A Will to Murder

Your character is:

Janis O’Leary
Welcome to A Will to Murder!
A Will to Murder is set in the 1930s in Albion House, a stately
dwelling in the small English village of Highthorpe. Albion
House belonged to Roy O’Leary – who was murdered yesterday
afternoon.
Roy O’Leary was an elderly and wealthy man, and there are
several family members who may benefit from his last will and
testament. O’Leary’s lawyer has asked the family to gather
together at Albion House, the day after the murder, to hear the
reading of the will.
The police are also present – because the O’Leary family are the
prime suspects in the murder case.
Everyone listens respectfully, as the Lawyer reads out the will.
The main clause is very simple, as O’Leary must have had a
premonition or warning of his dreadful end. The whole of Roy
O’Leary’s splendid fortune is left to whoever identifies his
murderer!
 Janis O’Leary – Roy O’Leary’s widow,
his second marriage
You are Roy O’Leary’s widow. You married him just five years
ago, when he was already elderly, and have suffered the
resentment of his three children ever since. That matters little
to you – they’re just grown-up spoilt brats – but living with Roy
was no picnic, and you feel you’ve definitely earned anything
that’s coming to you out of the will. After all, you abandoned
your career as a model and actress to marry Roy. OK, the career
had pretty much abandoned you, but the others don’t know that.
Lunch yesterday was a rather trying affair: Roy was very
grumpy, and complained that no-one appreciated him properly.
The family all (except Corey, who merely stared off into one
corner) hastened to assure him that yes, he was very much
appreciated, and in the end you managed to calm him down. All
the same, no-one could quite be sure what was in Roy’s mind
when he went off to redraft his will again.
You weren’t worried about the will being redrafted – after lunch,
you were sure he was planning to leave you the lot – but you
later overheard those two witches Gillian and Regina boasting
that they’d managed to turn him round so he was leaving
everything to the children instead.
You went in to see Roy around five o’clock – he let you in via the
patio doors – but you were unable to persuade him to do right by
you. You remained sweet as ever when with him; but as you
went back across the lawn, you muttered to yourself “I could kill
him!” You felt rather guilty when just an hour or so later he was
discovered murdered! You had spent that time sulking, alone, in
a cool summer-house in a remote corner of the garden.
You have a secret – you have recently developed a rather nasty
medical condition, fascular ennolium scaphopathy, which if not
treated soon will rapidly devastate your appearance.
Unfortunately, the treatment required is extremely expensive,
and you hadn’t yet mustered the courage to ask Roy for the
money. You haven’t told any of the family, because they wouldn’t
have any sympathy anyway. The illness was diagnosed by your
trusted family physician Doctor Barker, who is the only other
person who knows about it. You’ve been sneaking in and out of
Doctor Barker’s surgery by the back door, so word doesn’t get to
the O’Leary children.
You particularly detest Gillian and Regina, and you were
delighted to find recently a note, lying discarded in the doctor’s
surgery. The note was written to Regina by her devious little so-
and-so of a husband Cornelius, drawing her attention to some
irregularities in the accounts of Gillian’s and her husband’s
businesses. You quickly jotted down the details of the note: you
left the original where you found it, but you have your copy with
you. You haven’t worked out what to do with it yet – but if
they’re up to something crooked, that might give you an
opportunity to hurt them.
Today, your husband’s lawyer came to the house to talk to all
the family. The lawyer said that there was a will – it had been
hand-delivered, by an unknown hand, to the office (which is ten
minutes from the house) at 5:45 yesterday afternoon. The
signature was authentic. This is the will that has just been read
out: it leaves the whole fortune to whoever is able to identify Roy
O’Leary’s killer.

Your goals
ƒ Find Roy’s killer: Find out who killed your husband, and
make sure they are brought to justice.
ƒ Get money: If you can get hold of at least a half share of the
inheritance for yourself, that would help pay for your
treatment. And you really don’t want Gillian or Regina to
inherit. If there’s any other way you can get money, that
would be fine of course.
ƒ Keep your illness secret: Don’t give the O’Leary children the
chance to gloat about your medical condition.
ƒ Work out what to do with the note: There must be a good way
you can use it to hurt Gillian and Regina.
 Other people
Alan Trode: a bully and a nasty piece of work. You wish he’d ride
off on one of his motorcycles.
Atkins: an entirely trustworthy servant, as far as you know, but
probably doesn’t really approve of you.
Corey O’Leary: tends to keep quiet – you’re not quite sure what
to make of Corey. They do say that still waters run deep! Corey
seems to mostly prefer animals to people.
Gillian Trode: is actually slightly older than you. She is usually
very full of herself. Her ‘sculpture’ is extremely poor: it’s
laughable that she seems to expect people to pay for it.
Inspector Harris: the Inspector has the air of someone who has
suffered greatly in the past – you can recognize it.
Regina Khan: is about your own age. She is charming but rather
sly. You have never read any of her ‘Detective Daventry’ novels,
suspecting they are probably very boring.

