LPM Test Drive

[letsplayamod]

The Inaugural Let's Play A Murder Test Drive



Greetings, mortals.

I thank you for accepting my plea. From across universes, I have summoned you to aid me in bringing light back to this land. Here, though, in this small pocket, we are free to relax for the moment. Steel yourself, and meet with me soon.

There is much to discuss.

Welcome to the official test drive for Let's Play A Murder, an experimental murdergame! Characters will work together to unravel an oncoming threat that strikes each week with something new to tear them apart. For now, tag around with potential picks for the upcoming game and get a feel for that sweet sweet murder CR! If you have any questions, please DM lightdrizzel

Threads from this TDM (and others if you so choose) will count towards the RP sample of the applications.

1 - I hardly think I'm qualified
Wherever you were, whatever you were doing... you're not there anymore. Instead, you've awoken on an unfamiliar but very soft bed. The room is sparsely decorated, ornate carvings of heroic figures intermingle on the walls with hairline cracks. This place has seen better days, but, possibly, so have you.

There is a nightstand beside your bed, as naked as anything save for an envelope sealed in wax. Inside is a letter written in a careful hand, welcoming you to this place; a safe area, free of those that would cause harm. Your host had to step away briefly, but she will return. In the meanwhile, she expects everyone to obey the rules of this place.

Included in the envelope was a small bronze key - to your room, no doubt. And luck - it unlocks your door. You're free to venture out into a semicircle of these homes you've found yourself in. And you're not alone, either.

Perhaps you should say hello to your new neighbors.

2 - To come across all sanctified
You've all become acquainted with each other, and met with your gracious benefactor. She had to dip out again, but has left you all with a veritable island paradise to explore. In the center pantheon, large profiles of each of you have been cast in the stone walls, details of your life chiseled beneath them in perhaps too much detail. Along with a set of rules cast on a bronze plaque. Seems straightforward enough.

Beyond that, it seems whatever information you'll gain will only be found by your own hand. You have the free time now, and it's a beautiful day outside. There's plenty to explore among the towering obelisks and half-standing temples. Just avoid trying to leave the edge of the island - a golden barrier will very rudely smack you in the face.

Feel free to make up locations for this. The island is anachronistic with all the amnesties of a modern home.


3 - I just don't cut it with the cherubim
Purple clown? What? None of that here. But once you've found out where to leave those tribute coins you've 'earned' there's a small pile of items waiting outside your door. Some of which you might even recognize from home.

Or perhaps you've been given twenty wooden cut-outs of... who the heck is this guy.


4 - There again they're on their knees
Training exercises! In order to discern your godly nature, what better way to start than a good, very old-fashioned obstacle course.

Balance across the beams, avoid getting beaned in the head by a swinging bat. Swing from a rope. Or, if you're really feeling up to a challenge, pick up a sword and meet someone's steel with steel.

Or you can sit back and prepare medical supplies. Someone's definitely going to get hurt.


5 - Being worshiped is a breeze
The sky darkens. Lightning overtakes the calm summers day. It's not long before the whole area is under attack.

From the very earth itself, monsters crawl from the ground; undead hands clutching rusted swords and shields. Digging themselves from their graves so that they can put you in yours. Somewhere, distantly, your mentor yells to take up arms, and is already lost in her own fray.

It's up to you to defend yourself, or to defend others. There's no honor in running away, but if you need to survive, it's not like anyone would blame you.


6 - Which rather suits us in the interim
Congrats! You've survived the onslaught. But even as the sky clears, an ultimatum has been passed down from on high; if one of your group isn't slain by the end of the week, then the world you belong to will be destroyed.

Surely, nothing would actually be able to accomplish that, but that faint hope doesn't remove the tension from the air.


7 - Oh my god
Seems that someone didn't want to take the chance.

One of your fellows has met with a gruesome end, and if up to you and everyone else to play detective and figure out just who did it. The hourglass is running out. Just try not to trip over any evidence.


8 - It's tough to be a god
Investigation’s done, it’s time for a trial! Perhaps you nailed it and someone's already confessing to their crimes. Perhaps you've been running around in circles, looking for anything that could move the trial forward. Maybe you all just decided to strip down, even if it wasn't necessary. Whatever the case, tensions are still high. Not just because you have to point out a culprit... but you have to lay down punishment for them too.

Majority vote decides, of course. This is a democracy, after all, but you can still waste time dithering on what to do next.

Comments

Alex Browning | Final Destination

[rockymountaindie]

ii

[ Alex has been a bit of a whirlwind from the moment he wakes up. Allegedly people are here by choice. That feels wrong. That sounds wrong. All of this, it's wrong, and Alex cannot, will not sit still.

