mageith
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Posts posted by mageith
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http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffgforums/posts/list/8973.page#175476
Here's the old forum post for the debate if you are interested. There's a little below too.
http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=5&efcid=1&efidt=26997
I think the "unffocial consensus" (It's not really a consensus but a plurality opinion.) is that Charlie can gain any ally he meets in any of the locations and can gain any ally if he buys one from Ma's that someone else doesn't have. Many are still attempting to keep the total number of allies at 11, so trade in any boxed allies for allies from the ally deck.
I do play the way you described, but you think is wrong. It's a lot more political that way.
The plurality opinion makes Charlie a pretty weak investigator but your method might make him too strong or out of balance.
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I'd be interested to hear your interpretations on how the Ally deck works and how it interacts with Allies met in the encounters.
I'd be more interested to hear your house rules when it comes to the Ally Deck. I'd even be interested in comments like "That's how I do it too!" to get a feeling for how rampant house rules are for Ally Decks.
Thanks
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We It's been discussed a lot. There was even a vote on the former forum. We should probably do it again. Anyway, I've had two campaigns to determine just that. The two toughest to seal or close for us were Shub and Glaaki. Shub was the biggest single devourer.
Cthulhu is really difficult to beat head to head as are several others but he's not difficult to seal.
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Do you only ever play with the base game? Only play with 4 heroes? Usually four investigators but I have all the expansions, but usually play with just one plus a herald. I think that's the hardest mode.
"I will definitely have to disagree, every expansion but 1 adds gate bursts, adding all the expansions in significantly increases chances of a gate burst, and increases ways in which the terror level can rise..."
I'd agree that 4 players isn't the hardest mode over all. But we only count sealings and closings for victory. I think 4 players is a reasonable level for that goal. As you drop to fewer players, it becomes harder to next to impossible to seal. We don't find fighting the Old One to be as fun. So I guess that's a house rule. So we've restricted the victory conditions.
However limiting the game to one expansion and herald gives you the full flavor of that expansion. When we play with the small box expansions we don't play the tournament mode. KiY is really tough when played that way with its herald. Black Goat Herald is tough for us right now. CotDP is so, so even with its herald. Ghroth adds two doom tokens right from the top, but of course he'd do that with playing all the expansions too. Tulzscha is highly variable. So we increased the ferocity of the small box expansions.
As to your above comments, terror level doesn't really add to difficulty does it? Gate bursts have now become a generic element of the game as have cards that raise terror. They are fixes in the earlier designs. Gate bursts do make the game harder (and longer) and I had two of them in my last game with AH and DH. That's plenty! A quicker rising terror level only makes point scoring lower. At least I never had a game where the Old One came out because the Terror Level reached 11. Is that common or even happened in your games?
"(e.g., Dunwich Horror tokens), furthermore investigators have to spread out much more, so it's tougher to keep the monsters in arkham in check."
?? Half the time we play with one big expansion board. I do agree that Dunwich requires a constable or two depending on the number of players, but try ignoring Kingsport and see how much harm it does. It's next to nothing. It will probably be 10 or 12 or more turns before a rift even comes out and then only 1/6th of the time after that will it add a doom token and a game only lasts about 20 turns so with really bad dice you might get two doom tokens and a 4 extra monsters. You can get that with Ghroth right from the getgo.
Its really the heralds that make the game harder, IMO. Black Goat expansion does little by itself. Without the heralds the expansions are pretty much the same game over and over. When we play the small box expansions, we play the touring version, so that we really get the flavor of the expansion. With a Third Act coming every 5th or 6th card, that alone will add 2 doom tokens or else the game will end early. Even with Black Goat, half the cards are from the Black Goat deck and half from AH.
Plus with just one and a herald (mind you we haven't tried all combinations of one and a herald) our win percentage is significantly higher than with all the expansions in. There was one game where the terror level rose to 9, and only once did the outskirts pop. There have also been many games where we have been close to winning (usual by sealing, though at least once by closing) when a gate burst would come along and foil our plans. We've even lost a four player game in four turns, so adding in all the encounters from all the expansions does significantly (enough) lessen the chance of getting "a gate and a monster appear" encounters. Also, playing with 4 investigators is, in no way, "the hardest mode", it's optimal (unless of course you are playing with both DH and KH, then 5 is). Just as a point of reference, we play anywhere from 3 to 7 investigators.
