Line #49 TabletopGame/BetrayalAtHouseOnTheHill


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7	''Betrayal at House on the Hill'' is a unique {{Adventure Board Game\|s}} published in 2004 by Creator/AvalonHill, with a second edition released in 2010 and a third edition in 2022. Three to six players take the roles of various character archetypes, such as a {{J\|erkJock}}ock, a FinalGirl, a [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Professor]], a FortuneTeller, a [[AmbiguousInnocence seemingly sweet little girl or a curious young boy]]... Each miniature has two different 'characters' attached to it, such as the Scientist doubling as a PreacherMan. Whatever their role, the cast find themselves trapped inside a haunted mansion and set out to explore.
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9	Gameplay involves the ProceduralGeneration of the mansion, which is created by drawing and placing random rooms. Rooms can contain items, shortcuts, and Omens. Omens can be items, new partners, or special events, but force the player to roll six dice. If the roll is lower than the total number of Omens, the Haunt begins: the Mansion's terrible secret is revealed -- and one of the heroes [[FaceHeelTurn turns on the rest]]. This too is procedurally generated, depending on the Omen which led to the die roll and the room in which it occurred. A wide variety of scenarios are included with the game -- players can end up facing {{Giant Spider}}s, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]], {{W\|olfman}}erewolves and other monsters, or find themselves playing ChessWithDeath, [[IncredibleShrinkingMan suddenly shrinking]], or dealing with the house flooding or collapsing into a UsefulNotes/{{Black Hole\|s}}. And since the house is built anew every time you play, every game is a different adventure.
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11	An expansion titled [[http://avalonhill.wizards.com/games/betrayal-at-house-on-the-hill/widows-walk-expansion Widow's Walk]] was released in October 2016. Additionally, spin-offs have been released, such as a ''Franchise/BaldursGate''-branded version entitled ''Betrayal at Baldur's Gate'' released in 2017, a Legacy version called ''Betrayal Legacy'' released in 2018 and a LighterAndSofter ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' version called ''Betrayal at Mystery Mansion'' released in 2020. An expansion for the 3rd edition called ''The Werewolf’s Journey: Blood on the Moon'' released in late 2022 containing a new scenario with 5 more haunts, a couple of new rooms, new item and event cards and a unique new player character: Sara Nguyen that has special abilities during haunts. ''The Yuletide Tale – Evil Reigns in the Wynter's Pale'' a special ChristmasEpisode expansion was later released for the 3rd edition in late 2023.
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13	----
14	!! ''Betrayal at House on the Hill'' provides examples of:
15
16	* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: One ''Widow's Walk'' haunt, "No Noose is Good News", has the heroes play a deadly game of Hangman against the traitor, who has been possessed by the spirit of an Old West hangman.
17	* AlienGeometries:
18	** One of the easier ways to explain the Mystic Elevator. Especially if there are secret stairs connecting to it. You can even fall through the floor of the Collapsed Room into the Mystic Elevator, even if the Mystic Elevator later moves to an upper floor.
19	** In the 1st edition, the sunken lake could only be found on the upper levels, never the basement. Sadly, this was fixed in the 2nd edition.
20	** Not to mention the rooms you can move between. The Gallery and Ballroom could be on opposite sides of the house, but nevertheless you can fall from the Gallery to the Ballroom.
21	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', the Porch tile always connects directly to the front steps no matter how far away it's placed from the entrance.
22	* AlienInvasion: In "Lost", the traitor is an alien researcher who had disguised itself as human in order to then transport the rest of the explorers back to its home dimension for further study.
23	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', one of the chapters has aliens invading the house. What purpose they're there for depends on the specific haunt triggered.
24	* AllJustADream: The traitor in [[spoiler:"Here There Be Dragons"]] thinks they're dreaming, and so isn't worried about killing their friends. They'll just wake up afterward, right? ...right?
25	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The vast majority of monsters, and possibly one of your allies, though it depends on the haunt.
26	* AmbiguousInnocence:
27	** That [[ChildrenAreInnocent teddy-bear toting girl]] might turn out to be in league with the minions of hell.
28	** The "Missy Dubourde" version of the little girl character already vivisects frogs for fun, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the manual]].
29	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The 3rd edition of the game adds new features that rectify some of the issues that the previous editions had:
30	** At the start of the game, the players choose a scenario (the reason why their characters are in the House on the Hill), which helps prevent them from playing the same haunt again.
31	** If a player is selected as traitor but the rules are too complex for them or they are new, there are rules for a "reluctant traitor" that allows them to pass on the role to another player that volunteers.
32	** A haunt can only begin if a player rolls a 5 or more in a haunt roll, and the number of dice (which are numbered 0-2) increases with each omen discovered, starting from one die, thus a haunt will only be possible upon finding 3 or more omens.
33	** Your movement stops when you discover a room allowing you to experience an event or pick up items meaning that there will be enough items when the haunt begins.
34	* ArtifactOfDoom: Any of the non-sentient Omen cards has the potential to be one.
