On “Betrayal at House on the Hill - Legacy”
So it took a while, but we finally finished yet another legacy game that we bought for our friends as a present for Christmas 2024. We focused on finishing our last legacy game before moving on to this one, and “Betrayal” with its 13 rounds and lengthy gameplay, took well over a year to finish. So let’s discuss!
Background
Betrayal at House on the Hill in its own right is a fabulous board game with dynamic elements. The base game has 3 editions (we own the latter two) outside of the legacy edition, and it has compelling gameplay that changes each time (see more below). It’s one of our favorite games to play with people, so naturally we got it for Chris and Matt for a present. If you like history and horror, this mashes up cultural timepieces with classic scary book and movie elements to pit players against tons of challenges in order to win. The legacy version adds new challenges, changes and shapes the narrative as you go, and has thousands of dynamic elements mixed in. This game typically takes an hour to play a round, not counting set up and rules-reading, so be prepared for a time commitment!
Gameplay
Normally, Betrayal at House on the Hill involves player characters exploring a haunted house one tile at a time, discovering rooms and items, encountering bad omens, and starting events until something called a “Haunt” happens (aka the main plot point of the game). These haunts are dependent on what room and what card caused them, leading to dozens of different story options. Sometimes one player is the bad guy, sometimes everyone is pitted against each other, and sometimes its players versus the game itself. The plot is pretty straightforward, but it leads itself to a lot of repetition. In this legacy version, you play as a member of a family and there’s an overarching plot throughout several decades worth of gameplay. New plot points and gameplay options are slowly introduced throughout the game, leading you to shift your focus away from just discovering the house and fighting challenges. After time, some cards, characters, and locations are added or taken away from your story, leading to incredible levels of customization.
Endgame
The game ends after the 13th round (year) and is pretty anti-climactic if you haven’t been playing the game well. Without spoiling things, the players must work together to save the house and the world from a big bad that you uncover as the rounds progress. If you’re successful (as we were), you get a semi-good ending. No clue what happens if you aren’t successful… but I assume it’s mean and sad. There are no winners or losers in this game, though your character can die at the end of the round, so some of us had characters last several decades and some of us burned our way through a new vessel each time.
Final Thoughts
So, it’s fun, but it’s a lot. It’s a huge time commitment, it takes a long time to play, sometimes the plot points are a little convoluted (like why would we travel through the Otherworlds when there’s a whole house to discover??!!) and sometimes you just can’t win. That being said, I really do love the fact that no two games are the same, there are a lot of opportunities to lie, cheat, steal, plot, plan and gamble, and no matter what you do, the odds are usually against someone. I like the permanent aspects of the game like naming your family and the ghost tiles. Being able to name items and heirloom them, make your mark in the board quite literally, and change the course of the game permanently is really cool. Some things like the otherworld and the Helm, which make the legacy version unique, are really pointless and leave a lot to be desired. The mini figures are great, but for the price, you’ve got to love this game’s predecessors to feel okay with the hours and cash you sink into this behemoth. We haven’t replayed it after finishing, but I’m sure it lends itself to a cool game to pick up and play after your initial legacy run is over, which is a boon in itself since it’s pretty costly. Overall, it was a cool game, but it took a hell of a long time and dedication to make it to the end.
On the First Quarter of 2026
Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
I’m not going to mince words here. This year sucks. I don’t know how many people read this or who cares about what I have to write, but it seems like 2026 should quit while it still has a chance. The first three months, while not entirely over (I’m writing this a touch early. Maybe we’ll win the lottery and the pendulum will swing), have been a real nightmare. My goals for the new year were really straightforward:
Read 30 books - I’ve barely read
Visit a new state or NHP - Very funny. No time so far.
Spend more time with family - Even funnier. I’m just going to preemptively cross this off now. DONE
Catalog all the board games - and see how close we are to 100 - Maybe over spring break.
Finish the D&D campaign I started - That’s on hiatus for the moment.
Bake more often - I did bake 2 cakes in under 24 hours.
Do something for Dad - Not yet.
So. Let’s recap. In January, Brian’s mom Kathy passed incredibly suddenly. It was totally out of the blue. She was “feeling a little funny” for so long (maybe a few hours, maybe a weekend) that she asked Bill to take her to the hospital. She woke Dan up before they left to let him know they were going, but nothing seemed serious. They even stopped at Wawa for a coffee and some snacks on the way. And by the end of the morning, she was gone. Cardiac tamponade. So sudden that nothing could be done. But they tried. All of the siblings rushed out to Jefferson Torresdale. Dropped everything at work. Got there as fast as they could. Brian and Dan and Meg thankfully got there all at the same time. More of us, myself included, trickled in as fast as possible. And there we were. Left with shock and confusion and anger. No idea what to do or how to do it. We scrounged up enough money and held a funeral. Family connections worked in our favor and even though we didn’t have life plans and for the most part were too stunned to process it all, we planned a funeral anyway. For those of you who were there for mass, for the most part Brian and I were not hysterically crying up front. But we were trying to contain raucous laughter as thee priest was chewing the host (*cronch*cronch*cronch*) or when Brian was complaining about their microphone’s audio quality.