As I said before, we've had the terror level rise to 9 with it only increasing one time due to monsters in the outskirts. Four investigators would mean only 1 monster per gate, which makes it much easier to keep monsters in check (3 investigators still means only 1 monster per gate, but playing with DH and KH means 1 investigator will at some point need to head up to Kinsport, which leaves only 2 investigators to contain monsters in Dunwich and Arkham and close/seal gates), while 6-7 investigators with all the expansions, means two monsters per gate, someone eventually needing to head up Kingsport, and needing to do a lot more monster killing (with no guarantee that any investigator will be adequately equipped to kill the tougher monsters). In one game (which was actually one of the rare times we did end up winning), my investigator - who was one of the better monster fighters - had accumulated 6 injury cards, and two other investigators had been devoured due to duplicate injury or madness cards. Generally whenever we close/seal, we're lucky if we can remove 3 monsters (including Dunwich and Outskirts), most of the time it's 1, or 0 (stupid cross symbol - though occasionally the only gates investigators can get into are ones with duplicate symbols).
Based on the above, I'd spend less time dealing with monsters and with Kingsport. Kingsport is so boring, we've mostly quit playing with it. However I have developed and played with a herald/scenario that makes it signficant:
1: Treat each pair of rift tracks as a rift track so there are no bumps. This brings out the rifts twice as fast.
2: Each time a rift track moves it brings forth a doom token. The brings out the doom tokens twice as fast.
3: Treat the monsters in Kingsport as part of the monster limit. This means that we can't just ignore them like we've done in the past.
4: Use the alternative Rift tokens found on Boardgame geek. This puts rift markers into all the expansions and into the Kingsport head.
In short, we played many, many games with all the expansions and we found we were pretty much playing the same game over and over again. I don't think our winning percentage changed much, but when went to an expansion and herald my other regulars perceivec the game as more difficult as do I? Maybe its only more difficult in that the same strategies don't work game after game. OTOH, I suppose we might develop a strategy for each expansion/herald, but with 5 expansions times 5 heralds that will be 25 strategies and that might be fun.
Also, all games include all monsters and investigator cards. I think the monsters have gotten tougher as time goes on and there's a lot more barely usable investigator cards. (There's more really great ones too.)
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::Snort:: 5+ player game? Ugh. Time to add in some expansions and the Black Goat herald.
Snort back at ya!
Black Goat wasn't around when missions and tasks were created.
I think the real question is why Oh why are there so many interesting things in Arkham horror that never or hardly ever get utilized? Is it an insane or neferious plan of the designers as was alledged or is it more that the designers are attempting to remain true to the stories (my opinion).
I teach lots of people how to play that game at conventions and usually the games are 5-7 players. I don't want to make it too hard for them, but since these are folks I don't know, I don't know how quickly they'll catch on or figure out the patterns. As the game closes to a usually victorious finish, there is sometimes a lull.
My experience is that the neat stuff is of wildly variant quality. For example, I'd be interested to know if anyone has purposefully attempted to turn up the Rare Book Collection or garner Velma's gratitude?
In the calculations for the values in tasks and missions I note there's been two references to the River Docks to determine values of monster trophies and gate trophies, yet I wonder how many have actually ever gone there with their trophies and traded them for filthy lucre? I've traded them in for clues and early on for blessings and often for the deputy, but never for cold cash.
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" My issue with the tasks and missions is that most find them to be worth the time "never," or "hardly ever."
Like way too much is in this wonderful game.
"I'm pretty sure the intention was to give some extra rewards and encourage players to go to often unvisited areas (including the flyer-attracting streets, which are seldom stopped in)."
Sometimes in a 5+ player game there isn't enough for everyone to do. Especially toward the late middle game, when 3 or 4 gates are sealed, no clues on the board and a couple of bumps in a row. Of course, at that point the tasks (probably too late for missions) still really don't give enough to make it worthwhile. This is the point at which we start dissecting at the science building or just visit some hopefully clueful places that aren't dangerous.
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But this got me thinking how many times an Investigator ends up playing against his "profession". The Professors in Lovecraft tend to be spellweavers, but Harvey can be played as brilliantly as Michael the Gangster as a Monster Slayer. (Age matters not.)