35	** The Helm relic in ''Betrayal Legacy''. It initially seems to be a benevolent artifact, giving each player one free reroll per game and a massive trait boost for anyone who completes a row on it, but each completed row also comes with an ominous message about ''something'' sinister [[SealedEvilInACan sealed inside or connected to the Helm]] that's gradually breaking free and filling up the Helm entirely causes bad things to happen.
36	* AsymmetricMultiplayer: The player who turns traitor often has completely different objectives and gameplay than the remaining heroes. For example, the traitor will sometimes play as a different monster with unique stats, while the heroes have to work together to kill the traitor.
37	* BadassPreacher: In the right scenario, Father Rhinehart is distilled badass.
38	* TheBadGuyWins: Any game in which the Traitor succeeds. Given that the Traitor is typically buffed to ridiculous levels over the heroes, this is quite likely.
39	* BaitAndSwitch: In ''Betrayal Legacy'' the family cards show the years in which the chapters take place, one of which is 1947. [[spoiler: This is the year of the Roswell incident in real life, which leads savvy players to expect that's when it or something like it will occur. However, the alien haunt (one of which is even named "Roswell") occurs the following chapter, set in 1969.]]
40	* BigBad: The player who ends up as the traitor becomes the de facto BigBad.
41	* BigCreepyCrawlies: One haunt involves giant critters.
42	* BlobMonster: One of the several possible scenarios.
43	* BodyHorror:
44	** A possibility at the end - and sometimes even the start - of some haunts.
45	** Special mention goes to "The Worm Ouroboros", [[spoiler:where part of the traitor's transformation involves their skull splitting in half.]]
46	* BookcasePassage: Several are possible depending on Event cards drawn. How useful they are depends on the ingenuity of the players and occasionally results of dice rolls.
47	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Several Haunts reveal that the traitor is brainwashed. Some even allow him to brainwash others.
48	* CanineCompanion:
49	** One of the omens that can be encountered is a stray dog that will follow and obey the hero who finds it. [[spoiler: Subverted if it triggers the Werewolf scenario, as it will instantly ally itself with the Werewolf.]]
50	** The ''Widow's Walk'' expansion adds a cat who can [[CatStereotype influence your luck]] with a dice roll.
51	** ''Betrayal Legacy'' has several animal companions available in different chapters, including a dog that can carry items between players similar to the original game's Dog omen and a bloodhound that harms you every time you discover a new tile with its symbol on it.
52	** And of course, the ''Betrayal at Mystery Manor'' edition has Franchise/ScoobyDoo himself.
53	* CatsAreMean:
54	** That darn cat during the shrinking haunt "Small Change" almost makes it {{Unwinnable}}.
55	** Any scenario involving a WickedWitch will also have [[AllWitchesHaveCats an equally wicked cat]].
56	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', one of the house's eventual inhabitants is a cat who's explicitly stated to have no interest in befriending you and won't respond to being called. [[ZigzaggedTrope However]], it ''is'' ultimately a helpful inhabitant as you gain 1 in a mental trait every time you discover a new tile with its symbol on it.
57	* ChekhovsHobby: Every character has hobbies listed on their character card. Each character is also scripted to be the traitor in certain scenarios, ''because'' of their relevant hobbies.
58	** ''Betrayal Legacy'' gives each character an occupation card in later chapters. Some haunts determine the traitor based on who has a specific occupation.
59	* ChessWithDeath: "Checkmate" involves the characters being challenged to a chess game with Death, gradually killing them each time they lose. If no one's present to play with it at the beginning of Death's turn, the heroes automatically lose.
60	* ClosedCircle: The game states in a few haunts that the front door is locked.
61	* CreepyChild:
62	** What happens when one of the child characters becomes the traitor.
63	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', "His Name is Jonah" has the ghost of a little boy "play" with everyone and if they fail to keep him sufficiently entertained with games, he hurts them.
64	** ''Betrayal Legacy'' also has a little girl who shows up from time to time in the backstory and event cards, like appearing in a painting despite its creator not remembering painting her and manifesting as a ghostly apparition to the house's owners. [[spoiler:However, the final chapter reveals her to be an [[CreepyGood ultimately good]] being who helps the heroes defeat the TrueFinalBoss.]]
65	* CreepyBasement: The basement is the only floor where certain rooms such as the Catacombs, Crypt and Pentagram Room can be placed. You're also likely to be stuck there, unless you find the stairs or find some other way out by sheer chance.
66	* CreepyDoll: Of the voodoo variety in "Voodoo".
67	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', one of the omens is a porcelain doll that counts as a ghost on your tile during your turn. The same chapter that introduces this doll omen also has two possible doll-related haunts: "The Doll's Poppet" has the traitor summon an army of singing dolls to kill everyone else, and "A Growing Boy" has the traitor become obsessed with feeding the doll the blood of others until it grows strong enough to burrow underneath the house.
