Betrayal at House on the Hill – Gangrene’s Two Cents
boardgamegeek link:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10547
Synopsis
Betrayal at House on the Hill is unique in that it has two personalities. It starts as an exploration game with all players on the same side. “Exploring” is accomplished by building the house room by room as the tiles are drawn from the deck. However, after several turns the “haunt” begins, and all hell breaks loose. Depending on the circumstances at the time of haunting, one player becomes the Traitor, and must leave the room with the Traitors Tome. The remaining players stay with the Survivor’s Handbook. Once the appropriate scenario is read and understood, the players are reunited at the board, and the second phase begins with completely new goals.
Personal Bias
This game has got a few things going for it. First, the wife bought it for me, so I am forced to at least act like it’s cool. Second, it has a tile-laying mechanic, which I love. Third, the game has a narrative. In fact, it has 50+ narratives, as each scenario is a completely different story with a wide variety of goals. Finally the combat system is clever, and has just enough of an RPG feel to it that you can customize your characters for their short life during the game.
Gameplay
To begin, all players choose their avatars. Each being the usual Horror movie stereotype. The painted miniatures have a double-sided stat pentagon that shows a wholesome or creepy version of the character: Jock/Convict, Bookish Professor/Creepy Priest, Cheerleader/Bad Girl, etc. Each side has minor variations of the four stats. There are two physical stats: Might and Speed, and two mental stats: Sanity and Intelligence. At certain points during the game, players will be required to make saving throws (dice rolls) against these statistics. The outcome of these events may result in raising or lowering these stats.
Once characters are decided upon, the exploration begins. All players begin in the entrance hall, which has 5 exits. Four doorways to rooms on the ground floor, and a stairway up to the second floor landing, which has three doorways. Each character may move through a number of rooms equal to his or her speed stat. A player “discovers” a room by moving through a doorway that has no room on the other side.
When a player discovers a room, they must draw the top card off of the face-down room deck. The back of the tile shows what level of the house the room may be placed. The options are basement, ground floot, and second floor. If the tile on the top of the deck is not marked for the floor the player is on, the tile is discarded.
Once the room has been revealed, the player must stop in that room. Some of the rooms have symbols on them that require further actions. The three symbols are:
Animal Skull – Item: The player finds an item in the room. Examples are a mirror, a dagger, and the Monkey toy. Items can be used later in the game, and often determine which scenario is triggered by the haunt.
Spiral – Event: Something unusual happens in the room, like a ghost appears and takes a swipe at you, or you are transported to a completely different room.
Crow – Omen: Herein lies the path to the “Haunt”. Omens can be like events, or may be items. In either case, after an Omen card is drawn, the player who drew the card must make a “Haunt Roll”. This must be over the number of Omen cards that have been drawn since the beginning of the game, so each haunt roll gets more difficult to beat. If the player fails the haunt roll, the haunt begins.
The Haunt
At this time, the Traitors Tome is consulted. There is a chart that compares the room that the Haunt took place in, to any items that may have been in the players’ possesion. Based on this, the Traitor is determined. Once the traitor is identified, they must leave the room and read the specified scenario in the Traitors Tome. The remaining players read the scenario from the Survivors book. Each has information that the other does not. Each has certain modifications to the rules that the other may not be aware of.
From these rules, the rest of the game is played out. Since there are over 50 scenarios, each with different victory conditions, there isn’t much more I can tell without spoiling the fun. Here are some brief descriptions of scenarios that have taken place in the Bunker:
Baby in the Lake: A girl you encounter in the game (as an item card) is stolen and will be sacrificed to some elder god, if you can’t rescue her in time.
Dragon!: A dragon is unleashed that can only be killed with certain items found in certain rooms.
Bug Boy: The little boy character goes misanthropic and commands giant mutant bugs to eat his former friends.
Serial Axeman: The Traitor is a distant relative of a serial killer, who returns to life in the mansion, hungry for blood.
First Play
Our first game was played with 3 players. Myself, the wife, and Pottse the Boy Wonder. This was the “Baby in the Lake” scenario.
Surprisingly enough, the wife ended up being the traitor and played the role of the monster with the girl. Pottse bit it early, and I found myself wading ever further into the underground lake trying to find her. I’m not exactly sure how it worked, but some combination of the “Haunt Track” and die roles were used to determine how close I was to the girl.
Since I am the unluckiest dice roller in the universe, I managed to get the littel girl eaten. By this time I was so invested in the game (and having a little daughter of my own) I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing. Wife, in a surprising moment of morbid callousitude mimed munching the little girl. I was heartbroken.
Nevertheless, I had a great time playing, and felt that the game was very successful in evoking the horror mood. I can see where the game could go differnt ways, since some scenarios are probably better than others, but I haven’t seen an unhappy group after the experience.
In short, if you have the chance, play it! And if you see one on the shelf at your local game shop, buy it! They are out of print and difficult to come by.
