Reply: Betrayal at House on the Hill:: Rules:: Re: Haunt 84: Forget to Remember - Problems, confusion and grief

by semicharm

ilaij wrote:

We had the most difficult time on both sides figuring out what we could do and how to do it. If someone could shed some light on our confusion, it could salvage this game for me since after a few different haunts, it seems like the rules are not very clear or thought out.

I think the biggest issue we had was. As heroes, we win by killing the bodies the spirit inhabits, but at the beginning, there are no bodies. We had a loyal traitor, which I think added onto the confusion.
Are bad traitors considered inhabited/possessed? If we kill the traitor before a hero becomes inhabited, does that mean victory?

As written, the SoS says the heroes win after every possessed person dies, that includes the traitor--loyal or not. However, the Tome says if the traitor was loyal, the attacker loses 2 sanity. This implies that he/she could then become possessed and needs to be killed for the heroes to win. The updated FAQ says the heroes don't win if a "loyal" traitor dies. I'd leave it up to you to decide if that's fair.

1. Destroying the crystal ball. It only states in the traitor's manual that the heroes must target the room the ball is in to destroy it, heroes are assumed to need to figure that our for themselves if a loyal traitor does not figure to tell them.
a. since rooms have might/speed 5, does that mean heroes need to do a might roll of 6+ and say "attacking the crystal ball" to attempt to destroy it?

The SoS says it must be a "physical" attack, so weapons that use speed would count as well.

2. Special attack using the crystal ball. It states that it is a distance attack, assuming it means the target does not have to be in the same room as the user.

Correct

a. if the traitor is loyal and the heroes have not been turned yet, does that mean there are no viable targets? Can rooms be targets?

Other heroes can be attacked as well, apparently to fulfill the requirements to break the ball. However, rooms require a physical attach.

3. Rooms
a. the heroes' manual states that they can weaken the spirit by physically damaging the rooms. To be clear, since the room has might 5, a hero needs to roll a 7+ on a might to do the 2+ damage necessary to place the token in the room to weaken the spirit?

Correct. That's not easy without weapons or a superpowered hero.

b. Are all rooms targetable? there is nothing in either manual that states which rooms are targets of this type of attack. And the traitor's manual doesn't even acknowledge it's existence. which makes sense if the traitor is not loyal.

I think it's only the room where the spirit is, i.e. a possessed person. The Tome states that the spirit attacks those in the same room as the traitor. SoS says each knowledge token in the room reduces the spirit's knowledge and sanity by 1, but only when in that room. It also states each possessed "monster" makes the same attack, but with two less than the spirit's monster roll.

4. Damage/death of heroes
a. When the hero's knowledge drops to skull, they become catatonic. Does this just mean that they are not dead, but cannot really do anything except when attack, respond with 0? What is even the difference to being dead except the items are not dropped?

You can still be possessed when your sanity goes to 0.

b. When sanity drops to skull, the hero becomes a monster. Does this mean they are possessed and therefore a 'possessed body'? Or are they just monsters that can attack in addition to the spirit? EX: hero reaches 0 sanity, becomes monster 'a'. Spirit attacks another hero. with 6 rolls. monster 'a' also attacks a hero, except with 4 rolls?

They are "possessed", in that they attack on the spirit's "monster" roll.

c. So before any hero's sanity drops to 0, are there zero bodies/heroes inhabited by the spirit? Or does the traitor count as 1?

Traitor is the first.

d. if the possessed hero becomes catatonic, that just means any other heroes in the same room may be attacked right? Still with 4 rolls.

It's two less than the value of the spirit's monster roll. If the traitor is in a room with one knowledge token, the spirit rolls 5 dice instead of 6. If it then gets a roll of 7, the possessed "monsters" attack with 5. Otherwise, the possessed heroes don't seem to be under the influence of the traitor. How attacks are calculated after the traitor dies is anyone's guess.

This haunt has really made me never want to play this game again. And question why anyone else puts up with it.

I like the concept of it, a "loyal" traitor trying to work with the heroes to win. However, as usual, the haunt rules are not written methodically enough to make them easy to follow. It's worse with a haunt as complicated as this. Overall, I think the game is OK, but I'm surprised that after all these years no one has tried to fix these or even rewrite them with more concise rules.