68	* CursedWithAwesome: "Death Doth Find Us All" subjects the heroes to RapidAging, which alter their stats continuously, usually to their detriment. But if you play as one of the children, the first few age-ups will actually improve your stats, improving your chances of winning. That said, it'll still be a BittersweetEnding at best.
69	* DamselInDistress: Some Haunts involve NPC victims that require [[EscortMission protection]]. Special mention goes to the Girl omen, who may need to be rescued from a mummy, swamp creature, or crazed bomb-making phantom.
70	* DidntThinkThisThrough: "The Abyss Gazes Back" involves the traitor attempting to send the house and everyone in it, including themself, to Hell. If they win, in the end text they realise too late that this probably wasn't such a good idea.
71	* DiscOneNuke: Certain items pair ''very'' well with certain heroes if they're lucky enough to encounter them early. Give the Revolver (which allows attacks to be made with Speed instead of Might) to [[MeaningfulName Darren "Flash" Williams]] or the Ring (which does the same with Sanity) to Father Rhinehart and watch the fun.
72	* TheDragon: In haunts where the traitor is not the BigBad, they're usually the next best thing.
73	* DumbwaiterRide: ''Widow's Walk'' adds dumbwaiters to a few of the room tiles, letting you get to the floor landings right above or below you for an extra movement space.
74	* DwindlingParty: Nearly every variety of the trope can happen unless the Heroes completely stomp the Traitor/achieve their goal quickly. Almost bound to happen in a game where the Traitor wins.
75	* EldritchAbomination: The GodOfEvil scenario mentioned below, and "Tentacled Horror" features some massive tentacled ''thing'' whose limbs extend throughout the house.
76	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', "The Elder Thing Comes" has the traitor trying to summon an Elder Thing that's none other than Cthulhu. If they succeed, the heroes are almost certainly hosed as they're in constant danger of taking damage just from ''[[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm looking]]'' at it.
77	* EldritchLocation:
78	** The titular house always has a random layout. And, of course, it almost always has the Mystic Elevator.
79	** The ulterior dimension with the poisonous atmosphere, trees resembling 'tubular horrors', discoloured sky, organ-come-teleporter, and toothy humanoid residents that the House moves to in the "Lost" scenario.
80	* EnfantTerrible: It's possible that a child character will end up as the Traitor.
81	* EvilTwin: "Fleshwalkers" creates doppelgangers of the Heroes, who will KillAndReplace their counterparts unless killed first. [[spoiler: The ending leaves it ambiguous whether the good counterpart or the evil one killed the other and survived.]]
82	* FaceHeelTurn: Everyone starts as a good guy until the Haunt, which turns one person into a traitor. There's a few that don't have anybody become a traitor, but they're very rare. Which Haunt is triggered is dependent on several factors, such as which room the Haunt was triggered in.
83	** Averted in the ironically named ''Betrayal at Mystery Mansion'' given the family-friendly nature. None of the Mystery Inc. gang ever turns traitor; they instead disappear in line with the shows just as the monster appears, or even stay in the game if an additional player takes on the role of the monster.
84	* FailedASpotCheck: Presumably being relatively new for a board game, there are a bunch of oversights in the rules.
85	** "Airborne" has the house being picked up by a giant bird and you have to escape. The instructions say you can't enter the basement anymore so judging from that the house was picked up sans-basement, but the rules don't say what happens if you use the mystic elevator and end up in the basement which, since it should still be safely on the ground, you should be able to escape via walking up the stairs.
86	** In ''Widow's Walk'', the Drawing Room is utterly unique in that, by entering it, you [[{{Pun}} draw]] ''any'' card from Event, Item, or Omen. Unfortunately, the rulebook contains no listing for what occurs upon drawing an Omen card and triggering the Haunt while inside the Drawing Room. The devs probably assumed that [[TooDumbToLive nobody would be stupid enough]] to [[SchmuckBait choose to draw an Omen.]] At least there are enough Omens in ''Widow's Walk'' that you can choose to draw an Omen without making a haunt roll to prevent this from happening, or use the rulebook's ''"what to do if you don't want to play the haunt revealed"'' (move the haunt revealer to another omen room on the same floor) to get around it.
87	* ForcedTransformation: Several haunts, with special mention going to the fan haunt "With An Inhuman Cry" for 'three' possibilities.
88	* ForTheEvulz: Occasionally, this is the motive given to the Traitor.
89	* FrankensteinsMonster: One of several possible scenarios.
90	* FromBadToWorse: The house is full of creepy omens, hauntings, and ominous rooms. It's even possible to become crippled and teeter on the edge of sanity just by initial exploration, depending on your luck. Then the Betrayal starts...
91	* FromNobodyToNightmare: The Traitor tends to become this once the Haunt hits.
92	* FountainOfYouth: "Nanny, Interrupted" from ''Widow's Walk'' sees the traitor attempting to transform the survivors into babies, then carry them to the Nursery.
93	* GameMod: Lots of fan-created content can be found floating around; one notable example are {{Splat}}s and cards for the Franchise/ScoobyDoo gang.