Mark the Soldier comes loaded for death with a flamethrower, but is painfully ineffective at actually getting to use it on the huge beasts that need such a weapon because he can't attempt the Horror Checks safely. However, Mark is an superb Explorer, able to bypass potentially game-killing stalls, especially in Kingsport and off-world, where delayeds fall like rain.
I think this is true of most of the strong fighters. 3 Lore is lousy.
Dexter the Magician is a lousy spellcaster, not having as much Lore as you'd wish for Checks, or enough Sanity to spend for costs. But he is an excellent Spell GATHERER: combined with a true Caster like Carolyn or Daisy, he becomes the Supply Sergeant to make his teammate the powerhouse that Dam hates so much.
Anyone else?
A little child shall lead them. My 8 year old granddaughter played her first game (6 player game) and I gave her Wendy and I told her the whole world depends on her. "Don't to that to me Grandpa." Well, she sealed 3 gates and was First Citizen. Too bad her first question was "How long does this game take?"
The ONLY good spellcaster is Daisy and I agree she's too good. Carolyn has to find her spells and somehow I never get around to casting spells. Besides with all iffy spells available now, its hard to come up with a good combo. Daisy has that covered too. After all, Carolyn's not really a believer -- not to begin with anyway.
I always have a good time with Jenny. I guess she really is supposed to be a fighter with two automatics in her picture but she still has to find them or something better and she usually does. A bit slow though.
Rita is one of my new favorites. Speedy enough to be a good evader and her scholarship usually provides some additional goodies.
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Special (Silver Twilight Lodge, Retainer, Blessing, Curse -5 Dollars) I figured at 5 dollars.
I'd pay $5 for a retainer or STL or to remove a curse any day! $3 is a bargain for a STLM A retainer is going to give you a minimum of $4 return. Curses last forever, or so it seems. I Love the Inner Sanctum. I never bother with Blessings. I wouldn't even pay $5 for one with no work attached.
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There is an unofficial official additional ability that one can give here to allow here to keep here blessing. Suppose if it was on her card it would look like this.
"Faith
Upkeep: Sister Mary may discard to clue to re-roll her check to see if she keeps her blessing."
That's exactly the unofficial rule. The designer finally relented after all the complaining that maybe she was a tad weak. I misunderstood. Yes we use that unofficial rule.
Furthermore she only starts the game with about 17 dollars worth of stuff (I didn't include her skill in this cost sense everyone get a skill) and Chen start off with even fewer items about 15 dollars but here ability and skill more than make up for that.
I never noticed that. You know you count actual value when the items are fixed?
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I usually send them in with a few extra clues and the best available equipment. I *hate* having investigators LITAS.
Isn't LiTAs, just two turns? And you get to go back to almost any location.
The way I see it, you might spend an extra turn pulling in two more clues, but those two more clues might keep you from wasting two or three turns being knocked unconscious and losing a bunch of clues (or more reasonably, taking a madness or injury card so you can just go in and try again). *Don't* waste clues.
Sometimes the bare minimum backfires but usually not. I guess its a judgement call. But drop your movement to its lowest and you're able to evade most monsters in the Other Worlds. If you always go out to get those extra clues,then its that many turns used up, always. And Madness and Injury aren't really as bad as folks think they are. There are some that are cruel. But I bet we get through the Other Worlds with only five clues way above 80% of time. What I've found, is that if the investigators have extra clues they'll use them and if they use them to fight or for other stuff, they don't have them for sealing.
If something isn't going to knock you out, take the hit unless it's extremely high (i.e. I wouldn't mind using a clue or two to kill a color out of space, but that's about it— I almost never use clues for fighting)
Exactly and with the rest I mostly agree.
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I was wondering what the common strategy was to winning for this game. usually i try to close/seal gates but ive had terrible luck with that at times, lack of having clue tokens seems to be the main reason. fighting AO has never worked well. i dont think ive ever played a game that one was beat, close but that doesnt count.
