⏳ Sci-Fi · All of them
Time Travelers Convention Murder Mystery Party
Someone was murdered yesterday. Or tomorrow. The convention is not sure yet.
6-16 players, sweet spot 10 · the full kit is ready in about 20 minutes. Or name your guests and see who they play, with the opening scene, free in about 30 seconds.
Once a century, or every Tuesday depending on who you ask, the time travelers gather. The convention hall holds a Victorian inventor, a far-future archivist, a Roman who took a wrong turn, a 1980s physicist, and a bureaucrat from the Temporal Compliance Office. There are panels on paradox etiquette and a strict rule against meeting yourself. Then a delegate is found dead in a room that was not there an hour ago. The clock on the wall runs backwards. Nobody agrees on what time it happened.
Playing it feels like a whodunit where the timeline itself is a suspect. Everyone is from a different era and dressed to prove it. Everyone has an alibi that depends on the calendar. Clues hide in itineraries, causality logs, and a pocket watch that runs at the wrong speed. Accusations get philosophical, then heated. Your kit assigns each guest an era, a secret, and clues to align. The reveal fixes the timeline, and someone in the room has been to it before.
Perfect for
A brilliant pick for birthday parties with mixed friend groups, costume parties, New Year's Eve, and any gathering where nobody could agree on a single era.
Cast size
6-16 players, sweet spot 10. Every kit is written for your exact headcount and gender mix, so nobody doubles up and nobody sits out.
Who is at the party
A taste of the cast a time travelers convention kit produces. Your mystery is written fresh, with its own suspects, secrets, and one guilty guest.
The Temporal Compliance Officer
Enforces the rules of time travel, has a stack of violation notices for half the room, and arrived before the murder was reported, twice.
The Victorian Inventor
Built the first machine, was written out of the history books, and came to the convention to correct the record by any means.
The Far-Future Archivist
Knows how every timeline ends, is forbidden from saying, and has been very quiet since the body was found.
The Accidental Tourist
Fell through a wormhole from an ordinary Tuesday, has no idea what is going on, and is somehow in three of the surveillance logs.
Setting the scene
Costumes
- A waistcoat, a pocket watch on a chain, and brass goggles for the Victorian inventor.
- A silver or white outfit with a metallic visor for the far-future delegate who finds everything quaint.
- A bedsheet toga, a laurel crown made from craft leaves, and sandals for the Roman who took a wrong turn.
- A shoulder-padded blazer, big hair, and a calculator watch for the 1980s physicist.
- A grey suit, a clipboard, and a name badge reading COMPLIANCE for the bureaucrat from the Time Office.
Food and drink
- A timeline buffet: Roman olives and flatbread, a Victorian trifle, 1980s cheese balls, and a very modern poke bowl.
- An old fashioned served next to a new fashioned (the same drink topped with sparkling wine) for the traveler with a preference.
- A paradox punch of sparkling apple juice, cranberry, and a scoop of lime sherbet, served alcohol-free in a punch bowl.
- A clock-face cake with the hands set to a time nobody can agree on.
Atmosphere
- Hang mismatched clocks all set to different times, and stop one of them at the moment of the murder.
- Print a convention programme with panels like Paradox Etiquette and Meeting Yourself: A Support Group.
- Playlist: jump between eras every few songs, from harpsichord to synth-pop to future bass, on shuffle.
- Set the table with one place setting per era: a pewter goblet, a teacup, a plastic cup, and a glowing tumbler.
Host tip
Use time as a prop. Give each round a date from the host guide and announce it as the convention jumps; it keeps the era gimmick alive and gives alibis structure. Ask guests to arrive with a one-line explanation of when they are from. Keep a stopped clock on the table as the centrepiece of the accusation round. For the reveal, wind the clock forward and read the solution as the corrected timeline.
How your kit comes together
Set the table
Pick Time Travelers Convention, your player count and gender mix, the difficulty, and the tone: campy, dramatic, or dark. Add your guests' real names if you like.
We write the mystery
A complete, original plot with a victim, a killer, red herrings, and a web of clues that lets the table solve it. Usually 15-25 minutes; we email you when it is ready.
Print and play
Download the host guide, one booklet per character, name tags and ballots. Or send each player a private link to read their part on their phone.
Questions hosts ask
Do guests need to pick an era before the party?
The kit does it for them. Each Gather & Gasp character comes from a specific time and the booklet describes their look, so guests know whether to raid the closet for a toga or a shoulder-padded blazer. Any costume from any century counts.
Is the time travel mystery confusing to play?
No. The timeline is flavour; the puzzle is a standard whodunit with clues, secrets, and a single solution. The host guide keeps the rounds in order, and no acting experience or physics degree is needed.
How many players does the convention theme support?
The theme shines at 8 to 12 because more eras mean more colour, but the kit handles 4 to 20 and balances clues to any size. It prints at home in about 20 minutes, whichever century you are in.
If you like this, try
Steampunk Airship
Brass gears, goggles, and a captain who fell from the gondola at ten thousand feet.
Cyberpunk City
Neon lights, corporate intrigue, and a body in the rain.
Mystery Writers Convention
A room full of people who plot murders for a living. One of them stopped pretending.
Ready to gather the suspects?
A custom time travelers convention mystery for 6-16 players, written for your guests, in your inbox in about 20 minutes. Kits from $19.99.
Create your Time Travelers Convention mystery