94	* GenderEqualEnsemble: Inevitable in 6 player games where all the characters are played. A four player count may avert this or play it straight.
95	* GenerationalSaga: The campaign of ''Betrayal Legacy'' involves players each playing as different families and different family members with the story taking place over the course of over 300 years.
96	* GenerationalTrauma: The legacy version is set over 14 playthroughs representing generations of the same families exploring the titular house. It begins with a frantic witch hunt and fight for control of the house, and the "deed" to it regularly passes between them over the centuries of the plot. The characters who die in the house will appear in many of the haunts' later chapters as allies or antagonists, and it's implied that the repeated horrors have totally scarred the entire family lines.
97	* GeniusLoci: In at least two scenarios, the House itself is the monster, and the traitor intends to feed the other players to it.
98	* GiantSpider: "The Web of Destiny" sees a large spider inject its eggs into the haunt revealer, who is trapped in its web, and the other heroes have to find a way past the spider to free their friend and destroy the eggs before they hatch.
99	* GiantFlyer: "Airborne" features a giant bird. [[spoiler: Though in this case the bird has picked up the entire mansion and you're fighting over the limited number of parachutes]].
100	* GodOfEvil:
101	** In "An Invocation of Darkness", the Traitor will try to summon one of these.
102	** ''Betrayal Legacy'' has [[spoiler:the Norse god Fenrir as the BigBad and cause of every evil thing that happens at the house]].
103	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: More than one Scenario starts with this happening to the Traitor.
104	* GoThroughMe: Since movement is slowed by hostile characters, and creatures can only attack once per turn, it is possible for a well-coordinated team to buy a character a round or two to make a vital roll.
105	* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Magdalena Gunchester]] is the one who created the House on the Hill.
106	* HauntedHouse: If the title alone does not indicate this, then [[ObviouslyEvil look at the front box illustration]].
107	* HereWeGoAgain:
108	** The good end of "Frankenstein's Legacy" is [[spoiler: one of the heroes burning the journal's pages one by one, only to be struck by how brilliant the experiment is. They then put out the fire before it consumes the pages, and presumably try to "gather supplies" like the previous traitor before them.]]
109	** The Widow's Walk haunt "Manor of Your Demise" technically is this, as the scenario [[spoiler: is that you've been sucked into a different manor. It specifically states that when you win, you escape the manor... only to be back in the first one, but that's a tale for a different day.]]
110	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', [[spoiler:even if the heroes succeed in killing the BigBad in the final haunt, the ending text says that the house is still irrevocably corrupted and you hear a group of new people approach the house... people whose names are the same ones as the playable characters from the original game]].
111	%%* HeroicBSOD: Always a possibility. One of these starts [[spoiler: "Reeking of Death"]].
112	* HeroicSacrifice: Can occasionally be done by any of the heroes if the situation presents itself. Since either side is considered victorious as long as their goal is met you can still technically win if you die, and depending on [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what's at stake]] it might be worth it.
113	* HPToOne: The consequences of rolling a zero when using the Dark Dice item.
114	* ImAHumanitarian: "The Feast" features a cannibalistic cult led by the traitor against the heroes.
115	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', the Silver Marrow Spoon item allows you to heal one of your traits by using it to eat a corpse.
116	* ImHavingSoulPains: You can be attacked by spiritual damage (Knowledge and Sanity, as opposed to Might and Speed). Also, the background stories of some haunts (such as Dance of Death) refer to your characters having these.
117	* ImprobableAge: In ''Betrayal Legacy'', players can give their characters any age they want and at least one of the character figurines is clearly meant to be that of a child. It is perfectly possible for the seven-year-old child character to get the Medical Practitioner or War Veteran occupation.
118	* IncredibleShrinkingMan: "Small Change" has a scientific experiment shrink the heroes to mouse-size; they must assemble a mechanical airplane and escape the house before the cats inside eat them.
119	* InternalHomage: Some haunts/scenarios in ''Betrayal Legacy'' reference items/events from the original ''Betrayal''.
120	* InstrumentOfMurder: "Dance of Death", although victims are compelled to dance to death by the music, as opposed to directly attacked with the instrument.
121	* InvisibleJerkass: The traitor in "Invisible Traitor" [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin turns invisible]] and immediately tries to kill their friends. Should they win, they contemplate moving on to arson.
122	* JackOfAllStats: Jenny [=LeClerc=]'s base stats have a near-perfect distribution of might, speed, sanity, and knowledge, with stat starting in the median of their respective ranges.
123	* JuniorVariant: ''Betrayal at Mystery Manor'' is a ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' retheme of the original ''Betrayal'' with rewritten rules for the traitor, new haunts and ironically, no Betrayal.
124	* KarmaHoudini: Even if the Traitor loses, there are a few haunts that make no mention about the Traitor receiving any form of punishment.
125	* KillItWithFire:
126	** Certain monsters can only be defeated this way.
