Betrayal at House on the Hill (Discontinued)

Betrayal is probably my all time favorite game, because it tells you a story through gameplay. Few board games can craft so ornate a narrative as this, and fewer could have so obtuse and long winded a rulebook as it.

Betrayal is actually a fairly simple game. Move, get stuff, deal with zany and/or bad things. It took 3 playthroughs for me to realize how simple a game it is, because the rules are written in a very confusing non-intuitive way. I don't want to insult Bruce Glassco, because, like I said, Betrayal is my favorite game. But Wizards of the Coast has a tendency to produce overwrought long rule sets over concise straightforward ones. It works for D&D because D&D isn't a board game. That being said, if you want to grasp Betrayal quickly, I'd suggest my addendum below, the basic ruleset in less than 500 words. It won't give you everything, just everything you need to start playing.

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Betrayal is played in two phases, exploration and haunt. In the first phase, players attempt to equip themselves; teams and win conditions are revealed in the haunt.

Place the main hall, upper landing and basement landing tiles. Select a character and place it by the entrance. The character whose birthday is next goes first. Starting statistics are green.
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On your turn, move a number of squares up to your speed. If you pass through a door that does not have a room tile attached to it, do the following:
-Draw a new tile according to your floor.
-Place the tile so as many doors as possible are touching existing doors or nothing.
-Place your piece in the room, if there is a symbol on the tile draw a card according to the symbol.

Drawing a card, ends your movement. You do not draw a card when you move into an existing room.
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Various cards will reference skill challenges, you roll dice equal to your score in the specified stat. Strength and Speed are Physical, Intellect and Sanity are Mental; if referenced you may choose which mental or physical stat to affect.

If you take damage, move your slider in that specified stat down a number of ticks equal to that number. The slider cannot move to the skull until after the haunt begins, if a slider reaches the skull after the haunt begins the player is killed and removed from the game. Things they have are left in the room and may be picked up by others.

Each turn will take 24 hours to be given. Each character will have two players controlling it.
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When you draw an omen card, make a haunt roll of 6 dice. If you roll less than the number of omen cards that have been drawn, the haunt begins.

The haunt and traitor depend on the omen and room that started it, see graph in Traitor's tome. The non-traitors read the scenario in Secrets of Survival and the traitors read it in the traitors tomb. Each passage has special rules and a win condition for each team.

48 hours will be given for the two new teams to get acquainted with their new objectives.

After the haunt begins, once per turn you may attack a monster or other player on your tile. Each participant makes a might check, and the player who rolls less, takes physical damage equal to the difference in the rolls. If a monster would take damage, it is stunned instead; turn it over, next turn it can take no action and is unstunned.

Traitors often control monsters. Each turn the traitor rolls dice equal to the monsters' speed and may move each monster that many tiles. For monsters and players, to move out of a room it takes an extra move per opposing piece in the room. You may always move at least 1 square. The traitor and monsters ignore any bad text on room tiles, and may choose to not to activate an event card after reading it.

Traits
Each explorer has four traits, shown as
lines of numbers on the character card:
Might, Speed, Knowledge, and Sanity.
Speed and Might are physical traits,
while Sanity and Knowledge are mental
traits.
Many cards, tiles, and other game
effects adjust your traits up and down.
When an effect increases or decreases a
trait, you slide the plastic clip as many
spaces as the effect says. For example,
Professor Longfellow's starting Might is 3. If
an effect increases his Might by 2,
the clip will increase 2 spaces toward the
maximum value, raising his Might to 4.
Each trait has a maximum value, the
highest number in the line, which can't
be exceeded even if an effect would
increase it.

Each trait also has a skull symbol
below its lowest number in the line.
Once the haunt begins, if any of your
traits drops to the skull symbol, your
explorer dies. Before the haunt starts,
no one can die—that is, no trait can go
below its lowest number in the line
(it stays at the lowest number instead)
The Maximum number for a trait is 8.

Damage: Many cards, tiles, and other
game effects can deal damage to your
explorer. When you take physical
damage, you can divide it between
Might and Speed as you choose. You
slide the clips for those traits a total
number of spaces equal to the amount of
damage you took.

