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[Betrayal at House on the Hill] PbP - Victory!
Bitstream
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It is a dark and stormy night.
Six strangers find themselves in the foyer of an enormous, shadowy mansion.
Trapped, they must now explore the house and find a way out...
before something finds them.
Six strangers find themselves in the foyer of an enormous, shadowy mansion.
Trapped, they must now explore the house and find a way out...
before something finds them.
It's everyone's favorite cheesy-horror-movie-based survival boardgame, brought to you in glorious Web-O-Vision!
What is Betrayal?
It's a tile-based boardgame in which players explore a mysterious mansion in hopes of escaping whatever horrors lurk in the shadows. Players uncover new rooms, discover useful items, and eventually set off the Haunt, which is one of 50 scenarios based on your favorite scary B-movies. In most cases, revealing the Haunt also reveals one of the players as a traitor to the group, pitting that player against the rest.
It's a pretty great game, and sadly out of print for the last few years. Rumors abound of a reprint, but in the meantime we'll have to use our forbidden science to resurrect what was thought lost and... play it online.
The Basics
Players have four stats: Speed, Might, Sanity, and Knowledge. Pretty self-explanatory. The stats are affected by forces in the House, and should any one stat reach zero the player is dead (death by lack of knowledge seems especially grim). Each turn, players move around the board opening doors and drawing rooms from the deck to build the House. As they explore, they will find three different kind of cards: Items, Events, and Omens.
Items are objects you find along the way, usually helpful and sometimes very powerful. Events are those parts of the movie where the music gets really quiet and a single violin plays in the background until SOMETHING JUMPS OUT OH GOD and players are given a choice or at the very least a dice roll to determine the outcome. Omens are special items and events that are potentially important to the story and have a chance of starting the Haunt upon discovery.
The Haunt
The meat of the game begins when the Haunt is unveiled - each Omen has the potential to start a Haunt, and the Omen and the room in which it's found determine which of the 50 scenarios plays out. Players may be tasked with destroying Dracula and his minions, fighting a pack of resurrected dinosaurs, or simply outrunning a nameless pan-dimensional horror until the sunrise.
In the majority of Haunts, one player is singled out as The Traitor, who has secretly lured these fools to their doom. The Traitor often gains special powers or commands minions, and must defeat the players before they can unmake his nefarious schemes.
Yes, that's a scientist and a little girl with a teddy bear exploring a haunted house. You know you want to play.
What is Betrayal?
It's a tile-based boardgame in which players explore a mysterious mansion in hopes of escaping whatever horrors lurk in the shadows. Players uncover new rooms, discover useful items, and eventually set off the Haunt, which is one of 50 scenarios based on your favorite scary B-movies. In most cases, revealing the Haunt also reveals one of the players as a traitor to the group, pitting that player against the rest.
It's a pretty great game, and sadly out of print for the last few years. Rumors abound of a reprint, but in the meantime we'll have to use our forbidden science to resurrect what was thought lost and... play it online.
The Basics
Players have four stats: Speed, Might, Sanity, and Knowledge. Pretty self-explanatory. The stats are affected by forces in the House, and should any one stat reach zero the player is dead (death by lack of knowledge seems especially grim). Each turn, players move around the board opening doors and drawing rooms from the deck to build the House. As they explore, they will find three different kind of cards: Items, Events, and Omens.
Items are objects you find along the way, usually helpful and sometimes very powerful. Events are those parts of the movie where the music gets really quiet and a single violin plays in the background until SOMETHING JUMPS OUT OH GOD and players are given a choice or at the very least a dice roll to determine the outcome. Omens are special items and events that are potentially important to the story and have a chance of starting the Haunt upon discovery.
The Haunt
The meat of the game begins when the Haunt is unveiled - each Omen has the potential to start a Haunt, and the Omen and the room in which it's found determine which of the 50 scenarios plays out. Players may be tasked with destroying Dracula and his minions, fighting a pack of resurrected dinosaurs, or simply outrunning a nameless pan-dimensional horror until the sunrise.
