I don't remember an encounter but there is a Mythos card that does it.

jgt7771 said: We will go utterly mad when we realize the new amount of real estate we will need to play. I won't. We have an antique dining table that streches longer than the room it is in. That room used to be the dining room but now it's Lovecraft country. Maybe I should say I won't go more utterly mad because of the real estate.

jgt7771 said: mageith said: 4. It looks like he's wearing a bathrobe but what's up with the mask? Luke's pic, like most Investigators' pics, is commissioned artwork from the Call of Cthulhu Card Game. I can't remember Luke's exact card, but it's from Hastur's Faction, and has to do with a performer or patron of the cursed play, King of the Yellow Sign. Hence, a yellow mask. Thanks. Now that makes sense. I was trying to relate it to the masks that people use to help them sleep. But holes in them kind of defeats that purpose. So maybe, it's not even a bathrobe then? I can now see that there's a theatre in Luke's background picture. And his mask or his hat or crown has wings.

Tibs said: Truth be told! Last night I went to Hibb's looking for money, and my encounter allowed me to spend money to buy clues. Then I went to the Police Station to get clues—and I got money based on how many clues I held! The symbols indicate the most common encounters, but the most common encounters are still not very common (less than likely). If you go to a location, depending on the symbols rewards to materialize, you'll be generally disappointed. But sometimes it's even better.

I'm really interested in the personal stories. Several on BGG think it's going to be a deck of Tasks.

Vitus_Prem said: That's exactly what I ment ^^ He begins in the Dreamlands. The turn after his 2nd encounter, he exits via a "Carcosa" gate in the movement phase, decides to go back in in the arkham encounter phase (and therefore gains a clue token) and finally has his first carcosa encounter during the other world encounter phase... all in one turn. It's non-stop travelling the worlds if it's ruled that he may choose to enter a gate even though he has an explored marker." ---------------------------- It seems like that is how it ought to work. Otherwise, Luke's walking through town in his bathrobe. Was that even legal in the 20's? When my group members draw a character, I usually let them interpret how the character works and that's how they usually interpret it. (This, of course, is based on an almost non-reference to the actual rules, but just reading the investigator sheet and backstory.) Even so, Luke is barely an average investigator, IMO, even though he could become a good fighter. He can usually easily seal one gate, but the second gate still requires he find his way through town which by the 7th turn or so, when the first gate is done, isn't usually very easy. ------------------------------- "Luke wasted no time. He settled his affairs in the waking world and gathered up the mystic puzzle box his Uncle had left him. Then, he traveled to the gateway he'd learned and passed through it, for what he thought was for good."

I have several questions. "Unique Ability: Experienced Dreamer - Any Phase: Luke gains 1 Clue token each time he enters an Other World area or is Lost in Time and Space. " 1. When does Luke get his clue concerning lost in space? When he enters, meaning he'll get two clues in one turn or while is in it, on the next turn, which for everyone else is skipped? or both? It won't usually make a difference but sometimes it might. 2. Does anyone play that Luke can go right back into an Other World when he returns from an Other World. Or does he have to move out and move back (which can be quite difficult being both slow and somewhat clumsy). The lowest he can get his sneak down is 2 to move out and back. 3. General impression of Luke. Do you like to play him, hate to play him or he's just another average oh hum investigator. 4. It looks like he's wearing a bathrobe but what's up with the mask? 5. Back story. Per Arkhamhorrorwiki, he doesn't have a gate but but rather a mystic puzzle box.

MrsGamura said: The rules don't say infact its under the FAQ to Kevin but me personally I would just resuffle them and draw if I did run out. Sir or Madam, your logic is insurmountable.

oldthrashbarg said: The question is predicated on a particular way of viewing the game. In my opinion items are just random like the dice rolls. I tend to think of the game less in terms of puzzle-solving, and more in terms of a story. I think that items, especially weapons, are made too powerful anyway; the idea of killing mythos creatues by shooting them, for example, is a bit pants. Glad to hear someone else express this opinion, though it seems at odds with your original statement. I've considered either having all weapons exhaust after one use or giving all creatures at least Physical resistance (except moon symbol monsters). We play with all the investigator cards.

