by macadmin | Dec 12, 2016 | Blog, Characters
Frau Gutrun Blauer, played by Paula Wessley
Frau Blauer was widowed in the Great War. Her husband, Fritzel Blauer, was considerably older than her and had run the inn for twenty years before taking a wife. Their marriage was rumoured to be unhappy but, shortly before his demise, they had a son, also called Fritzel.
It was expected that once the war was over, Frau Blauer would sell up and move to Zittau, if not Dresden, where she could live comfortably on the proceeds. However, she made the decision (a fortunate one, when one thinks what German inflation would have done to her savings) to continue running the inn as a legacy in trust for her son Fritzel.
Various decisions she made in support of this, including developing connections with the local skiing areas and running a small, select casino on the premises, have ensured that the inn has become extremely successful.
Her only regret was that her son Fritzel shows little interest in the business, preferring instead to pursue studies in physics at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin. In the last two years, however, he has spent more time at home.
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Gutrun Blauer is a NonPlayer Character in Murder at Christmas. This means that she will be written by Mel Mason, who is running the game.
You can learn more about other characters here.
Murder at Christmas is an online email game that will run over (approximately) the Twelve Days of Christmas – from December 21st 2016 until January 6th 2017. There are eight writers, working collaboratively (see the Rules of the Game). Regular updates will be posted on the website, with links that you can follow on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ so that people can follow the story, root for their favourite characters, and keep up with the twists and turns of the plot.
Followers can also apply to join the Gossip mailing list,where they can discuss the game with the writers!
by macadmin | Dec 11, 2016 | Blog, Characters
Chetwyn Glyde, played by Cedric Hardwicke
Chetwyn Glyde is a wealthy and notoriously ruthless American media owner in his early sixties. He has fingers thrust into many pies and his enemies – of whom there are many – say that any meat in those pies soon starts to smell rotten.
Despite being rumoured to be on the edges of organised crime, he has friends in high places, which has seen him awarded government contracts. Exposure of his investment in a leaky oil pipeline, along with reports of fraudulent tax returns, have seen him taking an extended holiday in Europe, accompanied by one of his sons and his beautiful mistress. His love of chemin de fer at the gambling tables might also be another reason.
Glyde has been married twice: an early marriage that ended in divorce and the subsequent death of his wife, leaving him free to marry the lovely (and fragile) heiress Annalisa Dunwoody of Maryland (yes, one of THE Maryland Dunwoodys) in 1903. Three children later, Mrs Glyde had a nervous breakdown and, since 1920, has resided in a nursing home. Her family refuse to countenance a divorce.
Shortly before the collapse of his marriage, at a point where Glyde had become a well-known figure in New York society on account of his vast fortune (accrued through profiteering in the Great War), he met a young chorus girl called Nellie Nolan. She has been his mistress for the last fifteen years.
His two sons by Annalisa (Ian and Kevin) are employed in the business – and are, like Glyde, under investigation by the FBI, although those in the know have suggested that they are as likely to have been duped by their father as his unfortunate investors. He is said to treat them worse than the average employees, keeping them short of cash and working long hours. He also has a daughter (Miranda) who is rumoured to have some of her mother’s fragility.
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Chetwyn Glyde is a NonPlayer Character in Murder at Christmas. This means that he will be written by Mel Mason, who is running the game.
You can learn more about other characters here.
Murder at Christmas is an online email game that will run over (approximately) the Twelve Days of Christmas – from December 21st 2016 until January 6th 2017. There are eight writers, working collaboratively (see the Rules of the Game). Regular updates will be posted on the website, with links that you can follow on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ so that people can follow the story, root for their favourite characters, and keep up with the twists and turns of the plot.
Followers can also apply to join the Gossip mailing list,where they can discuss the game with the writers!
by macadmin | Nov 21, 2016 | Blog, News
Nellie Nolan, played by Anna Sten
We’re on the deadline of applications for Murder at Christmas 2016, and there are a few available places. But you’ll need to get your basic character concepts in today, November 21st.
Find out more about the game here, and submit your character concept here. At this stage we’re just looking for outlines – there’ll be time enough to work out the details closer to the start of the game.
Make sure you take a look at the characters page too – perhaps you have a secret connection with one or more of these characters! Perhaps you have a reason … for murder!
Any questions? You can contact the GM here.
Make sure you don’t miss the deadline!
by macadmin | Nov 13, 2016 | Blog, News
What secrets does Count Vasily Dolgorukov (played by John Barrymore) know?
The first character concepts have been submitted for Murder at Christmas, and they’re a pretty exciting bunch!
It looks like we’ll be joined by a keen cross country skier, an aristocratic dilettante, a shy young English woman, an American playboy and a successful writer of mystery stories. But there’s certainly room for more people on the train and in the hotel!
So find out more about the game here, and submit your character concept here. At this stage we’re just looking for outlines – there’ll be time enough to work out the details closer to the start of the game.
Make sure you take a look at the characters page too – perhaps you have a secret connection with one or more of these characters! Perhaps you have a reason … for murder!
Any questions? You can contact the GM here.
You have until November 21st to submit a character concept – make sure you don’t miss the deadline!
by macadmin | Nov 8, 2016 | Blog
It is Christmas Eve, 1937.
An early heavy snowfall has seen an avalanche in the Zittau Mountains which has halted the Vienna – Prague – Berlin train. Travellers, informed that there will be a probably three day delay (because it is Christmas, meine Damen und Herren!), will be brought to the famed Hotel de Saxe in the village of Bad Bernsdorf, and may count themselves lucky to find themselves in such as renowned establishment, a centre for winter sports and possessed of an excellent chef and a small casino.
They will find some people in residence already – the wealthy and notoriously ruthless American media owner, Chetwyn Glyde, his mistress, the actress Nellie Nolan, and his personal assistant, the saturnine David Olson. Also present is a White Russian aristocrat, Count Vasily Dolgorukov, and a German diplomat, Franz von Essen.
The hotel is run by Frau Gutrun Blauer, with the assistance of her son, Fritzel.
All seems charming and welcoming …
But there are tensions beneath the surface … and murder is in the air.
Murder at Christmas is an online email game that will run over (approximately) the Twelve Days of Christmas – from December 21st 2016 until January 6th 2017. There will be between eight and fifteen writers, working collaboratively (see the Rules of the Game). Regular updates will be posted here, with links on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ so that people can follow the story, root for their favourite characters, and keep up with the twists and turns of the plot.
By the end, the aim is to produce something that resembles a Golden Age murder mystery novel. You can see earlier examples from Christmas 2000 (a classic country house mystery) and Christmas 2003 (Death in the Highlands).
If you would like to create a character to join us at the Hotel de Saxe, please submit a character concept here. Concepts must be submitted by November 21st. If you would like to play a character but have any queries or questions, contact the GM here.
You may choose to play a local villager, a passenger from the train, or a guest already in residence at the hotel. The local mountains offer skiing, and the closeness of the Czech and Polish borders may suggest other reasons for taking a room in the winter of 1937.
In addition, some characters who will have a particular role – such as the son or daughter of a non-player character – will also be available. See the Characters page for more details.
Please note that the web-site will be growing and changing ahead of the launch of the game on 21st December, 2016.
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