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The Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign
$49.95
Add intrigue to your next party with this murder mystery game, set in a haunted castle.
Format:
Mystery Party Kit
Setting:
A haunted castle
Time:
90+ minutes
Ages:
Adult / Teen
Players:
Something sinister stalks the halls of Shufflemore Manor…
Backstory
The Barony of Shufflemoore Woods is being plagued by wolves – or perhaps only a single wolf. The creature or creatures have been responsible for all sorts of deviltry, including the disappearance of livestock and, most recently, of Mitchell and Susannah Miller’s youngest daughter. Now, several residents of the Barony have retreated to Shufflemoore Manor, seeking the protection of Baron Castaign. Several visitors have also appeared, including a trio of wandering Gypsies and a hunter who has offered up her services in tracking down and slaying the beasts that are terrorizing the Barony.
A Reluctant Protector
This party is divided into two primary segments. During the first portion of the evening the guests arrive at Shufflemoore Manor, just as a terrible storm begins building up outside. The players in the adventure include Baron Castaign and his family and servants, villagers and common folk from the surrounding Barony, and various travelers who are passing through. Though the Baron himself is a gloomy, somber man with no love for company, propriety and decorum dictate that he must provide accommodation for those in need. With the storm gathering outside, Baron Castaign reluctantly offers to feed everyone dinner and let them spend the night.
Murder!
After dinner, the guests retire to their rooms to sleep. Shortly before midnight, they are awakened by a shriek of terror and find that the maid, Luella, has been killed in her bed, drained of all blood. Suspicions are immediately raised that one of the company is, in fact, a vampire. Now the players must use their wits and skills to find a way to escape from the castle before the monster in their midst kills them all.
Solving the Mystery
Guests must work together to identify the murderer. A terrible evil stalks the solemn halls of Shufflemoore Manor, and only the most clever and lucky of Baron Castaign’s guests are likely to escape with their lives!
There are 12 primary suspects in this mystery, however only 8 are required to play the game. The host or hostess will play the role of the Narrator, a gamekeeper and guide who is there to run the game. Read the "How To Play" section for more information on how to play an expanded game with more than 12 guests.
* = Optional character
Male Roles
- Baron Venedict Castaign: Lord of Shufflemoore Manor and the nearly forgotten Barony of Shufflemoore Woods, Baron Castaign is a somber, silent man, prone to melancholy and introspection.
- Desmond Othas: A peasant who ekes out a living cutting wood and performing rough carpentry in the Barony of Shufflemoore Woods, Desmond wears rough clothing and carries a hand axe.
- Winston Phipps: Butler and manservant to Baron Venedict Castaign, Phipps is a formidably competent and icily professional butler.
- Edgar: Caretaker and groundskeeper of Shufflemoore Manor, Edgar is an ill-kempt, lazy drunkard whose primary goal is to do as little work as possible while still collecting the pittance the Baron pays him.
- *Curtis: A Gypsy juggler and husband to Maven, Curtis is an outgoing entertainer always ready and able to put people at ease with his clever wit and well-timed jokes.
- *Mitchell Miller: A simple farmer who ekes out a livelihood in the Barony of Shufflemoore Woods with his wife Susannah, Mitchell has fallen on hard times with the disappearance of his daughter Krista. He has come to Shufflemoore Manor to petition the Baron's aid in locating his daughter.
Female Roles
- Esmerelda: A Gypsy girl and occasional dancer who travels the land with her brother, Curtis, and his wife, Maven, Esmerelda is bright and vivacious, a lively sort of person who always has a cheerful comment and smile, even for strangers.
- *Maven: A Gypsy seer and wife to Curtis, Maven is wise and mysterious. She always seems to know more about people than she is inclined to let on.
- *Susannah Miller: A soft-spoken woman, Susannah is the wife of the farmer Mitchell Miller. She has recently lost her young daughter, Krista, and is heartbroken and distraught.
- Luella: One of the maids of Shufflemoore Manor, Luella is a cheerful young woman who has aspirations of traveling to some place more cosmopolitan and compelling than Shufflemoore Woods.
- Constance Castaign: The sister of the Baron, Constance Castaign is a dour and devoutly religious spinster.
- Tatanya: A hunter and tracker of some skill, Tatanya is a taciturn woman, more at home in the wild than in a baron's castle. She dresses in rugged clothing and carries a pistol, something of a novelty for a woman in this time and place.
Extra Players
- *Investigator: If you have more than 8 players, additional players have the option of playing the role of "Investigators". In this role the players are not suspects and do not have character backgrounds but can question the suspects and try to solve the mystery along with the other players.