For me closing or sealing is winning. Fighting the AO is a draw. But several of the AO are really easy to beat in the final, even without much preparation. Yep, clue generation can be a problem. You can dissect that problem at the Science Building. I think many folks spend too much time trying to seal ALL the gates. We try to seal just the three four or five main gates (Wizard's Hill) and then go for closing. It works most of the time. Investigators can also sit on gates to prevent re-openings, though I feel kind of dirty when I use that tactic. On the other hand, we are 3-0 vs Atlacha.
so what is the way to do it? run around until you have 5-6 clue tokens(more?) then seal gates and repeat. fight monsters and cash in for clue tokens, then seal gates. or just start closing gates and using gate thropies to buy clue tokens.
There no such thing as extra clues. We always go in with only five clues. To get that extra clue will take another turn or two and might allow a monster to block the way. We only fight monsters when absolutely necessary. I think they are the major distraction of the game. Killing monsters gets you points but doesn't win the game, unless you are willing to turn them in for other things (and have the time).
There's little purpose made by closing the 5 main gates. I always close the really minor gates. The medium gates usually get closed or sealing as needed. Of course this is all modified by the AO. If monster surges bring trouble it's better to close even the major gates sometimes. If the doom track is long, you can get away with it too. In addition, the gate trophies can be traded in for some good stuff as you point out.
ive noticed sealing gates can really keep the AO sleeping for a few turns if youre luck during the mythos phase and get the right gates that have already been sealed. so its always seemed to me that sealing atleast one gate early is the most important thing. later worry about upgrading or whatever...
Yes, sealing a gate or two early on will often result in some gate bumps. Those are really, really nice.
All this can be changed by your array of investigators, however. Be sure and use their skills wisely.
The number of investigators makes a big difference. With 3 or less, you are going to have a hard time winning by sealing, IMO. In a winning game, there's usually less than 20 turns per investigator. It takes 18 turns plus clue gathering to seal six gates. The game only begins with 1.7 average clues per investigator plus 11 or 16 clues on the board.
Did I mention that there's no such thing as extra clues?
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Tasks and missions do two thing, which is what I believe they were truely intended for.
Intended? Why that would be insane.
One: they thin out thier respective decks, so you dont always draw that sweet weapon or elder sign. Gotta have some junk in there to make things tougher and to have for throwing away when you go insane/injured.
Perhaps sweet weapons are the distractions?
It's hard to say which came first the chicken or the egg. I have yet to read ALL of Lovecraft let alone the other writers but I think lots of things are added as the designers are inspired by their reading. I know when I add stuff, that's where it comes from. Then as things get added, then other things need to be added for what they think is balance.
Two: they are just distractions to players, keeping them from accomplishing the real goals of the game. Barring completing these thing "by accident" then players are spending time doing fairly usless things instead of winning (mostly....mostly...). Time is the enemy of the investigators and not every card need to be useful.
Why I truly do believe that a lot of the game is distraction, I don't believe they are added to be just distractions. Nor do I believe they are added there for that purpose. I think they are added as alternate routes to victory. For example, to do a tasks that requires three stops to get five clue tokens is probably worth while. But if it takes four stops or five stops, less worthwhile. If the task is only 2/3rds completely, its truly a waste of time.
If I were designers and were to add deliberate distractions, I'd have made them much better--on the level of the Deputy. You get a gun. You get money and you get a helicopter. Little Emily always goes for the deputy and it holds her in good stead. (Sometimes she forgets to roll when she uses the Patrol Wagon, I think.) Whenever I get it, it seems to go way in a turn or two. I just spent two points of Gate trophies to get it and all I have is a gun I don't probably need and money I can't seem to find the time to spend. But if the patrol wagon saves me two or three turns (or more), it's clearly worth it in my mind.
Another great one is the Black Man's offer.
The game can be played on so many levels. There's a scoring for the game. There's a scoring for first citizen. There's player made campaigns. There's three different kinds of victories. There's dozens, maybe hundreds of ways of constructing the game (mixing and matching expansions and heralds, not to mention player created expansions and heralds).
not every card need to be useful.
I think nearly every card is intended to be useful in the correct situation, though even after dozens and hundreds of games, some cards and situations have yet to prove their usefulness.
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(which is not negated by Ley Line Map, by the way. The item only negates penalties to Skill checks).
I was working from memory.
Like other characters with high Fight scores (Mark, Michael), the low sanity prevents him from being the perfect monster hunter. It's necessary for game balance.
