The Melody of Waves webseries

KMS Games’ Total Defence game, The Melody of Waves, has been turned into a webseries with celebrity players! Do give it a watch to support them — and to play along, if you didn’t manage to play the pilot run.

The Melody of Waves

This was a pilot event that ran from 22 to 26 Feb 2o23.

Created by: KMS Games
5 characters (2 female, 3 male) with 2 optional detectives

After their first English boxed game, Singapore’s KMS Games has now produced an event-format mystery. Like its predecessor, The Melody of Waves is a good introduction to the world of jubensha: beginner-friendly without being trivial, with many classic narrative moves. (Granted, this does mean that experienced players may easily jump to some conclusions.)

Happily, my main complaint about the previous KMS offering — that some aspects were underclued — doesn’t apply here. The Melody of Waves is thoroughly fair in its provision of evidence. As a gamemastered event, it also runs smoothly: once the group reaches certain hypotheses, additional evidence emerges to confirm or deny it.

Because the game was held in conjunction with Total Defence Day, we did worry beforehand that its messaging might be unsubtle. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case. The topical theme of climate change is handled well, with multiple aspects explored. Other pillars of Total Defence are woven into the story unobtrusively.

The game was tabletop-style with pictures of evidence rather than physical props, but there was a nice multimedia touch that added to the atmosphere and brought everything together.

Overall, the experience felt well-calibrated for beginners. While there weren’t many surprises for me, I did find it a fun case, and am excited for whatever KMS Games does next.

The event was exciting for another reason, too: the prospect of more such collaborations, akin to how escape games are used in everything from anti-drug campaigns to heritage events.

By their very nature, murder mysteries are ideal for making players better informed — as they gather, process, and analyse clues — while conveying messages or exploring themes. The role-playing aspect makes jubensha more immersive than even most “immersive theatre” productions: in portraying a character, as well as assessing the motives of others, participants are constantly engaged in imaginative empathy. I’d be interested to see if other organisations explore this medium.

Laboratory of Death

This is an original English boxed game by Singapore company KMS Games.

Created by: KMS Games
5 characters (2 male, 3 female) with 1 optional detective

Laboratory of Death works well as an introduction to script murders, particularly if you’d like to try a play-at-home case before venturing out to jubensha cafes. (You could easily sneak it into a boardgaming session to introduce your friends to jubensha, too…)

The compact boxed game has solid production values for being non-commercial, with clear printing and well-designed cards. The local flavour is a nice touch; uni students may be amused by the “SUN University” setting.

The case itself is accessible without being trivial: it allows players to largely reconstruct what happened, but remains friendly to the murderer-player (indeed, our main complaint is that one or two aspects are underclued). Some moves are classic and thus predictable, but there are still fresh aspects for non-beginners to enjoy.

To be honest, my general #supportlocal stance means that a local game would have to be actively bad for me to avoid recommending it. If you can forgive a couple of potentially less-than-satisfying spots, Laboratory of Death provides a solid classic jubensha experience.

Interestingly, the game includes social commentary and ‘moral’ messages. (In the Chinese scene, such cases are often tagged 立意, though that technically just means that they have a clear theme.) The themes are topical, but could put off players who are averse to such messaging.

Try if you like: An introduction to jubensha; a classic evidence-and-timeline-based case; Singaporean flavour; supporting local creators.

Not recommended for: Players who really dislike anything that might seem like ‘moralising’.