So yeah. Since the end of January, life’s been busy. Trying to figure out finances and passcodes and paperwork when you’re left no clues is hard. Dan’s been cleaning and packing and searching. Meg’s been helping too when she could. Brian’s taken a trip to city hall for paperwork and their Aunt Patti and Uncle Mike have been helping with trips to doctors and banks. We recently coordinated enough of an effort to move Bill and Dan out near us, where they’re all on one floor and can start over, but also be closer by to have more help from Brian and Will. So much of February, once the funeral was over, centered around putting the pieces together and setting Dad and Dan up as much as possible in the new place. Now that they’re here, I can confirm I’ll be seeing family a lot more often. It’s nice, but I worry for how it’ll impact Brian’s free time in the future. Since we’ve been so busy, both of our D&D campaigns are paused. We barely have game nights with Chris and Matt. We did, especially during the two massive snowstorms immediately after Kathy passed, start playing more video games. We started a guild in BCC Classic and have over 130 characters to hang out with. We’ve both gotten Nintendo Switch 2s in the past month, because when your credit card is already really high because you’re helping out other people, making it a little higher to reward yourself is sometimes justified, so we’ve been playing Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, Pokopia, and some GameCube classics. I haven’t been reading as much, but I’ve taken it upon myself to try to read a chapter or two a night when I can. This year I’ve finished the following:
The Grimmoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association (Caitlin Rozakis); 12/15/25 - 1/1/26 (Rating: 5/15)
The God of the Woods (Liz Moore); 1/1/26-2/3/26 (Rating: 15/15)
Twelve Months (Jim Butcher); 2/3/26-2/15/26 (Rating: 15/15)
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Gerard Way); 2/16/26 (Rating: 8/15)
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem (Gerard Way); 2/17/26-2/19/26 (Rating 6/15)
All Bones Considered: 52 Laurel Hill Women (Joe Lex); 2/20/26-CURRENT
So realistically I’ve only finished 5 books this year. Not exactly on pace for my 30. But we’ll see. Two series I quite enjoy, Komi Can’t Communicate andLore Olympus, finish this year and I’ve been purposely holding the last few editions to read when they’re all published. We had a birthday party for Kathy at the start of March, and I baked both a delicious pineapple upside down cake and her infamous kitty litter cake, so I guess that’s helped me bake more often. I’d still like to try to bake once a month if I can.
And that’s about it. Life has me tired. Work is hectic as always and refuses to settle down, though taking so much time off doesn’t help. I’m having a hard time finding the happy and the calm in life. Bad and sad things keep popping up everywhere; both in my personal life and in the world news. My anxiety, which I always knew I had but has never been an issue, has been crippling in the past two months. I blame this on the constant feed of “what if something bad happens and I can’t do anything” that’s now running through my head and the inability to turn it off. Sleep alludes me. Both chores and fun are hard to pursue. But I’m pushing through as best as I can for now. It’ll get better. Life finds a way.
-G
On Goals for 2026
Read 30 books
Visit a new state or NHP
Spend more time with family
Catalog all the board games - and see how close we are to 100
Finish the D&D campaign I started
Bake more often
Do something for Dad
-G
On the Fourth Quarter of 2025
Read 25 books (DONE)- I’ve slowed down since hitting this mark, but here are the additions to this year’s “read” list (see previous posts for the rest):
26. A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon [Sarah Hawley; 2023] (9/20/25 - 9/28/25)
27. A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch [Sarah Hawley; 2023] (9/29/25 - 10/20/25)
28. A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire [Sarah Hawley; 2024] (10/21/25 - 11/15/25)
29. The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley [Jenn St-Onge; 2024] (11/16/25 - 11/17/25)
30. A Study in Drowning [Ava Reid; 2023] (11/18/25 - 12/14/25)
31. The Grimmoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association [Caitlin Rozakis; 2025] (12/15/25 - Current)
Visit one new NHP (bonus points if it’s in a new state) - This didn’t happen, mostly because life got busy. We started 2 new D&D campaigns, work picked up, and it was hard to find a long weekend. Maybe we’ll get to it in the new year.
Re-start learning a language, preferably Spanish (DONE) - I’m on level 23 of French on Duolingo and I still try to get at least one in every night.
Finish a Legacy game (DONE) - We’re still working through Betrayal at House on the Hill. This has been a bit of a slog since Chris and Matt and Brian and I only play once every few weeks and only manage a round a night. We definitely won’t finish this one any time soon, not even before the new year like I hoped, since we still have 7 rounds to play. But we bought them a new legacy game for Christmas... It’s tradition!
Get the website to 1000 views (DONE) - No idea how high this got, but we crushed that 1000 view mark. Thank you all for supporting us.
Do something for Dad - This is my big regret of the year. I wanted to do something for Dad but never could find something that felt right. Every idea I had was either not possible or not good enough. Hopefully next year.
Travel to a new state - Didn’t happen, largely because we’ve been so busy. Hopefully in 2026.
