Mega Dangan Ronpa RPG

1. The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.

In our case, the ‘reader’ (player) is also the detective, removing the ambiguity that VanDine was referring to. The players always will know as much (if not more) than their characters.

  2. No willful tricks or deceptions may be placed on the reader other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself.

For tabletop gaming, I find that this is probably one of the most important rules. What this means is that the DM is not out to trick the player. If you say ‘The murderer is in this room’, and the murderer is not in the room, that is not a twist. It is a lie. It is vital to remember that, as a DM, anything you say is regarded as the word of god. You are supposed to be an unbiased source of information. If the DM starts lying, then there’s no point in having a game: The DM’s already ‘won’.

  5. The culprit must be determined by logical deductions — not by accident or coincidence or unmotivated confession. To solve a criminal problem in this latter fashion is like sending the reader on a deliberate wild-goose chase, and then telling him, after he has failed, that you had the object of his search up your sleeve all the time. Such an author is no better than a practical joker.

This is similar to Rule #2. The evidence that’s left should end up leading a trail to the true culprit. If the evidence doesn’t actually mean anything, once again, the game is worthless and the player has been cheated.

  6. The detective novel must have a detective in it; and a detective is not a detective unless he detects. His function is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter; and if the detective does not reach his conclusions through an analysis of those clues, he has no more solved his problem than the schoolboy who gets his answer out of the back of the arithmetic.

This essentially reads like a definition. The players investigate the murder, then using the evidence from their investigation discover the murderer. Using meta knowledge (’Character X was played by Player 1, so Player 1′s other characters must be innocent’) isn’t part of this investigation, so it isn’t permitted.

  7. There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much pother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader's trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded.

SHSLRPG is all about the murders!

  8. The problem of the crime must he solved by strictly naturalistic means. Such methods for learning the truth as slate-writing, ouija-boards, mind-reading, spiritualistic se'ances, crystal-gazing, and the like, are taboo. A reader has a chance when matching his wits with a rationalistic detective, but if he must compete with the world of spirits and go chasing about the fourth dimension of metaphysics, he is defeated ab initio.

Though some characters may have some minor form of psychic powers or some such, these shouldn’t be put into use in trials. That removes the ‘mystery’ from the ‘murder mystery’, making it not a game anymore.

  10. The culprit must turn out to be a person who has played a more or less prominent part in the story — that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom he takes an interest.

This is another absolutely vital rule. Most often this is seen with the Mastermind, since murderers are almost always a known character. For some reason, people believe that the Mastermind ‘doesn’t count’, that having the Mastermind hiding out and never revealed to the player until the end is a ‘good twist’. That said, just remember: players need to be able to recognize the Mastermind. Maybe they’ve met someone claiming to be them, or maybe they realize that the Mastermind was one of them ‘all along’. As long as they know their name and who they are from the beginning.

  11. A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is a too easy solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person — one that wouldn't ordinarily come under suspicion.

Though there are no maids or butlers in the game (other than, maybe, a player character), this still does apply in some ways. The murderers (and Mastermind) should be a player character, someone that people know is ‘important’.

  12. There must be but one culprit, no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, have a minor helper or co-plotter; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders: the entire indignation of the reader must be permitted to concentrate on a single black nature.

For each (set of) murder(s) there can only be one person executed.

  13. Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al., have no place in a detective story. A fascinating and truly beautiful murder is irremediably spoiled by any such wholesale culpability. To be sure, the murderer in a detective novel should be given a sporting chance; but it is going too far to grant him a secret society to fall back on. No high-class, self-respecting murderer would want such odds.

No one’s hiring an assassin in this game! If someone wants someone to die, they have to make it happen themselves (even if that entails blackmailing someone else or otherwise not doing the deed with their own hands).

  14. The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, must be be rational and scientific. That is to say, pseudo-science and purely imaginative and speculative devices are not to be tolerated in the roman policier. Once an author soars into the realm of fantasy, in the Jules Verne manner, he is outside the bounds of detective fiction, cavorting in the uncharted reaches of adventure.

The murder must happen in a way that the players accept. Sometimes a character may have some kind of special trait (maybe they can launch fireballs?), but that can’t be used in murder until you establish just what the limit of those skills are (how far can their fireballs go? how are they summoned?). ‘Fantasy’ just means something ambiguous, something that’s not established. If the logic behind it is accepted as part of the in game universe (...and all of the players know it, too), then it’s fair game.

  15. The truth of the problem must at all times be apparent — provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. By this I mean that if the reader, after learning the explanation for the crime, should reread the book, he would see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring him in the face-that all the clues really pointed to the culprit — and that, if he had been as clever as the detective, he could have solved the mystery himself without going on to the final chapter. That the clever reader does often thus solve the problem goes without saying.

The player must have the resources they need to solve the murder by the time the trial starts.