Attacks against Sanity or Knowledge
deal mental damage. This works just
like physical damage, but you divide
the damage as you choose between
Sanity and Knowledge instead of
Might and Speed.
On Your Turn . . .
. . . you can do as many of the following actions as you want, in any order:
• Move.
• Discover a new room.
• Use item and omen cards.
• Attempt a die roll.
• Make an attack (once during your turn after the haunt starts).
Before the haunt starts, you must make a haunt roll at the end of your turn if you draw an
omen card (see "Making a Haunt Roll,"). The game has a few new twists after the
haunt starts (as described in "The Haunt,").
You will have 24 hours to make an action. If no Action is given then your turn will end.

Move
On your turn, you can move up to a number of spaces equal to your character's current
Speed. You can perform actions (such as using an item or attacking) in the middle of your
movement. However, whenever a game effect makes you draw a card for any reason, you
must stop moving for the rest of your turn.

Discover a New Room
When your explorer enters a doorway, and there isn't a room
on the other side, a room tile will be revealed (courtesy of my physical copy). If it
has the name of the floor you are on (ground, basement, or
upper), turn it over and connect it to the doorway you just
entered. Then move into that room. You have discovered it.
Add each new tile as logically as you can, creating adjacent
rooms by connecting doors whenever possible.
Staircases connect floors. The Grand Staircase always connects to the Upper Landing. The
Stairs from Basement always leads to and from the Foyer through a secret door. (You can't
use the Stairs from Basement until you discover that room in the basement.)
I will be posting a layout of the current building every time a turn is ended in a new update post

Drawing Event, Item, and Omen Cards
Some rooms have symbols printed on them that match
symbols on the cards.

The first time you
discover a room with a symbol, you must end your move
in that room and the appropriate card will be drawn and read by me. Only the first
player to discover the room draws the card (and ends his or
her movement there).
If the room has an event symbol (a spiral ), draw an
event card. Read it out loud. Follow its instructions, which
might require you to attempt a die roll. Then discard the
card unless it says otherwise or has an ongoing effect.
If the room has an item symbol (a bull's head ),
draw an item card. Read it out loud. Place it face up in
front of you; you now have the item in your possession.
(You're carrying or wearing it.) You can use the item once
immediately and once on each of your turns, unless the card
says otherwise.
If the room has an omen symbol (a raven ), draw an
omen card. Read it out loud. Place it face up in front of you;
you now have the omen in your possession. You might have
to do something immediately. At the end of your turn, if the
haunt has not yet begun, you must make a haunt roll. (See
"Making a Haunt Roll,")
If you discover a new room because of a tile's or card's
effect, and that new room has a symbol on it, the appropriate card for that new room will be drawn. If a room is added
to the board through some other means (such as a haunt's
instructions), the first player who enters that room does not
draw a card.
Even though your movement ends when you draw a card,
you can still take other actions on that turn (such as using
an item).

Use Item and Omen Cards
All explorers can use items. Some monsters can too, if the
haunt's rules allow it. You can use an item once at any point
during your turn. Most omen cards are treated like items:
You keep the card in and use it just like an item.
There's no limit to the number of items you can carry.
Once during your turn, an explorer (or monster that can
carry items) can do each of the following:
• Trade an item to another explorer in the same room
(assuming you both agree).
• Drop any number of items. ( A pentagonal
Item Pile token will be put in that room.) Another explorer (or you,
for that matter) can later pick up some or all of the items
in the pile.
• Pick up one or more items from a pile of items.
The Item Pile token will be removed if all of the items are picked up.
Some items can't be traded (or stolen), but they can be
dropped or picked up. The item card's text will state
whether you can take a certain action with that item.
The Bite, Dog, Girl, and Madman aren't items, so they can't
be dropped, stolen, or traded. (Their cards say this.)
For each item, an explorer (or monster that can carry items)
can perform only one of the following actions with that item
during a turn.
• Use the item.
• Trade the item to another explorer.
• Drop the item.
• Steal the item (see "Special Attacks").
• Pick up the item.
Using an item means making any attack or die roll with it or
taking any other action in which the item is involved in any
way. For example, an explorer couldn't attack with the Spear
and then trade it to another explorer on the same turn.
If an item would adjust one of your traits above the
maximum number for the trait printed on your character
card, make a note of how much that item puts that trait "over
the top." If you lose that item, you lose from that "over the
top" number, not from the printed maximum. For example,
if an item adds 2 to your Might, but you gain only 1 Might
before hitting the maximum, you'd lose only 1 from your
maximum Might if you lost that item.
Weapons: The Axe, Blood Dagger, Revolver, Spear, and Sacrificial Dagger are weapons.
Weapons can be used
only while making an attack, not while defending (see "Make an Attack," page 13). You can
use only one weapon
per attack, but you can carry more than one. Using a weapon during an attack is optional.
Companions: The Dog, Girl, and Madman omen cards are companions that follow the
explorer who has custody of them. Companion omens don't have physical or mental traits.