What's Included
The Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign is a 96-page downloadable PDF file that you print at home. It includes the following features:
- An introduction that explains the basic principles of running a mystery-party and provides specific tips on props, menu items, sound effects, combat, and special tips to help make your party exciting, memorable, and easy to run
- Step-by-step instructions on how to prepare for your party
- A detailed party guidebook that will walk you through the event in a simple, easy-to-understand format
- Instructions on how to run the party for a large group
- 20 pages describing the rooms in the Baron's castle, each with its own special dangers, obstacles, and puzzles
- Nametags and character sheets for each player – the character sheets include tips on costuming and role-playing, as well as special goals and information unique to each character
- Fully customizable invitations, complete with RSVP cards and guest lists
- 45 gorgeously illustrated full-color item cards representing the different objects that the players can find and interact with in the castle
- Voting sheets
- Customizable awards for your guests
- And much more!
With your purchase of The Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign, you will also receive the following:
- Step-by-step printing instructions
- Four MP3 audio effects for use with your party
- Instructions on how to use these audio clips to best effect
Follow these steps to host this mystery:
- Each guest will each assume the role of a particular character
Mystery Parties involve a combination of improvisational acting, storytelling, and creative problem solving. Each guest will play the part of that character throughout the course of the game. Each character has specific personality traits, goals, secrets, and information, all of which are included in the character sheet; a big part of the fun is getting into character and taking on a new, exciting role. - A mysterious Event will occur
At some point during the party, an Event will occur that will force the players to come together in order to solve a problem or unravel a mystery. Traditionally, the Event in question will be the murder of one of the characters (as played by a guest), but the parties crafted by Playing With Murder often use this basic framework to accommodate different types of Events, thereby ensuring that your guests will be surprised and entertained (even if they are veteran murder mystery party players). - Solve the mystery!
Your guests will need to use the information that their characters know (as well as additional clues that are provided during the game) to solve the mystery or overcome the problem posed by the Event. Typically this culminates in the guests voting on the identity of the murderer, but again, different parties will have different specific goals. All of our parties also come complete with additional subgames (treasure hunts, unique character goals and special puzzles) that are guaranteed to keep the action intense and your guests motivated and focused.
Expanded Game For Large Groups
If you have extra players, there are two ways that you can accommodate everyone:
- Investigator Role – Additional players have the option of playing the role of “Investigators”. In this role the players are not suspects and do not have character backgrounds but can question the suspects and try to solve the mystery along with the other players. Expanded Games include a PDF guide that explains how to use the Investigator role, as well as printable character sheets and name tags for anyone that is playing an Investigator.
- Multiple Groups – It is also possible to break your guests up into groups and play multiple instances of the game at the same time. The game will more or less happen the same way; the host makes announcements and each group moves their game forward simultaneously based on the host’s instructions. It’s good to have one assistant in each group to answer questions and facilitate gameplay within the group. This method provides a more intimate experience for your guests, who get better acquainted with a smaller group and participate in a more digestible story.Please contact us if you’d like more information about how to run your party using the Multiple Groups method.
Both the standard and expanded games are included with the purchase of any game kit.
Read more about Expanded Games here
First time hosting a murder mystery party?
Visit our How to Host a Mystery Party page to get step-by-step instructions on how to prepare for your murder mystery party.
Content Rating:
This party is rated adult/teen. There is no explicit material; the party does contain references to the following:
- Alcohol use
- Vampires
- The loss of a child
Difficulty:
This party is very complex to set up. We recommend a venue with multiple rooms that can be decorated beforehand. Each room will serve as a mini puzzle that the guests need to solve to move on.
The party includes more than 50 printable tokens which represent objects in the various rooms. These tokens will need to be printed out and placed prior to the event.
Note: Playtesters and clients have consistently noted that this party can be challenging to set up, and that hosts should be prepared well in advance.
This party is average difficulty to play. Please note that this is not a traditional murder mystery (it doesn’t hinge on solving the crime) but is rather a combination of survival horror and escape room mystery.
Anonymous –
We probably won’t be able to use this kit for my birthday which makes me sad considering we spent 40-50$ on it…. 🙁 it says up to 30 people which is mostly why i bought this one, but only 12 are actual characters so a ton of people would have been left out if we did use it or we’d have to do a ton of work to add more characters knowing they aren’t even on the list of suspects. My husband who has been researching the game also says it needs like 12 different rooms to play and there’s no way we can fit that many people in my rooms of our house if we could even find 12 rooms. I can’t speak for the story itself but for our scenario it’s practically unusable and we’ll most likely have to purchase a different game. would work for a small amount of people like up to 12 or if most of the group doesn’t care about having any sort of a personality to play. It feels like super false advertising to say its up to that many players when all of the people I am going to have over want their own character and personality. Over all just very disappointed. It sounded like a fun premise but is just gonna be too complicated for practical use
kblumreich –
Hi Gabby. Please write to us at feedback @ playingwithmurder dot com so that I can address your concerns and make this right for you.
