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Alice is Missing
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What happened to Alice Briarwood?
Set in Northern California, Silent Falls, something has happened to the highschool junior. An immersive RPG played entirely via text message, uncover clues and hints to find out what actually happened to Alice. Beware, the clues may be deadly…
The game is played live and without verbal communication. Players inhabit their character for the entirety of the 90-minute play session, and instead of speaking, send text messages back and forth to the other characters in a group chat, as well as individually, as though they aren’t in the same place together.
Haunting beautiful, deeply personal, and highly innovative, Alice is Missing puts a strong focus on the emotional engagement between players, immersing them in a tense, dramatic mystery that unfolds organically through the text messages they send to one another.
The game is played over a single session of around 2/3 hours. The first 45 minutes will consist of players creating their characters along with their relationships to Alice and what actually ties them together. You then go on a story for the next 90 minutes following the text messages that had been sent which then uncover Alice’s fate….
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Description
What happened to Alice Briarwood?
Set in Northern California, Silent Falls, something has happened to the highschool junior. An immersive RPG played entirely via text message, uncover clues and hints to find out what actually happened to Alice. Beware, the clues may be deadly...
The game is played live and without verbal communication. Players inhabit their character for the entirety of the 90-minute play session, and instead of speaking, send text messages back and forth to the other characters in a group chat, as well as individually, as though they aren’t in the same place together.
Haunting beautiful, deeply personal, and highly innovative, Alice is Missing puts a strong focus on the emotional engagement between players, immersing them in a tense, dramatic mystery that unfolds organically through the text messages they send to one another.
The game is played over a single session of around 2/3 hours. The first 45 minutes will consist of players creating their characters along with their relationships to Alice and what actually ties them together. You then go on a story for the next 90 minutes following the text messages that had been sent which then uncover Alice's fate....
Alice is Missing is a silent role-playing game played through text messages. You play as the friends of high school student Alice Briarwood who has disappeared.
Basic Setup
To begin with, you each choose one of the five set characters. Alice is Missing is played without a GM, but one player will have to learn the rules in-depth and act as facilitator. This player takes the role of Charlie Barnes who has different starting information to the other characters.
Each character card has a secret and a prompt to flesh out their relationship with Alice. This is combined with a drive, which states the character’s motive for how they act, as well as two relationship prompts you assign to other characters.
Once characters are created, you discuss your starting hunches about the five set locations and suspects. Why would you think that they could be involved with the disappearance?
Every player also records their character’s last voice message to Alice, on the facilitator’s phone.
Finally, you either create a group chat or exchange mobile numbers. Make sure to name everyone with character names for the sake of immersion.
Gameplay
The game begins three days after Alice was last seen. The facilitator, as Charlie, opens the group chat by asking if anyone has heard from her recently. From then on, the game takes place in the chat. Players stay quiet for the full 90 minutes a game takes.
You start out with just your hunches and character secrets to go by. The early parts of the chat will reflect this. As the game progresses, events and new pieces of information will help to guide and narrow down your speculations.
Events and information are introduced by clue cards. Throughout the 90 minutes, you take turns revealing these at set intervals and relaying their contents in the chat. Clue cards often ask you to draw from the decks of locations or suspects to see who or where is involved in the clue.
Characters can also choose to go to one of the locations unprompted. You then draw a search card to see what they find there, like a loaded gun or a white van.
The further in the game, the more specific the clue cards get. Eventually, you find out who took Alice, where she is, and what state you find her in.
Once the timer hits 0, your character writes one final message in the group chat. Then you listen to the voice mails you recorded during setup and debrief.
Setting
Alice is Missing takes place in the small town of Silent Falls, Northern California, during the winter break. Apart from the high school which most of the player characters (and some of the suspects) attend, the town encompasses locations such as the Dripping Dagger Nightclub, the Kalisto Rivers State Park, and the Lighthouse on the Howling Sea Cliffs.
Experience
I loved playing Alice is Missing, largely due to the game’s atmosphere and format.
The rulebook recommends that you use the combined soundtrack and timer from the game’s homepage and it is great. The soundtrack sets the perfect atmosphere for the game. Starting out light but eerie, and getting more and more intense as the timer approaches turning points and game end.
The silence between players adds a lot of appropriate tension, too. As does seeing the dots as a character is typing, especially after a clue card has been revealed.
Role-playing through text also afforded me more time to think of good responses and to decide what to do with the prompts on my clue cards. You aren’t put on the spot in the same way as during a verbal role-playing conversation. The only pressure is that you should relay your clue card’s information before the next card is revealed, giving you 5-10 minutes.
I also really enjoyed how the mystery unfolds via the clue cards, search cards, and character prompts. There isn’t a set solution from the beginning, rather you and the other players are trying to piece together and create a narrative from the clues currently available.
Finally, I like that the game has a set duration, with the clue cards and prompts assuring that the story will have a beginning, middle, and conclusion. It’s a very unified experience. With setup, everyone learning the rules, and playing through the full game, our session took about 3 hours. It is a game well suited as a centrepiece event either on its own or as part of a game night.
Heavy Theme
It is important to emphasise that Alice is Missing is a game centred around a missing person case about a teenage girl.
The game is very aware of the heaviness of its theme. The rulebook provides thorough guidance on how to use safety tools within the text format, and discussing what kind of topics the players do not want to explore in the game is part of the setup. It is also possible to avoid the possibility that Alice could be dead by leaving out certain clue cards. Furthermore, the game ends with the players debriefing, which includes checking that everyone is okay.