Attempt a Die Roll
Many times during the game, one or more dice will be rolled (courtesy of my physical copy). Each die has faces with
0, 1, or 2 dots, as shown here.

There's no limit to how many times in a turn you can roll dice. For example, you might need
to make a die roll for a card you drew by moving onto a room tile that also requires a die
roll. You can't, however, attempt the same roll more than once per turn. (For example, you
can't keep rolling on the same turn to try to open the Vault.)
If a card, tile, or other game effect instructs you to roll a specific number of dice, do so and
add the number of dots on each die to get the result of the die roll. Then do what the effect
says for that result.
Damage Rolls: If an effect says to "take 1 die of physical damage," roll a die. You take
damage to Might and/or Speed equal to the number of dots rolled. For effects that cause
more than 1 die of damage, simply add the dots on all the dice you roll. Taking mental
damage works the same way, except that you distribute the damage between Knowledge
and Sanity as you choose.
Trait Rolls: Sometimes a card, room tile, or haunt tells you to attempt a roll based on one
of your explorer's traits (Might, Speed, Knowledge, or Sanity). When that happens, roll dice
equal to the number your explorer currently has in that trait. For example, if your explorer
must attempt a Sanity roll, and she currently has a Sanity of 4, roll 4 dice and add the dots
together to get the result. Whether you succeed or fail, the card or tile's text will tell you the
results of your attempt. An attack roll isn't a trait roll, even though it involves Might or some
other trait (see "Make an Attack," below).
Task Rolls: Some haunts require you to make a roll to succeed at a particular task (such an
exorcism). You can attempt only one such roll per turn. That's true even if different types of
rolls could satisfy that task (such as either a Knowledge roll or a Sanity roll to succeed at the
exorcism).

Make an Attack
You can't attack anyone until after the haunt starts.
Once during your turn, you can attack an opponent in the same room. (An opponent is an explorer
or monster that wants to stop your movement or interfere with you.) When you make an attack, roll
a number of dice equal to your Might. Your opponent does the same. Whoever rolls a higher result
defeats his or her opponent and inflicts physical damage against the other explorer or monster.
The amount of damage equals the difference between the two rolls. (For example, if you roll a 6
and your opponent gets a 5, you would inflict 1 point of physical damage.) If there's a tie, no one
gets hurt.
Sometimes an effect lets you make an attack with a trait other than Might. You do this the same
way as a Might attack, except you and your opponent use the other trait. For example, if you make
a Speed attack, you and your opponent roll dice based on Speed. Speed attacks also deal physical
damage.
When an effect lets you attack with Sanity or Knowledge, then you inflict mental damage.
You can't use a trait to attack an opponent who doesn't have that trait. For instance, if a monster
doesn't have Sanity, you can't make a Sanity attack against it.
Sometimes when you defeat your opponent, you do something other than inflicting damage. For
instance, you might be able to steal an item (see "Special Attacks," below).
Monsters are only stunned when you defeat them, not killed, unless a haunt specifies otherwise
(see "How Monsters Work," page 18). You can attack a stunned monster if there's another benefit
from doing so (such as stealing an item from it or killing it with an special item). Stunned monsters
still roll dice to defend, but if the attacking hero loses, he or she takes no damage.
You can both make a haunt-specific action (as described in the haunt's rules) and attack on your turn.

Special Attacks
Distance Attacks: The Revolver's ability is an example of a distance attack. It allows you
to attack someone in another room within your line of sight—a path that leads through an
uninterrupted straight line of doors. You take no damage if the subject of your distance attack
defeats you. Some monsters can also make distance attacks.
Stealing Items: If you attack someone and inflict 2 or more points of physical damage, you
can steal a tradable item or omen instead of inflicting the damage. (The item's or omen's
card says if it can't be traded.) You can't steal an item or omen by making a distance attack.
Some haunts have special rules for stealing items.

The Haunt
Once the haunt begins, the game changes dramatically. Now it's a desperate struggle to win
before your opponent does!

