Mansion Of Madness board game

Started by Beorning, August 22, 2014, 08:09:57 PM

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Beorning

I've noticed that a few people on Elli are familiar with the Arkham Horror board game. I haven't played it, but I know what it's about, more or less.

But there is another Lovecraftian board game, Mansion Of Madness. Has anyone here played it? If so, could I ask for a description of what it's like, how do you play it etc.? I know nothing about this game aside from the fact that it exists...

kylie

#1
          There's a pretty glossy, talky company ad video (duration 7:28) that shows some of what it looks like.  I don't know the wider Arkham genre, so can't say how much it really tells you that's unique compared to other games of that line.  The later part of the video seems to talk a little more about actual board mechanics used.  I didn't watch through the whole thing as yet.

           If you have some real viewing time, also passed a really long gamer tutorial video (1 hr 14 m etc).  I've barely peeked at the opening there.  Streaming big vids is slow here.

           There are some other, short (around 5-20 min.) vids about the game (many of those just unboxing I think?) and at least one even still longer one of some sort, in the general vicinity on YouTube.

     

ofDelusions

I have played it few times. The main difference between it and arkham horror is that one of the players is the keeper, who plays all the monsters etc. He/she is also th only one who knows all the details about the scenario.

That is the second difference. While Arkham horror takes plac in a whole city and the main difference between each game is the Old one that is awakeing, in Mansions each time a different scenario is played and that scenario takes place in a single house usually.

The investigtors have to search room by room for clues to fin out what is going on while the keeper has fulfil hisher own mysterious objective.

Beorning

Thank you :)

BTW. It looks like Mansions Of Madness can't be played by one person only. Can Arkham Horror be played solo?

Wheeler97

#4
There are several games with the Lovecraftian setting. Arkham Horror is long, often ridiculously so. There is a newer game out called Eldritch Horror which is still long, but far more feasible to fit into an evening than Arkham Horror. I have played Eldritch Horror, and it was quite fun. You're moving around a map of the world collecting clues and equipment to seal rifts/portals and keep the monsters from coming through to the world.

Another very popular Lovecraft-themed game is Elder Sign. Elder Sign can be played solo (1-8 players) and is much faster and more simple than the previous two mentioned. It's more of a dice game, I guess, where you have to roll certain sets and combinations of symbols for the different "locations" that give your different items and help score points. I played a game with seven people, and my experience wasn't good, but I won't say the game is bad because of that. With seven people chatting, the turns were taking a rather long time to go around. I've heard it's a lot better with 5 or less, but it really depends on your group. Here's a video:
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide


I've not played Mansions of Madness, but I do own a game that a lot of my friends compare it to, Betrayal at House on the Hill. Mansions of Madness has a fixed board/map for the different scenarios. One player plays the monsters while the others are explorers searching for scenario-specific clues. It comes with nice miniatures for most of the monsters, I'm pretty sure, whereas Betrayal only has miniatures for the players and uses tokens for everything else.

It may not be based on Lovecraft's work, but Betrayal at House on the Hill is one of my favorite games. All players start out working together to explore a haunted house and raise their skills. As players search, they get to place tiles out to expand the floors of the house, so the board is always different. Eventually, an event called "The Haunt" occurs. The rules for the 2nd Edition contain 50 different Haunt scenarios, determined by what room the haunt was triggered from and which "Omen" card triggered it. Following The Haunt, one player becomes the Traitor and has his/her own scenario book that they have to go to another room and become familiar with their new objective. This is a "horror" game, so the Haunt involves the arrival or awakening of some sort of monster and/or the possession of one of the heroes (to become the traitor). The rest of the players have their own objective to win/survive and work together against the Traitor. It's quite fun.