127	** Also applies to some objects the Heroes or Traitor need to destroy.
128	* KillItWithWater: Items thrown into the Underground Lake are destroyed.
129	* LegacyBoardGame: ''Betrayal Legacy'' is a legacy variation that tells a story and features mechanics like permanently attaching tools to specific families.
130	* LetsSplitUpGang: A common strategy when the game starts is to have all the players spread out to explore the house as quickly as possible to find items and trigger events that may be useful when the haunt begins.
131	* LootDrama: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in one particular Haunt, "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Treasure Hunt]]". It's also one of the few free-for-all Haunts, as everyone is pitted against each other within a now booby-trapped mansion as they try to be the first to find said treasure.
132	* LoveMakesYouEvil: "Wail of the Banshee" has the traitor in love with the titular monster, while "The Mummy Walks" and "Ghost Bride" both have the monster looking for their love.
133	* LuckBasedMission:
134	** During the exploration phase, you're exploring the house blind and trying to discover as much as possible while collecting items, omens, and dealing with event cards that can help or hinder you. If you're unlucky with dice rolls, or what house tiles you draw, you could potentially find yourself stuck in the basement with low stats when the haunt starts, which brings a whole new level of being luck into play.
135	** The haunt itself can bring in elements of this for both sides. If the players already have all the items they need and are already by the room they need to trigger the win condition, you could end the haunt the same turn it begins. Alternately, you could be forced to continue searching the mansion in hopes that you'll find the missing rooms/items while a powerful monster is crushing you.
136	** Certain character builds, most notably the jocks and the priest/scientist, can become almost useless if the haunt happens to focuses on the opposite set of stats.
137	* LuckManipulationMechanic: ''Betrayal Legacy'' has a "Gambler" occupation card that lets a player reroll two blank dice once on their turn -- however, if both dice come up blank again, their ''entire'' roll becomes zero. There's also a special relic introduced at the end of the second chapter that lets each player redo a roll once per game.
138	* MacGuffin: Quite a few Haunts involve these, often as the primary means of defeating the Traitor and whatever thing(s) he or she is allied with.
139	* MagicMeteor: One adventure in ''Betrayal Legacy'' involves a meteorite landing near the house. Whoever finds the meteorite gains a random mutation that confers some kind of benefit. [[spoiler:The meteorite shows up again in the final adventure, where it's used to forge a spear that can kill the TrueFinalBoss who is immune to all earthly weapons.]]
140	* MalevolentArchitecture: Tiles such as the Tower and the Collapsed Room can damage the player if they lack the right dice rolls.
141	* ManEatingPlant: One serves as the BigBad of "Carnivorous Ivy".
142	* MarsNeedsWomen: Both a male example (the Mummy from "The Mummy Walks") and a female one (the Ghost Bride from "Ghost Bride").
143	* MaskOfPower: [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Increases Knowledge at the cost of Sanity]]. Since it requires a Sanity roll to put on or take off, [[ClingyMacGuffin it can be hard to remove]].
144	* {{Medusa}}: The ''Widow's Walk'' haunt "She Is Not Amused" sees the traitor transform into Medusa and attempt to kill or petrify the heroes. Interestingly, she only speaks ancient Greek, not English.
145	* MementoMacGuffin: ''Betrayal Legacy'' lets players claim certain items as "heirlooms". Making an item your heirloom typically gives you (and all your descendants) some additional benefit with that item, like gaining traits or rolling extra dice.
146	* TheMenInBlack: The traitors in one alien-themed haunt.
147	* TheMole: Many of the haunt scenarios have one, especially those with a hidden traitor.
148	* MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil: In ''Betrayal Legacy'', [[spoiler: The original five player characters travel to Hell and become stuck there. A photograph of them prior to their trip becomes a recurring plot element through later chapters. In the finale, those same heroes come back as mentally broken Thralls of the Big Bad to attack the modern players.]]
149	* MoreThanMindControl: In some haunts, the heroes may think that the traitor is being mind controlled by the monster of the haunt, but they are more often than not doing things of their own will. For example, in "Wail of the Banshee", the traitor has fallen in love with the titular Banshee, and wants to kill the heroes to be with her forever.
150	* {{Mummy}}: The traitor assists one in "The Mummy Walks."
151	* MythologyGag: After several twists, turns and [[TimeSkip Time Skips]], the final chapter of ''Betrayal Legacy'' takes place in the year 2004, the same year the original game was released.
152	* NapoleonDelusion: One scenario has the Traitor believe himself to be the reincarnation of Julius Caesar, while the other players are those of his assassins. Revenge killing ensues.
153	* NoAntagonist: A few of the Haunts don't have a Traitor, such as a scenario where the house flies up into the air and the players have to escape before it flies into space. In these cases, instead of being Traitor vs. Heroes, it's a heroic free-for-all.
154	* NoHonorAmongThieves: In the rare event that a Haunt turns out to have no Traitor, the players will have to all compete against each other. One such scenario, "Airborne" has the house fly up into the air, with only a few parachutes in the house to escape with, the goal being to get a parachute and jump from the upper floor.