  16. A detective novel should contain no long descriptive passages, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no "atmospheric" preoccupations. such matters have no vital place in a record of crime and deduction. They hold up the action and introduce issues irrelevant to the main purpose, which is to state a problem, analyze it, and bring it to a successful conclusion. To be sure, there must be a sufficient descriptiveness and character delineation to give the novel verisimilitude.

Though this isn’t entirely upheld (character building is important in a game like this), there’s still truth. You don’t hold a game session without a muder. When the session is happening, the main focus is on the murder: not on character interactions.

  18. A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an accident or a suicide. To end an odyssey of sleuthing with such an anti-climax is to hoodwink the trusting and kind-hearted reader.

For SHSLRPG, this is half true. Suicides have been established as a possibility in Dangan Ronpa. As long as they’re adequately lead up to, it should be accepted. That said, accidents don’t really have a place in this game. Someone has to be responsible for the death.

  19. The motives for all crimes in detective stories should be personal. International plottings and war politics belong in a different category of fiction — in secret-service tales, for instance. But a murder story must be kept gemütlich, so to speak. It must reflect the reader's everyday experiences, and give him a certain outlet for his own repressed desires and emotions.

Motive is important. These are high schoolers, not politicians.

  20. And (to give my Credo an even score of items) I herewith list a few of the devices which no self-respecting detective story writer will now avail himself of. They have been employed too often, and are familiar to all true lovers of literary crime. To use them is a confession of the author's ineptitude and lack of originality. (a) Determining the identity of the culprit by comparing the butt of a cigarette left at the scene of the crime with the brand smoked by a suspect. (b) The bogus spiritualistic se'ance to frighten the culprit into giving himself away. (c) Forged fingerprints. (d) The dummy-figure alibi. (e) The dog that does not bark and thereby reveals the fact that the intruder is familiar. (f)The final pinning of the crime on a twin, or a relative who looks exactly like the suspected, but innocent, person. (g) The hypodermic syringe and the knockout drops. (h) The commission of the murder in a locked room after the police have actually broken in. (i) The word association test for guilt. (j) The cipher, or code letter, which is eventually unraveled by the sleuth.

Basically, just avoid cliches as much as possible.

Omissions:

#3 (”There must be no love interest. The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar." ), #17 ("A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story. Crimes by housebreakers and bandits are the province of the police departments — not of authors and brilliant amateur detectives. A really fascinating crime is one committed by a pillar of a church, or a spinster noted for her charities.”):  These rules mainly apply to character building, which doesn’t really apply to SHSLRPG since it’s a tabletop role playing game, not a book.

They now have a food court, which includes a Smoothie Stand and a Bakery. (Tito immediately runs to the Smoothie Stand and begins making smoothies for everyone). They also now have a book store and a toy store, as well as an antique weapon/novelty shop.

Investigating the food court lead to some observations. The fast food is not already made, but the supplies to make it are available. This is an improvement, considering their previous food was entirely from a vending machine. The fryers are also perpetually running. There are knives in the kitchens.

The toy store has a toy train running along some tracks. Some of the characters take some toys. Shina in particular took all of the anatomical models for herself. Oumi also takes a toy parrot.

The book store has a plethora of books. Judge James Martin spends a lot of time reading books on law. Many of the books are on how to murder someone, as well as a large amount of murder mysteries. In the back, there is a large paper cutter and a lamination machine.

The antique weapon shop is what several people fixated on. They made a quick decision that it was unacceptable to leave the weapons available and in the open like that. They found the key to Toshinori's room and decide to use it to keep all the weapons.

After that they took a vote on who would hold the key. Winning by three votes, Judge Martin took it. They also agreed to catalog the weapons so that none could mysteriously go missing.

Oumi, noticing that there are some empty store fronts, claims one as a bird room. It is unlocked, and has no curtains, but he keeps many of his birds there. Including a feed container made out of a hollowed book.

Miamoto decides that he should work on some clothes for LARP. He asks Umeko if he could borrow her sewing kit. She lets him.

Several days pass. Monobear decides that this is too long to pass without a murder. Everyone gets a DVD with a piece of motivation on it. Basically the DVDs imply that the world is in trouble, but the people/things that the characters care about are all still alive, but may be in trouble.

Andrew: Ishida - SHSL Puzzle Connoisseur Toph - SHSL Origami Artist Hachiro - SHSL Animal Trainer

Charles: Masami Mori - SHSL Doll Maker Takanashi - SHSL Baker Umeko Fujioka - SHSL Maid

Joey: Ren Miyoto- SHSL Boyscout Tito - SHSL Smoothie Maker Shina Tetzuya - SHSL Forensic Anthropologist

Keith: Yuko - SHSL Girlscout Miamoto - SHSL Larper James Martin - SHSL Judge

Natalie: Yumi - SHSL Bug Catcher Kaiba - SHSL Card Master Hikaru - SHSL Archer

Noah: Oumi Mutsu - SHSL Bird Watcher Juno Ohu - SHSL Environmentalist Misha Takizawa - SHSL Horror Prop Maker