Apparently you and the designers think that. I think 3 sanity is way too weak and makes a very frustrating investigator. I think I see a strengthening of investigators as the new ones come out. I've added a variant to most of my fighters with 3 sanity into 4/6s and give players that option. They are still balanced according to Strange Eons and a lot more fun to play.
By the way, I am almost sure you couldn't refresh the Elephant Gun with Credit Rating each turn. All cards refresh simultaneously, so at the time the Gun must be refreshed, the Rating is still exhausted and when it has refreshed, the opportunity for the Gun to refresh has passed.
Really? I always assumed they were made for each other.
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Do you only ever play with the base game? Only play with 4 heroes?
Usually four investigators but I have all the expansions, but usually play with just one plus a herald. I think that's the hardest mode.
Playing with all expansions (CotDP, DH, KiY, KH, BGotW), it's rare for a game to end (either with a win or GOO awaking) with the terror level below 6. Perhaps our game group is doing something wrong, let us in on some of your monster smiting secrets.
We rarely see the terror level rise due to monsters. It will raise due to Mythos cards but usually not very high. Generally I don't pay a lot of attention to monsters. We seal the four main gates as soon as possible and then go for a close. Closing gates removes monsters.
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I'd say Bugg-Shash is pretty easy to beat. It's easy to keep the terror level down even if cultists cause it to go up. Our group rarely reads Tomes. His main danger is in the final battle. Will will usually be set low in order to have a high fight, so you'd probably have less turns to fight him. But with 12 doom tokens sealing or closing him shouldn't be a problem and be able to avoid the fight all together.
Based on David Sutton's "Demoniacal" and Brian Lumley's sequel to it, "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash".
Worshippers: I figured that while Bugg-Shash is worshipped by zombie-like creatures that there just weren't enough zombies in Arkham Horror to make a valid threat, so Cultists now become tougher, and undead.
Power/Start of Battle: I figured that Bugg-Shash would become more desperate and dangerous the more of his pawns you killed, thus defeating Cultists aggravates the terror track, and Bugg-Shash's combat modifier is then derived from the terror track. I chose not to make Cultists endless, as 6 (or 7 with Dunwich Horror) Cultists is a -6 (or -7) modifier if all of the cultists come out during the course of the game, and the terror track will go up otherwise. The bit about tomes taking an extra success to use comes directly from "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash", whereby the characters have extreme difficulty finding information about Bugg-Shash, in-game making it a little more difficult to gather clues and spells to use against him.
Attack: This is from my interpretation of what Bugg-Shash does in the story: a drowning engulf. The investigators are fighting desperately to hold their breath, thus the Will check or they lose stamina.Your background story is very helpful and I wish all the Old Ones had one similar to the investigators. Based on your story I'd suggest that the cultists be treated like the Hex monsters in Black Goat and Bring one out to new gates in addition to the normal monster. Or since Bugg-Shash is uncharacterisically concerned about his cultists, also add to the doom track for defeated cultists or just simply shorten his doom track.
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mageith said:
Don't spend too much time on looking up rules. Go with your gut. Look up the rules later. Re-read the rules as soon as possible after each game until you are really familiar with them.This is not something I'd recommend. If you cannot find anyone who already knows how to play the game, play a couple of solo games and take your time looking up the rules to get the basics right. For me it took three games to memorize 95% of the rules. THEN, if you cannot find the rule quickly, go with your gut and make a note. After the game look at your notes and try to find the rules and/or utilize this forum to get your answers. If you try to play the game by gut, you'll get frustrated in no time. I know of at least two friends who put the game away after their first attempt and never touched it again because they tried to play by 'gut'.
Just a little context here. I don't recommend playing the game by gut. The OP said he read the rules (IIRC), but the rules are so jumbled that looking up rules while several other players are sitting around, can ruin the mood. The organizer should know the rules as well as possible, but when you come to those unique situations, just don't take the time. You are trying to create an atmosphere of enjoyment of horror, IMO.
I've played the game well over 200+ times and in my last game I had to refresh my memory on Jail time, since its happens so seldom. I knew right where it was. A new horror master might not.