Tips for beginners

If you’ve not played a Freeform Games murder mystery game
before, then we suggest you start by doing the following:
ƒ Ask Inspector Harris whether irregularities in account-
keeping, as described in the note you found, are illegal.
ƒ Ask Gillian and Regina who they suspect is the murderer, and
what they think of Roy’s new will.
 Abilities
You have three abilities, as shown below. Each ability explains
how many times it may be used – check a circle each time you
use it. Once they are all checked, you may no longer use that
ability.

Overlooked
As the stepmother, you are often overlooked. When you see
Ability

a conversation taking place that you’d like to secretly

overhear, tell the Lawyer, and they will listen in and
report back to you what’s being talked about.
Three uses: O O O

Let’s gossip!
After speaking briefly to another player, point to another
person. They must then tell you everything that their
Ability

Other People section says about that person. If that person

isn’t mentioned there (and not everyone they have
information about is), then they must tell you about
another person of their choice.
Three uses: O O O

I feel faint
You can feign a faint to get out of answering a difficult
Ability

question. Show this when someone uses an Ability to look

at your Information or Secret. You slump to the floor, and
the attempt fails. They must still check off a circle.
Two uses: O O
 Your Secret and Information
Your Secret contains your guilty secret, while your Information
contains one or more items of information you know. Both may
be affected by abilities.
While you can show your Secret and Information to whomever
you like, you will probably not want to reveal your Secret too
often.
(Please note that you can’t solve the murder by looking at
everyone’s Secret and Information – it’s not that easy!)

You have been diagnosed

with a serious medical
Secret

condition, which will

require very expensive
treatment.

Around 4:15 yesterday,

you heard Gillian and
Information

Regina boasting that they

had persuaded Roy to
write a will leaving
everything to his
children.
 Rules for A Will to Murder
The Lawyer’s Word is Law: The Lawyer is impartial. If you have
a problem or want to do something unusual, see the Lawyer. The
Lawyer’s power is absolute – and cannot be affected by Abilities!
Winning and Losing: You can achieve most of your goals simply
by talking to people. The Lawyer will announce when the game
is over. If you haven’t succeeded by that point – you’re too late!
Be warned – not everyone here will want you to succeed!
Doing Stuff: Ordinary actions are resolved by simply carrying
them out. If you want to try something unusual (such as set fire
to the curtains), see the Lawyer. The Lawyer knows everything –
and will be able to tell you the outcome of whatever it is that you
are trying to do. (For example, the furnishings may be
fireproofed.) Do use your imagination, though! – this is a very
flexible game, and you can do all sorts of things beyond what’s
listed in these rules.
Politeness and Fighting: Civilized behaviour would be expected
at a sombre occasion such as a will-reading. Any fisticuffs or
tussling is quite outside the spirit of the evening.
Leaving Albion House: The constabulary have requested that no-
one leave the premises while Roy O’Leary’s death is still under
investigation. A discreet police presence around the grounds
insures that escape will be impossible.
Item Cards: Any items of importance within the game are
represented as Item cards – and the only items that can affect
the game are those detailed on the cards. If you do not have an
Item card, you do not have that item with you.
Time: A Will to Murder is played over three hours, with extra
time for reading your character etc. There will be breaks to get
drinks and food! The Lawyer will tell you when each period
starts and finishes.
 A Will to Murder – Cast List
• Janis O’Leary: Roy O’Leary’s widow, his second
marriage – formerly a model and actress

• Gillian Trode: Roy’s oldest child, she is a professional

sculptor

• Alan Trode: Gillian’s husband, who owns a motorcycle

sales and repair business

• Regina Khan: Roy’s middle child, a well-known writer

of detective novels

• Cornelius Khan: Regina’s husband, an accountant

• Corey O’Leary: Roy’s youngest child, an amateur

naturalist, who still lives at home

• Atkins: the O’Leary family’s old retainer

• Dr Barker: the local physician and an old family friend

• Inspector Harris: the police detective investigating the

case

A Will to Murder is copyright © 2010 Freeform Games LLP www.freeformgames.com