Best Haunt Books for Betrayal at House on the Hill
Betrayal at House on the Hill is pure homage to the horror genre. Players showtime by exploring a haunted mansion filled with foreign events and items to discover, earlier someone - or something - catches them unawares in a dastardly plot. These plots are called haunts and are directly inspired past all sorts of horror tropes, from the genuinely disturbing to the downright ridiculous, and brand up a practiced chunk of the board game's appeal.
Just as horror has seen its off-white share of highs and lows, then exercise the haunts in Betrayal. After all, you can't always expect an Alien. Sometimes you'll go a Hellraiser: Hellworld instead. None of the haunts in Betrayal present quite as torturous an experience every bit watching Hellworld, but there are a fair few that miss the mark when information technology comes to concept and gameplay - which is to be expected because in that location are l included in the base of operations game solitary.
To help players effigy out which ones to skip and which to dive into headfirst - y'all are able to select a different haunt from the one you find in the table - nosotros've compiled a summary of the best, worst and weirdest haunts constitute in Expose at Firm on the Hill. For now, we're not including any of the haunts found in the game's excellent expansion, Widow'southward Walk, though we may come to it sometime in the future because there are some doozies in at that place. In that location will obviously exist spoilers for several haunts in the game, so stop reading if you want to experience them with fresh eyes.
Without further ado, here are the most notable haunts in Betrayal, whether for better or worse.
Best Betrayal at House on the Hill haunts
The Mummy Walks (#i)
A restless undead pharoah is looking for his bride
Permit'due south offset off with a classic scenario. The Mummy Walks is the very commencement haunt in Betrayal's Secrets to Survival and Traitor's Tome rulebooks, which is suitable considering that it'south clearly inspired by 1 of the earliest popular horror stories. If the name doesn't requite it away, The Mummy Walks sees the traitor teaming up with an undead pharaoh to reunite them with their lost love - who is distinctly not on-board with the plan. Whilst the traitor has control over the Mummy and must unite them with their unfortunate helpmate in the room containing the Sarcophagus, the heroes will be attempting to discover the pharaoh'south existent name.
This haunt is great considering the heroes and traitor aren't simply trying to off each other or other minions, but take their ain separate goals across the mansion. Also, it's so conspicuously a playable version of the many onscreen iterations of The Mummy, right down to the fact that the pharaoh wants to make a mortal woman into his undead helpmate and the heroes have to employ ancient knowledge to vanquish the villain.
The Séance (#2)
Will a wandering spirit find peace or exist made to unleash their wrath?
Another iconic horror setup, The Séance is a haunt wherein the heroes and traitor find themselves attempting to summon a spirit. The unique chemical element here is that both teams are racing against each other to attain exactly the aforementioned goal, but for very dissimilar reasons. While the heroes desire to put the wandering soul to residual, the traitor seeks to use the vengeful ghost confronting the other characters in the mansion. Both the heroes and the traitor will need to attempt a séance in order to summon the ghost, just that's merely the first part of the haunt.
Whoever manages to summon the spirit get-go gains control over the ghost, with the heroes looking for the bones they need to coffin and the traitor gleefully using the entity's abilities to defeat the heroes. What's unusual about this haunt is that information technology will be very different depending on whoever manages to get the ghost first. The heroes must race against fourth dimension to perform the burial, otherwise the traitor will gain control of the spirit - causing the very mansion itself to start collapsing. Information technology takes an otherwise very tropey scenario and makes it something special.
The Completeness Gazes Dorsum (#22)
The house'due south occupants find themselves on a i-manner trip to hell
"Hang on everyone! Nosotros're goin' to HELL!" Is what the heroes hear at the very outset of The Abyss Gazes Back. Honestly, could at that place be any better mode to denote a haunt? The Completeness Gazes Dorsum is a demonic scenario that sees the mansion literally sliding its style into the bowels of Hell, with the traitor doing everything in their power to assist it along. The heroes volition be desperately attempting to avoid this dreadful fate by running from room to collapsing room, in the hopes of reaching one of two locations where they can perform an exorcism.
