Murder at the Red Rose Masquerade | Virtual Murder Mystery

This was perfect for my mum’s 60th birthday. I was only able to get on to organizing on Thursday night for a Saturday night play, but it was perfect! My not-super-tech-savvy family all got into it and it went off pretty much without a hitch. Highly recommend doing the pre-game tasks. My family were able to get through them all in the limited time available and it really helped get into character and get excited.

Overall this was a fun experience for our work social (small group of 8 individuals). We weren't able to do the pre-game, but we did tell each other about what we were supposed to do (we didn't have time before the game). As I had never lead or played a murder mystery before, it was a bit confusing to start out, but it's laid out quite well (I was also a character at the same time). All of the information packets were great for each person, and the videos were a nice added touch. While our group did not pick the murder, we could have probably done a more difficult game, but a 5 was a good place to start. Would for sure play another game!

This was such a fun way to spend my birthday during quarantine. The characters were fun, and running the game was simple and easy. Totally worth the money!

Very easy to to organize and host. No glitches for us, but many troubleshooting ideas and a support number to call if needed. Everyone enjoyed getting into character ahead of time. All of the material was helpful. Everyone really enjoyed it! We played with the full amount of 12 players and it ran smoothly. We used Facebook messenger, which was free and worked well. We got a multi pack of eye masks off amazon and mailed them out to everyone. A great first experience doing a virtual game.

I had a hard time finding practical advice on running your first virtual mystery, so I am going to put some lessons learned here. We had seven players split over three cameras which seemed to work well. I would recommend consolidating cameras as much as possible. Many of the people playing were not used to group video chats so the conversation did not flow smoothly, which is okay. I recommend the host set a strict order of who talks when going over the scripts including the extra script material. Go in rounds, write extensive notes. No spoilers here and it may seem a little contrived, but getting ALL the information out is critical to the success of the mystery. Also, make sure that the players read aloud their bios prior to reading their scripts. Their is a lot of dialogue to go over. We took a break after solving challenge #2, about an hour in. I recommend encouraging players to go over the final three pages of evidence on the break. We did not and it caused a LOT of dead time while people pieced things together. If you have more than 6 players I recommend casting yourself as a non-essential character and spend most of your time engaging in conversation if pauses get too long, frequent dead time is inevitable, don't sweat it too much. Unless you have an established group that is comfortable role playing and group video conferences their will be a lot of dead air. Also, remind people to mute their mics if they are not talking, this is critical to being able to hear each other. Mymysteryparty includes host instructions, a timeline, and an "items to accomplish" list. I strongly recommend using the "Items to accomplish" during the actual running of the party. Before the party cross-reference the other two lists and add any missing information you need. This made the game run smoothly. We found that making masks and building backdrops before the party was more fun than engaging in the suggested pre-game material, but each to his own. If you have never done this before make sure to budget several hours in the preceding days to prepare. Again, if you do not have an established video chat group, make test calls the preceding day and test the required video content, whether that is sending a link or playing the videos in the video chat. Don't spoil anything, just ensure they can watch the first two seconds of the video to ensure it is working. Also, for the first-time host I strongly suggest pulling yourself out of the mystery just a little bit. In addition to reading the host instructions, also go over the entirety of your character packet so you will know how the packet lines up with the running of the game. For yourself, focus on running the game first and solving the mystery second. Don't forget to take screen shots of your fantastic costumes as well as pictures of your mess off screen after the party. It's fun to see everyone's full background setup. The challenges are frankly, too easy, the real puzzle comes trying to piece together everyone's stories. I do recommend this as a first time virtual mystery.

The support materials, videos and directions were detailed and very easy to follow. The clues are challenging, make sure you give time to review the clues and get everyone’s input. I loved the checklist as it kept me on track and helped to move the game along. I suggest that people get fake glasses or wear sunglasses as it was hard to read profiles with masks on. The murderer was a complete surprise to us all.

Everyone had a great time. The pre-game tasks were fun and got everyone interested and eager for the party. I thought it was best to send the pre-game/Round One/ and Round Two separate so during the breaks I sent an email with their next script which worked well for the group. Everyone dressed up and were very involved during the game. The host instructions were easy to follow. Everyone is looking forward to the next virtual party.