In the majority of Haunts, one player is singled out as The Traitor, who has secretly lured these fools to their doom. The Traitor often gains special powers or commands minions, and must defeat the players before they can unmake his nefarious schemes.
Yes, that's a scientist and a little girl with a teddy bear exploring a haunted house. You know you want to play.
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THE HAUNT BEGINS
(and ends)
Banishment Progress: 6 of 6
Every clock in the house strikes midnight... even though you're sure it isn't that late. As the clocks quiet, a lone fiddler plays a haunting melody that floats through the air, calling you to dance. The music makes your soul shrivel, but it also makes your lips curl up into a smile. How can something be so awful and so wonderful at the same time?
Right Now
- This haunt doesn't begin with a traitor. Each hero has a chance to become a traitor during his or her turn.
- If the Pentagram Chamber...
[Sorry for the shitty scan on this one; the text reads: When exiting, you must attempt a Knowledge roll of 4+. If you fail, you lose 1 Sanity.]
...isn't in the house, search the room stack for it and put it in the basement. Then shuffle that stack. Do the same for the Ballroom, connecting it to the ground floor room of your choice. [Done. See the updated map.]
- Set aside a number of Sanity Roll tokens equal to the number of players. [I'll put a counter in the Map info.]
What You Know About the Bad Guys
Somewhere in this house, a Dark Fiddler is playing the music that bites into your brain. A dance of death has begun in the Ballroom.
You Win When...
...you banish the Dark Fiddler.
How to Banish the Fiddler
- To banish the Fiddler, you must complete the following steps, in order. You can only attempt one step during your turn.
- The character who has the Holy Symbol can take it to the Pentagram Chamber. That character can't give the Symbol to anyone else.
- When the Holy Symbol is in the Pentagram Chamber, you can attempt a Sanity roll of 4+ to defy the Fiddler. You don't need to have the Symbol yourself to attempt this roll, only to be in the room with it. If you succeed at this roll, put a Sanity token in the room. [I'll advance the counter.]
- When the Pentagram Chamber has a number of Sanity Roll tokens equal to the number of players, the heroes have successfully banished the Dark Fiddler.
You Must Do This On Your Turn
At the start of your turn, you must attempt a Sanity roll of 4+ to resist the Fiddler's lure, unless you have the Holy Symbol.
If you fail, and you're in the Ballroom, you become a Traitor [I'll PM you the details.]
If you fail this roll in another room, lose 1 Sanity point instead. If your Sanity is lowered to 0, you don't die; instead, you become a Traitor [and will receive the PM]. Otherwise, you must move toward the Ballroom by the shortest path. You can try to find a shorter route by discovering new rooms.
Special Attack Rules
The Dark Fiddler can't be attacked.
The Rules
Full revised rulebook can be found here.
Here are the basics:
Movement
Each player can move a number of spaces up to and including his Speed stat. Movement is stopped upon discovery of a card icon (Item, Event, or Omen) unless otherwise stated by the card.
Post-Haunt, moving through a room with an enemy in it adds 1 to the move cost, and the cost stacks with each enemy. For example, if a room has three enemies in it, the total cost to move out of that room unmolested would be 4. Don't get ganged up on!
Building the House
As you explore, you'll draw new rooms and add them to the house. I'll post a scan of the room, update the map, and we'll resolve any room-related shenanigans.
There are three floors - the First Floor, where you start; the Second Floor; and the Basement, which is inaccessible at first but will be found eventually.
Dice Rolls
The usual, with a twist!
We'll be using InvisibleCastle for our rolling needs. The way Betrayal's dice work, we'll use an nd3-n structure. Rolling six dice would be 6d3-6.
and paste it the number of times you need to roll. A pain, I know, but such is the price we pay for interesting dice mechanics.
Post a link to your roll, please.
