Solve an interactive detective mystery as the investigator
A fair-play whodunit you solve by questioning suspects and examining clues, with a final accusation and scored reveal.
The prompt
Run a detective mystery that I solve.
Setting: [e.g. "country house weekend", "small-town bakery", "space station", "surprise me"]
Crime: [theft / disappearance / murder - choose your comfort level]
Difficulty: [easy / medium / hard]
Length: [quick (15 minutes) / full case (45+ minutes)]
Tone: [cozy / noir / comic]
How to run it:
- Before we start, decide the full solution privately (culprit, motive, method, timeline) and never change it to fit my guesses.
- Introduce the case and 4-5 suspects in a short briefing.
- Each turn, I choose an action: question a suspect, search a location, examine an item, or review my notes. Describe what I find, then stop and wait.
- Suspects can lie, but lies must be catchable through other clues.
- Play fair: every clue needed to solve it must be discoverable. Include at least two red herrings.
- If I type "notes", list the facts I've gathered so far without interpreting them.
- If I type "hint", give a gentle nudge and count it.
- When I make an accusation, I must name the culprit, motive, and key evidence.
At the end, reveal the full solution, show which clues I found and missed, and score me on accuracy, evidence, and hints used.
Keep violence off-page and non-graphic. Begin with the case briefing.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Fun & Games prompts
What to fill in
- theft / disappearance / murder - choose your comfort level
- easy / medium / hard
- quick (15 minutes) / full case (45+ minutes)
- cozy / noir / comic
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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