Mansions of Madness - New CoC Boardgame from FFG

[fatolaf]

From the blurb on FFG about their upcoming Arkham nights weekend..

An opportunity to be among the first to play an as-of-yet-unannounced game based on the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft! In the coming weeks, we will announce this exciting new title. Arkham Nights attendees will be the first to see a playable copy, and there will be random drawings for some guests to win a chance to play... but to be eligible for this exclusive opportunity, you must pre-register!

I wonder what that will be, we've had an RPG, a LCG and a boardgame, what else could it be?

[Garzini]

A murder mystery party game ?

[Mike]

Paintball

[fatolaf]

Umm yes, good guesses there peeps, not sure they are spot on but you never know with FFG 

My guess is a new RPG, ehich would be fab as the Chaosium inc version which we all grew up on, is looking a bit tired (yet still fab, just bought 6th Ed)

[Garzini]

Silverline range Dice Game.

[fatolaf]

Silverline range Dice Game.

Aah yes good guess mate, that will be cool...

[Mike]

Hungry Hungry Cthulhu....

A game for the whole family.

[Steve H]

I really hope its just Cthulhu branded Connect 4...

[Mike]

Pop-up cthulhu...

[maelzch]

Guess Who Cthulu?

[Nick]

None of these are half as bad as some of the crazy sh*t here.

[The Trampoline]

Is it Hello Cthulhu???

[fatolaf]

None of these are half as bad as some of the crazy sh*t here.

Absolutely brilliant

[Garzini]

I'll be up for a copy of "Mansions of Madness"

[fatolaf]

Yep it got announced over the weekend, looks really good as well....

As soon as we know the price we will have it up on the shop for pre-order

Horrific monsters and spectral presences lurk in manors, crypts, schools, monasteries, and derelict buildings near Arkham, Massachusetts. Some spin dark conspiracies from the shadows while others wait for hapless victims to devour. It's up to a handful of brave investigators to explore these cursed places and uncover the truth about the living nightmares within.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Mansions of Madness, a macabre board game of horror, insanity, and mystery for 2-5 players! This winter, gather your fellow investigators and unravel the dark mysteries within... before it's too late.

Designed by Corey Konieczka (Battlestar Galactica, Runewars) and based on the horror fiction of master writer H.P. Lovecraft, Mansions of Madness creates an engrossing new narrative every time you play. Each game takes place within a pre-designed story that provides players with a unique map and several combinations of plot threads. These threads affect the monsters that investigators may encounter, the clues they need to find, and which climactic story ending they will ultimately experience. One player takes on the role of the keeper, controlling the monsters and other malicious powers within the story. The other players take on the role of investigators, searching for answers while struggling to survive with their minds intact.

During setup, the keeper secretly makes choices that will affect both the plot of the unfolding story and the gameplay objectives of both sides. Is the mysterious cult attempting to murder the investigators, or is their goal far darker? Did the master of the house go insane with grief over his dead family, or is a horrible otherworldly force controlling his mind? Only by following the trail and piecing these clues together will the investigators discover the true evil and successfully complete the story!

Depending on the combinations of plot choices the keeper makes, clues are scattered throughout the various rooms that make up the board. Each clue is represented by a card, placed face down in the room in which it can be found and consisting of deeply thematic text leading investigators to the next clue card. Investigators must work together, finding the clues and discussing how best to proceed. Meanwhile, the keeper is ever vigilant in pursuing his own agenda, and if he completes his secret objective before the investigators discover and thwart it, then dark forces will prevail. The result is a tense race between good and evil!

Both the engaging plot and the stunning components will draw you in to a world of cosmic horror. The beautifully rendered modular map tiles show every intricate feature of the rooms you'll search, and the monster figures represent the otherworldly forces of evil in horrific detail. The bases for each monster figure even have slots into which you can insert that monster's token, displaying only the pertinent statistics. These components (a total of 24 monster figures), along with the eight included investigator figures, over 300 cards, over 200 tokens and markers, and nearly 70 puzzle tiles, will help immerse you in a sanity-bending story of terrifying mystery.