Write more (DONE) - Thanks to D&D I’ve been writing a lot. We’ve had 11 sessions, with the 12th coming right after the new year. I don’t have any more written after that. I should really get on that…
Take the ATP exam (DONE) - This is the big update of the quarter! I took the test! And I passed! I’ve officially been certified as an ATP for about two months now, but the ATP website only just got updated in the past few weeks, so you can even look me up now! I’m incredibly proud of myself for getting this certification without taking any additional classes and admittedly not really studying like I should’ve.
This year was big. It was chaotic, confusing, exciting, and more. This felt like another year with a lot of ups and downs. We had such a great (but bittersweet) time at our wedding redo at the end of last year, only to follow it up with losing Clyde a few months later. We had some fun (building a Lego train platform in our living room, playing more board games, playing more D&D, playing more video games) but also had a lot of work (Brian’s job had some insane 80+ hour work weeks and Grace’s job went through no fewer than three solid rounds of crazy). We took time off by going to Atlantic City and Lancaster, visiting Fort Mifflin and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum’s Rails and Ales event, and taking time to see family. Thanks to our ever-changing schedules, it didn’t feel like enough. There’s friends and family I feel that we didn’t see enough this past year. There’s games I wish I played, books I wish I’d read, and places I wish we’d seen. Alex and I managed no fewer than 4 New York trips (Twenty Sided Tavern… twice!, &Juliet, and the Great Gatsby… am I forgetting one?) but we’re already planning the next trip and we didn’t get to any of our bucket list shows. I’ve been doing more for self care in the form of getting my nails done consistently for a year and getting regular massages for my tension, but I should probably get back to the gym and have a better diet. Brian just set up an incredible new surround system for me to pair with a high-end turntable that my mom bought for me in 2024, so I’d really like to listen to more music. I’ve loved painting more often thanks to D&D and all of the miniatures I’ve managed, but I’d like to catalog my work somehow and maybe go back and touch up some of the things I had painted early on and could improve upon. We’ve taken the last week of the year to clean out the apartment, entirely because several of our Christmas presents involved updating, rearranging, and purging things we don’t need or use. That being said, we’ve long passed the point that we’ve outgrown our first home together, and I’m hoping in the next however many (I won’t put a date here - I know if anyone happens to read this they’ll hold me to it, stress me out, and make me mad) that maybe we can start looking for a house. I’m nervous about the state of the economy, student loans, the stability offer jobs… But I’m learning to be okay with the unknown. How to accept what you can change and let go of the things outside of your circle of control. Maybe 2026 will be about making myself better, my environment better, or even bettering some other things. We’ll just have to wait and see.
-G
On the Third Quarter of 2025
Read 25 books (DONE)- I’ve just started book 26 for the year! Getting through the Eragon series was tough, especially since Murtagh was both new and less than exciting. Blog post on that eventually. I haven’t had the momentum to do it yet. In case anyone was curious, the additions to this year’s “read” list are as follows:
21. Murtagh [Christopher Paolini; 2023] (8/11/25 - 9/16/25)
22. Komi Can’t Communicate 33 [Tomohito Oda; 2025] (9/16/25)
23. Komi Can’t Communicate 34 [Tomohito Oda; 2025] (9/17/25 - 9/18/25)
24. Komi Can’t Communicate 35 [Tomohito Oda; 2025] (9/18/25)
25. Let’s Play: After Dark [Riley Noble; 2024] (9/18/25 - 9/19/25)
Visit one new NHP (bonus points if it’s in a new state) - Not yet. We did go to a new place together though! We visited Jim Thorpe for the first time together and had a lot of “firsts” while we were there: Brian got in a boat for the first time, I drove a truck for the first time, and we went to my Uncle’s in the Poconos for the first time together.
Re-start learning a language, preferably Spanish (DONE)- I’m on level 20 of French on Duolingo and even though I’ve been taking breaks to study for the ATP exam, I’ve been keeping up with the lessons daily. I try to get at least one in every night.
Finish a Legacy game (DONE) - We’re still working through Betrayal at House on the Hill. We haven’t played this one in a bit during our game nights, but Chris and Matt and Brian and I will likely get back to it in the next few weeks. We won’t finish this one any time soon, but I’m still hoping it’ll be before the new year.
Get the website to 1000 views (DONE) - I’m too lazy to keep track or check, but these Wedding Photo Wednesday posts are still driving a ton of traffic. To everyone who sees them, especially if you take time to read these posts, thank you.
Do something for Dad - Dad’s birthday is in a month and I have no ideas. None. Maybe a tree somewhere. That’s been the continuous thought this whole time.
Travel to a new state - Probably not happening this year, but who knows!
Write more (DONE)- I’ve definitely been writing… A lot. I’m marking this one “done” simply because I’ve written 10 sessions of our D&D campaign and have a realistically fleshed-out story, so it’s good enough to count.
Take the ATP exam.- Not done yet, but scheduled! I have my appointment to take the exam in November. Wish me luck! I’ll need it,
-G