Making a Haunt Roll
Before the haunt starts, you must roll 6 dice at the end of your turn each time you draw an
omen card. This is called a haunt roll. If you roll less than the total number of omen cards all
players have drawn this game, the haunt starts. The player who starts the haunt with this
roll is called the haunt revealer.
For example, if you draw an omen card on your turn, and it's the fifth omen card drawn
during the game, you need a result of 4 or less on your haunt roll to start the haunt.
After the haunt starts, if you discover a room with an omen symbol, you still draw and keep
an omen card, but you don't make a haunt roll.

Revealing the Haunt
When a player makes a haunt roll and starts the haunt, that player (the haunt revealer) will be given haunt chart on from first two pages of the Traitor's Tome booklet. The chart shows
which haunt has been revealed—and who is the traitor.

The chart lists omen cards across the top and rooms along the left side. Look at the name of
the omen card that was drawn before the haunt roll and the room that the haunt revealer's
explorer was in when the omen was drawn. Find the corresponding haunt number. This is
the haunt you're going to play.
The haunt's entry below the chart states which player becomes the traitor. The
Traitor's Tome will be given to that player. The haunt revealer is not necessarily the traitor.
The players controlling the traitor will get a new discord to discuss actions. All other discords used by the other characters will be moved into one discord for heroes.
Haunt Setup
Do the following at the start of the haunt.
• The traitor will be given the Traitor's Tome and gets a new discord server.
He or she reads only the haunt that is starting now. That
player also needs to know the rules described in "The
Traitor's New Powers" and "How Monsters Work"
• The rest of the players become heroes. They will be given their own discord chat. They look up the
haunt with the same number in Secrets of Survival and
read it together. (The heroes should also briefly discuss
their plan for survival.)
Everyone will then get 48 hours to plan a strategy and to understand their haunt.
• When everyone is ready (including the traitor), the
Game will resume.
The heroes and the traitor do
anything the haunt tells them to do in the "Right Now"
section. (For example, sometimes you'll have to put tokens
in the house or draw cards.)

Heroes and Secrets
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Don't tell the traitor what your goals are, unless you're sure
he or she already knows them or you're doing something
required by the haunt. Sometimes you have an advantage
over the traitor because that player doesn't know what you're
trying to do. You can still play these haunts again and again
after you know how they work, but until then, the heroes
shouldn't disclose the Secrets of Survival for their haunt.
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Playing the Haunt
The first turn always starts with the player to the traitor's left and goes clockwise (next to
the left away from the traitor). Each of the heroes takes a hero turn. After each hero has
taken a turn, the traitor takes his or her traitor turn. After the traitor's turn, any monsters
controlled by the traitor get a monster turn. (This means that the traitor gets two turns: one
for his or her actions and one for the monsters.) Then the first hero to the left of the traitor
takes a turn, and so on.
The heroes and traitor are all still explorers. They can do the same things they did before
the haunt was revealed, except they don't make further haunt rolls (even if one of them
draws an omen card). The traitor has to tell the heroes what he or she is doing each turn,
but not why; the same condition applies to the heroes.

After the haunt begins, explorers can die.
If any of your explorer's four traits moves down
to the skull symbol , then that explorer dies.
Sometimes during a haunt, a hero's "death"
turns that explorer into a traitor instead. Certain haunts require something to be done a
number of times equal to the number of explorers. That number includes any explorers
who died.
Sometimes the traitor is transformed or otherwise disposed of at the start of the haunt,
but the traitor still gets a turn after all the heroes do. Even if the traitor dies, as long as
the monsters can complete the haunt's goals, the monsters still get their turn (under the
traitor's control).
During a haunt, if someone in the house makes a Knowledge roll to learn something and
succeeds, all the other heroes learn that information as well.

Moving Past Opponents
For each opponent in a room with it after the haunt starts, an explorer or monster must use
1 extra space of movement to leave that room. (Heroes slow down the traitor and monsters,
and vice versa.)
No matter how many penalties you have on a turn, you can always move at least 1 space.
This is also true if a monster rolls a 0 for movement (see "How Monsters Work,").
Stunned monsters don't slow an explorer's movement in this way

The Traitor's New Powers
When your explorer becomes a traitor, if you are being impeded by a previously drawn
event card (such as the Debris or Webs), you are freed from that effect. In addition, you can
use the following abilities (unless a haunt says otherwise).
• You can use any beneficial text on a room tile while ignoring any harmful text. You
can pass through the Revolving Wall without rolling. You can choose where the Mystic
Elevator goes when you use it. You still slide to the Basement Landing when you move
onto the Coal Chute.
• You can choose not to be affected by an event card or the Bite omen card. If you
choose to be affected by a card, you do so after reading it but before making any rolls or
doing any other action stated on the card. You then have to accept the result of any rolls
or penalties.
• After you finish your turn, you move and attack with all of the monsters, if any. Even
if the traitor dies, you still control the monsters. (In some haunts, the monsters are still
able to complete a haunt's goals after the traitor is dead.)

