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In Betrayal at House on the Hill there is a rule for Moving Past Opponents on page 17:

For each opponent in a room with it after the haunt starts, an explorer or monster must use 1 extra space of movement to leave that room. (Heroes slow down the traitor and monsters, and vice versa.)

No matter how many penalties you have on a turn, you can always move at least 1 space. This is also true if a monster rolls a 0 for movement (see "How Monsters Work," page 18).

Stunned monsters don't slow an explorer's movement in this way.

I interpret "moving past an opponent" as walking into a room with an opponent, then walking out. Is there a movement penalty if you are ALREADY in the room with your opponent at the beginning of a turn?

For example, say I am in a room with 3 zombies at the start of the turn. Does it take me 4 movement points to leave the room (1 for each zombie and 1 as a normal movement point) OR does it take me 1 movement point?

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I interpret "moving past an opponent" as walking into a room with an opponent

It doesn't say "to move past an opponent", it says "to leave that room."

Is there a movement penalty if you are ALREADY in the room with your opponent at the beginning of a turn?

Yes, there's a movement penalty for leaving a room with an opponent. This penalty is not conditional on you having started in another room.

For example, say I am in a room with 3 zombies at the start of the turn. Does it take me 4 movement points to leave the room (1 for each zombie and 1 as a normal movement point) OR does it take me 1 movement point?

It will take 4 points if you have at least that many. If you have less, it will take however many you have (including none) since you can always move at least once.

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  • "Moving Past Opponents" is the section title. If the title had simply been "Leaving Rooms Containing Opponents" then I feel the rules would be clearer and there would be no room for discussion. As a first time player the penalty for leaving rooms penalty seems very unbalanced as almost all heroes only have a 3 or 4 base movement speed. A single monster in a room with a hero effectively means that it is very difficult to escape. Multiple monsters in a room with a hero make it nearly impossible to escape. I've only played one scenario though... perhaps the penalty is more balanced in others.
    – Jon
    Commented Nov 4, 2013 at 16:47
  • @Jon the idea is that you are moving past them within the room, to get to the door.
    – Sparr
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 18:12
  • The title is conceptual, and it should be hard to escape when you're surrounded!
    – ikegami
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 18:19
  • @Sparr If we go with that thought then we should track which door players/monsters enter. If I enter a room via door A and monsters enter via door B then I should at least be able to retreat through door A without penalty.
    – Jon
    Commented Nov 7, 2013 at 19:16
  • You could always make that a house rule.
    – ikegami
    Commented Nov 7, 2013 at 19:17

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