Anyone else play this? I did once or twice with my old gaming group. It was really fun, even if I lost.
Very fun game, but pretty flawed (the FAQ/errata are a MUST have). Fun in spite of the flaws. But it gets a bit stale if you played roughly 30 of the 50 scenarios.
But it was worth my money.
One day i will make a system using these nice d0-2.
Awesome awesome game! This was the local favorite around here for quite some a while back. In fact, I recall myself, James J., Mike M., Matt Sernett, and a few others spending an evening a few years ago that involved this game, a creepy cabin out in the woods, the movie Dog Soldiers, and a tragedy with a giant anaconda.
I'd always hoped that House on the Hill would get an expansion to freshen things up, but I've since heard tell that that's not the way to board game millions and that the game will probably on see new elements if it ever sees a rerelease.
I too have played this and found it quite enjoyable.
... But it gets a bit stale if you played roughly 30 of the 50 scenarios ...
This may be the best review of it yet. If every board game I played didn't get stale until about the 30th time I would own many fewer board games. heh.
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I'd always hoped that House on the Hill would get an expansion to freshen things up, but I've since heard tell that that's not the way to board game millions and that the game will probably on see new elements if it ever sees a rerelease.
When we were designing Betrayal, we always imagined that there would be more. My favorite theory was that we would branch out to different places rather than stay in the haunted house. We had titles like Betrayal at Ice Station Zero and Betrayal on Darklock Mountain. Those ideas never saw the light of day, but they were fun to dream about.
Of course, Betrayal almost never saw the light of day either. Bruce Glassco designed House on the Hill in 1995 and sent it to the similarly-named Avalon Hill. They bought it, but never did anything with it. Then in 2001, Hasbro bought Avalon Hill. Mike Gray and his team discovered they had this little gem, and tried to get the buyers to glom onto it. But it matched nothing else in the Parker/Milton/Avalon line, so despite Rob Daviau making a gorgeous prototype, it went nowhere there either. Eventually I got R&D control of Avalon Hill, and Mike and Rob told me about House on the Hill. I kinda snuck it through the system when another game suddenly wasn't available. My team added the "Betrayal at..." to make a line title (see above), and redesigned the game. It was one of the most collaborative board game projects ever, with seven designers (me, Rob, Teeuwynn Woodruff, Bill McQuillan, Gwen Kestrel, Bruce Cordell, and Brian Campbell) putting it together. That was so much fun.
I sure wish I had worked on it for one more month, though. I left WotC as it was going through editing, and not making that game flawless is one of my biggest regrets as a game designer. Still, play it if you get the chance.
Mike
But it gets a bit stale if you played roughly 30 of the 50 scenarios.
I wanted the game to contain 100 scenarios. The reason was that with 50 scenarios, you had more than a 50% chance to get one of the ones you'd already played by the 8th scenario you rolled*. Not a real problem if you play with the same people all the time, but if you showed up at a convention alone and tried to play your 8th game of Betrayal, you had a good chance to be unsurprised by the developments.
But you know, twice as expensive, that sort of thing.
Mike
*0/50 + 1/50 + 2/50 + 3/50 + 4/50 + 5/50 + 6/50 + 7/50 = 28/50
Great game. We break it out every Halloween and play a handful of scenarios. Then it goes back in the closet until next year.
The only drawback is that it can be much too easy or much too difficult to conclude depending on the layout of the house (or who ends up being the traitor) at the time of the reveal. It's a little disappointing to play 30 minutes to get to the haunt, and then have it all resolve in 3 minutes.
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I sure wish I had worked on it for one more month, though. I left WotC as it was going through editing, and not making that game flawless is one of my biggest regrets as a game designer. Still, play it if you get the chance.
Mike
Thanks for this story Mike. I really wondered how that game slipped through the cracks at that time. It had almost nothing to do with the Avalon Hill line as it was in its current production. I think there was a lot of Axis & Allies releases at the time, and then Betrayal??? What the? Avalon Hill under WotC at the starting gate had Queen's Gambit, Acquire and Cosmic Encounter. Among those titles I believe it was a good fit, but that period had passed. Betrayal did not fit at the time, and I debated buying it for a real long time. I was collecting the line, so I did eventually buy it. I finally bought it for my wife's birthday. She was not too happy (as in she thought I bought it for myself). As it turned out, we finally played it and she loved it. The "50's" B-Monster Movie theme was brilliant.
I always wondered how that game came about. You must have a lot of good stories Mike. Sorry if I have slammed your previous coworkers efforts recently at WotC, but we feel pretty strongly around here about what is going on in the Roleplaying hobby (even if we don't know what we are talking about).
Cheers,
Zuxius
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I sure wish I had worked on it for one more month, though. I left WotC as it was going through editing, and not making that game flawless is one of my biggest regrets as a game designer. Still, play it if you get the chance.
Whatever its flaws, this is still a fun game with a great theme and some cool mechanics that offers a lot a lot of replay value, especially with the right group. I very rarely get to play it, but always work on putting a game together around Halloween time ;)
Sorry if I have slammed your previous coworkers efforts recently at WotC, but we feel pretty strongly around here about what is going on in the Roleplaying hobby (even if we don't know what we are talking about).
I have absolutely no problem with you slamming my friends' (or my) efforts. I have a problem when people slam them as human beings. But a game or website or consumer program has to be good on its own, not just because someone I like worked on it. Because it turns out when it's about whether or not something is good, you do know what you're talking about.
Mike
Anyone else play this? I did once or twice with my old gaming group. It was really fun, even if I lost.
My gaming group has played it probably a couple of dozen times. It can be a lot of fun. It is almost always fun with 4-6.
Occasionally with 3 players, you can get scenarios that end almost immediately when the haunting is revealed.
Yes, it is a good game.
In service,
Rich
With Halloween right around the corner, time to break out Betrayal again!
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Sorry if I have slammed your previous coworkers efforts recently at WotC, but we feel pretty strongly around here about what is going on in the Roleplaying hobby (even if we don't know what we are talking about).I have absolutely no problem with you slamming my friends' (or my) efforts. I have a problem when people slam them as human beings. But a game or website or consumer program has to be good on its own, not just because someone I like worked on it. Because it turns out when it's about whether or not something is good, you do know what you're talking about.
Mike
Hey Mike, would you happen to know who designed the AH Star Wars: Queens Gambit Game? It would seem that game has a lot of promise in crossing over into other game themes. It uses an odd system to manage four different games (some trite while others are complex). I really thought it to be a breakthru. It manages a lot, and also manages to be fun.
Cheers,
Zuxius
Hey Mike, would you happen to know who designed the AH Star Wars: Queens Gambit Game? It would seem that game has a lot of promise in crossing over into other game themes. It uses an odd system to manage four different games (some trite while others are complex). I really thought it to be a breakthru. It manages a lot, and also manages to be fun.
That's the good work of Rob Daviau's team out at Hasbro corporate.
Mike
Think paizo could remake the game someday? I really love this game.