We have two general categories of participation:
- Character Role Players ("characters")
- Extra Player Parts ("extras")
Character players are the primary types of participant and this type is recommended for as many guests as possible. Characters appear in the cast and receive a detailed character dossier in their kits, telling them who they are, what their personalities are like, how they fit into the plot, who they know, and how they feel about them. In short everything they need to know about their role to play it. The characters are involved in the plot and carry out the action of the story line.
The planner gets to assign the character role parts to their guests using our special party planner's cast detailing for you important inside information with regard to the best types to play the various roles.
Within any grouping of character roles, we always build in a variety of character types to play from the most outgoing to the low key and mysterious roles so that planners will have plenty of characters to choose from when assigning roles. Planners do not have to worry that they will have only one type of character player or that they will not have roles for their more introverted guests. The vast majority of guests do best with a character part, even your shy guests.
Remember, it is the individual who will determine how she plays her role. Each guest plays her part to the degree she wishes. No one is pushed beyond his capacity. This is not a play with lines to memorize, this is a fantasy where guests pretend and improvise.
Who characters are good for: Everyone who is willing to participate, even a little bit, in the theme.
Extra Player Parts are secondary "character types." Extras do not appear in the cast and they do not receive a detailed character dossier. Rather they receive a special set of instructions to guide them through character selection and definition. We often tell people to think of extra players like "extras" in a Hollywood movie. (We originally designed extras to fill the need of planner's staging very large events such as fund raisers where there were planned to be 100 people or more.) Although extras are secondary parts, extra kits look the same and contain all of the same information as the character kits with regard to the mystery package itself. They only differ with regard to the dossier section.
Who extras are good for: Extras are good for those guests who say they "do not want a role" or they "only want to watch." Our many years of experience and feedback from thousands of planners and participants tells us that when people have never tried anything like this before, some will be curious, want to attend, but get a little shy about jumping in all the way. They want to just dip their toes into it so to speak, so they say "don't give me a part." In practice, when guests actually see how much fun the party is, they then wish they could get into the action a little more.
The beauty of the extra player parts is that for those who adamant in their refusal to take a character part, this fits the bill perfectly (they still will understand all that is going on and be able to enjoy the festivities and investigation) and if those same people do find that they want to get more involved as the party proceeds, they can! The extra player part provides the best of both worlds for these guests.
Are the extras best for my shy and introverted guests? Not usually. Low key types do better with a smaller character role. With a small character part they are told who they are, rather than feeling like they have to make up a part for themselves should they want to interact as characters.
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