One of the house rules we use consistently is that we blend our turns. We have Upkeep, then each investigtor does their entire turn up to the Mythos and then the first player finally does the Mythos. If a question comes up and it rarely does, the phases still are in effect and anyone can demand we do phases for a particular turn but rarely do. Players can also adjust their focus at the beginning of their turn if they didn't (usually forgotten to) during the Universal Upkeep and there is no new knowledge, ie, encounter or monster drawn. We believe this saves us nearly an hour in our 4 player games. Another is that I've sorted the Other World cards by location and rotate them through their listing. I've explained it before but will again if any one is interested Then I have an Arkham Advertiser, created with Strange Eons, that is designed to "Advertise" the various locations and introduce theme (news stories from real 1926 and 1927, and background for the various locations like R'lyeh and bring in the expansions on a random basis and a few other things. It was originally designed for new players to learn some of the more exotic rules and opportunities one rule per turn. I tried several times to have normal encounters in addition to special encounters but usually we quit doing it pretty early. Mostly because its a time eater. It probably won't change balance much, but some of the locations do have much better than 50/50 odds of a good encounter but if the additional encounter were required, it probably would balance out in the long run. How I deal investigators sort of depends on my mood. Usually its one boy and one girl to each player and the player gets to choose. Sometimes I just put out one extra investigator and we roll of for first choice. If it's a solo game, I play what I draw. We almost always play a herald, though many of them are homemade. Guardians and Ancient Ones and Expansions come in through the my little Arkham Advertiser or through the heralds.

kroen said: I don't want a variation, I want an official un-watering down. You can't really blaim me for wanting to play with all cards. But as I said, currently it's not that of an issue, and when I get KiY and KH I would consider following my own variation, that for some reason no one replied to (it's in the quote on the post above you). Actually I think what is unofficial is using all expansions at once. Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should be done or is intended to be done. It really should be obvious since using all expansions at once just doesn't work right. Each of these expansions are based on major story from the Mythos. In order to fully experience that story, then one should only use that expansion and the toughest version of that expansion, as suggested above and/or the herald for that expansion. The exception is Kingsport . FFG finally recognized what folks were doing and built an expansion that can be combined with other expansions. It didn't fix the problems with King in Yellow and Dunwich but it didn't add another incompatible expansion either. In short there is no way to make Dunwich and the King in Yellow work with other expansions without either watering them down or watering down the other expansions. If you increase the chances of a Dunwich opening, then you decrease the chances of other things happening. If you play with all the expansions, you'll be, in essence, always playing Kingsport. And you'll never get to play with all your cards. There's just too much in Arkham Horror. Some things have never happened in my over 250 games. My solution/variation is to let the gods of randomness determine what expansion I'm playing with. I don't know which expansion or even expansions will be part of the game until I'm into the game. This is a little more work and a little more preparation and a little more sorting, but if you want to experience the sudden ending of the third Act, you'll need to make it happen yourself.

SJBenoist said: OK, I tried random Investigator (Gloria) & random AO (Shub), Base set only. Rolled each Mythos Phase to see if it occurs (1-3 Yes, 4-6 No). Literally skipped the phase if No (Rumors effects). Used regular Upkeep. Tough to judge on one play, but it finished like so: 5 Open Gates 3 Sealed Gates TL 9 Lost Battle with AO The game saw three trips to St. Mary's (I kept getting blocked in by powerful monsters). Play time more than doubled (took about 2 Hours), as more thought was required for every turn. Overall, a good experience I may try again later today. We too entirely skip the Mythos. If you are going to play the rumors like there are multiple investigators then you get to skip their Mtyhos effects too. Gloria and Shub. Good test : a weak to average investigator (IMO) and an average to strong GOO (actually my nemisis). It's still like a two investigator game, so I'd expect to be unable to seal--you got halfway there! Would you use regular Upkeep in the future? Play time more than doubled? Darrell and Gloria slow down our games a lot--having to read two cards. Shub monsters are never pushovers.

Aeaea said: The trouble is that the card says "gain 1 Ally" instead of "draw 1 Ally." This was my confusion, because I don't know how "gain" should be interpreted. Typically cards say "draw 1 xxx" where xxx is either unique item, common item or spell. Other cards (e.g., location cards) say to "take" an Ally but mention him/her by name. Ma's instructions also say to "take" an Ally, but it specifically says you get your choice. So in situations where investigators are instructed to select a random Ally, why would the designers use "gain" instead of "draw" or "take?" Cards do say "gain" when they talk about getting clue tokens but that seems irrelevant to the gain vs. draw issue since they're all the same. And as far as Charlie and Leo go, their starting Allies are listed as Random Possessions, so I don't think that is relevant either. To push it one step more (for fun), how would Charlie's ability to "gain" [sic] Allies from the box work with Dhol Chants if "gain" means they must be drawn from the deck? In any case, I've been playing things as gain = draw, and will keep doing so unless there's some compelling reason not to. Thanks All! What do you mean, Charlie? Certainly FFG has not been consistent with their terminology and maybe the mean something different when they use "gain" versus "take". We went through this hard and heavy in the Charlie discussion and I was on the losing side (not there were manyother on my side). The overwhelming opinion is that gain and draw and take are the same thing. In every game I play, I leave the ally cards face up and eventually someone reaches to turn them over. At that point, I pick up the allies and lay them out and tell them that they can look at the Allies at any time and get their choice for 2 gate tokens, etc. It's the best deal in the game! But still, no one (literally) takes advantage of it. The only time we buy/ gain an ally at Ma's is to pay off a rumor. (We always shuffle before gaining/taking/drawing a random ally, however). Also, and this is not official, if you build an investigator on Strange Eons and you add a random ally, the program advises you against it for, I think, thematic purposes.

