This is part of a series of bloody matches to the death. Show support for your favorite game so it will do better in the fight. You can support it by writing why you think its the better game and more importantly by betting (i.e. voting for) it. Please make it clear for when I check the bets later. You have until Friday when I tally the bets and declare the winner. I will reserve my bet for any tie-breakers.
Although you should be familiar with both games, there is no rule that says you have to have played both of them. The only rule in Trashdome is this;
A Touch Of Evil: The Supernatural Game VS Betrayal At House On The Hill
WELCOME TO TRASHDOME!
This is part of a series of bloody matches to the death. Show support for your favorite game so it will do better in the fight. You can support it by writing why you think its the better game and more importantly by betting on it. End your first post in this thread with the title of the game you're placing a bet on (i.e. voting for) so its clear to me when reading it later. You have until Friday when I tally the bets and declare the winner. Counting expansions or not is entirely up to you just as playing with them or not is. I will reserve my bet for any tie-breakers.
Although you should be familiar with both games, there is no rule that says you have to have played both of them. The only rule in Trashdome is this;
Two games enter! One game leaves!
It could be argued that AToE has no business being back in the dome after its shameful defeat last time. But then again I think Betrayal is a shit game. So its probably a fair matchup.
Touch of Evil hasn't made it back to the table after its first play, which left people with a decidedly "meh" taste in their mouths. The thing I hated the most was everyone getting bounced back to the village when they got knocked out. Great theme, nice production values, but nothing compelling about the gameplay itself.
Betrayal at House on the Hill, despite being weirdly titled, proofread by a nearsighted root hog, and underserved in the bits department, generates a rollicking good time every time it comes out. Despite all of its problems, it boasts oodles of emergent gameplay, and I can still recall hilarious moments from sessions we played 3 or 4 years ago.
Well, Maddog, I have to give you credit for keeping Fury of Dracula out of the Halloween Trashdome so we can at least have a competition, but fuckin' A these games both suck.
AToE is shit. It's a turgidly paced snoozefest without a single redeeming quality outside of the whole evil villiage elder thing. Now, that would be bad enough, but the game has no business sucking so hard when the time period and attendant monsters are so cool. So yeah, the balls on AToE.
On the other hand, Betrayal is a horrid game in it's own right, which is not only boring but mostly pointless as well. It is at least based on a novel premise, though, and one that's been used to much better effect in later games.
Eh, fuck this. I nominate Curse of the Mummy's Tomb as a write-in candidate, and vote for it.
ATOE is a good game. It's does what it does in a really solid way and I like Jason Hill and FFP, I think they are making good short AT titles that can get gamers playing board games quickly. But Betrayal is an incredible game.... 25% of the time. The game is interesting at first and then either a blowout or a great time. The scenario's are infamously imperfect, the errata is bigger then the rule book... but fuck if the damned game isn't interesting. I really enjoy building the house and trying to get pumped up before the shit hits the fan. It also represents the end of AH to me and that always makes me sad.
When betrayal works well ATOE can't touch it. 75% of the time ATOE is the better game, but hey, I'd rather reach the stars occasionally then live in the sky.
Both games are kind of weird and weird not in a good way for me. But I'd agree with with Jason's comment ToE left me with a decidedly "meh" taste in my mouth after my one and only play. I'd be willing to try ToE again to see if my experience improves.
Betrayal tells a better story and is more fun in my book but it's still not a big favorite of mine.
Betrayal is a horrible game. It just plain didn't work in the form in which it was published. Some scenarios didn't even have victory conditions.
Yes, there was a (massive) corrigendum, but if house rules and post-hoc fixes are allowed in Trash Dome, then I'm pretty sure I'd rather play a house-ruled A Touch of Evil.
It's unforgiveable that a game that can be as great as Betrayal can be, should have been published with such glaring design flaws and play-impeding ambiguity.
This is as much a vote against Betrayal flaws as it is for the meh AToE.
I don't get the whole "Meh" thing woith ATOE. It does what it does really well, and there are few games which are so immersed in theme. I love the fact each villan makes the game play out really, really differently. With the expansions its like having 10 games in the one box. But you guys don't like Runebound either so what the fuck do you know (hint: nothing!)
I don't get the whole "Meh" thing woith ATOE. It does what it does really well, and there are few games which are so immersed in theme. I love the fact each villan makes the game play out really, really differently. With the expansions its like having 10 games in the one box. But you guys don't like Runebound either so what the fuck do you know (hint: nothing!)
I hardly ever vote in these things but i couldn't stand by the sidelines in this one.
Betrayal has the adventuring aspect that I like combined with a surprise variable ending. Sometimes the game is lopsided but invariably its fun (besides in horror movies, once the big baddie is revealed its usually spells a quick demise for the ivestigators or a quick resolution of the threat.)
With LNOE the threat and objectives are already in play from the beginning. Mechanically the game is smoother but the sense of mystery is absent.
So this Trashdome's a turkey baste?
Played ATOE once, it's okay. Wouldn't want to play Betrayal, given the reviews.
My ho hum vote goes to ATOE.
(But I'd like to vote Betrayal out as well.)
Wah! Some of the scenarios don't have victory conditions.
Fixed with the new scenario book.
WAH! The rules are terrible! The FAQs bigger than the phonebook!
I don't find them terrible, and I have dealt with bad rulebooks. The FAQ isn't that long, either.
I played it a few times and I enjoyed it every time. Died both times and I felt like one of those Grade B actors in a horror movie. You know, the one who's going to be inevitably killed.
It's awesome. So what it's got some vague/omitted rules and scenario text out of the box? It's got adventuring in a spooky mansion, it's got atmosphere, it's got tons of variety, and it tells a story, even if part of the story is that the good guys never had a chance (isn't that how most horror films are anyway?).
the co-op variant in ATOE freakin sucks. alot of people (like me) bought it as Arkham-lite. which it isn't. play the competitive version and its a pretty decent game.
still, we've had a ton of fun in with Betrayal. think of it like Tales of the Arabian nights (the whole, its a story and not so much of a competition) and it gets really fun for a group of people. it doesn't have a serious down-time issue, which always seemed to crop up in ATOE...for some wierd reason.
the first time i played betrayal, it had like 200 haunts, and the creator sorta making rules out of his ass. it was awesome.
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