So he explores the island. Carefully. Slowly. Literally jumping at every snapped twig. Not like there's really any life here...but no life, that doesn't mean something can't get you. Ms. Lewton was all alone in her house, after all. So was Tod. And there was no one else except for him and Clear around when—

Not thinking about it. Anyway.

Alex finds the edge of the island. It looks like a long way down. Perfect way for someone to have an untimely demise. Hesitantly, he reaches a single finger up to try see if the air feels any less stagnant and dead, but. Well. It bounces off a golden barrier. ]

...

[ He frowns, nods, clicks his tongue. ]

Yeeah, this is fucked.

iv

[ Okay if Alex has been an anxious mess before, like, hahahahahahhahahaha you GUYS!

He stands frozen, watching everything, eyes dashing from the balance beam (is that even steady? you could fall and break your neck—) to the swinging bat (the amount of force in that thing, what if it hits just a little too hard—) to the goddamn swords, and— ]

Ohhhh this place is a fucking death trap.

[ Sweaty and serious, Alex starts going around checking everything. Every concern. He's not taking part in the obstacle course, no, but he's trying to see if it's up to code. ]

vii

[ Dead. Someone's dead. Alex- he hadn't even really talked to her all that much, but the girl with the colorful hair and a missing arm, Brooklynn, lays dead before him and it's


It's surreal. It's weird. It feels like going to the morgue again, because her body's so...normal. Lips blue. But no horrific, bloody wounds. No gaping holes, no (additional) missing limbs, no mangled remains that used to make up a person. ]

Sh... Shit.

[ It's all he can manage to say.

It feels weird. Coming onto it after the fact. He's grown used to watching it happen. ]

iv

[markofnobility]

[Ferdinand, who is doing one armed push ups on one of the balance beams because of course he is, sees Alex poking around and pauses, tilting his head like a curious dog]

Looking for a place to start my friend?

[rockymountaindie]

[ Alex shakes his head and does not look up. ]

I'm tryin' to make sure none of you break your heads or snap your backs in half or something.

[markofnobility]

Oh, so you are a healer then!

[ferdie no]

[rockymountaindie]

[ Okay, now he looks up. ]

What- no, if that happens, there's no- JEEESUS, man, what are you doing?!

[ Said upon seeing one of those one armed push ups. Alex scrambles to his feet and holds out his hands as if to spot Ferdinand. ]

ii.

[brokenhabit]

[ Lebkuchen was just wandering about herself, feeling uneasy for her own reasons. She thinks to head in a different direction when she spots Alex, if just to give the boy some space himself... but it's the gold of the barrier that gets her to freeze like a deer in the headlights, heart seizing up in her chest.

Calm down, it's just... well, it wasn't what she thought at least. ]

Was that... what was that...?

[rockymountaindie]

[ Oh shit there's someone here- Alex starts, head snapping in Lebkuchen's direction.

Gravely, he answers: ] You read those rules? About that protective seal? I guess this is that.

[ He scrunches up his face. ]

For our "own safety." Allegedly.

[brokenhabit]

That's the seal?

[ Huh for some reason she didn't really expect it to be... visible? Even briefly? But she also didn't expect it to literally keep them from leaving. ]

I thought it was supposed to keep danger out, not also force us in...!

[rockymountaindie]

Yeah. Real funny, that. Except I am not laughing.

[ Frustrated, he runs a hand through his hair. ]

It's convenient that wasn't mentioned anywhere.

iv

[latinumsbetter]

Yeah, that's why you couldn't get me on there, no matter how much latinum you threw at me.

[Quark has his arms folded, eyeing the obstacle course with clear distaste]

[rockymountaindie]

[ From where he's checking the screws on some monkey bars or something— ]

Holy shit thank you! At last, someone with some- some common sense, here! [ A beat. ] Whaaat's latinum?

[latinumsbetter]

Common sense does seem to be in real short supply around here. [as for that]

Latinum's standard galactic currency, used across all planets.

[rockymountaindie]

Hhhhhhhhhuh. [ really getting low and gravely on the h. this is just how he talks with his rat voice. ]

Well, uh, obviously not on, ya know, all planets. Considering.

[ weak little gesture, both around and at himself. ]

iv

[catsgothistongue]

Isn't that the whole point of an obstacle course?

[While someone's being a nervous wreck playing CSHO, Ranma's currently hanging upside down from the balance beam Alex's inspecting, apathetic to the other boy's worries.]

It ain't really trainin' if there isn't some risk involved to push us, dude.

[Though he's honestly a little biased there with the regimen he was put through growing up.]