[fatolaf]

More on how this game plays:

For our first preview of Mansions of Madness, we're pleased to present an introductory designer diary by Corey Konieczka:

I'm sorry. I tried to keep it secret. I tried to protect you. Unfortunately, I cannot contain myself anymore, my story must be known. This is your last warning; once you read the words below, there is no turning back...

For some time, I've wanted to create a modular board game that focuses on telling an immersive story in which everything happened for a reason. One of my main goals with Mansions of Madness was to create a game in which the story is not merely smoke and mirrors, but in which evil plots are actually happening behind the scenes. Also, I wanted a purpose behind each unique item that players discovered, rather than having them drawn out of a random deck.

At the same time, replayability and versatility were a must, so that players don't always know what to expect. Every grand story arc would have many plausible outcomes, many possible side paths, and a depth of buried information. I wanted a game that made players feel like they were in a movie, with every clue uncovered helping them understand what is going on, and tension becoming tangible as they progressed towards the finale. My goal was to design a game in which every single element was about telling this story. A game that sucked players in and refused to let go. A game that hid reality behind a veil of theme, so thick that it could be an engrossing novel...

...and I think we've succeeded at this with Mansions of Madness.

Each story starts with an introductory narrative that gives thematic background information on the scenario. For example (and we'll use a hypothetical story to avoid ruining the surprise of in-game scenarios), let's imagine that our introductory story is about a series of murders that have been happening on a nightly basis for almost two weeks. The town is scared, and the investigators have been following clues for days. Finally, on a warm summer evening, their car pulls up to an enormous mansion. Somehow they know that here lies the final piece of the puzzle. They know that, one way or another, tonight will bring an end to this mystery.

While this narrative is laid out in front of them, the keeper is required to make a number of story changing decisions. The number of questions varies based on the story and its target playtime. Continuing on from our made up narrative, let's imagine that the keeper reads his first question:

1: What is the ultimate reason for the murders?

    * A. A cult is working on a dark ritual that requires a murder every night for 13 nights. The mansion is their sanctuary and the center of their power.
    * B. The house itself is a manifestation of evil. It has been luring in victims for weeks, gathering in power in order to attract the great daemon sultan Azathoth.
    * C. The town's inhabitants are all servants of Nyarlathotep. They have been duping the investigators and leading them towards the house to become slaves to his bidding.

The keeper decides to choose 1A, and takes the appropriate story choice marker (to remember this), and places it face down in front of him.

The first choice made by the keeper always determines the keeper's objective for this session. He takes Objective Card 1A for this story, and reads it to himself. Let's imagine that this Objective requires him to kill an investigator and place his corpse on an altar. The investigators on the other hand, simply need to kill the cult's leader to stop the ritual.

The important thing to remember here is that this card is kept secret from the investigators! This means that even if they have played this scenario before, there is still a sense of suspense and mystery. In order to see the keeper's Objective Card (and ultimately win the game), they will need to investigate the house and discover clues that will reveal the truth behind the mystery.

To conclude his part of setup, the keeper will go on to make a handful of other decisions as well, and these decisions will likewise affect various features of the game (depending on the requirements of the scenario). Based on his previous answer (1A), the keeper might now decide the following: Where do the cultists perform their ritual murders? Where is their next victim imprisoned? To what room does the secret passage in the study lead?

Based on the keeper's choices, he then goes on to scatter items and obstacles throughout the board. While some Exploration cards are placed randomly in every scenario, others, along with the clues leading investigators to their objective, are placed according to the keeper's initial decisions.

But who are the investigators, and what resources do they have at their disposal as they discover clues and other items throughout the mansion? Unfortunately for your sanity, you're going to have to wait until our next preview...

