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A while back, one of my gaming group buddies brought in Mansions of Madness. I instantly fell in love with the game. (Last Night On Earth is still my favorite, and probably always will be, but I loved this game too.)

So, later it would turn out that he was looking to sell it. He loves it too, but just doesn't really get much of a chance to play it. So, he wanted to sell it, and since he knew I wanted it, he figured selling it to me would be ideal because then he could still get to play it. So, I have started to read through the rules.

GOOD GRAVY! If you thought the rulebooks for Flying Frog games were long, you should see this thing! The rulebook itself is just as long.... but then the flip side (printed upside down on the other side so you read them as separate rulebooks) is almost as long and contains the Investigator guide, which basically gives more specifics to how to play as the heroes, which in this game are the "Investigators." But, not only that... but there is also a whole separate Keeper guide, which goes into detail for the person playing as the bad guy (they control all the monsters, as well as a lot of the bad stuff that happens, set up things you have to find on the board, etc.)

So, I am starting to read through it now, but as you can imagine, that is A LOT of information all at once.

Can anybody suggest a good YouTube tutorial?

Or, heck, I'd even accept a more condensed version of the rules that I can refer to in order to remember how to play the game after digesting each of the massive rulebooks.

I will keep an eye out, I've heard good things about this game and the other games that take place in that universe...the ony downside I keep hearing is the fact it takes forever to setup and the instructions are crazy long.

I've always liked the Watch It Played series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ_fNdICf...70723F98E4

Thanks, D3adSt1ck. I saw those, but was a little put off by how long they were, and that there were so many. Not really all that much better than reading three massive rulebooks. LOL! But, since you recommend them, I will give them a shot anyway after I get through the rulebooks. May help to have a few videos to reiterate what I read, since there is so much to it.

(08-13-2013 02:52 AM)SoCalRMD Wrote: [ -> ]I will keep an eye out, I've heard good things about this game and the other games that take place in that universe...the ony downside I keep hearing is the fact it takes forever to setup and the instructions are crazy long.

Thanks. Let me know if you see anything you suggest. I absolutely loved the game when we played it, so I can definitely say from experience that it is worth going through all the motions to learn the game, and study through those long as Hell rulebooks. But, that doesn't change the fact that I can't help but honestly feel it is just a tad bit ridiculous. I mean, if I hadn't already played the game and therefore knew it was awesome, and/or the whole horror theme wasn't so up my ally, I would be tempted to say forget it! I mean, the rulebooks for LNOE and ATOE were long, but not so long that it made me almost not want to bother. But, this is just ridiculous.

Hopefully those videos are good, because if not I will probably have to go through all the rulebooks at least two or three times just to get it. There is just so much to it.

Normally StayPuft the first video or two is how to play and set up and the remainder of the videos for WatchITPlayed are the actual play through they do if you wanna see the rules in action.

Yeah, Rodney does a really good job with explaining the rules so the first video is probably a must watch if you wanted an overview of how the game is played. The others in the series are generally the actual game being played - in this case, its a Play by Forum.

So, actually good news on two fronts. First, you guys were correct. Of those videos, the first was where he gave an overview of the rules. So actually very helpful.

The other good news, today I finished the first rulebook, and then went to take a look at the flip side (the Invesitgators' Guide) and the separate Keeper's Guide. Turns out, those basically just have the specifics to each scenario. In other words, it is sort of like the scenario cards in Last Night On Earth, except that there are a lot more details, so they are instead inside of a rulebook. So, you don't actually need to read them until you play, and then you only need to read the specific scenario.

Though, the first page of each was helpful in understanding how the guides work. So, anyway, that was a big relief. Discovering that, it actually isn't too bad. So, I think it will be easy enough to pick up once I get a chance to play it again. Which I am actually probably going to be doing tomorrow with my best friend.

That's great to hear, good luck and let us know how it goes. I will be playing Betrayal in the house on the hill for the first time this weekend.

My friend and I played it this past weekend. GOOD GOD is that game confusing. But, I can say this...

I have played some games that have been so confusing they left me never even wanting to SEE the game again, much less ever play it again. This was NOT like that. It was confusing as Hell, and wound up taking us way too long to play just because of having to figure everything out, and then constantly look stuff up. But, we definitely both loved it and want to play again. And it really isn't all that difficult, it is just that there is so much to it, and so much to figure out. The next time we play, it probably won't take nearly as long, and it should be a lot of fun.