A Taste of Transylville Terror!

     It's August and that's a special time for me.  It's time to plan my annual Halloween Murder-Mystery Party!  I love playing various parties throughout the year, but Halloween is usually the time I try to go all out and throw a really fun and quirky game.  There are some great Halloween themed games out there and I hope to share some with you over the next few weeks.  This time around I'd like to discuss the Halloween Murder Mystery Party "A Taste of Transylville Terror," a great game that can be found at www.acemurdermystery.com  They have a nice selection of games and have been around for a few years.  One of Ace's great concepts is that the characters you and your guests portray are famous faces from both history and fiction.  And the games are very funny as well.
     "A Taste of Transylville Terror" takes place in Transylville, a small town in Transylvania, (I mean where else would it be?)  The year is 1856 and the local town beauty, one Virginia Vestalata, has fallen to her death from the church bell-tower.  Actually, she's been pushed...murdered!  The village is in an uproar and they are pointing the finger at a certain group of strange creatures that inhabit the village.  For you see, Transylville is home to some of the world's most famous (or is that infamous) monsters.  The suspects (and your guest list) includes:

Gomez von Adums:  eccentric patriarch of the strange and macabre von Adums family.
Morticia von Adums:  dark beauty and matriarch of the von Adums family.
Count Dracula:  the famous and feared immortal vampire!
The Bride of Dracula:  Count Dracula's 7th and current wife.
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde:  The brilliant experimental scientist who wrestles with his sadistic alter ego.
The Wicked Witch:  The reclusive and evil spinster who loves to cast spells on others.
Frankenstein's Monster:  The slow-witted creation rejected by both his creator and society.
Kruella Le Deville:  A mean, cruel and ruthless woman.  She always gets what she wants.
Lurchio:  The large, frightening but faithful manservant to the von Adums family.
Poison Ivy:  Ex-botonist now criminal mastermind who uses plant poisons on humanity.

     The story takes place at the von Adums family mansion.  Though all the monstrous guests have been invited to celebrate the wedding anniversary of Gomez and Morticia, it turns into a murder investigation, as each creature seems to have a connection to poor Virginia.  Not to mention the fact that the townsfolk are outside, armed with torches and pitchforks.  Once Virginia's ghost manifests to the party and tells her sad tale, the guests realize a murderer is among them and must try to bring Virginia's killer to justice.  If they succeed, her spirit can go off to it's heavenly reward, if not, she will be bound to wander the earth forever more.  Pretty dramatic, don't you think?
     This party was a blast to run and even though I played it several years ago, it's one that my guests still talk about today.  Let's face it, when you get older, Halloween doesn't always hold the same charm it did when you were younger.  This game gives you the chance to dress up in some classic costumes and relive the fun with a famous group of monsters.  And various online and local retailers have tons of Halloween decorations for you to just go all out.  The setting is the dining room in a creepy old manor house.  A few cobwebs, candles (or better yet LED candles) placed about the table.  A few pumpkins and spiders here a there, black lace and spooky pictures placed around the room all add to the fun.  Serve up a creepy buffet meal, with some of your favorite dishes themed to Halloween and you can't go wrong.  Those aren't BBQ chicken wings, those are bat wings smothered in well, that red sauce could be anything, right?  Is that pasta or worms?  You get the idea.
     The game comes with a set of instructions, 10 invitations for each guest, 10 character booklets, a variety of secret clues for each guest and 2 CD's.  One CD has Virginia's ghost, who explains the details of the crime and acts as host and bookends the various game rounds.  The second CD is a spooky sound-effects CD meant to be played on a separate player in another room, to provide background sounds.
     It should be noted that two of the above characters are optional and you and your guests will know from the start that they are not suspects.  Lurchio and Poison Ivy are there if you need more characters, otherwise the game can be played with just 8 people.  The scripts, booklets and clues are written so that if you use all 10 characters, everyone gets a chance to participate, but if you don't use one or two of the optional characters, the other guests can seamlessly take the optional characters clues and various dialogue as needed.  Basically it comes down to, "If Lurchio isn't playing, you should ask the following..."  It may sound a little awkward, but it works just fine.
     The game plays out in three rounds.  Each round the guests are given questions to ask the other guests as well as answers to the various questions they will be asked.  The game designers also numbered each question and answer, so one guest has Question #1 and another guest has Answer #1.  This works out great and helps with people who may loose their place.  As the evening wears on and the drinks are flowing, this becomes more handy than you realize.
     At the start of each round, there is some scripted dialogue that each guest reads aloud, like a scene from a play.  And throughout the various rounds, the guests will be instructed to reveal secret clues.  All in all, a very simple game to run.  You are encouraged to ad lib as much as you like, but novices can play just as well as seasoned vets.

CONS:  I really don't have any.  I loved this game and it was a huge success.  The only negative I could give, and it's small, is that its pretty scripted.  So if you like to ad lib, you may feel like you're missing out.

PROS:  The game is well written.  My biggest pet peeve, being a mystery enthusiast, is when the solution doesn't make any sense.  All the Ace party games come with complete and believable solutions.  The clues are there and if you're sharp enough to spot them, you can solve the mystery.  If you don't, when the answer is revealed you can at least sit back and go, "oh yes, now I remember."  In addition, the game is filled with lots of humor and tongue-in-cheek play.  I also like the fact that the guests decide the fate of the victim.  There are actually two different ending tracks on the CD.  One you play if the majority of your guests get the solution correct and another if the majority of the group was wrong.  A very clever touch.  Also, in there various games, there tends to be one or two action scenes to liven up the party.  Sometimes the guests get into fake duels and things like that.  It gets some of your guests up out of their seats and brings another dimension to the game.  This particular game only has one small scene like that but the other games from Ace have more dramatic scenes like this.  I recommend them all.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  "A Taste of Transylville Terror" is a great Halloween themed game.  It's fun, entertaining and very well written.  A little scripted, but good writing makes up for that.  And if you play it around Halloween, it's pretty easy to gather decorations and costumes.  I highly recommend this game and give it 5 out of 5 stars!