[fatolaf]

More on How the players set up characters:

"What is it, boy? Whaddaya smell?" Pete looked back to see that Duke was no longer following at his heels, but had stopped near a ruined grave marker. The animal bared his teeth and growled at the slab of rock, the fur of his neck standing on end. "C'mon boy," Pete ordered gruffly, but Duke stood his ground against the inanimate foe. Pete turned back, and placing himself between his dog and ancient gravestone, he bent down for a closer inspection. In the dim moonlight, he could barely make out the weatherworn letters, but he leaned in, squinting. An "L"... yes, definitely... and a "Y". He ran his hands over the porous rock, feeling the markings. An "N"... So unshakable was Ashcan Pete's focus, in fact, that he didn't notice the soft sound of footsteps in the grass, or his dog falling silent behind him."

Slowly, the clues are coming together in your search for more information on Mansions of Madness. You've learned of the evil plots taking shape in the mansions and crypts of Arkham, and you've even had a glimpse inside the mind of the man behind it all. Today, we'll take a closer look at the unlikely heroes standing against the encroaching darkness, and we'll see how the tools at their disposal help them against the many supernatural perils they face.

Eight investigators, all from vastly different walks of life, have been brought together to face a terrifying supernatural threat. As a player on the "investigator" side, you'll oppose the "keeper" player as he seeks to complete his objective. Whether you're challenging him alone or with up to three fellow investigator players along with you, you'll choose one of these eight brave characters to be your avatar on the board. For the keeper, the number of investigators in play affects both resources and the strength of certain minions, meaning that the difficulty of Mansions of Madness scales depending on how many intrepid investigators are teaming up.

We'll take a look at that balance, along with a closer look at the keeper's turn, in a future preview. Today, let's look instead at the investigators' setup process, including character selection.

To prepare for a game of Mansions of Madness, the keeper player has plenty of choices to make (as we saw last week). But what are the investigator players doing in the meantime? Following the Investigator Guide, they assemble the map tiles to create the board, to which the keeper will add clues, obstacles, and items based on his story choices. Next, the investigator players read "The Story So Far," a short narrative that explains the scenario's backstory and objective (or at least as much as is initially clear).

Pay close attention to the story! More than mere flavor text, "The Story So Far" offers direction, sometimes quite subtly, for the investigators to find their first clues. Finally, each investigator player chooses an investigator and receives the corresponding Character card, Trait cards, and the listed number of Skill Point tokens. The investigators now have some setup choices of their own...

If you've chosen (or been randomly assigned) to play as "Ashcan" Pete, you'll first notice three statistics on his Character card. His Health rating indicates how much damage he can take before he's killed (after which his player chooses a new investigator, as long as the story isn't in its climax). Pete's Sanity rating indicates how much Horror he can witness before he's driven insane and becomes a danger to his fellows (with some "help" from the keeper). Finally, an investigator's Skill Points are a type of resource with which he can overcome certain obstacles (more on that follows).

Next, you will determine Pete's attributes and abilities from his selection of Trait cards. From the cards available, you must choose one displaying Strength, Marksmanship, and Dexterity, and another displaying Intellect, Willpower, Lore, and Luck.

These seven attributes represent the unique makeup of your character. Additionally, the cards that display them offer special text abilities, which further distinguish you from your allies and makes every game a little different... even those in which you choose a favorite character again (instead of Jury-rigging, you might have chosen the Trait card with the False Trail ability; this would result in a slightly less intellectual Pete, but one more able to evade enemies). With Duke trailing behind us, let's move on to Skill Point tokens.

Attributes are used to overcome all manner of challenges, but most often they are pertinent to Attribute Tests. When prompted to perform an attribute test, simply roll a ten-sided die and compare this value to your character's applicable attribute. If the roll is equal to or less than the attribute, you pass! If a challenge looks too daunting, you can also opt (before the roll) to spend one of your Skill Point tokens. Doing so will add your luck value to whichever attribute you are about to test, and this represents a feat of particular resourcefulness on the part of your character.

Attributes are also helpful in maintaining your sanity in the face of the many horrific sights you'll encounter, and solving the puzzles that stand in your way... but we'll take a closer look at those in the weeks to come. Keep checking back!