When to look up rules is a judgment call IMO. But don't do it more than you absolutely have to. Of course, check the rules out later for future clarification.
The Harsher the Better. -
The new investigator should come into play with madness, considering that he or she had just heard the tale of the investigator they replaced and decided to do it anyways, they'd have to be at least a little mad ;')
As for why the doom rises, well, you can come up with your own reasons for that, or you could just assume extra time elapsed while the group searched for a fitting replacement, or coordinated their strategy, or whatever scenario you want to make up in your head to make a good rule "plausible" ;')
From your point of view, I guess your suggestions make sense. Although this is a cooperative game, I don't really see it as a team game. Each investigator pretty much is on their own. IMO, its not like the group has a meeting, takes resumes and selects the best of the applicants. The new investigator isn't really replacing anyone in an existentialist sense. My POV says there are lots of folks dealing with the horrors as best they can--off screen. Heck, s/he might not even know about his/her predecessor. Besides, death is all around Arkham by this time.
Well, I couldn't come up with any reasons for doom tokens being added due to devournment (unless the tasty human morsal would make the Old One anxious for desert).
That's why I commented.As I said earlier, I'm not nearly as concerned about devournment abusal as you are. I don't like the fact, nor can I see a reason for the new investigator retaining trophies. Stopping that and maybe making the player make coffee and sit out a turn seems plenty of punishment for me. So, in short, I hope your proposed rule changes does not become part of an upgrade.
I don't like power gaming and don't see or hear of it much in AH, but your punishment is too tough for most of the players (I think) who consider it a failure when their investigator dies an untimely death.
The floggings will continue until moral improves. -
Cecilia: Question. The +1 additional Movement would be netted with -1 movement for those weather environments that reduce movement, right? (I see the Ley Line card already negates that). I'd say she would be balanced though stronger than average. Boy would I be wanting Urban Environments, although they are all helpful. The picture is a bit modern for my tastes however. I like my astrolgers in robes and hats.
I'd be happy to play her.Roosevelt: Is this guy crazy? Die trying? 3 Sanity? I like the picture, but isn't the gun a little small? I'm glad to see a character with the elephant gun, but he has only 3 shots. He really, really is a skillful shooter 6 fight + elephant gun+doubles on sixes! Personally I don't like special abilities that use resources. I'd use this guy but he'd frustrate me. I'd always be running out of bullets (money). Plus he's only good for one big game hunt per turn at most. Would a Credit Rating be too good? He's very good at what he does.
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This is a good guardian, but probably not too good. He's not as good as Hypnos but better the Bast and maybe better than Nodens. We hardly ever fight the AO so rule 4 won't mean much. Immunity degradation is probably pretty helpful, especially against the Colour out of Space. The Other World bonus will almost always be helpful. Combined with Cthulhu, the sanity loss could be major. There's several investigators that will have only one sanity through out the game.
Also, since you have the room, a little more flavor text to explain why you believe the Mad Arab will be so helpful would be nice.
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Retiring Investigators
A player may voluntarily retire an investigator with two or more total Injury and/or Madness cards. The player simply skips his turn, announces as though his as though his old investigator had been devoured. However, effects that trigger from having been devoured (such as Glaaki's ability to raise th terror level by 2 when an investigator is devoured) do not trigger when an investigator retires.
My question is should it say, "skips his next turn" because to me the way it's worded seems like you could retire your investigator during the Mythos phase ("skip your turn" even though it's the end of the turn so your skipping hardly anything) then have a fresh investigator ready for the next turn without really losing a turn.
We play that the new investigator must be ready to go (card filled out and all investigator cards added without bothering anyone else) at the beginning of the Mythos Phase. This is not a rules answer but a convenience answer. Usually an investigator retires (a rare thing) as soon as his turn is done and right after receiving his 2nd I/M card.It appears that most players read this as "at any time after an investigator has two or more total I/M cards". It might be able to be read as "at the moment an investigator receives two or more total I/M cards, he can choose to retire". This prevents the temptation to pass over investigator items then retire. In other words, if the investigator doesn't retire immediately upon receiving his 2nd I/M card, s/he has to wait until s/he receives her 3rd, etc.
The harsher the better?
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efidm: It would also be fun to know what combo you guys usually play, all of them at once or just one or two?