In the concurrently, the traitor will be gradually demolishing the very mansion itself by turning over a gradually increasing number of room tiles at the end of each player's turn. Equally the heroes find themselves trapped in the crumbling house, they'll have to make a speed roll to prevent from beingness engulfed forth with the room they're standing in. This Betrayal haunt isn't just a novel concept; information technology too plays around with the very construction of the board, with each destroyed room tile being turned over and fabricated unpassable, which is an awesome visual banquet for the optics.
Invisible Traitor (#41)
A killer who cannot be seen stalks their former friends in search of blood
It'due south besides often the case in Betrayal at House on the Hill haunts that the main threat to the heroes is a drove of uninspiring minions who don't exercise an awful lot, so it's refreshing when you stumble across something unlike. Invisible Traitor is a haunt entirely focused on the traitor, as they suddenly gain the ability to walk unseen. Undergoing this process seems to have turned the grapheme against their friends, as they experience the sudden want to commit murder. The traitor removes their miniature from the game board, instead writing their current location on a piece of newspaper and updating it as they move throughout the mansion. Thanks to their invisibility, the traitor can attack players and steal from them without instant retaliation - remaining out of sight as long as the heroes fail to spot them.
The heroes must endeavor to discover the traitor'southward whereabouts by successfully passing a knowledge roll at the stop of the traitor's turn, if they happen to take attacked. Should the traitor e'er roll a zero when attempting to steal from another actor, the heroes proceeds an opportunity to deduce their current location. This makes for an intense game of true cat and mouse between the two teams, with the traitor needing to pick off the heroes and the other players brash to stick together.
Worst Betrayal at House on the Hill haunts
The Spider web of Destiny (#iv)
There's nothing then unoriginal as a giant spider
Spiders. They can be scary. Using spiders as a central threat in a horror scenario is nothing new and can seem rather trite if approached without imagination. The Web of Destiny haunt certainly doesn't try to practice anything fresh with the concept. Instead, it presents a very by-the-numbers storyline where the heroes must destroy the various eggs and webs spread across the mansion. The traitor is in command of the detail behemothic spider responsible for said eggs and webs, with their main goal being to murder all the heroes before they can escape.
Pitting the heroes and the traitor directly confronting i another in such a straightforward style - the traitor has access to better stats than the individual heroes - makes for a decidedly wearisome haunt. The Web of Destiny lacks any unique hook, both in its underlying concept and in its mechanics, resulting in the kind of Betrayal at House on the Hill haunt you'd be amend off skipping.
Tick, Tick, Tick (#45)
This item haunt is far from beingness 'the bomb'
The thought behind this haunt seems, at first glance, to be a rather intriguing one. Tick, Tick, Tick sees the heroes confronting their sometime friend-turned-explosives-enthusiast earlier the bombs strapped to their chests blow them to kingdom come. Meanwhile, the traitor is busy working on an even bigger bomb somewhere in the mansion, with the goal of holding out long enough for either all the heroes to be destroyed or their creation to exist consummate.
This haunt is unfortunately very dull for the traitor, equally they do non motility for the unabridged scenario, instead rolling dice to effort to get more than than an eight and then that they can activate one of the time bombs attached to a hero. Things go a trivial more exciting in one case the heroes manage to deactivate their bombs - which they'll need to practice to even enter the same room as the traitor - but then the traitor merely becomes a sitting duck to be picked off. For the heroes' part, one coil of the die and their character is instantly destroyed. Betrayal has e'er been heavily luck-based, but this scenario is a prime example of how non to apply luck every bit a mechanic.