[fatolaf]

A guide to players turns:

The dim lightbulb swung lazily on its cord, and with intermittent flickers it threatened to abandon the dank basement to total darkness. The thought of it made the tiny hairs on Jenny's neck stand up, but it wasn't the darkness that frightened her most. Reaching a slim hand into the blue silk purse hanging at her side, Jenny drew forth an ivory-handled .45 automatic pistol as she began her way tentatively across the dirt floor. By her third step, however, the heels of Jenny's Parisian leather shoes were sinking beneath her. The earth was freshly disturbed... but what had been buried in the mansion's cellar, and by whom?

Horrible secrets lie hidden in the dark corners of Arkham, and it's up to a few brave investigators to bring them to light. In our exploration of Mansions of Madness, the macabre board game of horror, insanity, and mystery for 2-5 players, we've thus far seen an explanation of story construction and the mechanics of character setup. Today we'll take a look at the investigator turn, and we'll see how humanity's heroes collect the clues necessary to stop the keeper's horrible plot.

Every turn presents an investigator player with several compelling options, but precious little time before the keeper completes his dark objective. On each investigator's turn, he may take two Movement Steps and one Action Step, in any order. Movement Steps are simple; they consist of moving an investigator into an adjacent space (an area separated by a white line or a door). But what if a door is locked? During setup, the keeper will have "seeded" the board with Exploration Cards (representing items and clues), and placed Lock Cards on top of some of those stacks as determined by the scenario guide. To enter a room that contains a face-down Lock Card, the investigator must first turn the card face up and resolve it, which sometimes calls for an Attribute Test (as seen in last week's preview).

The choice of how to spend your Action Step is rarely as simple. Let's imagine that you are in control of Jenny Barnes, the wealthy fashionista who was dragged into a horrific web of mystery by a troubling letter from her beloved sister. During investigator setup, you chose to arm yourself with your trusty dual .45 automatic pistols and the "It's Personal" once-per-game ability. As your Action, you could use a special ability (marked "Action") from one of your cards, or you could:

    * Run (take a third Movement Step)
    * Drop (discard an item into your current space)
    * Attack (we'll take a detailed look at combat in a future preview)
    * Explore (see below)

"Explore" is the most common Investigator Action in the game, and it drives the discovery of items, spells, and most importantly, clues. When a player performs an explore action, the keeper flips over all cards in the room being explored one at a time, starting with the top card in the pile and working down (the order is important, since a much-needed clue may be hidden beneath a difficult obstacle). The keeper reads each card aloud and then hands it to the player exploring the room, who must place them next to his character card.

Exploration Cards come in a range of types and are generally quite useful to the investigator who draws them. Items like keys (necessary for opening certain locks), tomes (which often provide Spells), artifacts (ancient and powerful tools), and weapons (anything from pistols to crowbars) are all spread throughout the crypts and manors of Arkham.

Clues, however, are the most important Exploration Cards available to an investigator, since they guide players toward their ultimate objective. As we saw in our first preview, the keeper begins the game by planting clues around the game board based on the story choices he makes (and places them under stack of other Exploration Cards, Lock Cards, and Obstacle Cards). Each clue leads investigators to the next clue, compelling them to follow a carefully constructed narrative thread until the keeper's evil plot becomes apparent. The final clue will then complete the puzzle, directing players toward the scene of the story's climax. But will they uncover the truth in time, or will the keeper complete his evil plan?

In short, the mechanics for Mansions of Madness are streamlined and intuitive, and are designed to keep the focus where it belongs: on the story.

Though the mysteries behind Mansions of Madness continue to unravel, many horrors still remain undiscovered. Keep checking back over the coming weeks, when we'll take a look at the keeper's turn, combat, and puzzles!

[fatolaf]

Available to Pre-Order Now.
Strictly ltd numbers so to guarantee your copy, order today...

For collection & cash, you will get 17.5%% off , PM for invoice

[fatolaf]

This has now slipped from the Xmas release schedule 

Now due out Q1, 2011.........

[fatolaf]

A nice look into what the evil keeper does on his turn

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1747

[fatolaf]

Press release from FFG explaining the delay..