Lisa Robles –
Amazingly fun time! Lots of laughs and great team building! Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the story line.
Lila –
I organized this game for my friends. It was a group of 20 people. The characters were quite entertaining and detailed. The Hosts Guide was quite helpful for me as a host. I would recommend starting the preparations for the game early, since some aspects of the game are a bit complicated to organize. The tasks were engaging for the players and I found that even though it was quite longer than a traditional murder mystery, the players were enjoying every minute of it. I must say that the gypsies stole the show!
Akittner –
We had a party for my daughter’s 20th birthday. This was so difficult to put together. It really was awful!! There were no explanations for things Dash too cumbersome, too difficult to keep people interested – just a complete disaster and not worth $40 at all.
Shields –
We hosted a murder mystery party on Oct 30 and it was a hit!! The kit I downloaded was very thorough in the instructions and supplies! No guess-work or experience was required. I give this company a “strongly agree”; 10/10; thumbs up; smiley face.
Gemma H. –
I organized this evening for a friends birthday event (and as a present.) We are in Paris so I had to translate everything which is a little arduous but that’s life!
This game is much more complex than previous murder games we have played and as such quite a bit longer. I would recommend taking the shortcut and bypassing a zone or two as it cuts out a few scenes. I found that the narrators text was very long indeed in some parts and would also recommend abbreviating them a little.
I think overall, we preferred the simpler games on this site, as more implication from the players and less description from the organizer. Still very good though!
Barbara B –
We held the “Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign” as an alternative to trick or treating on October 31st. We had a group of 10 people ranging in age from 11-47. Our group had more men than male characters but it was easy to change “Tatanya” to a male role. My youngest was Luella and if I had to do the party again, I would make Luella an older player. Luella’s character does not actively participate in solving the problems – so the young player felt left out. The highlight of the night was when the neighbours showed up (predetermined time) with dollar store laser lights (I had tied 2 lights together to look like red eyes) that they shone through the windows while they scratched and banged on the doors – pretending to be the wolves plaguing the Barony. It scared everyone and really set the mood for the rest of the night!
Alena –
We had a great time playing The Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign! Even though this version wasn’t written to be played remotely, we did our party through Zoom, skipping Act One, and it worked really well! I created slides illustrating each room and photoshopped in the items and interactive pieces of the room. We had 10 people playing, and that worked out pretty well. The guests said they had a great time!
birthday blowout –
We had purchased this game to play with a group of 25 adults, as the expanded game said it has up to 30 players. Unfortunately, once we read through the expanded game information, we learned that after the first 12 players have been cast, any additional players are “fly on the wall detectives” who don’t interact with any of the other characters. Needless to say, this game did not work for our party, so we went with a different game. We will be using the Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign for a get-together instead, when we have a more intimate crowd.
Haley –
As a experienced murder mystery dinner party thrower, I was so looking forward to this game. I sent up elaborate decorations and really set the mood. I walked through this game twice prior to guests arrival. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go well. The game is more complex than traditional murder mystery games and with a large group, it was too overwhelming. It was overall a disappointment. I really wanted to enjoy this game. I will stick with the 30 minute dinner party from now on.
LivviPearson –
This set made for a fun night! The instructions were easy to follow and the clues kept all the guests thinking! The different characters were so fun to play up and do costumes for! One thing I wish was different was for there to not be so many rooms. A few rooms would be nice, but this set had “12 rooms”. Makinh switching quite repetitive.
Boredandhot –
We played with about 30 people of varying levels of sobriety and maturity. It was pretty chaotic. Couples were asked to “share” a character or be an investigator. Tried to share a character with my boyfriend, but drew the investigator card anyway. As you can see in the description, investigator is a non-role. It’s like “playing” a video game with an unplugged controller while your brother actually plays. Moving through a house, even a sizeable one, with 30 people is loud and crowded, making it hard to actually try to solve anything. It was basically shuffling from room to room while trying to avoid being groped by the “vampires.” Spent most of the night being bored, hot, annoyed, and having no idea what was going on because it was just constant noise. Most of the people in the group said they had a blast though, so maybe I’m just being salty. But in my opinion, playing with a large group is a bad idea unless you have a group that’s committed to following the rules and being respectful.
