you must be in the same room as the person you are questioning. You may then use the information you gather from them as well as clues left in the news in each room to deduce who the murderer is, why Lady Witherby was killed, and where the priceless pearls are. First person to report to Sherlock Bones who the murderer is, why she was killed, and where they have hidden the pearls will win the pearl necklace trinket and a renamed sloop, the “Fact Finder”. Each guest in the house gets one and only one guess and they must be submitted by /tells. Once someone has correctly guessed the murderer’s identity, reason, and whereabouts of the pearl necklace, any remaining tournaments will be immediately put up and completed. This then ends section 2 and begins the final section.
(*Note, I have two additional ideas for clue dissemination that I would also use in addition to the one listed but stating them here would spoil the surprise if this event were ever carried out.)
Section 3: The deduction - as is classic to Holmes literature, now comes the extended deduction. Except this time it will not be extended. Sherlock Bones will give the bare facts of the murder and the reasoning behind it. This will be posted in the announcement thread on the forums so from this point forward all participation will be on the forums. Bones wants to the world to know the events of that evening so he must publish the story to the newspapers. This will be a competition to take the bare facts of the case, and write a newspaper article detailing it for publication. Submissions will be made by email and should be written in the form of a newspaper article (i.e. byline, dateline, headline, incorporation of facts and general flow.) Submissions must be made by exactly one week from the night of the event. There will then be a one week judging period. They will be judged on accuracy of the facts, writing style and dramatic flair, and spelling and grammatical correctness. Winner of this competition will win a monkey, a villa on Eta island, and the personal thanks of Sherlock Bones.
For reference, here are some of my costume designs for the cast members.
Judging
Section 1: No judging involved
Section 2: First person to report to Sherlock Bones (i.e. me) with correct identity of murderer, reason for murder, and location of the pearls.
Section 3: Accuracy and completeness of the facts, writing style and dramatic interpretation, spelling and grammar. Will be judged by a panel of volunteers from within my flag and they will not be aware of the identities of the writers.
Prizes
Booty from the section 1 pillage.
Approx. 200k poe in the section 2 tournament prizes of my own money including other “secret clues and prizes”. A pearl necklace trinket (This doesn't actually exist and I doubt I would get new artwork so I am willing to change the item to an existing trinket) and renamed sloop, the “Fact Finder”, for the winner of Section 2.
A monkey familiar and Villa on Eta for the winner of Section 3.
Help Required
Volunteer Assistance
Myself with an alt named along the theme of Sherlock Bones, one named along the theme of Lady Witherby, and 13 other characters in alts with classic British literature names. These cast members will also act as judges for the writing competition.
OM Assistance
The production of the Pearl Necklace trinket, rename of a sloop to “Fact Finder”, the monkey familiar, and transfer of Sherlock's Bones' villa on Eta into the possession of the winner. (Note, I am aware transfer of housing is strictly frowned on so I would rather have Sherlock Bone's manor just deleted and one granted to the winner. Technically, that's not a transfer.) The turn off of pvp between Jorvik and Eta during the pillage. Also, (if possible, I don’t know about this one) the guarantee that during the pillage, after 5 battles have been fought and the murder takes place, that no more brigands spawn between there and the island. An ocean broadcast before the start of the pillage should more pirates be needed and one before the start of the events in the villa.
Workshop Coaching
At current, I see no complicating issues with the judging seeing as it will be done with no names given to the judges. The only problems I may foresee is writing the script for the cast members with enough clarity to ensure that someone can figure it out and writing well thought out clues for the news..
History
Previous Similar Events
The only specific event that comes to mind that has been similar to this was Silver Dusk, my flag’s 2 year anniversary last December. That however had different rules regarding the mystery section and did not include a writing competition. There have also been some well planned murder mysteries before of varying topics and processes of how they were carried out.
Qualifications
Mostly smaller events including weddings, a coronation, masquerade pillages, pub crawl, and other assorted in-flag events. I feel I have enough experience to effectively run an ocean wide event with successful help from my flag and friends.