With over fifteen years of creating the most immersive and thematic gaming experiences available, Fantasy Flight Games has built a reputation for components of the highest quality. Whether exploring a dungeon's depths in a world of high fantasy, maneuvering a massive fleet through a hostile galaxy, or battling otherworldly horrors in the streets of Arkham, players have learned to expect a level of aesthetic detail that captures the imagination.

It's with these high standards in mind that we announce an updated estimate for the release of Mansions of Madness, the board game of occult horror and mystery. Some of the initial monster molds resulted in figures that did not meet our expectations of excellence, and consequently had to be redone. While this decision will ensure a product of the highest quality, it will also result in a delay.

Mansions of Madness will be available during the first quarter of 2011. We realize that this is beyond the range of dates we originally announced. However, we're confident that once you see the final product, you'll agree it was well worth the wait.

[fatolaf]

A look at the puzzles investigators may face during a game...

A hiss that sounded half serpentine and half feline jolted Jenny Barnes from her concentration. She looked over her shoulder but saw only shadows down the hall, dancing to the music of the wind whipping through the curtains. She scowled and turned back toward the tangle of wires that barred her from opening the mysterious door. Afraid of getting electrocuted, she parted the wires carefully, trying to trace a cohesive path. But then the hiss came again.

Determined not to let her mind play tricks on her, she kept her eyes on the colored wires. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone...or something was watching her struggle with this elaborate electronic lock. Watching and laughing.

In Mansions of Madness, players explore many different locations where sinister individuals are hiding their deadly secrets. These individuals often resort to extreme methods to protect their secrets, such as creating elaborate puzzles to challenge the minds of those they see as inferior. Yet many investigators possess cunning wits, and manage to solve even the most daunting these mental traps. However, the question must be asked, what is worse? Being defeated by such a puzzle, or being devoured by the shapeless entity that lies beyond the locked door?

Our delve into the many workings of Mansions of Madness, the macabre board game of exploration, storytelling, and investigation for 2-5 players, has thus far shown us how to construct the story, how to equip investigators, the makeup of an investigator's turn, and how the keeper operates. Today we'll take a look at one of the game's most unique aspects: the puzzles.

Puzzling Situations

During their exploration, investigators are bound to come across a situation where they must think their way out. Brute force can only get you so far when you are dealing with an evil presence that fights its battles in the mental arena. Some investigators are better off with a gun or an axe, while others opt for brains over brawn. The latter type of investigator excels when it comes to solving the traps and locks that will surely plague their way.

Puzzles can come into play through exploration or attempting to move through a door. As we mentioned in our preview of the investigator's turn, one of the available actions to investigator players is exploring. When exploring a room, it is possible for an Obstacle card with a puzzle to be revealed, forcing the active investigator to attempt the puzzle before continuing their exploration. Likewise, if an investigator attempts to move through a door, it is possible that the door is locked and can only be opened by solving a puzzle.

When a puzzle card is revealed, it will explain how the puzzle is set up. Puzzles come in three main types: wiring, lock, and rune. Players can attempt to solve the puzzle by using puzzle actions. These actions include swapping adjacent puzzle pieces, rotating puzzle pieces 90 degrees, or discarding a puzzle piece and drawing a new one. The number of puzzle actions a player receives is equal to his investigator's Intellect. Needless to say, the more intelligent an investigator is the quicker (fewer turns) he can solve the puzzle. Investigators can also use Skill Point tokens to add their Luck to their Intellect when trying to solve a puzzle, as explained in our investigator preview

Figuring it Out

Here is a detailed example of how to attempt a puzzle:

Now that you know how to tackle the many puzzles that await you in the crumbling manors or ominous cemeteries, prepare yourself for the other dangers that lie behind those locked doors. We haven't yet seen monsters, combat, or the true dangers of insanity..

(A completed rune puzzle)

[fatolaf]

Slipped again I'm afraid, now due out in March....

[fatolaf]

FFG VIDEO

New video from FFG explains more, with release date, only a few weeks away...

[Veldemere]

Is the club considering getting one?

[fatolaf]

Is the club considering getting one?