155	* NoManOfWomanBorn: In ''Betrayal Legacy'', [[spoiler:the TrueFinalBoss can be killed for good only by a weapon that's not of this earth. Fortunately, the previous haunt had the heroes discover a meteorite that fell from space...]].
156	* NonPlayerCompanion: Along with the stray dog and cat mentioned above, two omens have you encountering a lost girl (boosts your Knowledge and Sanity) and a ''crazed madman'' (boosts your Might at the expense of your Sanity) who join the character encountering them. What role they continue to play depends on the Haunt activated.
157	* NotHimself: In contrast to MoreThanMindControl above, some haunts actually have the traitor either mind controlled, possessed, or outright replaced.
158	* NoZombieCannibals: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the "House of the Living Dead" haunt if the traitor wins. The zombified traitor, still hungry for flesh after devouring all of the explorers, resorts to eating the other zombies.
159	* NumberOfTheBeast: The first chapter of ''Betrayal Legacy'' establishes the house's haunted history in the year 1666 (which incidentally is the same year the Great Fire of London happened). The 3rd edition box art parodies this as the titular house's number is 333.
160	* ObliviouslyEvil: [[spoiler: The traitor in "Here There Be Dragons" believes that they are in a lucid dream, and as such doesn't realize that they are actually killing their friends.]]
161	* OhCrap: A frequent utterance when the Haunt is revealed and you realize the random map has completely hosed you.
162	** One of the ''Legacy'' haunts, "Do No Harm", opens with the traitor saying this after realizing [[spoiler: their experiment killed all the other heroes. The haunt is the traitor attempting to destroy all the others' bodies before their ghosts can expose the killer.]]
163	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: There's all different kinds, most of which require a sacrifice. Some want to destroy the world, and some just want to ease their boredom.
164	* OurDragonsAreDifferent:
165	** [[spoiler:"Here There Be Dragons" has one created from a wish.]]
166	** [[spoiler:"The Worm Ouroboros" has a two-headed serpent monster based on the two-headed dragon from myth.]]
167	%%* OurGhostsAreDifferent
168	* OurSlashersAreDifferent: Crimson Jack from the ''Stacked Like Cordwood'' scenarios is a serial murderer with ResurrectiveImmortality. He has his IdenticalGrandson lure him more victims since he went into hiding.
169	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: One of several possible scenarios.
170	* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent:
171	** One of the scenarios has were-rats.
172	** Sara Nguyen, a player character included in the 3rd edition expansion ''The Werewolf’s Journey: Blood on the Moon'', is a lycanthrope who turns into a werewolf whenever a haunt begins, giving her abilities that can aid the survivors against the traitor, or if the traitor, makes the haunt more challenging for the survivors.
173	* PictorialLetterSubstitution: The title logo for the 3rd edition has a crow standing in front of the first "A" in "Betrayal", forming the hollow.
174	* ThePlague: At least two possible haunts in ''Betrayal Legacy'' have the heroes all become poisoned or infected and need to create an antidote for the poison/disease.
175	* PocketProtector: One item is a bible which includes the ability to prevent all damage from a firearm attack at the cost of the bible being removed from play, the implication being that in-universe the projectiles hit the bible instead of the character carrying it.
176	* RapidAging: One of the scenarios, "Death Doth Find Us All". The two children (if playing a 6-player game or have been selected) are often the sole survivors.
177	* RecursiveReality: One of the new Haunts in ''Widow's Walk'', "The Manor of Your Demise", involves you being sucked into the game you're currently playing, including being able to trigger an entirely new Haunt within the one you're living. It's a TimedMission, to boot, and winning explicitly says that you are ''still'' trapped in the original house [[AndTheAdventureContinues but that's a story for another day]].
178	* SanityHasAdvantages: Literally. Rolls on the Sanity stat are often crucial to winning, or to staying alive.
179	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: One possible event that can trigger is the sight of a burning figure horrificaly smoldering to death before collapsing. One of the possible rolls to this has your character run back to the entrance from the sight of it.
180	* SchmuckBait:
181	** The Dark Dice item. You roll three dice. Most of the time, it will give you something good, but if you roll a zero (a 1/27 chance), all your traits go to critical. You can use the item on as many turns as you want until you hit that 1/27 possibility[[labelnote:note]]The dice each have the numbers zero, one, and two twice each; the chance of three zeroes is 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 = 1/27.[[/labelnote]] that also forces you to discard the item and that possibility isn't ''that'' likely to happen, so surely it wouldn't hurt to roll the Dark Dice just one more time...?
182	** The Deck of Many Things in ''Betrayal at Baldur's Gate'', based on the item of the same name and similar SchmuckBait nature in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Roll high, and it gives you great stat boosts or items. Roll low, and it reduces all your traits to critical or ''outright kills'' you if the haunt has already started. Not to mention that every time you use it, it decreases your chances of rolling high in future uses.
