expired Posted by ofacto • Nov 28, 2021
Nov 28, 2021 12:43 PM
Item 1 of 6
Item 1 of 6
expired Posted by ofacto • Nov 28, 2021
Nov 28, 2021 12:43 PM
Avalon Hill Betrayal at House on the Hill Strategy Board Game
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Basically half way through the game something happens and you trigger the 'haunt' which is one of 50 scenarios, or more with the expansion. One player at the table randomly becomes the villain or traitor. For example, they get turned into a vampire and their new goal is to make all the other players into vampires.
Then the game becomes a content between the humans and the vampire, and either side can win. (Often both sides can lose too.)
Sometimes the traitor is a secret, just like the game Among Us or Mafia, though more often everyone knows who it is. In these scenarios the players will be fighting monsters that move according to specific rules rather than controlling the monsters, but if the traitor is a secret they will be secretly trying helping the monsters, like Among Us. "Oh sorry, I'm out of moves, I can't reach you in time so save you..."
It's a great silly game that I enjoy it as an adult. It's also fine for kids in terms of content - it's about as scary as Scooby Doo - though the rules are probably too complicated for kids under 10 unless an older player can guide them. You literally have to stop playing, crack open the manual, and read a couple pages of special rules every time you trigger a haunt. The traitor has to read rules written just for them which can be pretty tricky to learn on the spot. Kids would be probably be fine if they weren't the traitor though, as long as one person at the table can read the rules.
A common criticism is that here is a TON of RNG. This is totally true. For example, randomly one player becomes a vampire and the just happen to be right next to all other players, and it's their turn, so they immediately bite them, roll really good on their attack roll, and and turn them into vampires and everyone loses and the traitor wins. That can happen. But it's part of the fun. I'm cool with that. The game is going to be super unbalanced, just roll with it.
Highly recommend this game even though it's not for everyone. If my description intrigues you though, go for it.
The expansion adds a lot of really interesting scenarios but it's totally not necessary. But at $10, I think it's a no-brainer. I think there's quite a few more hidden traitor haunts in the expansion, and those are my favorite.
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It is absolutely a fun game to play a few times, but once you've gone through the rigamarole it boils down to this:
The beginning phase of the game:
- explore
- get stat boosts
- try not to omen roll
Then, the worst part of the game:
- omen roll fails and haunt starts
- one of the players has to go get a whole ass other rule book out and learn all their rules
- players and traitor finally get a win condition
So essentially there are… at minimum… 100 different rule sets you will play under. And the kicker is that if anyone is experienced with a given haunt AND ISNT THE TRAITOR, it will be a joke for them
- information hiding is supposed to happen
- you basically need a rules lawyer for this stage of the game
- seriously you basically want a dedicated person to handle the haunt rules collisions who isn't playing the game.
So yeah, tie up 7 people's time for the 20-40 min early game only for the rules to be tossed out the window and hopefully the stuff you have and stats you got and board layout don't screw you or the traitor.
Oh and the traitor will spend at least 10-20 mins getting comfortable with the rules and moving around trying to beat you.
And then some of the haunts are absolute bullshit so you'll all feel like you wasted 40 mins doing nothing!
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