Well, I played my second game of MoM Saturday. There were 5 investigators and me as the Keeper (first time as Keeper). We played scenario #2.

First, the game still seemed to play just fine with 5 investigators. I did not change anything or use any different rules, since I figured the scaling threat was probably enough. It certainly seemed to be.

Second, I crushed the investigators. I felt bad, because although there were some fun moments, they didn't really DO anything. I know a lot of that was their fault, but I'm not sure how good an impression the game made on them.

With that in mind, I was trying to figure out where the investigators went wrong, and what would have made the game play more balanced. I came up with a few ideas, and then realized these probably apply to most every scenario. Thus, I figured an "investigator tips" topic would be appropriate and useful.

So, please, feel free to add tips to this thread to help the investigators out!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tips & Tricks

1) Find out what action cards the Keeper has and what they do. Ask them to be passed around if need be. Knowing what the Keeper can defninitely do each round will help you know what to watch for.

2) Pay close attention to ALL of the clues that are read. This includes the initial introduction at the start of the scenario. Ask him to repeat it if necessary or you forget. These clues/readings will direct you to where the next clue is. Which leads to the next tip #3 ...

3) Clues are *very* important. As far as I can tell, it is always (or at least almost always) better for the investigators to uncover the clues before certain events are revealed, and often before the last event card is revealed too. Sometimes a win condition is having revealed all clues when the final objective is revealed (ie, if the last clue is revealed before the last event, the investigators win, and such). So, the investigators should try to reveal as many clues as possible as quickly as possible. See #2, pay attention to where to go for the next clue.

4) Obstacles and Locked rooms tend to have clues or special objects in them (but not always). Rooms with a single card *might* have a random object. If there is a single card, only move there and explore if you don't have something better to do (like head to a clue location) or no one/nothing needs you at that moment. More often than not, a single card will be a "Nothing of Interest", so even the extra movement from Running to the next clue is more worthwhile (than picking up the card) most of the time.

5) Pay attention to what the Keeper is doing. This is especially true if the Keeper is moving monsters in a way such as to avoid the investigators, grouping monsters up, or moving monsters to one particular location. Often this is an indication of the Keeper trying to fulfill his victory objective. In that case, you'll probably need to spare folks to stop or delay the monsters.

6) Stay grouped up. Monsters take more than 1 hit (usually) to kill. The Keeper sometimes can spawn Maniacs/monsters on lone investigators. The Investigators can in general advance faster, and solve puzzles faster, as a group than being spread out. Since clues, other than the first one, seems to require a key from the previous clue location, heading to the 'next' clue before getting the current clue is usually worthless since whoever is at the previous clue (carrying the key/password) needs to leg it to the lock/obstacle for the new clue to open it. I would suggest a maximum of 2 groups ... a clue-finding group and a monster hunting/killing group, if you feel like you even need two groups.

I disagree with your tips and tricks #1. When I played the first game yesterday I said to the players if you want a fun and enjoyable game don't look at the Keeper's cards. Find out what tricks I have when they occur in game. That made the game a lot more enjoyable for both sides of the table.

I can certainly agree it can be more interesting and "fun" not knowing what the Keeper can do. I agree that, at least for your first few times playing, keeping them unknown is probably "best" purely for the novelty of it. This list was more intended to assist investigators with winning/performing better if they are having difficulty.

One suggestion I would add is have all players of the game read the rules. One of the most frustrating things as a gamer in other groups is not knowing the rules. It's nice to have the Keeper (who is probably the one who read the rules because he's the Keeper) telling everyone else who is new to the game how to play, but then that limits them. Unless you have photographic memory, the Investigators will be asking a plethora of questions and not be able to truly act independently as a team. Not knowing how a card works is fine, but if you have no idea what each trait is good for in the game, or any idea what abilities are available to you, it makes it a cake walk for the Keeper half the time.

Read the rules, it's the reason PDF's are on this site and a great load of fun for everyone who knows how to play.

We've found after playing three times is that not only having a tank person but having he or she weaponed up is so vital, it can be the difference between even finishing.