From the FFG website:
Up ahead, isolated in the Massachusetts countryside, stands a secluded mansion. This is where the clues have led you. This is where you will finally find the answers you have been seeking. As you advance through the cold, driving rain, the dim light dancing in the ornate windows gives the appearance of a dozen sinister eyes watching your approach. The very walls are infested with evil and the great house seems to stare at you with hostility, but despite the growing fear gnawing at your soul, you press on. You must. This madness has to end, and by God, it will end tonight… even if it kills you.
Now if this intro doesn’t stir my memories of getting ready to run a great Call of Cthulhu RPG session, I don’t know what does! Doesn’t that last sentence sum up the plight of the Lovecraft hero? “I’ll save the world from this horror if it costs me my sanity or even my life!” is the battle cry! Just before the hero begins to scribble in a diary to regale his tale of terror in the cozy comfort of a padded cell…
A little more from the new page added to FFG’s site:
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!
We can assume it’s an one versus all approach in the game and the RPG terminology of “keeper”, as in the Game Master running a CofC session, is in place. I truly hope that FFG can pull off the flow and the feel of the RPG here!
Head on over and learn more about Mansion of Madness.
Seeing I ran Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu for about 15 years, I love Arkham Horror but Elliott is the man here at TGG when it comes to AH! I’m happy to say, and jealous of the fact, that he’s planning on attending Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Nights (with his lovely wife and the older kids in the family) being held in Roseville, MN this coming October 22-24. I’m looking forward to his coverage of the event and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he wins the raffle that, I assume, would get him a spot in a play session of MoM.
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Nice write up!
This is on my Must Have list. Arkham Horror meets Betrayal at House on the Hill. This looks like it could be super cool.
The only thing that is really in the air is how the "One player takes on the role of the keeper" mechanic plays out. If it can be as fun as playing Dracula in Fury of Dracula, then it could be well worth it, but … if done poorly, it could be the downer to this game. Much like with some scenarios in Betrayal at House on the Hill, sometimes being the one player everyone is playing against can be a drag. It would be nice to see if a possible mechanic to be played against, or "share played", can be figured out.
But this is one I am eagerly looking forward to playing.