DO NOT BUY THIS GAME

Unless you want to. I'll take £1,000 from you very happily. But right now IN THE LIBRARY WITH THE WRENCH is crowdfunding on Backerkit and I'd love your support.

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IN THE LIBRARY WITH THE WRENCH is a murder mystery game by Chris Bissette / Loot The Room inspired by pulp thrillers, cosy crime mysteries, and a board game I'm not going to mention the name of just in case. On a dark and stormy night you gather in an old and crumbling mansion for dinner, none of you suspecting that your host is about to be brutally murdered. Now you're all suspects, the local inspector is knocking on the door, and everybody wants to know whodunnit.

Get some friends together, mix up some martinis, and solve a murder.

IN THE LIBRARY WITH THE WRENCH requires a group of 3-6 players. Each player is a guest of the mansion hiding their own deep, dark secret - and one of you is the murderer.

The game is dice-less and GM-less, with mechanics heavily inspired by the No Dice No Masters system created by designed by Avery Alder and  Benjamin Rosenbaum in DREAM ASKEW and DREAM APART. Instead of randomly generating characters, players choose from playbooks - character archetypes that give you a set of moves you use to shape the story. You spend and earn tokens to exert influence over the unfolding mystery, creating a push and pull of dramatic tension as the night wears on.

If you'd like to look at an early draft of the game, you can check out the plain text ashcan here. This is the bare bones of the game - the final manuscript contains more playbooks and better instructions for how to actually play, for people unfamiliar with this style of game. 

The Mystery

At the beginning of play, none of you will know who the murderer is. You'll explore the mystery together, uncovering clues and motivations as your characters explore the mansion and begin to turn on one another.

The Suspects

Every player chooses a character playbook - The Colonel, M. Scarlet, The Professor, and more. Each playbook gives you a distinct set of moves that reflect who your character is and how they operate under pressure. Answer questions about your character's past during play to unlock new abilities and deepen the web of secrets.

The Investigator

The police may not be coming until morning, but that doesn't mean you're alone. A detective is already on their way to the manor, and when they arrive, the game changes. Every time a player gains a token, the Investigator draws closer to the door. When they finally arrive they enter play and the investigation moves into its final, decisive phase.

The clock is ticking. Can you uncover the truth before the Investigator takes matters into their own hands?

The Accusation

The night ends when someone is ready to make their case. Name the killer, the weapon, and the room, and back it up with the evidence you've uncovered. If the table agrees, the accused reveals the truth. Did they do it? Were they framed? Only then does the full story come to light. 

The book contains the following playbooks:

Character Playbooks

• The Colonel
• M. Scarlet
• The Professor
• The Peacock
• The Reverend
• The Housekeeper
• The Journalist
• The Solicitor
• The Returning Heir
• The Spiritualist

Setting Playbooks

• The Mansion
• The Investigator
• The Storm
• The Weapon

All of the art draws on public domain sources for the art in this book, mostly taken from the covers of pulp crime novels of the 1940s and 1950s.

No generative AI dogshit was used in the production of this book.

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