OH yes....

[fatolaf]

The Rules are now online.....

[fatolaf]

And finally it's here, released on Monday28th, in stock on the 1st..

Pre-order now to get it at 15% off RRP as it will be going up in price after release..

17.5% discount for OG members who pay cash, PM me for an invoice...

[Draig]

This looks quite good fun actually. Not really a huge fan of the Lovecraft theme but I'll give this one a go if we crack out the club copy.

[fatolaf]

A very detailed review from a games designer called Mark Chaplin on BoardGame Geek..

"There was an old man named Kent,
Who came from the village of Brent.
He rejoiced at the night,
For the stars where right.
Chanting Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn as he went."

My rating is preliminary. (he rated it 10/10 - Ol)

In relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, I am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative.

1. Amazing theme. I have loved Lovecraft's scribblings since I discovered his non-euclidean works at age twelve or so - offbeat, overwrought horror stories packed with mysterious ancient tomes written by mad Arabs, hysterical folk driven insane by terrible revelations and strange beasts, and a pantheon of tentacled gods the likes of which man was not meant to know. Nowadays, more wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the secret lore of boardgames.

2. A very deep, heavy box of goodness is exchanged for your coin. And it's adorned with a superb painting, I might add.

3. Fantastic miniatures - the sculpts are very detailed and in great, iconic poses. You also get quite a few of the bleeders for your delectation, each with a system of clever figure-base slots. Slide into it a monster chit describing on the underside a powerful figure-specific power, on the front the beast's two ratings (horror and awareness); all this is easy to see for the players without book-keeping or stat-cards. Nice.
*I am almost salivating in anticipation of painting the cultists (in a Resident Evil 4 style, of course) and eldritch monsters.

4. Smooth and elegant rules. With some very minor referencing of the rulebook during play proper, I'd say a competent gamer can run a game without too much loss of insanity.

5. Smart design. Real smart. Professor Pabodie of the Lake Expedition smart. Unique and radical in its capacity to foster an atmosphere of tense, exciting, thrilling exploration and pulp adventure. This deserves to be a huge success and make everyone involved a coffin full of used bucks. Might be one of the most influential games ever designed, only time will tell. I don't like everything that Corey has accomplished, but this is his masterpiece.

6. In the main, the game is simple and fast to run. You may have to read the rules regarding evade and horror checks a few times, but not much else besides. Turns speed past quickly, with little or nothing outstaying its welcome.

7. Hugely fun for the keeper player. I happen to like setting rooms ablaze and turning out the lights while manoeuvring a mewling Shoggoth toward a half-insane investigator (in the game-world!). You know, it was a lot of fun just closing in on the players with mad, dagger-wielding cultists, even before summoning any horrors from beyond. After thinking about it for a bit, I also believe that you have to play the keeper slightly like a storyteller. Even though you're a team unto yourself, out to win the game, I think if you break into smithereens everything the players find and use, afflict them with every malady at your disposal, break their legs, poke them in the eyes, throw paintings at them with poltergeist activity, you may find that they don't want to play again. All the fights with monsters are fair game, I would add, just don't beat the investigators black and blue throughout the whole game with interrupt cards. Who doesn't hate it when their character is moved by the enemy? Oh, that would be everyone.

8. Tactical and strategic decisions are available for both teams. You feel like what you do makes a difference, and that every move and action counts, especially towards the end.

9. Seems to scale well for 2-5 players. The jury is still out on the 2-player experience, but the investigator player could play more than one character easily, if that is what you chose to do.

10. Mini-games. Oh the mini-games! These add enormously to the unfolding narrative, providing fun relief, and a pinch of jeopardy to the proceedings: try fixing a fuse and wiring puzzle with a abomination from another dimension shambling toward you!

TIP 1: put a teacloth over unfinished puzzles - so that players don't figure out the puzzle when they're not supposed to.

TIP 2: I beseech you to use the optional 60-second time limit for puzzle solving. It worked in Space Hulk, and boy does it work well here.