Deborah –
This script is really for advanced players & especially the host or hostess. He/she should have theatrical experience. The scenes were well described, the characters also developed well in the download materials. However to get the full experience we had too many people with no experience. We used props & still had a hard time. Also it was very long, which was stated in the materials, having never done this before I did not know what to expect. Going to try the 30 minute sit down mystery this time!
Olathe Youth –
This was everything we wanted and more. Our Youth Group had so much fun! It was exciting, and you will not be disappointed by choosing this Murder Mystery. Overall, this was an awesome time!
Nancy –
Last night we celebrated our annual Halloween party. We used The Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign. This was our first ever murder mystery. It was for a group of 15 kids. I added more villagers and vampires to fit our group, but mostly kept the storyline the same. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves and playing in the dark made it exciting for them. I added a scavenger hunt to the beginning and the kids loved it. You need a big space for this game be prepared for that.
Charles of Philadelphia –
This murder mystery is one of the coolest ones out there. I feel like it almost deserves to be in a category of its own because it combines the dungeon master narrator and combat elements of d&d, escape the room puzzles, the scares of a haunted house and costume dinner party. This should absolutely be the mystery you choose if you are ready to put in the extensive time and effort necessary to prepare. I knew what I was getting into from other people’s helpful reviews so I didn’t mind at all when I ended up putting in probably 20 hrs preparing over the span of a month including 2 late nights leading up to the event. My housemate also put 8hrs into building the catacombs out of the junk in our basement (see the picture and video). Totally over the top prep but the screams of both guys and girls when they went through was so worth it 😀
Having the assistant was crucial to keeping the plot moving forward seamlessly. You simply don’t have time to inform the dead guests what they should be doing while still narrating for the main group.
I coordinated with murderers over group text and told them their cue for the attack in the library and tunnel 2 when the lights went out. They were supposed to poke their target in the neck with two fingers. It worked perfectly and not even the victims could tell who had done it to them.
In the end we lost all but 3 of our humans to the perils of Shufflemoore Manor. But Venedict, Constance, and Mitchell were saved by the protection of the Day Chapel!
Everyone absolutely raved about how much fun they had and we stayed up until 4:00AM recounting the night from each of our perspectives. A lasting memory was made!
Midwestgal –
This was a very hard party to put together compared to other murder mysteries. It took multiple rooms, and so much studying of the script to pull off. My guests said they enjoyed it but preferred the traditional style of a murder mystery. I missed playing a role in the party. This is probably the 5th or 6th murder mystery party I’ve thrown for our Annual Halloween party.
Annabel –
Having previously purchased and run two other playing with murder events I was a little surprised when I read through the full game. To work effectively it was considerably more complicated than the others! However, my bunch of mixed gender 14 year olds loved it and mostly solved all the puzzles. it did take coordination to keep resting the spaces as the moved around the house and garden. The weather even put on an authentic storm for us which added to the complication. All round a great party but definitely best to allow time to think through all your locations and have an adult in reserve for resetting spaces to allow kids to find clues fresh.
Trinity Lutheran Church Youth Group –
The Terrible Castle of Baron Castaign was more of a team building event which worked great for our High School Youth Group. The character sheets were well laid out with costuming suggestions and enough information for everyone to get into their character. I loved the strengths and weaknesses assigned to each character and how those were used by the group to overcome obstacles with in the mystery. We were able to easily adapt the set-up suggestions to our church to make the most of the story. Some rooms were more elaborately decorated and some were very simple. The Catacombs were so much fun!
Sophia Robinson –
So me and my drama class went into the dark, creepy basement of the church we practice in, and had all the lights off, one lamp in the "great hall" and various windows/black lights in other rooms. Our group had quite a few people, and I was Tatanya. This is amazing and highly recommended!
Lauren Sedbrook –
The party seemed a little daunting at first to plan but it worked out great . Overall, highly recommend for someone in search of a good challenge. We have had other parties that were boring and didn’t make a whole lot of sense. This story kept everyone engaged and the ending was satisfying.
Other notes: After the murder, we let the murder victim “haunt” people pretty much any time the rest of the game instead of how it was indicated and it turned out to be so entertaining! The victim can also help the narrator of some extra fun. We did not do the catacombs and did a party game to suppliment the goal of the area instead; it did not seem worth the effort.
Nancy- Teen Librarian –
Ella Johnson Library hosted their second annual Murder Mystery event on a Friday after hours at the library! Teens had to register ahead of time and pick up a character sheet, so they could come in costume the night of the event. Over 20 youth came for a pizza dinner while they mingled in character. Once the first murder occurred they had to go room to room in the castle picking up clues and hoping to survive to "dawn". To accommodate for the large group, owner and author Ken Blumreich kindly developed a new character bundle for us so everyone could have a role. Thank you!
