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+--- Thread: AToE vs Mansions of Madness (/Thread-AToE-vs-Mansions-of-Madness)
AToE vs Mansions of Madness - wisdomknight - 08-23-2012 08:10 PM
I apologize if there is a thread or link in regards to this but...
Could someone who has played both games give me a Pros/Cons list of AToE vs Mansions of Madness?
I can only afford one. I will be playing with 5 people (incluing my 3 teen kids). My two girls seem a bit bored with LNoE as the combat is taking way too long and really drags the excitement of the game down.
Thanks.
RE: AToE vs Mansions of Madness - mqstout - 08-23-2012 09:16 PM
ATOE: Better as a competitive game than a cooperative game.
MoM: Strictly a cooperative game.
ATOE: Decent chance of anyone winning.
MoM: (especially with expansions) the keeper wins, the heroes lose, most of the time unless they exploit a cheese tactic. ("For the Cthonic feel.")
ATOE: Colonial setting.
MoM: Early 20th Century setting.
ATOE: Easier to broaden the theme and feeling.
MoM: Fixed in the Cthonic.
ATOE: Far easier to mod/custom than MoM (except... fixed board)
MoM: Difficult to make custom cards (many double side cards and different card sizes) and each scenario requires a good bit of content -- but the board is itself made of modular pieces to lay out.
ATOE: The villain is scripted.
MoM: The villain is a player.
ATOE: Almost each time you search/interact, something happens.
MoM: A lot of search results will be "nothing of interest".
ATOE: Much broader cast of characters. Each character is quite varied.
MoM: Small cast of characters who seem to stagnate faster (depending on what items you get during play), despite each character having a few permutations.
ATOE takes a bit longer than MoM to play; though setting up MoM takes far longer.
Overall, I do like both. They do play quite differently though. MoM is frantic and usually requires you not to deviate from the path. ATOE builds tension over time and rewards exploration. I prefer ATOE.
(08-23-2012 08:10 PM)wisdomknight Wrote: I can only afford one. I will be playing with 5 people (incluing my 3 teen kids). My two girls seem a bit bored with LNoE as the combat is taking way too long and really drags the excitement of the game down.
Combat in ATOE can take even longer than LNOE -- especially when battling the big bad. But each side is often rolling a whole handful of dice, which can be exhilarating. Combat in MoM is funky and uses a unified mechanic with other actions, but requires repeated card drawing. That said, combat is rarer in MoM. For many characters and scenarios, if you're needing combat, you're playing wrong.
As a side note, both games have strong female protagonists that might be good for the teenage girls.
How are your kids with reading and comprehension? MoM has a pretty strong component of that (verbal clues in the story blurbs) that's quite important to successful play. Depending on ages (you say only "teen"), MoM contains a bit more a mature content.
The rules, I would say, are easier and more straightforward in MoM than ATOE --if that is a concern.
RE: AToE vs Mansions of Madness - wisdomknight - 08-23-2012 09:50 PM
Wow mqStout!
Thats very helpful and one hell of a comparison.
My kids are quite bright and love to figure things out.
I think less combat and more thinking might be better suited to us.
Not sure as I love customiztion possibilities as wll.