11. Well written rulebooks. Mostly. It took me two readings of the rules for me to grasp every pseudopod of the design. However, I would have liked some detailed notes on the scenario set-up pages, regarding the mission-specific rules. For instance, the ladder in The Inner Sanctum comes in two parts, but the second half is not revealed until later in the game. If I had not puzzled this out before play, I may have panicked slightly during a rushed set-up, flipping backwards and forwards furiously through the booklet looking for a side-note that does not exist. We only played one rule wrong during our first game: the flipping of combat cards and which titles trigger a result. By this I mean, we played that a "sharp-edged weapon" only read out the "sharp-edged weapon" combat card results. You do this, but you must also use the generic "melee weapon" combat card results. I reminder in the rules might have solved this minor issue
.
12. Feels like a semi-RPG experience - and that is not something I say lightly, but you do hear it all the bloody time these days and mostly it is not the perfect truth. More so than most any other boardgame I have played, this crafts a fascinating narrative that grips the players and forces them to concentrate on a story. Great stories they are too. Some internet parrots will squawk that you should just crack out the Cthulhu RPG if you demand that kind of game evening. Well, yes, you could do that. But sometimes I just want to watch a movie, and not wade through an entire TV series, even if it's a brilliant one.
The atmosphere is augmented massively by the copious amounts of flavour text on everything. It's great to read out a small plot before the main game begins, and then a prologue specific to the keeper's story decisions. All this is for naught, and the entirety of the game, if your group does not read out aloud the flavour text on each and every card. Do not buy this game (it is not for you) if you intend to play it by picking up a card and saying "move back 2 spaces", instead of reading the card: "You back away in horror as a pair of blood-red eyes approach you from the gloom..."

13. Brilliant art on the cards. Even if they are recycled from other FFG Cthulhu projects, I don't care.

14. Each room tile is a work of art, drawing you into the Mansions of Madness with resplendent chapels, cobweb strewn attics and tiled halls. They are very well rendered, I must say.

15. Expandable. You will want more of every damn thing. You could expand the combat decks with new descriptions of severing and whatnot, you could add extra charcters to increase choice. New room tiles depicting a clifftop, or a summoning circle in a nearby wood, or a conservatory attached to the mansion, or a sewer system, or a [insert almost any good 1920's horror location], would be welcome. New scenarios using the rooms you already have would be smashing. New monsters, obviously.

16. It's a cooperative team game! All the investigator players try to solve the clues to the unholy mystery together. They win or lose as a team.

17. Tension. Due to the event deck system, and the keeper placing clock tokens on top of the deck, you have a built-in timer mechanism - this obviously fosters tension. As the clock ticks, nasty, bad things happen. Better get a move on, chaps! The ground is shaking, and I hear funny things.

18. Game machinery. The gears and workings of this remind me of Horus Heresy (just a taste) and Fury of Dracula, mixed with a dungeon-crawling game.

19. Pace. We know that the pace of the game is largely dictated by the keeper's actions, but the restrictions on what he/she can do and when (threat tokens and scenario-specific keeper action cards), mean that the game feels a helluva lot less like a crap dungeon game (Descent) and more like a RPG. To be clear, I mean that you're not fighting every turn, at least not at the start of the adventure. There is time to explore, and not be harassed every turn by an axe-licking nutcase - though that may happen! Also, the monsters in Mansions have a bit of weight to them, unlike most of the horde in Descent. It's good to have to regard each monster as a real threat, not as an approaching balloon ready for the investigators to pop.

The yawning lightless gulf of N'kai - beneath Mount Voormithadreth, the four-coned volcano.

1. The figures are unpainted. So you will have to learn fast or pay somebody that does know how to bring these miniatures to life. The immersion in the game will be hugely enhanced by a full set of painted models, I guarantee you.

2. Each game will probably take 150+ minutes.

3. The owner of the game is highly likely to become the keeper of the scenarios, more times than not, due to the very nature and structure of the game.

4. Large amount of set-up and putting away time is required. This is due to the large quantity of parts (cards and tokenry) that keep the game-engine running.

