Here's the concept:
Homicide is a detective game for 2+ players. One player serves as the Case Keeper and the other players are the detectives.
The Case Keeper (acting title for role): The case keeper has with them the casebook or user created case materials. These include the following.
Killer Profile: Who the killer is in the case and any actions the killer might take during the investigation.
Crime Scenes: Information on crimes scenes tied to the case.
POIs: Persons of Interest, and information each person has that is relevant to the case.
Evidence: Key elements of evidence relevant to the case.
Victim Profile: The victim/s of the case and information about them relevant to the case.
Job of the Case Keeper: The role of the case keeper is to direct and provide information to the detectives in response to their investigation.
The Detectives: The goal of the detectives is to investigate the crimes scenes, gather evidence, interview POIs, and to eventually determine who the killer is. The detectives can get this wrong, and some cases may have consequences for bad arrests.
So how is the game played?
The players will all gather around the table and decide on the case keeper. It is advised to keep a consistent case keeper for a killer to avoid compromising the cases with spoilers.
The case keeper will then take the casebook and turn to the first case (or whatever case the detectives have reached) for their selected killer profile.
They will present the F.O.S. (First on Scene) Intel to the detectives to get them started. The detectives can then begin their investigation, looking into POIs, autopsy, toxicology, etc to gather evidence and eventually determine the killer. The case keeper tracks nothing for the detectives. It is the job of the detectives to keep notes on information and evidence they gather regarding the case.
The table can pause their investigation at any time allowing the group to play the game in multiple sittings if they so desire.
Case Types: The game will have the following case types players can choose from within the casebook.
Single Crime: These are self contained cases that are one offs.
Serial Killers: These cases have a progression to them that adds complexity to the case as time goes on by adding in more victims, more cunning killers, and other additional complexities not found in one offs.
Create a Case: Players will also be given the tools in the back of the casebook to design their own cases, allowing players to continue generating content after they have solved the cases contained within the book or if they just want to dive in on creating cases from the outset.
Freedom of Investigation: Players can ask or do anything they'd like and the Case Keeper will answer to the best of their ability within the scope of what they know from the casebook to provide the player with information and/or evidence pertinent to the angle of inquiry adding to the depth of investigation not found in other crime based party games like Clue and without the competitive nature of hidden identity games and the like.