SJBenoist said: I've tried two "Single Player, Single Investigator" games. Both with random Investigators and random AO's using just the base set. Kate Vs. Hastur & Sister Mary Vs. Cthulhu. It wasn't pretty. Definitely will try the alternate Mythos phase variant (probably with alternate Upkeep, too). Thanks for the good suggestions! Two questions and a comment 1) Alternate Upkeep: Lots of folks want to limit the Upkeep too. We don't. If you played a game with two Kates, each would have an upkeep? Maybe I'm missing something or are you just wanting to make the game harder? 2) Alternate Mythos variant: You mean skip every other Mythos? That has two issues with it that I've read? Since you know whether there will be a Mythos you can choose to go into a dangerous gate location with absolute certainty that a gate will will not be summoned by the Mythos. And as alluded to earlier in the thread you can choose to take a side trip with the absolute certainty that a Mythos will not come and interfere with you by bringing another gate or putting monsters in your way or monsters moving in your way. Certainly that makes the game easier. That's why I use a die roll to determine the Mythos. In addition, I don't want to be bothered with keeping track of whether its off Mythos or on Mythos. Whatever you do, please report back. BTW, On BGG there's a guy who's won several single player games using the easier rules from Black Goat as well as the Black Goat Mythos cards and he gives you a blow by blow description.

The Message said: That said, if you're arrested, you're arrested. The rulebook makes no exceptions for being in another world, though to be fair they probably hadn't counted on it. The really long arm of the law! Though this probably is a jurisdictional question. Bankers can find you in Other Worlds too if you forget to pay back your bank loan!

kroen said: I've tried once to play three players with only once investigator (meaning all the rules/limits refer to 3 investigators but I only play with one, and there a mythos phase every 3 turns). I don't know, it just seemed too easy. There's a monster blocking my gate? no problem, I can kill it without a second thought, as there's no mythos phase this turn any way, and the turn after I enter the gate. Is there a good solo version that can be played with 1 investigator and is balanced? (I hate micromanaging so playing with more than one is not an option) I do it it all the time, but I randomize the Mythos. My wife and I played our last three games with one investigator each but a mythos on a 1,2,3 on a six sided die (like a four player game). We lost 2 out of 3. We usually win 2 out of 3 with four players. One reason your method might seems too easy is because its predictable. I use dice. So that the Mythos phase only comes on a 1 or 2. You can have several in a row or none in row. I don't think Arkham horror is meant to be predictable. Another reason is the particular investigator you used might be above average. Mandy or Darrell would most likely easily win most games under this rule. Try it with Dr. Vincent or Dexter and you'll probably have a different experience. So if you play with an above average investigator, his or her effectiveness is multiplied. Try it with a solid average investigator like Jenny or Gloria or Amanda, Miss Average Arkham Girl. I'd never use Mandy, Wendy or Daisy in such a game. Another reason is that you might not be using a difficult expansion mix--though you mention Dunwich and Arkham which should be a reasonable challenge. Also you've only tried it once. That's not much of a test. How did you win? seals or closing? Note: All of the limits include: Outskirts limit, monsters on the board, rumors, number of gates needed for a close victory and too many open gates. Others have skipped the upkeep except on after a Mythos phase, but I haven't found that is necessary.

I have them all. I definitely plan to get Innsmouth. We usually start with one expansion, either curse of the Dark Pharaoh or Dunwich and then my little Arkham Advertiser usually reveals at least one more nefarious activity such as: "King in Yellow Opens tonight!" Add nine King in Yellow Mythos cards to the top of the Mythos deck. or KINGSPORT RIFT ACTIVITY INCREASES. Add 6 cards from the Kingsport Mythos to the top of the Mtyhos deck and if Kingsport was not previously active add Rift Progress markers to the rift tracks equal to the number of doom tokens to a maximum of 9. All of the Gate cards and Encounter cards are jumbled together however, so in that case you never know what will happen.