Party Committee – Kelly & Roxi –
We did this as a Team Building Event. It was a lot of prep work but worth every minute of it in the end! The planning committee was very excited about the event and our co-workers caught the fever as well. We didn’t reveal a lot about the characters to the team, only to the individual and so the surprise of everyone walking in with their costumes was awesome! Everyone participated to the full extent, taking their roles seriously and playing their parts to the fullest. It was interesting to see how the team worked together to evaluated what was going on to deduct the best course of action. We would definitely do another mystery party, but maybe not one that is quite this extensive.
Sarah –
We hosted this party for my sons 15th birthday. We had 8 boys and they had a fabulous time, were still talking about it the day after. They were genuinely pretty scared as they made their way through the creepy castle.
We had lots of fun transforming the house into the castle and sourcing and preparing props. It was a lot of work, about 3 days, but worth the effort for the fun that was had
It took me 3 readthroughs and 2 walkthroughs to really get the order of events and scenarios in my head and this was essential, because I couldn’t read from the booklet in the dark. I enlisted the help of another adult to play Luella and the wolf and direct the unfortunate guests who died as to their next actions, I could not have done the party as smoothly without a helper – I’d say it’s essential rather than optional if you want things to unfold seamlessly.
The boys will remember this night for many years to come – the event of the year they called it!
One thing to be aware of is that the party doesn’t easily adapt to fewer guests, because the character sheets then refer to non-existent characters. So I had to read through everything carefully and write out the inconsistencies. This would have been heaps easier if the download was available in both word and PDF format.
Sean –
Left a review previously but this review isn’t so much about the game rather the company / author. They reached out to me to ask for more information why the party didn’t go well. Most impeccable customer service I have ever seen. I’ve never seen a company so meticulous about the customers enjoyment of their product.
Sean –
Would advise you have people read through every character before you start. Do not have anyone play the irrelevant french maid.
Parent of 14 yr old daughters. –
My wife and I left the house as more than a dozen teen girls entered.
Everything was planned, arranged, cooked, etc, by my teen daughters. (Ages 14 and 15).
I don’t know any details, except everyone apparently had an extremely fun time.
My 14 year old teen doesn’t post reviews, so I am posting something simply because I am happy the activity was a) fun b) able to be managed completely by my teenagers friends.
Money well spent.
Michelle –
The teens loved the story line and the puzzles. They wished it had been a bit harder to solve in some parts, and I wished that there was more of an outline format for each room so that I could follow it easier on the spot without having to read through the paragraphs. I read the script twice before the party, but felt like I almost had to have it memorized to have it run more smoothly. I think an outline would have helped. Also, If I had know that a key component of the storyline was what it was, I would have chosen a different storyline. (cant say more without spoilers.) Also, would do it at a church or somewhere larger than my home next time. Overall, super fun, even with the glitches. The sound tracks were great.
One thing I would have LOVED was a printer friendly version without all the border decorations on every page. I had to purchase new ink half way through. And, no one but me sees those pages anyway. It would be nice to have the option to print minimally.
I also created my own certificates for awards that could hold their photo.
Johan Vercueil –
It was our monthly get together for our close circle of friends and we had heard so much about this Murder Mystery event. We were all so excited to give it a try and it was AWESOME!!!
Every one came in costumes and made up extra quirks to their back story and really stayed in character the whole night! During the game it started pouring cats and dogs which added more to the enchantment of the game and everyone had such a great time.
my only one downside was that the dungeon set was a little hard to prepare. The instructions werent as clear as i would have liked but we got through it and my friends enjoyed to the MAX!
Wish i could have uploaded more pictures to at least give a small inkling of how much we enjoyed that night but unfortunately for some reason it will only let me upload one picture:(
We will definitely try another story!
Johan Vercueil –
It was our monthly get together for our close circle of friends and we had heard so much about this Murder Mystery event. We were all so excited to give it a try and it was AWESOME!!!
Every one came in costumes and made up extra quirks to their back story and really stayed in character the whole night! During the game it started pouring cats and dogs which added more to the enchantment of the game and everyone had such a great time.
my only one downside was that the dungeon set was a little hard to prepare. The instructions werent as clear as i would have liked but we got through it and my friends enjoyed to the MAX!
Wish i could have uploaded more pictures to at least give a small inkling of how much we enjoyed that night but unfortunately for some reason it will only let me upload one picture:(
We will definitely try another story!