Digital-assisted boardgaming at its finest!
The original edition of MoM was a fantastic game by the time you actually got to playing it. However, that was severely handicapped by the fact that a single player had to spend 30-60 minutes of prep time on their own to set up the board in secret. Also, that GM player had to be absolutely 100% accurate in their setup - if they made any of a number of possible mistakes (such as placing a face-down key item behind the door it unlocked rather than in front of it), they would render the entire scenario unwinnable for the rest of the players in a way that might not be discovered for an hour or more of playtime.
MoM 2nd Edition cures this issues *phenomenally*. The downloadable app now serves as the Game Master - it controls the setup of the game, keeps track of what revealed locations give out what items, and gives direction to the NPC and Monster characters in the game. The mechanics of the gameplay are nearly identical to 1st Ed, and most importantly the app doesn't *do* the gameplay for you - it merely serves as an accountant to keep track of the hidden wheels turning behind the scenes, or to serve up what would previously be cards drawn and read from. The app actually enhances these elements significantly - there is now flavor text for all of the various points that players can interact with, NPCs that may have dialogue trees to explore, and even ominous (but subtle) sound effects if one chooses to have them on. Most importantly, this allows *ALL* the players at the table to be allies working for a common cause, rather than having most players working as a team against one person who works to wreak diabolical mischief on them and stymie their efforts.
The major mechanic that has changed is the wound and sanity system. In first edition those two stats were merely hit point pools, slowly whittled away until they hit zero and potentially killed a player flat out. Now, characters still have a maximum amount of each type of damage they can suffer, but instead of just taking tokens that show how beaten they are, the inflictions are individual cards drawn that may have deleterious effects ranging from 'no further penalty' to 'broken limb' which may cause a character to drop all but two items or start moving at half speed. Similarly, the sanity cards drawn may have minor inconveniencing effects, or significant hurdles the player has to overcome or avoid.
Most crucial, the player no longer dies as soon as their wounds hit zero - instead they become 'wounded', slowing them down and removing some (but usually not all) of the hits they've suffered. If they hit their wound threshold again, they are finally dead - which puts the entire game into a 'sudden death' mode, where the rest of the characters need to reach their victory condition within one turn, or the scenario is lost. This may read as a significant killjoy that might drag a game to a halt prematurely, but in actuality it means that individual players are no longer left to putter around in the kitchen (or wherever) if they die early and the rest of the team is still finishing the game. Also, the increased durability means that characters are not likely to be flat-out eliminated on an individual level quite as quickly.
Even more interesting is the 'insanity' mechanic - if a character suffers madness greater then their threshold, they go through a similar reset as the wound system... except instead of becoming wounded, they become permanently insane. The player then draws a secret card that sets out exactly what their lunacy drives them to do, and generally gives them a new win condition to meet that may be... significantly at odds with the other players (or outright antagonistic)! Think of it as the traitor mechanic from Betrayal at the House on the Hill, writ small. *Very* entertaining...
Lastly, the app itself. It is simple to use through either a touchscreen or a mouse/touchpad interface. It will run on smartphones, tablets, or full laptop/PCs - altho it clearly shines best on a tablet that can be passed easily from player to player to input actions and read results from. Also (and this is a HUGE draw for legacy players), the app has an option to include game pieces from any first edition sets you own when constructing the scenarios! This is fantastic news and prevents all those great monsters and map sets from languishing in dust because of the edition change (and makes the 2nd ed price tag a bit less onerous). Also, with the app as the GM, the game can be played as a solo experience, with the game owner playing multiple characters themself against the GM app.
All in all - a spectacular edition, incredibly handily solving the greatest setback from 1st Edition and setting the bar for how future digital-assisted tabletop games should be set up. Definitely recommended!Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