The Cards
Most rooms require you to draw a card, either an Item(cowskull), Event(spiral), or Omen(crow). I'll post the text of the card in the thread (scary stuff is always public!) and you post your reaction.
Every time an Omen is found, the player rolls six dice. If the number rolled is less than the number of Omen cards in play, the Haunt begins.
You may use a card in your hand at any point in your turn (unless otherwise stated).
Items
A player may carry as many items as they can find. Most item cards can be dropped, traded, or stolen.
Dropping: At any point in a player's movement, they may drop an item on the floor unless otherwise noted. That item becomes available to anyone entering the room.
Trading: Any explorers together in the same room may trade cards freely (unless noted). Some items' effectiveness is based on specific stats, so it may be more advantageous to give them to certain characters.
Stealing: A player making successful attack of 2 points or more (see below) against another character may steal a single tradable item (again, unless noted) instead of doing damage.
Combat
Pretty simple in this game. You can choose to attack a character or monster in the same room (unless using one of several ranged weapons) using your Might or Speed stat. Roll a number of dice equal to that stat, your opponent rolls equal to their own, and the highest total wins. Even results count as successfully defended.
If the attacker wins, the defender loses points in Physical stats equal to the difference between rolls. (example: Ox attacks a vampire using Might. He rolls a 5 and the vampire rolls a 3. The vampire loses 2 points in Might and/or Speed).
Some items may allow you to attack using your Mental stats, doing Mental damage instead.
You may not attack an opponent using a stat they do not possess - many monsters and minions lack certain stats.
In most cases, a defeating a monster (as opposed to another player) only Stuns it, causing it to forfeit its next turn. Some Haunts specify otherwise.
You may attack each opponent once per turn.
The Map
Closeups of all tiles can be found here.
First Floor
Special Notes
Secret Stairs in Abandoned Room lead to 2nd Floor, Vault
Second Floor
Special Notes
Closet in the Research Laboratory
Secret Stairs in Vault lead to 1st Floor, Abandoned Room
Vault is empty.
Basement
Special Notes
Game Room is below Collapsed Room
Character Info
samurai6966 - Zoe Ingstrom
Might X22334467
Sanity X34556678
Knowledge X12344555
Inventory
Items:
Omens:
Tertiee - Brandon Jaspers
Might X23345667
Sanity X33345678
Knowledge X13355667
Inventory
Items:
Omens: Spirit Board
simonwolf - Father Rhinehardt
Might X12244557
Sanity X34556778
Knowledge X13345668
Inventory
Items: Medical Kit
Omens: Crystal Ball
Tommy2Hands - Darrin "Flash" Williams
Might X23345667
Sanity X12345557
Knowledge X23345557
Inventory
Items: Adrenaline Shot
Omens: Mask, Spear
Orange Soda - Vivian Lopez
Might X22244566
Sanity X44456788
Knowledge X45555667
Inventory
Items: Smelling Salts, Skeleton Key
Omens: Holy Symbol
iamtheaznman - Heather Granville
Might X33345678
Sanity X33345666
KnowledgeX23345678
Inventory
Items:
Omens: Dog, Madman
Reserves:
etoychest
Gandalf_the_Crazed
TDOT
NotoriousBEN
Wildcat
scrivenerjones
!signup
Sign up please!
Go me!
It seems the updated rulebooks for Betrayal are gone from the Avalon Hill site. I think I may have them saved somewhere, let me see if I can dig them up.
That's all for players this round, though we should probably take a couple of backups.
Updating the 2nd post with player info.
If you mean revised survivor's guide and and traitor's guide the direct links still work
http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/BHH_SurvivalRev_120105.pdf
http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/BHH_TraitorRev_120105.pdf
Edit: Found the rulebook
http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/HOTH_Rules.zip
Don't look up the extra stuff and it will be more fun for everyone.
