A social mystery in three acts. You play as a pair. Your objective: find out who holds the Alternate Will, and do not let the room decide it is you.
Cornelius Kraus is dead. His executors, Harrison and Margot Brennan, hold the estate. Somewhere in this house, one guest holds an Alternate Will that could redirect the entire fortune. Every pair has a reason to care, a secret to protect, and a few facts the rest of the room would pay to learn.
You are not detectives in the usual sense. You win by talking: meeting other pairs, trading what you know, forming alliances, spreading (or quieting) rumours, and reading who flinches when a name is mentioned.
Read your character backstory. It is public, and so is everyone else's, so browse freely. Decide how your character talks and carries a room. That is all the preparation there is.
At the door, each pair receives a single word that opens its confidential dossier on this site. It has three parts.
What the room knows about you, your shared objective, and the people you should seek out first. Read these together.
One for each of you. Each partner knows something the other does not. Read your own; decide for yourself what to share.
Locked behind a second word that the executors announce later in the evening. Do not try to guess it. Opening it early spoils your own game.
Three acts. Each act ends with a fifteen-minute round-table discussion, then a private ballot. Every ballot eliminates somebody.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:30 – 8:00 | Arrival and the opening social period. Drinks, introductions, dossiers. Get into character. |
| 8:00 – 8:40 | Act I. The investigation begins. Trade information. Separate what you witnessed from what you were told. |
| 8:40 – 9:00 | Round-table discussion, then the first vote. One pair is eliminated. |
| 9:00 – 9:50 | Act II. The executors announce the Act II word. Sealed pages open. A discovery in the house changes what the room believes it knows. |
| 9:50 – 10:10 | Round-table discussion, then the second vote. Two pairs are eliminated. |
| 10:10 – 10:35 | Act III. Final investigation and alliances. |
| 10:35 – 10:55 | Round-table discussion, then the final vote. One pair is eliminated. |
| 11:00 | The estate is resolved and the surviving beneficiary revealed. The special guest performance follows. |
Before each discussion, the executors announce the active pairs and voting weights. Each active pair then has up to one minute to name the pair it suspects of holding the Alternate Will and to explain its evidence. Passing is allowed. The remaining minutes are for brief responses and final persuasion. An accusation at the round table is not a ballot and does not itself eliminate anyone. You may change your mind after hearing others.
After each discussion, every active pair submits one private ballot naming an eligible active pair. Ballots name pairs only: the Wrens, the Crowes, and so on.
The pair with the most votes is eliminated. There is no threshold: four votes out of eleven is enough if nobody has more. Someone leaves the game at every vote.
After the second vote, the two pairs with the most votes are both eliminated. The field narrows quickly; vote carefully and vote together.
If pairs tie for the deciding place, the room votes again between the tied pairs only, by show of hands. If they are still tied, the executors cast the deciding ballot.
If the room names a pair, that pair is out whether or not it held the Will. Eliminated guests remain at the party as observers: they no longer vote, trade clues, investigate, or influence the contest.
If the pair holding the Will is eliminated, the executors collect it and privately pass it to Cornelius's next chosen heir. The room is told only that the estate has changed hands. The new holder is not announced. After the third vote there is no fourth: the executors resolve any succession and reveal the surviving beneficiary.
A pair that completes an Act I challenge may earn a second vote on the first ballot; the executors announce any bonus before voting. The Hawthornes arrive after the opening social period, do not vote on the first ballot, and join the investigation and later votes once admitted. Maxwell Montclair is a visiting guest for the early evening and does not vote.
A private supper, a sealed envelope, or a charitable payment is not automatically evidence of an Alternate Will. Connect the people behind the rumours without confusing separate matters.
Deflect, negotiate, withhold, and bluff about what you intend to do. Do not make up events that are not in your dossier. The game only works if the facts are real.
If the evening leads to a discovery inside the house, the executors supervise it. Never move the television, projector, furnishings, or wall panels on your own.
Any toast, pour, or challenge can be declined with no penalty. A gracious host accepts every answer. Nobody is asked to hurry, finish, or drink more than they want.
Call each other by character name. When a conversation has given up what it has to offer, the line is: "The estate has given us too much to ignore. We need to find out what someone else knows."