Tibs said: • Stats report for 04/01/09: Zeb's stats So Zeb and I finally managed to coordinate our stats in time for the report, so I can include them this time: % of games won involving a specific investigator The percent of games won when a certain investigator was used at some point: Mandy Thompson 74.41 Jacqueline Fine 74.31 Darrell Simmons 72.55 Wendy Adams 71.43 Bob Jenkins 71.33 Carolyn Fern 71.18 Kate Winthrop 70.39 Ashcan Pete 70.11 Mark Harrigan 68.25 Amanda Sharpe 66.92 Joe Diamond 66.49 Wilson Richards 66.41 Rita Young 65.62 Tony Morgan 65.33 Jenny Barnes 65.27 Leo Anderson 64.86 Lola Hayes 64.71 Dexter Drake 64.67 Diana Stanley 64.29 Lily Chen 63.73 Michael McGlen 62.89 Gloria Goldberg 62.14 Harvey Walters 62.09 Monterey Jack 61.54 Luke Robinson 61.45 Jim Culver 60.19 Marie Lambeau 58.87 Daisy Walker 56.36 Rex Murphy 55.56 Vincent Lee 55.00 Sister Mary 51.16 Charlie Kane 47.95 Thanks again. Love the above stat. Daisy's low helpfulness is astounding to me. I think that its because when a novice draws here they don't have a good idea of what to do. I saw that several times in my last convention. Apparently they've figured out what to do with Wendy. Again at the conventions I see her underutilized a lot. Amanda is still holding her own as a helpful investigator despite predictions. Anyone have a theory? Maybe average just doesn't bring down the chances of victory like the lower 4 do. Jacqueline was my first. Surprised to see her so high. It was a big game and we all had 6+ sanity. The gamemaster called us the "Brainy Bunch". Jackie turned out to be the street sweeper because of her carbine--that's a roll I seldom play. We lost. Rex is still a bit higher than I think he should be. I'm sure others will say its because we don't know how to use him.

I like the whole orange neighborhood. I bought a house there. I always stop at the train station before taking the train. Its seems I get where I want to go for free and more quickly. I like the newspaper because their's usually money in it. Curiositie shop. I'm sure its the most visited shop in the game. I once spent three turns in Dunwich village, at Osborne's. Can't remember why. The stories they tell were all lies.

While I was in my dreamlands last night, I saw this possibility of Emphasizing the Other Worlds. I discussed it with Little Emily and she thinks it sounds like fun. 1) The Good News: It no longer takes clues to seal a gate, except for Hastur where it takes 3 clues. 2) The Bad News: Time is different in the Other Worlds and there is only one Encounter Phase in the game. In addition the Other World Encounter comes first and then you Move. a) Entering a gate: This occurs during the Encounter (Arkham) phase. You enter the Other World. Your turn is done. b) Encounter Other World Phase first side: Draw an Other World card. If you pass the encounter (actually roll dice and pass) you may pay 1 Clue token to move the the 2nd location, otherwise stay there. c) 2nd side: Same as above except if you pass an encounter and pay a clue, you return home. Your turn ends. (There is no safe period from monsters.) d) You deal with the monsters and attempt to close (Encounter) the gate. If you close, it is automatically sealed (except for Hastur above and any Mythos cards or rules that require additional clues above 5). Theory: It NOW takes an investigator normally 7 investigator turns to seal a gate. 5 Turns to gather the clues and 2 turns through the Other Worlds. This normal can be often be shortened or sometimes lengthened, of course. Emphasizing the Other Worlds: It will take 4 turns (1 to get there, 2 to pass through and 1 to close/seal) to go through the worlds, seal a gate and two clue tokens. (Theoretically, 1 less investigator turn) This will probably be lengthened (rarely shortened) by not passing encounters or the clue token cost will increase as you use clue tokens to pass encounters in order to move. Considerations: Find Gate: You cannot cast it until the Other World Movement Phase which brings you back to the Real World and your turn ends. So it still saves you 1 Turn. Warning: Investigators begin the game with an average of slightly less than 2 clues. So a large game might be easier, since investigators with 2 or more clues may immediately move into a gate that opens. No clues in the Other Worlds is bad news. You stay there until you find a clue, choose to be Lost in Time and Space, you run out of Stamina or Sanity or another investigator somehow provides you a way to move on ("Research materials", for example, or some spell or that provides clues.) (To make it too easier, allow Scrolls to be read in the Other Worlds, if you have a enough Speed/Movement or allow it instead of Movement. In other words, if you pass the encounter, then and only then may you read a scroll that gives more clues.) Analysis: I don't think this makes the game easier or harder, just different. Downsides: The Other World encounters will become repetitious. So I wouldn't want to play this way permanently, even though after 200+ games, the Arkham encounters are pretty well known.

