I'm debating on whether or not to spend the enormous $80 to play this game, but I have some trepidations.

Supposedly the board is set up prior to the actual game, revealing all objective locations and important areas in the house, etc. Is it possible to play without setting up the board beforehand? My players enjoy the act of actual exploration aka, revealing tiles as they go, and I think revealing important locations right off the bat could really ruin the experience for them.

Secondly, how easy would it be to create custom content? For example, if I wanted to replace one of the pre-built wire puzzles with one of my own design, would it be as easy as just replacing it? Will the game be horrible ruined by doing this?

Lastly, I would really like to play this game with a more role playing mentality, with less of a focus on the competition between Keeper and Investigators. I'd rather fluff some rules and allow everyone to have fun then to necessary go out trying to murder all of my players. Is this possible without diminishing the integrity of the game?

I appreciate any answers.

I also have an issue with the idea that the Keeper must reveal his abilities. This seems to remove much of the anticipation and fear from the Investigators if they know how the Keeper is going to attack them. Once again, can the game be played in an alternate way as to not reveal everything to the players right off the bat? Why should the Investigators know that if they enter X room then the Keeper can harass them with Y?

Bloodtyrant said:

Sure. There's a starting position so just place them in the starting position. It will take some Keeper bookKeeping to keep everything straight.

Wire puzzles: They puzzles are rather simple and really meant to take time up for those with lesser Intellect. Time is a very important commodity in this game and so everything you do to take up their turns will work the detriminent of someone (maybe even the The Keeper.)

Murdering Players is against the law. Murdering all investigators is pretty difficult and hardly efficient though offing 1 or 2 can be fun and might be part of the some of the goals. So no, won't ruin the integrity of the game. There is even an alternate ending rule to make the the game ever so slightly longer.

Is it possible to play without setting up the board beforehand?

Well, it could be possible, but it would make the game much much more difficult for the investigators, as well as much more work for the Keeper.
First of all, the clues tell the investigators where to go. The investigators need to discover the clues as quickly as possible for the most part. So, if a clue points to "the master bedroom" the investigators will be penalized if they don't know where the master bedroom is on the board. Honestly, the game seems diffiult enough for the investigators. I wouldn't recommend changing this. The game is designed and balanced so that the investigators can see the board and where the monsters are (and where the monsters are coming from and going to, which can be important).

Additionally, the Keeper will be spawning or moving monsters in rooms other than where the investigators are. The Keeper will need some way to track these monsters and which spaces they are in.

Secondly, how easy would it be to create custom content? For example, if I wanted to replace one of the pre-built wire puzzles with one of my own design, would it be as easy as just replacing it? Will the game be horrible ruined by doing this?

It seems like it will be very easy to create your own scenarios, as well as puzzles.

Lastly, I would really like to play this game with a more role playing mentality, with less of a focus on the competition between Keeper and Investigators. I'd rather fluff some rules and allow everyone to have fun then to necessary go out trying to murder all of my players. Is this possible without diminishing the integrity of the game?

It's certainly possible. After all, as the Keeper you get to choose what actions you take and what cards you play. You can go as easy or as hard on the investigators as you want.

Bloodtyrant said:

The keeper has plenty of mythos cards and trauma cards to keep the investigators guessing, since those cards are hidden. Only the "Basic" cards are visible to the investigators. All of those are pretty much agnostic as far as locations. Also, just because you know what the Keeper *can* do does not mean that you know what the Keeper *will* do.

Try these:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/64665/exploration-tokens

Also, to be noticed, that, as in Descent, some of the scenario prologue actually told the investigators they are given a map of the house. And some of the "house" should have floormap on the wall...