Post originally by Conan at 2004-10-30 00:07:48
Converted from Phorums BB System

I wouldn't take Old_Scratch's account to heart too much.

In the 20+ games we've played so far we have never encountered *any* of the problems he's mentioned.

1. Exploration is always fun, even after all this time it has taken 15 games to see all the tiles.

2. The text is neither bad, as OS claims, or reptitive. Each game has been distinctly different - with us still coming across events that we've never seen before. Event challenges are varied and interesting and keep the exploration phase interesting. In one game a character got caught in cobwebs and was unable to explore enough by the time the Haunt came around, this lead to a lot more frenzied exploration to try and get characters up to the level where they could take on the traitor.

3. It is impossible to guess who will win from just reading a scenario. The number of factors are wide - and they constantly change the tactics you need to resolve the ending. It isn't as easy as highest trait wins. In one game we needed to rescue a number of victims from cannibals, get them out of the house and then <i>go back to take on the cannibals.</i>

In another game the traitor exploded into a two headed snake that the PCs had to run around looking for clues as to how to first weaken each head and then kill the creature before it completely encircled the house.

In another game there was no traitor, but a ghostly fiddler who was playing and slowly driving the investigators insane while they tried to find a way to exorcise it.

Due to the random factors of how the house develops in the opening game, where the omen is found and what room it is in and at what point the haunt begins, who ends up traitor and what items you manage to pick up - the game is ultimately replayable with a reasonable amount of strategic thinking required in the haunt stage. Co-operation between investigators usually guarantees a win, but the scenarios are different enough that you can't simply rely on the same tactics everytime to win the game

Add to this the upgradeable nature of the game, it is a genuine value purchase. YMMV, but I do think that Old_Scratch's complaints are not as common as he makes them out to be.

Conan