kroen said: I just thought of a small house rule that would make other worlds more fun, but I'm not sure if it's good or not: When you draw gate encounter cards, you draw cards until you draw a card with the specific other world you're in, rather than just color. (other than Another Dimension ofcours). Any balance reasons not to play like this? You did! See my reponse 2. The reason I separated the decks was just because I was tired of drawing card after card. As I stated above, the balance doesn't seem to be affected. The problem would be the Other's would be seldom used, except in Another dimension. That's probably not a real problem except that's where a lot of "A monster appears" appear. You might limit the drawing to a certain number of cards, then take the "other". Like draw up to 4 cards, if none are the correct world, then take the next card with the proper color. Also, you'd have to make a rule for Jim so he gets his 25% chance of drawing a green card in a non green world. Info: The DreamWorld is a twice as common as other Worlds. The rest of the worlds have the same chance of coming through and the worlds from the expansions are pretty skimpy.

Unique Item? Besides the elder sign? I like the Seven Cryptical books of Hsan if I am a spell caster, which I frequently am. Weapon, probably the Gladius of Carcosa. Spell? easy! Storm of Spirits. A +8 or +9 or more with full Will is fun. However a combo of the Seven Criptical books and Summon Shantak is better. Other World: Dreamlands I guess. I haven't really had good times in the Other Worlds. Nothing to write home about.

Two responses: 1) Bigger Other Worlds. I kind of like the idea. Someone in BBG made a side trip to the Mountains of Madness which I modified. There's three spaces but the gate doesn't require 5 clues to seal. A normal trip would be turn 1: Have an encounter that allows you to take the train to Providence to board the ship for the 2 Polar Voyage (long and boring); Turn 3 Antarctic Trek (cold); Turn 4, explore the Cyclopean City and if you succeed with the test, seal it (no tokens required), add a doom token and take a random gate token. If successful, return 5 return to Train station. Of course there are things that slow you down (not delayed) and the trip is pretty dangerous. On the other hand, there are things that speed you up too. I made it through in 5 turns last time. The reason for the long introduction is that even though it takes 4-7 turns, no turns are used up gathering clues in anticipation of the trip so the time spent is about the same. However, I wouldn't recommend going there without some clues for re-rolls. The board is about 1/4th the size of a big board. So you could have a deck of Other worlds that could be laid out as needed (or just use the same one over and over). You could make the board as big or small as you wanted, just so the total time averaged about 5 turns, which is about the number of turns it takes to prepare and travel through an Other World. One problem I see is what to do with all the clue tokens you won't be using. I'd just not put any clue tokens out to begin with. This option is a pretty radical depature from the game as we know it. Or the Other World adventures can be harder than they are now and you'd better take some clue tokens for re-rolls. 2) A simpler method for theme: I divided up the other world locations into decks based on their locations. For example: If the first other world on a card is The Dreamlands, it goes into the dreamlands deck. Once we've had the dreamlands encounter, it goes to the bottom of the deck for the second enounter listed, let's say R'lyeh. After R'lyeh it goes into Other (which is the Other Diminsion or when the piles deplete with Underworld, Unknown Kadath, Another Time and Lost Carcosa as they often do. This method doesn't appear to make the Other worlds any more dangerous, but it does make them more flavorful. Now the coneheads are in Yith much more often. I use a large plastic card box I used for Magic cards when I played that with some homemade dividers.

oldthrashbarg said: Just happened across Midnight Syndicate on the interweb and was wondering if anyone uses their music for mood music with Arkham Horror. Any opinions on which album is best? I have The 13th Hour from them. It's my only mood music. I play it over and over again. I love it. Others is my group says it drives them insane, so I guess that's a high recommendation too. It's all music, no words. I've got nothing to compare it to, though.

If you want to play with one investigator, just skip some Mythos Phases: For example, if you want to play like you are playing a three player game with one investigator, only have a Mythos phase every third round. But do this too. Play as if your monster and outskirts limits are also a three player game. So you have up to six monsters on the board and the terror level raises when you exceed 5 monsters in the outskirts. Also, you should play your rumors as if there were three players. 7 Gates are too many with three players too. As a variant, I make it random. I'd roll a six sided die and only have a Mythos on a 1 or 2. Be warned, all investigators are not created equal, so if you play a strong investigator, the game may be too easy and if you play a weak investigator the game will still be hard. Strong investigators: Mandy, Daisy, Wendy and Darrell. Weak invesigators: Dexter, Vince, Gloria and Jim. Most of the others are average enough to have a good game.