Carnivorous Ivy (#7)
Nobody wants to go on a fetch quest in the name of weeding
Haunts in Betrayal are at their absolute worst when the players are expected to either fulfill a list of very bones requirements - in the instance of this instance, find some items and go to a room - or just murder a collection of pretty standard minions in order to succeed. Carnivorous Ivy features both of these tedious approaches to haunt design, with the heroes expected to collect the ingredients they demand to brand some plant spray, which they tin can and so use on the creepers gradually taking over the mansion. Remember Jumanji, but infinitely less entertaining.
As for the traitor, they'll exist controlling the creepers in an attempt to grab the heroes and concord on to them long enough to plough them into mulch. Alternatively, they can attempt to destroy the plant spray and substantially put the heroes into a neglect state because they can't make any more than. Carnivorous Ivy comes across as being a particularly savage haunt for the heroes, as not only are they tasked with doing some pretty boring things, only the creeper'due south ability to instantly mulch victims at the commencement of their plow and the aforementioned fail state brand it particularly mean.
Weirdest Betrayal at House on the Loma haunts
Frog-leg Stew (#3)
Double, double Toil and trouble. Heroes ribbit and traitor grovels
As a horror trope, witches are rarely successful at scaring their audiences because the way they're presented has a trend to very easily swerve into army camp territory. Frog-leg Stew is an excellent illustration of exactly this. The portrayal of the witch is clearly meant to evoke amusement rather than terror, with the mode she scolds the heroes and nags the traitor beingness alike to a pantomime dame. The heroes in this haunt will need to explore the mansion to detect some specific ingredients in order to cast a spell against the witch, then they definitely become the short finish of the stick in this scenario.
Whereas the traitor has the ability to cast spells as the witch, one of which can turn the heroes into frogs - a fate that presents a very irritating situation of the heroes attempting to reverse the spell's effects, otherwise the newly amphibian character can do diddly squat. Should the traitor manage to become the witch'southward cat in a room with a frog, the creature will consume the poor affair, which is something you certainly should not allow in real life.
Bugs (#17)
An army of oversized invertebrates are taking over the mansion
We've already talked about why Expose at House on the Loma haunts where the heroes take to acquire items and set on minions are dull, but Bugs offers something a piddling more unique in this regard. Whilst there is a spray to create and creatures to destroy, Bugs is all the same much better than Cannibal Ivy. Firstly, information technology'due south far fairer, as the enemies the heroes volition be fighting against cannot instantly kill them and the players have an opportunity to make some other spray, as long as they have enough ingredients. Secondly, the prospect of fighting giant bugs is a more interesting and terrifying concept overall.
Equally in Frog-leg Stew, the traitor is going to have well-nigh of the fun in this haunt because they'll be the ones controlling the titular bugs. The oversized insects volition announced depending on which rooms accept been discovered, significant that the traitor will want to make their way through the mansion in the hopes of finding the right locations. Each bug has its own set of stats and some of them will even accept unique abilities and restrictions. Should the traitor win, they'll be crowned the ruler of their own bug army, just like that bit in Antz.
Here In that location exist Dragons (#xv)
The mythical monarch of lizards chooses to make the heroes its next meal
Dragons are unlikely to exist the very first monster people jump to when thinking nigh horror creatures. They're more associated with horror's sibling genre of fantasy. However, the designers of Betrayal at House on the Hill decided that they'd include a haunt featuring 1 of the scaly beasts. Here There exist Dragons presents perchance one of the strangest haunt setups, with one of the heroes remembering how much they wanted a dragon every bit a child and immediately encouraging the creature to eat their friends as soon as their wish is fulfilled.
The heroes will be looking to explore the mansion in order to gather the equipment they'll need to slay the dragon the ol' fashioned mode, resulting in one character wielding armor, a shield and a spear in a dramatic finale. On the other team, the traitor volition exist ordering their enormous pet to use their unique abilities to burn down and bite the heroes to death, with each new round further strengthening the already formidable beast. Both the concept and execution of this haunt definitely makes it one of the weirdest in the entire game.
Source: https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/betrayal-at-house-on-the-hill/best-games/best-betrayal-haunts