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11-15-2004, 12:27 AM
I bought this game on Saturday and we played it twice today (four players). Overall, we enjoyed the game, but we all agreed there were too many times that we just didn't understand the rules or there were unanswered ambiguities. Before playing, I had read through the rulebook twice, read the entire FAQ, and read every non-spoiler thread on boardgamegeek and here. But even so, way too many times we had questions about the interactions or wording, and play broke down as we debated what to do. I honestly feel the entire game needs another pass with strong editing for clarity. It's a great theme and I like the production and mechanics, but too often we felt the fun mechanisms were undermined by unclear writing. I'll post my other questions and offer my wording suggestions separately. For this post, I have questions about our first Haunt.
SPOILERS FOR HAUNT 29 BELOW
Major Questions
1) Does Frankenstein's Monster attack the traitor? The rule says, "Frankenstein's Monster must always move at full speed toward the closest explorer it can attack." Should that have said "hero" instead of "explorer"? (The traitor is still an explorer -- it says so explicitly on page 11 of the rulebook.) If so, this challenge (already tilted towards the heroes in my opinion) is even more unbalanced.
2) Does Frankenstein's Monster get stunned from a successful torch attack? Secrets of Survival says that you're attemping a Speed attack when you make a torch attack. The definition of a Speed attack on page 8 of the rulebook says that successful Speed attacks inflict physical damage. The general rule on page 12 is that, "If a monster suffers any damage, it is stunned and misses its next turn." (Arguably, a successful torch attack is doing "damage" of some kind.) After some debate, we ruled that this wasn't the intent, and ignored the stunning, but it was unclear. (Frankenstein's Monster got trounced as it was; if there was stunning too, it would have been even more lopsided.)
Minor Questions:
1) I was confused on why the traitor would be either Jenny LeClerc or the person with the highest sanity instead of the haunt revealer. The flavor text in both the Secrets of Survival and Traitor's Tome suggests it's the person reading the book (the haunt revealer) who animates Frankenstein's Monster and becomes the traitor. As it turned out, I was playing Father Rhinehardt (who had the highest sanity at the time), so I became the traitor. I was far away from the character reading the book in the gymnasium, but I'm told by the Tome, "You flip through the book...." Hold up, what book? I haven't seen any book. Oh, you mean the book read by that little kid in a room far away from me? I guess that must have been my book. Too bad I didn't get the knowledge bonus from my book. Anyway, this was a bit of a jarring start.
2) I'm a bit confused about the phrase "it can attack" in the rule of, "Frankenstein's Monster must always move at full speed toward the closest explorer it can attack." When is it possible for an explorer to not be attacked? If an explorer is more than 6 spaces away, he/she can't possibly be attacked by the Frankenstein's Monster this turn, does that mean Frankenstein's Monster doesn't have to go towards that explorer even if he/she is the closest?
3) How exactly do you define "closest"? What if there are two explorers tied for closest, assumably the traitor chooses?
4) What if there is not currently a route to the explorers, and the Monster is cut off? This is possible if the only exit from the basement has been removed. For example, suppose someone has used the Mystic Elevator to get into the basement, explored and found the laboratory (but no exits), then left the basement via the Mystic Elevator again.
5) Does Frankenstein's Monster add 4 to its roll when defending? I don't think so, but there's nothing explicit defining what an "attack role" is on page 8 of the rulebook. The text in the Tome is simply, "When making an attack roll, Frankenstein's Monster adds 4 to its result." I assume the FAQ ruling about the Axe, Spear and Blood Dagger apply here too and the answer is no, but this is really unclear. If you do add 4 when defending, does that include when defending against a torch attack?
6) How many successful torch attacks are necessary? From the Secrets of Survival: "The monster is killed if it is hit by a number of torches equal to the number of players." So, with three heroes and one traitor, that's four players, meaning four successful hits. We assumed that this number doesn't change when heroes are killed. Is that right?
7) The Traitor's Tome mentions that you can steal and destroy a torch if you inflict more than 2 points of damage. Does this reduce the total number of torches from 5? We assumed not, since the Secrets of Survival says, "There's no limit to the number of torches you can find during the game..." The concept of destroying the torch should be defined a bit more.