183	** The Helm in ''Betrayal Legacy''. It lets you place your sticker on it once per game to redo any dice roll and if you fill up a row on it completely, you get a massive boost to one of your traits. GenreSavvy players will know that completely filling up this mysterious Helm -- which was given to your characters by ''cultists'', mind you -- will result in Bad Things, but it's just so tempting to use its reroll power, especially in the chapter that lets the players use it on as many turns as they want/can. [[spoiler:Also, in the final chapter, the player who has used the Helm the most becomes the traitor.]]
184	* ShoutOut:
185	** One of the Haunt scenarios from ''Widow's Walk'', "One of the Master's Affairs", is one big reference to ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''.
186	** The triggering omen for "Invisible Traitor" is [[Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings an old Ring with an incomprehensible inscription]].
187	** "Perchance to Dream" shares its name with an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', which itself is named after part of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'''s famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy.
188	** "A Friend for the Ages" has the traitor revealed to be protected by a painted portrait of an older and wounded version of themself that wards all aging and injury, much like ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'', and one of the only ways for the heroes to kill the traitor is to deface the portrait (albeit by repainting over it rather than stabbing it). The good ending implies that the portrait transforms after their death to feature a young traitor, as in the ending of the book.
189	** "Guillotines" and the ''Widow's Walk'' haunt "Let's Play a Game" are both references to ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'', with the good ending of the former closing by musing that if enough people enjoy torture, perhaps there'll be "a sequel or five".
190	** ''Widow's Walk'' contains several more references within its haunts:
191	*** "Till Morning Light" has the heroes attempting to survive an annual event called "[[Film/ThePurge the Surge]]", during which murder becomes legal.
192	*** The name of "Make America Disintegrate Again", which features an evil lich attempting to run for President of the United States, is a play on the campaign slogan of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump.
193	*** "Rosencrantz and All of You Are Dead", which sees the players attempting to perform an abridged reenactment of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', is named after ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead''.
194	*** "He Who Must Not Be Read" is one big ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' reference, with an evil necromancer named Maldovo being summoned from a children's book, and the heroes being tasked with destroying his soul, which is hidden in a series of "Soulcruxes".
195	*** "Let It Glow", featuring an Ice Queen that threatens to freeze the house and the heroes within, is a nod to ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen\|2013}}''.
196	*** "They're Always After Me", which sees the traitor engulfed in rainbows, moons, horseshoes, and sparkles and transformed into a leprechaun after picking up an old cereal box, is an obvious reference to UsefulNotes/GeneralMills cereal Lucky Charms.
197	*** "Get a Clue" is a WholePlotReference to ''TabletopGame/{{Cluedo}}''.
198	*** "The Murderer in the Machine" features a [[{{Website/Twitter}} social media app]] called "[[BlandNameProduct Flitter]]".
199	*** The good ending of "Burn Out the Darkness" closes with one of the heroes quoting the first half of the poem "Fire and Ice" by Creator/RobertFrost.
200	*** One haunt that has the traitor transformed into an owl and attempting to transform the heroes as well is named "[[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle Owl's Moving Castle]]".
201	* TheSixStats: The game uses four stats, with Strength and Constitution being combined into "Might", Intelligence and Wisdom are combined into "Knowledge", and Dexterity is named "Speed". You also have a SanityMeter replacing Charisma.
202	* SinisterMinister: Any time Father Reinhardt becomes the traitor.
203	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', it's possible that the traitor will be someone who got the Clergy occupation card.
204	* SpookyPainting: In ''Betrayal Legacy'', one of the inhabitants talks about creating a "Girl at the Feast" painting but they only remember painting the food and the girl just showed up in their painting one day. There's also a Painting omen that's usually related to the cause of the haunt of that chapter.
205	* StatDeath: If any of a character's stats fall below the skull at the bottom of your sliding counter, they'll find themselves dead if the haunt has been revealed.
206	* StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter: At the start of a given session, the players pick a scenario and are given random predefined characters to role-play. Half-way through the game, a variety of scenario-specific roles (usually including at least one traitor) are semi-randomly assigned to some characters, putting an additional role-play layer on top of that.
207	* StoryArc:
208	** Haunts 57, 75, 86, and 93 of ''Widow's Walk'' all lead up to a special starred Haunt, "Seasons of the Witch", concerning [[spoiler: [[ArcVillain Magdalena Gunchester]] who wants to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. It plays out as if you are trapped inside of her house for a full year, complete with special rules in effect for each calendar month.]]
209	** ''Betrayal Legacy'' has a game-spanning plot about an evil entity referred to as only "Him" who was [[SealedEvilInACan sealed somewhere underneath the house]] long ago but is [[LeakingCanOfEvil slowly breaking free]] and is responsible for most of the sinister events that take place inside the house.
210	* TentacledTerror: Almost word-for-word present in the "Tentacled Horror" haunt. It's a massive monstrosity with tentacles running all throughout the house. Said tentacles can be used to chase down players and drag them back to their source, where they are instantly killed.