The Characters:
Heather Granville
Speed 4
Might 3
Sanity 3
Knowledge 5
Age: 18
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 120 lbs
Hobbies: Television, Shopping
Birthday: Aug 2
Heather has always been perfect - perfectly petite, perfectly blonde, perfectly polite. Perfect, perfect, perfect. If even the teeniest, tiniest thing in her life isn't perfect, it gives Heather a headache. Sometimes her headaches get so bad it feels like something is trying to dig its way out of her skull. But even that doesn't wipe the perfect smile off of her face.
Heather's older sister is friends with Jenny - why, Heather doesn't really know. After all, Jenny's certainly NOT perfect. Heather knows Flash and Prof. Longfellow from school. Vivian is a friend of her mother's, has been for years. Heather's greatest fear is that she isn't actually perfect after all.
Jenny LeClerc
Speed 4
Might 4
Sanity 4
Knowledge 3
Age: 21
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 142 lbs
Hobbies: Reading, Soccer
Birthday: March 4
Jenny is a quiet girl. She loves soccer, but sometimes she's too shy to cooperate with her teammates the way she should. Jenny's greatest pleasure is curling up in a tiny place reading a gigantic book - the older the book, the better. The books keep her from dwelling on her mother's disappearance, that day fourteen years ago when Mom went to the store and never came back, leaving Jenny alone. Alone forever.
Jenny's only real friend is Caitlyn, Heather's older sister. Jenny also knows Ox, since she grew up only a few doors away from him on Mulberry Lane. And Jenny knows Madame Zostra from the library, a place they both adore. Jenny's greatest fear is being trapped in a crowd or lost out in the open.
Ox Bellows
Speed 4
Might 5
Sanity 3
Knowledge 3
Age: 23
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 288 lbs
Hobbies: Football, Shiny Objects
Birthday: Oct 18
Ox Bellows was always a big kid. Never got beaten up. Always did the beating up... but only when he had to do it (well, except for that one time). Ox doesn't like to think about that, but the blood and screams creep into his dreams on cold, lonely nights. His greatest fear is of the dark.
Ox has known Jenny since they were kids growing up on Mulberry Lane. He met Prof. Longfellow at Greenwich University. Ox has known Father Rhinehardt all his life. He's been confessing his sins to the priest since he was small (except for that one sin he doesn't like to talk about).
Darrin "Flash" Williams
Speed 6
Might 3
Sanity 3
Knowledge 3
Age: 20
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 188 lbs
Hobbies: Track, Music, Shakespearean Literature
Birthday: Jun 6
Flash isn't the most original name for someone as fast as Darrin. But he likes it. Its comfortable and it fits him, just like his favorite pair of track shoes. Darrin lives to run and runs to live. When he's not running, Darrin feels like there's something coming for him... something Not Good. Even when he runs, the wind sometimes whispers in his ears, and he swears he can hear the Not Good Thing coming up behind him - fast. No wonder he's the star of the track team.
Flash knows Jenny from the neighborhood. She's okay, but she's real quiet. He's known Madame Zostra for his entire life. After all, he's her nephew. Zoe's his little cousin, but he's only met her a couple of times. Darrin's greatest fear is that he's going to be caught by the Not Good Thing (whatever that is).
Vivian Lopez
Speed 4
Might 2
Sanity 4
Knowledge 5
Age: 42
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 142 lbs
Hobbies: Old Movies, Horses
Birthday: Jan 11
Vivan's perfect day is to get up late. have coffee and doughnuts, and then ride one of her horses all day. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to spend too many days like that, since she's so busy trying to keep her little used book store from going under. Some days she gets so frustrated she feels like burning the place down, or maybe just burning down the little shed out back... or the school. But she'd never do anything like that. Still, sometimes she has nightmares about striking the match...
Vivian is a good friend of Heather's mother, Sarah. She also knows Madame Zostra and Father Rhinehardt as cutomers at her little book store, Something Written. For extra money, Vivian has been babysitting Missy Dubourde at least once a month for the last few years. Vivian's greatest fear is of fire... and her fascination with it.
