I've been playing MOM for awhile now. Got the 2nd edition for Christmas 2016 and added all the expansions at Christmas 2017.

Today I decided to try an interesting Mansions challenge - play Cycle of Eternity solo as the private eye (Joe Diamond) as the scenario reads. Just something I thought of this morning, but I'm sure it's been done by plenty of other people as well.

****Spolier Warning****

Got the following as my starting equipment: Brass Knuckles, Holy Water, Kerosene Lantern, Whiskey, and Implant Suggestion spell. Talk about lucky - a good weapon and things to help reduce my horror! Since Implant Suggestion gives another investigator an action and I was playing solo, that didn't fit the scenario. So I swapped it for Arcane Insight as I thought that was the most thematic of all the available spells.

I had originally been thinking I needed to have a gun in my starting equipment, but I was quite happy getting the Brass Knuckles instead.

The game was nice and gave me an alternate map and different monsters to fight - picking some from the expansions as well as some of the default creatures.

Since I was playing solo, all the monsters had strength where they could be possibly be killed in a single attack - humans at 2HP, non-humans and boss at 4HP. The extra dice from the Brass Knuckles definitely helped, along with a well-timed use of Kerosene Lantern on an attack where I threw only searches and blanks on the dice. I was able to kill all but 1 monster I faced all game with a single attack.

I figured with playing solo I didn't have time to look around too much so after saving Eugene, I did just what he told me - solve a puzzle in a bedroom to get a key that unlocks West door where Vanderbilt had been taken to save him. While I was looking around, the Mythos phases and a Dark Druid were able to put a couple damage and horror on me. From different effects, I kept flipping up both damage and horror that kept making me discard clues tokens - limiting my use of Joe's ability. After losing 2 clues that I spent actions on to acquire through Arcane Insight, I finally decided to go on without clues.

While exploring, I did make one misplay where I was told the key was in a puzzle box in Vanderbilt's bedroom. The first bedroom I found was not ornately decorated, so I thought that was Eugene's room and didn't explore it - but I was wrong. That misplay cost me 2 additional turns exploring before I realized my mistake and backtracked. Once I got the key and opened the door to find Vanderbilt was not a prisoner but actually taking part in the ritual, he summoned 3 Deep Ones to keep me busy while he completed the ritual. Luckily I was able to take care of Vandy and his Witch before the Deep Ones got to me. But not before taking damage and going insane - even after using my Whiskey. I pulled Arcane Aspirations as my insanity condition. Since I had the spell from my starting inventory, I was safe there.

In the end I was able to stop all the baddies, disrupt the ritual, and escape with the evidence - not quite wounded but insane and with nearly enough followup horror to go completely nuts. Some lucky rolls, a few horror and damage effects that let me discard some of the cards I drew, a well-timed Righteous condition I was able to hold for 2 turns, and some good starting equipment were what made it possible to win the game.

I've played Cycle of Eternity several times - winning most but losing occasionally. Playing solo with just the character inferred in the description was one of the more fun games of MOM I have played recently. I will probably try this again sometime in the near future.

Lee

This is great! I like seeing other people's games. I've yet to get (or see) Joe Diamond on the table.

Question: Did you have to pick a second Investigator at the 'Choose Investigator' screen and just ignore that Investigator throughout the game as though it didn't exist?

I play the game on my iPad. I don't know if it works on other platforms, but it is possible to get the game to work with just a single investigator in that version - it takes a few steps though. Pick 'New Game' and select the scenario you want to play, then pick 'Select Investigators'. After you pick a single investigator, you cannot click on Gain Starting Items to continue. Pick 'Return to Scenario Selection' and 'Return to Main Menu' to go back to the initial screen. Pick 'New Game' again and select the scenario and pick 'Select Investigators' again. This time after you pick single investigator, you can pick Gain Starting Items and advance into the game.

I stumbled across this by mistake, but it always works for me on my iPad.

I actually wish the game would just let you advance to the Gain Starting Items screen after picking a single investigator. The game is supposed to be for 1-5 investigators, so I'm not sure why it is so difficult to get the game to allow you to play solo.

Sure I'll play a game on my own, but I'll usually pick 3 investigators when I do that. I think I've only tried playing with just a single investigator 3 times now. I would guess most missions played with a single investigator are going to fail. I think I just got lucky. One of my friends has gotten through Vengeful Impulses and Cult on Sentinel Hill with 1 investigator. I've been considering trying Ill Fated Exhibit solo for a real challenge. I can't win most 5-star scenarios with a teams of 4 or 5 investigators. Why not try it with just 1 to see if that improves my chances.

17 minutes ago, Spike IT said:

Pick 'New Game' and select the scenario you want to play, then pick 'Select Investigators'. After you pick a single investigator, you cannot click on Gain Starting Items to continue. Pick 'Return to Scenario Selection' and 'Return to Main Menu' to go back to the initial screen. Pick 'New Game' again and select the scenario and pick 'Select Investigators' again. This time after you pick single investigator, you can pick Gain Starting Items and advance into the game.

Oh wow, it worked! I run it on an iPad mini normally and what you described above worked. Tested it on the iPhone too, and... success! It's like a super-secret solo challenge mode! (Well, not-so-secret now).

22 minutes ago, Spike IT said:

Pick 'New Game' and select the scenario you want to play, then pick 'Select Investigators'. After you pick a single investigator, you cannot click on Gain Starting Items to continue. Pick 'Return to Scenario Selection' and 'Return to Main Menu' to go back to the initial screen. Pick 'New Game' again and select the scenario and pick 'Select Investigators' again. This time after you pick single investigator, you can pick Gain Starting Items and advance into the game.

Glad it worked for you. I'm curious to see if it works on Android and Steam platforms now.

2 hours ago, Spike IT said:

Glad it worked for you. I'm curious to see if it works on Android and Steam platforms now.

Just tried it on Steam. - Works just like you described it. Nice find.

On 2/25/2018 at 2:14 AM, Spike IT said:

I actually wish the game would just let you advance to the Gain Starting Items screen after picking a single investigator. The game is supposed to be for 1-5 investigators, so I'm not sure why it is so difficult to get the game to allow you to play solo.

Well, the box does say 1-5 players, but it says if playing solo to pick 2 investigators. Good find on the glitch though! i wonder what math it applies to the monster power and countdown timer, if it uses 1 or is 2 the base value for calculations.