Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought the 1st edition of Fantasy Flight Games' Mansions of Madness a few years ago, when I was just starting to enter the larger world of tabletop gaming after years of only playing wargames. More than any other reason, I picked MoM because I thought the minis looked awesome- and they were. The original MoM was a very fun game that was creepy, thematic, and highly immersive. As much as I enjoyed that game, however, I could rarely get it to the table. The player who played the Keeper- essentially the GM- had to go through a torturous setup process that took forever. Seriously, setup on the 1st edition could take an hour or more- then count on a 2-3 hour game experience which was even longer when you were introducing new players to the game. The critical problem with the 1st edition, however, was that if the Keeper made just one mistake in the setup, the game would be ruined. What could have been a small slip up meant that hours invested in a game could completely ruin the experience. It was a very fun game, but you had to get that setup right. MoM 2nd edition attempts to overcome the earlier iteration's weaknesses. Specifically, the introduction of an app for an electronic device has been added which significantly cuts down on setup time, and ensures that there will be no slip ups in the process. Essentially the app, which is free to download, becomes the game's Keeper, freeing up another play to participate in the mystery (1-5 players). At the beginning of the game players select characters, investigators who each have unique stats for things like observation, strength, will, and more. They may also have some unique abilities, and start with certain items. The app then gives you a spoken prologue which sets the mood, before it lets you know which tiles to start with, where doors and clues are located, and any other pertinent information. A game round is divided into the Investigator phase and the Mythos phase. During the Investigator phase, players each take turns taking two actions like moving, searching the clues, attacking, trading items, or interacting with objects. They essentially explore the house, which is generated procedurally from the app. If a player opens a door or turns a corner, the app instructs the players which tile to lay down, and what features the new room boasts. Next, the Mythos phase is the app's turn to attack the players. It may target a player with a low skill set, or one with the most damage (physical) or horror (mental) hits. It may attack all of the players in a certain room. It may not affect any players at all. It may also spawn monsters like cultists, zombies, star spawns, and more- all of them really cool minis. Once the app is finished toying with the players, it is the Investigator phase once again. As the game moves along, clues may be found, and the mystery will begin to unfold. Once players have either met the specific victory condition for the scenario (unknown to the players at the beginning of the game), or soon after a player has been eliminated from taking too much damage or horror, the game ends. First of all let me address the presence of the app in this game, as I imagine it will be quite off putting to some gamers. I was initially opposed to apps in board games for a variety of reasons- I didn't like video games intruding on the tabletop! If it has a video game component it will remove all the elements I love about tabletop gaming! What if I wanna play this game in 20 years and the app is no longer around! And on, and on... The fact of the matter was that once I played Fantasy Flight Games brilliant XCOM: The Board Game, and Harebrained Schemes fun Golem Arcana, I changed my mind. The app integration in MoM has only further deepened my appreciation for this kind of game. I wouldn't want all of my tabletop games to have apps, but it really works in some games. MoM is a game of exploration and horrifying discovery, and the app allows all players- even a solo player- to experience it wonderfully. The app makes this game a major improvement over the 1st edition, with the elaborate setup a thing of the past. In short- the app works brilliantly in this game- don't let the idea of it stop you from picking it up. The game itself is essentially a dice rolling game. You roll dice for skill checks, combat checks, horror checks, and more. You roll the number of dice equal to your skill number for that test and if you get a success (a elder sign), you win. Some things however will mitigate your die rolls, requiring you to get more than once success, or allowing you to change the results. Item cards can be especially handy with that. Additionally, clue tokens found around the board will allow you to change a rolled clue symbol to a success. When in combat, the app keeps track of the damage you deal to a monster form round to round. This game is really a lot of fun. The minis are beautiful, the cards and components are all spectacularly produced. I love tabletop games that tell stories, and this one does it very, very well. It's like seeing a movie but you and your friends are participants. I saw a presentation by co-designer Corey Konieczka on YouTube recently, and you can tell that this game really is a labor of love. It's a game that hits virtually all the right notes throughout, offering engaging game play, dazzling components, and epic stories. I say virtually because I do have one minor complaint. Part of the game sees investigators in certain situations solving puzzles on the app. While some of the puzzles are pretty intuitive, I still cannot figure out the code puzzles for the life of me. They are baffling- not because of the puzzle itself, but because of the way they are explained in the rule book (and the otherwise handy reference guide). Indeed, my inability to understand how the code puzzle worked cost me my first game. Still, I like this game- a lot! Fantasy Flight Games' stock has gone up in my opinion as well because of their decision to include a free conversion kit for those of us who already own the 1st edition. The kit allows the app to integrate the core game and expansions from the 1st edition into the 2nd. Players new to MoM will be able to buy kits that contain Investigators, tiles, and more from the previous sets without having to buy the older game with all its now extraneous content. I love this game and heartily recommend it. Review copy provided.