Come and Go FRIDAY

[BanzaiCat]

Is Mansions of Madness similar to Arkham Horror?

I have the latter, though I've yet to play it.

I've not played Arkham Horror.

Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition has an accompanying app that can be run off of a phone or tablet.  It provides background sounds as well as showing which tiles get laid out when you open a door, peer around a corner, etc....   With the sound and the map being discovered as you would notice when it crosses your line of sight there is a pretty strong horror feel.  A lot is unknown, just like it would be in real life. 

Supposedly, the tiles lay out differently and the options are randomized.

Dangit, sorry, meant to say Betrayal at House on the Hill.

I do have Arkham Horror and Betrayal both, but again haven't played either. What you're describing sounds a lot like Betrayal at House on the Hill also.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

The newest expansion for Mansions of Madness just came out. It's called Streets of Arkham.  Adds three new scenarios, 4 characters, a handful of new bad guys, and a bunch of new tiles and.cards.  I picked my copy up last night.  Bloody expensive compared to the last two expansions!

The game can be punishingly difficult.  Each scenario has a few possible map layouts.  The overall story is the same in each scenario but there are variations as to who the bad guy is, what monsters spawn, etc.  Some variations are much harder than others.  With 5 players, they increase the difficulty by cranking up the HP levels of the enemies you face.  Can be tough when the big guys start coming out, especially if you didn't find decent weapons beforehand.

I think I liked the Streets of Innsmouth adventure best so far, even though we've never managed to beat it yet in 6 attempts. 

[Nefaro]

Is Mansions of Madness similar to Arkham Horror?

I have the latter, though I've yet to play it.

They're different, other than the theme.

From what I've seen of Mansions of Madness gameplay, it's closer to a character-based "dungeon crawler", but with the Lovecraft theme.  Which means less hacking & slashing of hordes for loot, and more investigation & exploration.  Plus some puzzle mini-games thrown in.

The original MoM was only a one-versus-many system; similar to the Descent 2e/Imperial Assault system in that regard.  But the 2nd edition of MoM has an app which will run the Keeper so you can play it purely co-op too (again, kinda similar to Descent).  I'm not sure if it will do that for all the base game scenarios, or whether there are special co-op ones in the app.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

There are currently a total of 13 scenarios available for the 2nd edition of MoM but 6 of those require you to have purchased the expansions and one is a DLC for sale from the app.  There were 4 scenarios available when the base game was first released but I'm pretty sure they added 2 more later (not 100% on this though).

[airboy]

I also just bought Eldrich Horror and I've been reading the rules on that game.  I can't unbox and play it until the 70 person party is finished on Friday.

[Ubercat]

MoM 1st Edition is the last boardgame I ever played with my best friend. I still have it but will probably pick up 2nd edition at some point. Do you guys know of any advantage that having 1E will give me when I buy 2E?

Also, all but 2-3 of the 1E original scenarios were pretty broken as I recall. Do you guys know if they fixed them?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

There are some conversion instructions to use your 1st ed stuff with 2nd ed but most of it's not usable.  They want their cash.

[Nefaro]

I also just bought Eldrich Horror and I've been reading the rules on that game.  I can't unbox and play it until the 70 person party is finished on Friday.

Eldritch Horror gets more difficult, the fewer characters you are using.  Four is the sweet spot for a decent chance at winning.  Lower than that, be prepared for the pain.  >:D

Actually, you should prepare for the pain any way you go.  Because it's a Lovecraft theme.  Your characters will be getting various curses, injuries, insanities, and possibly worse, in your desperate attempts to shut the gates and prevent the Old One from coming in.   ^-^

[airboy]

I also just bought Eldrich Horror and I've been reading the rules on that game.  I can't unbox and play it until the 70 person party is finished on Friday.

Eldritch Horror gets more difficult, the fewer characters you are using.  Four is the sweet spot for a decent chance at winning.  Lower than that, be prepared for the pain.  >:D

Actually, you should prepare for the pain any way you go.  Because it's a Lovecraft theme.  Your characters will be getting various curses, injuries, insanities, and possibly worse, in your desperate attempts to shut the gates and prevent the Old One from coming in.   ^-^

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll start with a solo game running 4 characters based on your suggestion.  I'm considering doing a tabletop AAR.

[KyzBP]

I also just bought Eldrich Horror and I've been reading the rules on that game.  I can't unbox and play it until the 70 person party is finished on Friday.

Eldritch Horror gets more difficult, the fewer characters you are using.  Four is the sweet spot for a decent chance at winning.  Lower than that, be prepared for the pain.  >:D

Actually, you should prepare for the pain any way you go.  Because it's a Lovecraft theme.  Your characters will be getting various curses, injuries, insanities, and possibly worse, in your desperate attempts to shut the gates and prevent the Old One from coming in.   ^-^

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll start with a solo game running 4 characters based on your suggestion.  I'm considering doing a tabletop AAR.

Do that! Please!

[Nefaro]

I also just bought Eldrich Horror and I've been reading the rules on that game.  I can't unbox and play it until the 70 person party is finished on Friday.

Eldritch Horror gets more difficult, the fewer characters you are using.  Four is the sweet spot for a decent chance at winning.  Lower than that, be prepared for the pain.  >:D

Actually, you should prepare for the pain any way you go.  Because it's a Lovecraft theme.  Your characters will be getting various curses, injuries, insanities, and possibly worse, in your desperate attempts to shut the gates and prevent the Old One from coming in.   ^-^

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll start with a solo game running 4 characters based on your suggestion.  I'm considering doing a tabletop AAR.

4 characters can suck up a lot more table space, and may seem like a lot extra to keep track of while you're learning that first game.  But you won't feel like all the monsters & objectives & bad stuff™ are dog-piling you so much that you lose hope of winning too early.

You wanna despair, of course, but only thematically.  :D

Fortunately the rules for Eldritch Horror are fairly easy.  So much more streamlined than the older Arkham Horror.  \m/