211	* ThirteenIsUnlucky: ''Betrayal Legacy'' has a total of 13 chapters (plus one prologue) and one event card describes a clock about to strike thirteen and inflicts a huge amount of mental damage on you if all the boxes on the card have been checked.
212	* TimeSkip: Each chapter of ''Betrayal Legacy'' takes place a few years after the last, spanning several generations of up to five families and their encounters with the house.
213	* TomatoInTheMirror:
214	** In ''Widow's Walk'' haunt "The Other Side" [[spoiler: the roles are flipped: the heroes are the ghosts of people who committed suicide in the house attempting to kill the "traitor", an estate agent who must appease the ghosts.]]
215	** A few haunts are set up so that no one knows who the traitor is at the start of the haunt including the traitor themselves, like the ''Widow's Walk'' haunt "Lambs to the Slaughter" where one of the players was unknowingly RaisedByWolves and a possible ''Betrayal Legacy'' haunt where one of the players is a mutant who will realize it only if they take a radiation cure that may turn them into a mindless berserker.
216	* TooDumbToLive: Considering that Knowledge is one of the stats that will cause your character's death if it hits 0, it's possible that your character literally becomes this.
217	* TrueFinalBoss: In ''Widow's Walk'', [[spoiler:Magdalena Gunchester]] is the final enemy of the game and the true mastermind of the House on the Hill, and her haunt, "Seasons of the Witch", can only be faced if all of the explorers in your group have completed four specific haunts ("The Woods in the Cabin", "The Gathering Storm", "Owl's Moving Castle", and "Let It Glow").
218	** In ''Betrayal Legacy'', [[spoiler:the god Fenrir is the one responsible for all the evil things happening in the house for centuries and the final chapter revolves around finally defeating him for good]].
219	* TraitorShot: Befitting the theme of betrayal, one of the characters on the box art of the 3rd edition is facing away from the titular house, establishing a core concept of the whole game.
220	* UnfinishedBusiness: This is often a characteristic of the Haunt if ghosts are involved, especially in one possible ''Betrayal Legacy'' haunt where all the heroes were murdered by the traitor and want to enact revenge on the traitor.
221	* UnstableEquilibrium: If you encounter an event that lowers your stats, now you've got less dice to roll against future events meaning you're more likely to fail, meaning you're likely to get your stats lowered even more.
222	* {{Unwinnable}}: Like many random games, there's bound to be a few poor runs.
223	** If the traitor turns out to be the guy who's got all the weapons? Or they have to collect {{MacGuffin}}s and already happen to have them? Yeah, um...
224	** Add in that before the Errata, some Scenarios had conflicting rules or goals that made winning impossible.
225	** Also, because the map is mostly random, save for what floor a given tile can be on, and that some scenarios require the heroes to be in a certain room/rooms, it is possible that the traitor and his/her army of demons/plants/etc. could be revealed and/or spawn in such a way that they perfectly block the path the heroes need to take to win. This can be especially bad when combined with the first example.
226	** Although the Haunts have an inherent balancing factor before appearing (Scale of 0 to 12) it is entirely possible for the Haunt to be revealed on the very first omen, on the very first turn; which can be very bad for the heroes who suddenly find themselves bunched together without enough space to run away from any of the newly spawned monsters. This was something that got fixed in ''Betrayal At Baldur's Gate'', in which a haunt is triggered when a player rolls over a six. As you roll the same number of die as the scale dictates (so the first roll you would roll one die, etc) and each die can only roll a 2 at maximum, this means that you can't actually trigger a haunt until the third Haunt Roll at the earliest.
227	* ViralTransformation: The Vampire and Werewolf haunts have the potential to infect and transform the heroes into more of their own kind.
228	* WaterIsWomanly: Olhydra is the Princess of Evil Water, being the only female among the five Princes of Elemental Evil.
229	* {{Whammy}}: Rolling three zeroes on the Dark Dice item. It only has a 1/27 chance of happening, given that you roll three dice and the dice all have equal chances of a zero, one, or two, but if that 1/27 chance comes in, not only do you lose the item, [[HPToOne you go critical in all traits]].
230	* WickedWitch: Witches are one of several possible scenarios.
231	* WightInAWeddingDress: The titular "Ghost Bride". She picks a male character as her prospective groom - either the one carrying the Ring, or if that's not available, the oldest male present. If his Sanity runs out, the wedding takes place. On the other hand, if the heroes find her ''actual'' groom's corpse and bring both it and the Ring to the Chapel, she and her groom are TogetherInDeath and depart. And the reason the traitor is helping her? They just love weddings.
232	* WolfMan: Werewolves are one of several possible scenarios.
233	* WouldHurtAChild: Depending on the haunt and the traitor, you either have children trapped in a mansion with murderers or people trapped in a mansion with murderous children.
234	* ZombieApocalypse: Zombies are one of several possible scenarios.

Context TabletopGame / BetrayalAtHouseOnTheHill