[rockymountaindie]

[ why do all of these people want to make his life hard. why. ]

Risk and death trap aren't the same thing, dude. [ Alex looks up with a grimace, glancing between Ranma and the ground, judging the distance between them. ] You're gonna- that's a prime position to snap your back.

[catsgothistongue]

[because some people live life to the extreme instead of acting like the fun police alex!

Not heeding Alex's words for even a second, Ranma crosses his arms behind his head in a manner to someone lounging in a lawn chair. All the while pulling up with his legs.]

Pfft, I've fallen from higher places than this. Didn't get a single scratch on me.

[Saying that so nonchalantly like it's no big deal. Tilting his head, with indifference to the proposed "dangers" of a rinkydink obstacle course.

Yeesh. If this is what's got Alex all up in a tizzy, hearing about the training he's been through might send him into cardiac arrest.]

What's got you so pressed anyway, you're not even running the course.

[rockymountaindie]

[ Ohhhh this guy is just a walking source of anxiety for him, huh. Alex heaves out this heavy and very tired sigh. ]

What, just 'cause I'm not sticking my neck out there doesn't mean I can't look out for the rest of you yahoos? [ He rubs the back of his neck. ] You can do something a- a million times and still, just the wrong amount of...luck, and it'll fuck you.

II; I think someone is behind me

[phototraces]

[Someone has been distant from the others, too. Running the math in her head. Running every scenario. Every possible fall, every possible sudden collapse--she thought it was behind her after the tricentennial but the instincts never go away. Something is wrong. So very, very wrong.

She thought she recognized his face. His behaviors were like her own, too, and when she had seen the profiles... she knew. She knew she needed to talk to him. Alone. So she followed him and she lets out a long held breath.]

I want to say something about out of the pot into the fire but I don't want to jinx anything.

[She's looking everywhere except his face. Some things... well. The Flight 180 obsessed fans loved their morbid pictures. Some things can't be unseen.]

there is someone....walking behind you......

[rockymountaindie]

[ Someone's following him.

Alex realizes that at some point. He's not used to looking for actual people just signs, so he misses it at first. But it seems like... It's that nervous girl, Wendy. ...Nervous for anyone else, for Alex she seems pretty normal. They've met briefly.

He almost shivers at her turn of phrase; even if it never happened, he remembers what it felt like to burn alive in the flames. He remembers the lick of flame from Ms Lewton's house. He remembers the feeling of waking up with charred hands.

Alex doesn't much like fire anymore. ]

Yeah. Definitely don't. There's shit out there that'd take that as a...a promise.

[phototraces]

[The fire at the tanning salon. The barbecue and fireworks at the tricentennial--no, fire wasn't any good at all. She shivers at the memory of how quick it could have caught Kevin--

No. She can control herself. She can be calm. She can have a normal conversation and she thinks out of anyone here, he would understand.]

I know.

[Even if the air is stagnant and still she can imagine her hair whipping in a breeze that shouldn't be there. Their clothing rustling as Death listened. Her eyes go to his hands, his shoes, to various elements of their surroundings--a stick, a rock, one of those discarded priest cutouts someone had tried to shove against the barrier--she can do this. She can keep calm. Keep control. She has to.]

...I cheated Him, too.

[She doesn't say Death. Doesn't want to bring it's attention towards them but she thinks Alex is at least nervous in the same way she is.]

[rockymountaindie]

[ Alex goes stock still. Pins and needles rush down his arms. He misheard. He had to mishear. Because no one's—

Very carefully, he turns and takes her in properly. There's something in her stance. Something that he recognizes in his own. The frightened animal. The cautious, careful eyes. ]

You mean you- [ No. That's not the question he should be asking. If it could happen to him. Alex Theodore Browning, all-around normal, nothing special guy, why couldn't someone else see the signs? What he should ask is- ] How do you know me?

iv

[psychonductor]

[Crito perks up at the mention of death - that’s their department! - and leans over to Alex. Well, as much leaning as their short stature allows.]

Ever been in a shower? Now that’s a death trap. One slip, and - shhhrrrkkk - that’s it!

[Doesn’t that just make you feel better.]

[rockymountaindie]

[ Alex goes very stiff! Ha! Thanks he hates it!

Grim and terse: ] Yeah I'm real familiar with the hazards of a fuckin' bathroom, thanks.

[psychonductor]

[The change in Alex’s tone either doesn’t register, or Crito does nothing to acknowledge it.]

Language! Tut-tut.

[They shake their head disapprovingly.]

Point is, if you can bring yourself to wash every morning, this is a cakewalk!

[rockymountaindie]

[ Distastefully, Alex replies: ]

Mm. Yeah, a'right. I think maybe you should just fuck off and run the little death course, if that's what you think about it.