How Monsters Work
Monsters behave a little differently than explorers do. All of the following rules are in effect
unless a haunt says otherwise. Each monster moves and takes all its actions before the next
one goes.
• Monsters move differently. At the start of a monster's turn, roll a number of dice equal
to its Speed. The result is the number of spaces that monster can move that turn. For
groups of the same type of monster (Bats or Zombies, for instance), just roll once for the
whole group. Each monster of that type can move that many spaces that turn.
• Most monsters can't be killed. If a monster would take any damage, it is stunned and
misses its next turn. When a monster is stunned, its token will be flipped over to the side with the
"S." At the end of the monster's next turn, flip it back. Stunned monsters can't slow an
explorer's movement. Even if a haunt says to do something other than stun monsters
when they take damage, they can still be stunned by effects that specifically
stun monsters.
• Like explorers, a monster can attack only once during its turn. Monsters often use
traits other than Might to attack. They can't make any of the special attacks listed on
page 13 (unless a haunt says otherwise).

Like the traitor, monsters can ignore any harmful text on a room tile. A monster still
slides to the Basement Landing when it moves onto the Coal Chute. It can pass through
the Revolving Wall without rolling. Monsters can freely move up or down from the Coal
Chute and Collapsed Room, and they can climb up to the Gallery. However, monsters
cannot benefit from text on a room tile that increases a trait (such as the Larder or
Gymnasium).
• Monsters can use the special movement options described on cards (such as the
Secret Stairs and Secret Passage).
• Monsters can't explore new rooms.
• Monsters can't carry items (unless the haunt says otherwise). If a monster that
is allowed to carry items is stunned, it drops all items; place an Item Pile token in
the room. The monster can't pick up the items until it has a turn in which it is no
longer stunned.
• If a monster gets stuck in the basement with no way to reach the heroes, on the traitor's
turn that player may search the room tiles for the Stairs From Basement tile and place
it next to any open basement doorway. (Shuffle the room stack afterward.) This rule
doesn't apply if the haunt allows monsters to explore new rooms.

Winning the Game
The first side (the traitor or the heroes) that completes its goals for the haunt wins
the game. A haunt's goal is described under "You Win When . . ." and doesn't necessarily
require killing the traitor or heroes.
At least one hero must survive for the heroes to win. However, some haunts' goals allow
the traitor to win the game even after he or she dies. For instance, the monsters that player
controls might be able to win without the traitor's help.
When one side completes its goals for the haunt, the "If You Win" section will be given.

Each character has a second variation. When picking a character only one variation is picked.
Darrin "Flash"Williams and Ox Bellows

Ox Bellows
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 5
Sanity: 3
Knowledge: 3

Darrin "Flash" Williams
Starting Stats:
Speed: 6
Might: 3
Sanity: 3
Knowledge: 3

Heather Granville and Jenny LeClerc

Heather Granville
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 3
Sanity: 3
Knowledge: 5

Jenny LeClerc
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 4
Sanity: 4
Knowledge: 3

Zoe Ingstrom and Missy Dubourde

Zoe Ingstrom
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 3
Sanity: 5
Knowledge: 3

Missy Dubourde
Starting Stats:
Speed: 5
Might: 3
Sanity: 3
Knowledge: 4

Professor Longfellow and Father Rhinehardt

Professor Longfellow
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 3
Sanity: 3
Knowledge: 5

Father Rhinehardt
Starting Stats:
Speed: 3
Might: 2
Sanity: 6
Knowledge: 4

Madame Zostra and Vivian Lopez

Madame Zostra
Starting Stats:
Speed: 3
Might: 4
Sanity: 4
Knowledge: 4

Vivian Lopez
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 2
Sanity: 4
Knowledge: 5


Peter Akimoto and Brandon Jaspers

Peter Akimoto
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 3
Sanity: 4
Knowledge: 4

Brandon Jaspers
Starting Stats:
Speed: 4
Might: 4
Sanity: 4
Knowledge: 3