5. Prodigious number of baggies required. Opening and closing these puppies (of Tindalos) will keep somebody busy before and after play. A good solution is a pill box or some-such.

6. A fair bit of dice rolling is necessary. This adds tension in places, and you can increase your odds of success by spending skill points - of which you don't have many. Just letting you know, because some gamers don't like dice (Philistines!).

7. I can see that some players may be put off by the inclusion of mini games. They really shouldn't be afraid of this design choice. They are a radical idea, granted. For me, the mini-games are a crowning achievement. Yes they require different thinking than is usually applied during other boardgames, but I do not feel that they distance you from the rest of the game's undertakings. Some fear that puzzling over a puzzle, alone, without any help from the others might be embarrassing or humiliating. I don't play with boneheads so I don't foresee this as an issue. Actually, scratch that, not everyone is good at abstract quizzing who enjoys a good theme-rich game. I still think they will like this aspect when they have actually tried it.

8. Pricey. Worth every hard-earned coin.
*Not sure why folk whine about the price - in the manner that they feel they should get more in the box. Hey, I realise not everyone has a suitcase full of cash to spend on boardgames in these hardened financial times, but I know people who spend double the cost of Mansions on one night of hard drinkin'. Put it this way, I think you should realise that you're getting the design for the price, not the box of plastic monsters. I don't buy a Blu-ray and say: "In this box I only got the disk". Behind that disc, in the film's production, could have been years of hard toil and craft (say Avatar, Beowulf, or Tron: Legacy). Surely it's the content that ultimately matters here, isn't it? I'd pay the same price as Mansions for just a card game - if it was the world's best card game, mind you. What I am explaining badly is that the "game" is more important to me than the pawns and cubes in the box, but I might be a rare breed.

9. The box insert has failed its SAN roll.

10. It's a cooperative team game! This fact alone will pour on a certain amount of hate.

11. Replayability. I don't see replayability as an issue. Also, if someone else wanted to be the keeper of a scenario straight after I'd just ran it as the keeper, because he can tweak the plot, I'm certain I'd still have a load of fun as an investigator. This has been a key criticism of Mansions since the first news, and it is mostly unjustified, How often do you really play your games? I've looked, and some of you have 300+ games - you can't tell me you've play all of them the 20+ times or so it would take to get bored of them. Same here. I reckon I will be able to play what I have in the original box many, many times on either team before getting weary. And that's not counting on me playing the same set-ups with a different game group. You could play the same scenario with different folks and have a totally separate experience.

12. Cannot be played solo. That would drive you insane, if you dared to attempt it.

13. Pre-game preparation. I strongly advise any potential keepers to prepare a scenario pack, with all your decisions made and all the cards and tokens needed for the quest inside. This way, all you need do is build the adventure from your pre-made pack. I would not attempt to play the game at a convention or game-meet without preparing something like this beforehand.

14. Stress. Playing as the keeper could be stressful (the ever-present fear of cocking up the game by incompetent secret play).

15. Revealed rooms. Sure, you're missing a little of the theatrics you would get if the mansion chambers were revealed one-at-a-time, but what you get instead is a crackerjack story-driven venture. The game would progress at a baby crawl if you had to set up each map-tile as you went along, shotgun or torch in nervous hand.


In summary, does the game achieve its objectives, as stated by Corey in his scribbled notes? A resounding yes! Mansions of Madness is fantastic, and the Cthulhu game I have been awaiting for many years.



I'll leave you with a conversation overheard between a cultist and one of his robed buddies:

"Cthulhu seems like kind of a wuss if he can be trapped by a sinking island or killed by a boat."

"That's just because the stars aren't right. When the stars are right, it don't matter how many boats hit him. He'll sink whole continents and lick off the people like salt off a pretzel."

"Says you."

"You keep talking smack like that, he's gonna eat you first."

[Garzini]

What was it like?

[fatolaf]

What was it like?

Bit to hard for just 2 players (especially as I put a clue in the wrong place  ) but my first impression was it is great. Cant wait to play it with the maximum amount of players...