These are excellent tools and aspects, I found them very helpful during our game. But the core of the game is always going to be that a teenager has disappeared, and it’s good to keep that in mind before playing.
Similar Games
Alice is Missing, to me, is quite a unique role-playing experience. However, if you think that what I described above isn’t entirely the kind of game you want to play, I have some suggestions you might like instead.
If you like the idea of playing as mystery-solving teenagers in a small town as well as the potential for tough themes, but you would like to play out loud and work towards a set solution run by a GM, Things from the Flood might be the system for you.
If you want to solve small-town mysteries with teenage characters but you don’t want to role play, and you would like to be able to play on your own, you could try Chronicles of Crime: Welcome to Redview.
Finally, if you are not necessarily keen on the theme but like the idea of a role-playing system that can be learned and taught quickly and where you can have a full, unified session within a couple of hours, the Fiasco system might suit your needs.
Replayability
The rulebooks state that “[t]he same group” if playing again “will see opportunities where they didn’t before, but getting together a new group to play is likely to take the story in directions you didn’t previously explore”. This suggests that Alice is Missing was made to be replayable, just not with the same exact group. There is a lot of potential for vastly different stories to play out.
Each interval of play has three possible clue cards, one is picked at random during setup. This means that it is unlikely that two games will have the same combination of story beats. Moreover, each card contains a prompt for the player to answer and flavour, not one set thing that happens. If you play enough times, you might learn the general array of the clue card, as well as all the character secrets. But what the players bring to them will be different every time.
Final Thoughts
If you want to try a different kind of role-playing experience, I cannot recommend Alice is Missing enough. Provided, of course, that you are comfortable with the theme. The game lets you play through a strong, unified narrative that you create together. And, as everything is played through texts, you will even be able to read back over it after the game has ended.
Editors Note: This post was originally published on October 17th 2018. Updated on 20th September 2024 to improve the information available.
In the sleepy hamlet of Silent Falls, a tragedy has struck: Alice Is Missing. In this 3-5 player silent RPG from Renegade Game Studios, players take on the roles of teenagers as they try to solve the disappearance of their friend Alice Briarwood. Throughout the game, players will communicate via text as they uncover clues in the mystery of Alice’s disappearance. This how to play is spoiler-free, so there’s nothing in here that will ruin any surprises that the game may have in store.
Alice Is Missing – Set Up
The first step is for players to choose a facilitator. This character acts much like a GM or DM in other RPGs but will be an active player as well as the facilitator. Their role is to read sections aloud and they should have read the whole rulebook ahead of play. Before going into the game, the facilitator should discuss any possibly triggering content that might come up, and players should make it known if they want any content removed. This is a critical step to make sure that everyone has the best possible experience playing.
Next, players will need to each have a phone, each other’s contact information, and there should be one laptop in plain view of all players. The facilitator then reads the introduction card aloud, before taking the Charlie Barnes character card for themselves. The rest can be distributed to the remaining characters however they please. These cards detail some background information, such as their relationship with Alice, a Secret, and a reason for leaving Alice a voicemail. The Secrets should, as the name suggests, be kept secret. Each character then receives a random Drive card, outlining a motive and their relationships. The motive will determine how they play the game, and the relationships will impact how they act around other characters.
Once this has been set up, players then introduce their characters to the group, giving any background information they have come up with along with their relationship to Alice. They then openly assign their relationships to other characters. Now, players add one another’s contact details to their phones, making sure to save the numbers under the character names, not the players’. If players already have each other’s numbers saved, then simply change the names. Starting with the facilitator, players will privately leave a ‘voicemail’ from their character to Alice on the facilitator’s device using a voice recording app. These should vaguely allude to their Secrets and are the last message players left Alice before they knew she was missing.
Cards, Cards, And More Cards
Next, one of each type of Suspect and Location cards should be displayed on the table and each player describes a suspicion they have about a singular Suspect and Location. Then, all copies of the Location and Suspect cards are shuffled in their respective decks along with the Search cards. These are all placed face down and players will be prompted to use these throughout the game. Now comes the Alice is Missing playlist on Spotify. This helps to create a more immersive experience while also acting as a timer.
The facilitator places all Clue cards face down, sorted by the number on their backs. They then take the 90-minute card before placing a 10-minute card in the middle of the table and randomly selecting one of each value cards from 20 upwards. This is the Clue deck and should be distributed evenly to all players. All unused cards can go back to the box.
Finally, the facilitator reads the Game Guide aloud. This details how the game will run and some in-game details for all players. Now it’s time to start the timer and let the game begin!
As soon as it does, the facilitator turns over the 90-minute card and follows the instructions, starting a group text with all other players. When a clue card is revealed, all information must be revealed to the whole group, nothing on these should be hidden. This is where the role playing really comes into it. Players now respond as if they were their character, responding to the group text or starting private texts with others. If a player wants to send something out of character, they can do so by putting it in brackets. As the game goes on, new clue cards will become available. These have questions or prompts on them and will help shape the game as it goes.
Blue’s Clues
Gameplay continues following prompts from Clue cards and progresses until the 10-minute card, when the facilitator will play the voicemails back to the group. Finally, there is the Debrief. This is when players tie up their loose ends and can take as long as they need to get everything in order.
Zatu Score
You might like
- Very immersive play experience
- Short, complete role playing session
Might not like
- Heavy theme (missing person)
- No talking