Alright. I played MoM when it first came out and loved it. I picked it up. My wife and I both love Arkham Horror and lovecraft stuff.

After playing and running a demo on the demo day, I took the game home and attempted to run the game for my wife and another couple. Being the most experienced with the set-up and mechanics of the game, I played the Keeper to try to get the game to run smoothly.

It did run smoothly, but I think I ran the wrong scenario (I don't recall which one it was, it was a while ago). It seemed to be biased in favor of the Keeper, and the players felt very frustrated. My wife hates the game after that one play, and the other players weren't too thrilled with it either.

I'd like to get them to retry the game. One option, is to have one of the other players play the Keeper, to see if it was just my being experienced with the game. Optimally, however, I'd like to find a good scenario or two. Obviously, it should have a good story. Also, especially for the first game, a scenario that might be biased/easier for the Investigators.

Any suggestions? I only have the base game, but I am willing to try a fan-made/online scenario if there is better to be had there.

Thanks

In my experience, it's not the scenario that favors the keeper or the investigators, but the option you choose for clue #1. It seems that every scenario could favor one way or the other, or be pretty balanced, depending on which option you choose. I would recommend that, as the keeper, if you are forced to play with people that only play games to win and not for the challenge or the company of friends, you study out each option and find the most balanced choice or the option that will favor them. With those kinds of gaming groups, sometimes you have to bottlefeed them to keep them interested.

Hmm. Don't get me wrong, the other players aren't playing "to win". However, as I recall, the game was very lopsided and they didn't feel like they had a chance to win the scenario. It wasn't about winning, per se, but about feeling like the game could be close. Honestly, most games seem to be "more fun" if you can win it a few times early on.

That's why I was hoping there might be a scenario that is more difficult for the Keeper. I don't want to throw the game to let them win, because that won't be fun either.

Well, as I said, I think any scenario could be weighted either way depending on the clues you choose, so just read the objective cards while choosing and pick which ones you think might provide a better chance to the investigators.

If I recall, the very first scenario "Fall of House Lynch" has 2 objectives that favor the investigators and 1 that favors the keeper. 1A and 1C both favor the investigators, with 1C being the easier of the 2 (for the invs).

If you want a bit more challenging scenario, "Classroom Curses" can be a bit more challenging (even though the keeper doesn't get many monsters). 1A takes a good balance for investigators and keeper, 1B favors the investigators a bit, and 1C somewhat favors the keeper.

Those are the only scenarios that I've played multiple games on and can offer any experience from. Most of the games I've played, particularly from the expansions, seem to be well balanced. I've played several nail-biting games where victory for the investigators or the keeper literally came down to a single dice roll on the very last turn. Exciting!