One other wording comment: "Frankensteins' Monster can't be damaged by the Revolver." But monsters can never be damaged, only stunned. Therefore, this wording is a bit confusing. It would be less confusing if it was stated as, "Frankenstein's Monster is not affected by the Revolver."
Thanks for considering these questions for future revisions of the FAQ or future printings.
--Z.
SPOILERS FOR HAUNT 29 BELOW
Major Questions
1) Does Frankenstein's Monster attack the traitor? The rule says, "Frankenstein's Monster must always move at full speed toward the closest explorer it can attack." Should that have said "hero" instead of "explorer"? (The traitor is still an explorer -- it says so explicitly on page 11 of the rulebook.) If so, this challenge (already tilted towards the heroes in my opinion) is even more unbalanced.
2) Does Frankenstein's Monster get stunned from a successful torch attack? Secrets of Survival says that you're attemping a Speed attack when you make a torch attack. The definition of a Speed attack on page 8 of the rulebook says that successful Speed attacks inflict physical damage. The general rule on page 12 is that, "If a monster suffers any damage, it is stunned and misses its next turn." (Arguably, a successful torch attack is doing "damage" of some kind.) After some debate, we ruled that this wasn't the intent, and ignored the stunning, but it was unclear. (Frankenstein's Monster got trounced as it was; if there was stunning too, it would have been even more lopsided.)
Minor Questions:
1) I was confused on why the traitor would be either Jenny LeClerc or the person with the highest sanity instead of the haunt revealer. The flavor text in both the Secrets of Survival and Traitor's Tome suggests it's the person reading the book (the haunt revealer) who animates Frankenstein's Monster and becomes the traitor. As it turned out, I was playing Father Rhinehardt (who had the highest sanity at the time), so I became the traitor. I was far away from the character reading the book in the gymnasium, but I'm told by the Tome, "You flip through the book...." Hold up, what book? I haven't seen any book. Oh, you mean the book read by that little kid in a room far away from me? I guess that must have been my book. Too bad I didn't get the knowledge bonus from my book. Anyway, this was a bit of a jarring start.
2) I'm a bit confused about the phrase "it can attack" in the rule of, "Frankenstein's Monster must always move at full speed toward the closest explorer it can attack." When is it possible for an explorer to not be attacked? If an explorer is more than 6 spaces away, he/she can't possibly be attacked by the Frankenstein's Monster this turn, does that mean Frankenstein's Monster doesn't have to go towards that explorer even if he/she is the closest?
3) How exactly do you define "closest"? What if there are two explorers tied for closest, assumably the traitor chooses?
4) What if there is not currently a route to the explorers, and the Monster is cut off? This is possible if the only exit from the basement has been removed. For example, suppose someone has used the Mystic Elevator to get into the basement, explored and found the laboratory (but no exits), then left the basement via the Mystic Elevator again.
5) Does Frankenstein's Monster add 4 to its roll when defending? I don't think so, but there's nothing explicit defining what an "attack role" is on page 8 of the rulebook. The text in the Tome is simply, "When making an attack roll, Frankenstein's Monster adds 4 to its result." I assume the FAQ ruling about the Axe, Spear and Blood Dagger apply here too and the answer is no, but this is really unclear. If you do add 4 when defending, does that include when defending against a torch attack?
6) How many successful torch attacks are necessary? From the Secrets of Survival: "The monster is killed if it is hit by a number of torches equal to the number of players." So, with three heroes and one traitor, that's four players, meaning four successful hits. We assumed that this number doesn't change when heroes are killed. Is that right?
7) The Traitor's Tome mentions that you can steal and destroy a torch if you inflict more than 2 points of damage. Does this reduce the total number of torches from 5? We assumed not, since the Secrets of Survival says, "There's no limit to the number of torches you can find during the game..." The concept of destroying the torch should be defined a bit more.
One other wording comment: "Frankensteins' Monster can't be damaged by the Revolver." But monsters can never be damaged, only stunned. Therefore, this wording is a bit confusing. It would be less confusing if it was stated as, "Frankenstein's Monster is not affected by the Revolver."
Thanks for considering these questions for future revisions of the FAQ or future printings.
--Z.