Madame Zostra
Speed 3
Might 4
Sanity 4
Knowledge 4
Age: 37
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 150 lbs
Hobbies: Astrology, Cooking, Baseball
Birthday: Dec 10
Madame Zostra, or "Belladina" as her mother named her, has been a tarot and tea leaf reader since college. She started out working part-time sitting in the window of an occult bookstore, but now she has her own home astrology business. Although Madame Zostra reads cards for a living, she won't ever read her own cards. She is terrified that she'll see her own death in the cards, something she can't bear to think about.
Madame Zostra is familiar with Vivian and Father Rhinehardt from seeing them at Vivian's bookstore. Flash is her nephew, and she never fails to buy him birthday and Christmas gifts. She sees Jenny regularly at the library. Zoe's mother comes to Madame Zostra for tarot readings. Madame Zostra is terrified of death, particularly her own.
Missy Dubourde
Speed 5
Might 3
Sanity 3
Knowledge 4
Age: 9
Height: 4'2"
Weight: 62 lbs
Hobbies: Swimming, Medicine
Birthday: Feb 14
Missy can't remember wanting to be anything except for a doctor. her favorite gift ever in the whole wide world was her first doctor's kit. She practices "medicine" on anyone who'll let her. she even cuts up dead frogs and stuff she finds in her yard. But sometimes that gets bad, and she dreams of dead frogs hip-hopping into her bed at night and smothering her. Then she screams.
Missy knows Peter (and his gross bug collection) from school. She knows Father Rhinehardt from Sunday school (he talks funny and smells like chocolate). Missy lives in the same neighborhood as Brandon. He delivers her family's paper, but she doesn't really know him (she thinks he's cute, though). Missy's greatest fear is of dead things coming back to life and hunting her.
Zoe Ingstrom
Speed 4
Might 3
Sanity 5
Knowledge 3
Age: 9
Height: 3'9"
Weight: 49 lbs
Hobbies: Dolls, Music
Birthday: Nov 5
Zoe likes to play in her room with her dolls. Each doll has its own name, family, history, pets, and everything else a doll needs to be happy. Zoe helps her dolls play out little dramas, mostly happy ones, but sometimes the dolls get mad at each other and hit. Not that daddies would ever hit mommies. That doesn't happen. Leastways, you're not supposed to talk about it when it does. So, Zoe plays with her dolls.
Flash is Zoe's cousin, but she doesn't know him real well. Zoe's mom goes to Madame Zostra for tarot card readings. Zoe likes playing with her dolls under the table there. Zoe's family sometimes goes camping with Brandon's family. But Zoe doesn't like it, so she mostly stays in her tent an plays with her dolls. Zoe's greatest fear is of the Boogeyman... whoever he is.
Peter Akimoto
Speed 4
Might 3
Sanity 4
Knowledge 4
Age: 13
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 98 lbs
Hobbies: Bugs, Basketball
Birthday: Sep 3
Peter's two favorite places in the world are the basketball court and under his house. He likes the basketball court because that's where he can play his favorite game. He likes being under the house because it's a great place to hunt for bugs, plus it's a good place to avoid his five older brothers. Sure, all older brothers pick on their younger siblings, but Peter's brothers really pick on him. But what's a few broken bones among family? Peter loves bugs and wants to be an entomologist when he grows up - an entomologist who never has to speak to his brothers.
Peter earns extra money taking care of Prof. Longfellow's yard (and finding cool bugs - bonus!). He knows Missy from school. She likes to do pretend medical exams on him and chec out his real broken bones, but she doesn't like it when he shows her his bug collection. Peter's greatest fear is that he'll get trapped somewhere and never be able to escape.
Brandon Jaspers
Speed 4
Might 4
Sanity 4
Knowledge 3
Age: 12
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 109 lbs
Hobbies: Computers, Camping, Hockey
Birthday: May 21
Brandon loves computers and camping. He takes his new laptop with him wherever he goes. That way he can program AND camp at the same time. Cool. Brandon's never liked playing with regular toys, action figures, or that kind of thing. in fact, he hates puppets. He had a clown puppet when he was little, and some mornings when he woke up he'd find it had moved closer to him. Once it even had a kitchen knife in its hand. Brandon's pretty sure his big brother Chris was messing with him, but he still hates puppets.
