Mansions of Madness Demo (Colossal Con 2011)
As mentioned, I worked at Colossal Con (my first attendance to any con)and demonstrated Mansions of Madness. I ran two games; each of which had three investigators, and both had several deaths.
This was the middle of the first game. A maniac suddenly appeared on one of the investigators - while she was checking out the pantry, and attacked the girls.
Later in the game, one of the players is given a puzzle to solve. This is an actual puzzle that she actually has to solve. Her moves are limited by her character's intellect, and the other players cannot help unless they are in the same space.
I will say that there has been a lot of controversy over these puzzles, but I found them to be a nice break from the endless horror, and it didn't really take away from the game one bit. After all, even though this is a horror based game, at it's heart it is a giant puzzle that must be solved.
This girl beat the puzzle in 2 (or 3?) turns, and the investigators moved forward with the new clue in hand. They ended up winning the game because of one die roll. I was so close to unleashing my shoggoth, but it wasn't meant to be. That said, I did get to drive one investigator completely insane, which lead to her suicide. It was sad, but wonderfully thematic considering all the horror she had witnessed.
This was the end of my second game. The mortality rate was much higher in this one, as every player lost their first investigator and a fourth one died just before the end. The investigators had to contend with cultists, Shoggoths, Hounds of Tindalos, and and evil plan.
This game also came down really close, but the investigators pulled through just barely thanks to Harvey (who casts shriveling like a fiend!).
After the second game, I took this short recap/interview with one of my players.
This was the middle of the first game. A maniac suddenly appeared on one of the investigators - while she was checking out the pantry, and attacked the girls.
Later in the game, one of the players is given a puzzle to solve. This is an actual puzzle that she actually has to solve. Her moves are limited by her character's intellect, and the other players cannot help unless they are in the same space.
I will say that there has been a lot of controversy over these puzzles, but I found them to be a nice break from the endless horror, and it didn't really take away from the game one bit. After all, even though this is a horror based game, at it's heart it is a giant puzzle that must be solved.
This girl beat the puzzle in 2 (or 3?) turns, and the investigators moved forward with the new clue in hand. They ended up winning the game because of one die roll. I was so close to unleashing my shoggoth, but it wasn't meant to be. That said, I did get to drive one investigator completely insane, which lead to her suicide. It was sad, but wonderfully thematic considering all the horror she had witnessed.
This was the end of my second game. The mortality rate was much higher in this one, as every player lost their first investigator and a fourth one died just before the end. The investigators had to contend with cultists, Shoggoths, Hounds of Tindalos, and and evil plan.
This game also came down really close, but the investigators pulled through just barely thanks to Harvey (who casts shriveling like a fiend!).
After the second game, I took this short recap/interview with one of my players.
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