Brandon sometimes sees Zoe's family when they go camping. Zoe usually hides in the tent with her dolls though. Yuck. Brandon delivers the newspaper to Prof. Longfellow (in his big old freaky house) and to Missy's family. Brandon's greatest fear is of puppets, particularly clown puppets.
Professor Longfellow
Speed 4
Might 3
Sanity 3
Knowledge 5
Age: 57
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 153 lbs
Hobbies: Gaelic Music, Drama, Fine Wines
Birthday: Jul 27
Professor Josiah Longfellow is very proud of his aristocratic roots. His family used to have money... at least until his father lost it all on gambling and alcohol. The Professor still lives with his aging mother in the rundown Victorian that used to be the finest house in town. His father disappeared one day. Ran out. His mother has a rather large life insurance policy, but of course, he doesn't want to collect on it any time soon, no matter how nice the money would be...
Prof. Longfellow knows Ox, Flash, and Heather from the University. Brandon is his paperboy. Peter mows the yard and takes care of other petty chores around the house. The Professor's greatest fear is that he will lose everything he has, proving to everyone that he's no better than his deadbeat father.
Father Rhinehardt
Speed 3
Might 2
Sanity 6
Knowledge 4
Age: 62
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 185 lbs
Hobbies: Fencing, Gardening
Birthday: Apr 29
Father Rhinehardt was born in Munchen, Germany (or Munich, as Americans call it). He moved with his family to America when he was 15... and then gut beaten up for the next three years. Father Rhinehardt turned to religion for the reasons why people treated him so badly. Eventually he entered seminary and became a priest. Since that day, long ago, many people have confessed their sins to him. But there is one man who haunts him, every few years, a stranger who sits in the confessional and whispers of murder and madness. In recent years, Father Rhinehardt has found he's starting to agree with the madman's arguments. Blood, pain, death - they are all a part of life, of God's plan, are they not?
Father Rhinehardt is familiar with Vivian and Madame Zostra from seeing them at the Something Written bookstore. He knows Ox from hearing him confess his petty sins. He also knows Missy from her appearances at Sunday school. More than anything, Father Rhinehardt fears going mad.
I'll put you down as an alternate, and you'll have dibs on the next game.
I misinterpreted first come, first serve. As divine punishment the dice gods have decided I get to choose last
Make your call, and we'll go in order of the signup list.
Just to be clear - whichever color simonwolf picks, both of those characters become unavailable.
[Edit] - jumped the gun, Tertiee! :P
If the card says I need 4 successes or I lose a sanity, then I would need to have 4 dots showing. The blank side just means no successes on that dice.
EDIT: Shit. That's what I get for taking a Sunday-afternoon nap. I guess this is a reserve-up, then.
Orange Soda
iamtheaznman
samurai6966
Tertiee
simonwolf
Tommy2Hands
Is picking order going simonwolf, then tommy, then back to me at the top? Otherwise what is the order?
Yeah, that's the order. We're waiting for Tommy's pick, then you're up.
Your pick, aznman.
Also, I hope you guys are prepared for my hilariously bad scanner. I really need to replace this thing.
Damn! You made me have to take my 2nd choice! Curses! I love him because of his speed :P
hahaha
he's so dreamy
Hey Flash and Ms. Lopez, I am going to totally discover everything in this gross place, despite its totall grossness. Pleased to meet you Father Rhineheart, Heather Granville's my name.
I am particularly interested in creepy ones, so let me know if you see with binding that is flesh or something.
Ewwwwwwww that is totally gross.
I mean, uh, sinful! Yes, completely and utterly sinful. One musn't perform such perversities with the body that God gave us, it says so right in the Bible.