We now play with one expansion and one herald at a time. Sometimes we have a guardian. I like to keep the feel of the expansions intact.
How many investigators are you playing with or do you solo?
Lately, most of the games are with three players, though last night we played with six. However, we usually play 3 player games like they are four player games and skip every 4th Mythos Phase.
what is the optimal number of players the first few times you play?
Wow, I don't know. Usually a smaller number because of down time. However I've taught several dozen to play at conventions. The players are motivated there and I've had as high as seven with over half as new players. I no longer talk people into Playing Arkham Horror. The game is much better than its description.
Any other hints or ideas for a firsttimer in Arkham would be much appreciated while i still got my sanity.
Don't spend too much time on looking up rules. Go with your gut. Look up the rules later. Re-read the rules as soon as possible after each game until you are really familiar with them.
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It makes no sense that the replacing Investigators are basically always stronger (as they get all the trophies of the previous Investigator) than those that started the game originally were.
I agree the rule about keeping trophies and being able to use them makes no sense. It makes so little sense that most of my group refuses to take advantage of it.
Having an additional Doom token added to the Ancient One's Doom Track whenever a new Investigator is brought in to replace a devoured one feels like the bare minimum for me. Another option that I hadn't thought before would be that every new Investigator brought in mid-game would start with one Madness and one Injury card.
What's really happening when one member of the group is devoured? Why should it bring the Ancient One any closer? (Adding Doom Token) or why should his or her replacement come in ready to retire (with 1 Madness and Injury card?)
More realistically every OTHER member of the group might gain a madness card, or lose some sanity as the realization that fighting the Old One is really no game at all, but could mean death.
Of all the rules mentioned so far, adding one to the number of investigators has the best feel. This makes the rest of the game tougher but doesn't leave an actuual player/person out in the cold. Adding one means there are more monsters in Arkham, Terror Level rises faster because there are fewer monsters in the Outskirts, the final battle is tougher, there might be more pressure on the number of gates and if the number moves from 4 to 5, more monsters to get in the way and rumors are more difficult to get rid off.
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We had one player who attempted every task and mission he ever received. He had OCD. Other than that, one mission and maybe 4 tasks.
So, what are some ideas for the developers to fix these cards? (or maybe you think they're fine as is, if so, you're welcome to explain)
I am just beginning my third campaign (All Old Ones must be sealed or closed before all 32 investigators are devoured. We use semi-random investigators.). This new campaign is called Destiny. All of the seldom accomplished possiblities are listed on a card and each one has to be completed one time before the end of the campaign (One and no more than one per game). One of the destinies is to complete a task and another is to complete a mission.
My first idea was to reward the team with a Doom Token removal in addition, but now its just that we need to complete one destiny.
Other Destinies: Changed, Captain of White Ship, Accomplished each of the benefits, each of the memberships, Deputy, task, mission, Beloved of Bast*, Fight an Ancient One in an Other World,* Defeat Dunwich Horror, Defeat Dark Pharoah Since some are next to impossible, so I've added be Devoured and Retire. So far we completed Deputy, Defeated the Dark Pharaoh and turned up Coded Messages.
Here's a couple I had (both together would be too easy, I'm thinking one or the other):
1) Allow all investigators to complete steps in Tasks and Missions (like in Rumors). Though, if it's completed, the reward goes to the person holding it. It can be traded without resetting it.
I like this. As long as everything is still done in order.
2) New Common Item: Newspaper Clippings; Cost: (appropriate cost, would need to look through the deck for comparison, but probably fairly cheap). Encounters: Discard Newspaper Clippings to put a Clue Token on a Task (in your posession or another investigator's possession) as if you've just spent an encounter in the next location on that Task. Any Phase: Discard Newspaper Clippings instead of spending a Clue Token. You can not use this towards sealing a gate, or if any Task is in play.
New Unique Item: Alien Runes Cost: ($1 more than Newspaper Clippings) Encounters: Discard Alien Runes instead of a Mission's (in your possession or another investigator's possession) required cost to complete a step and put a Clue token on that mission. You must still be in the next location. Any Phase: Discard Alien Runes instead of spending a Clue Token. You can not use this if any Mission is in play.
These are OK. I just don't know how you can add these easily to the Common/Unique Decks and then they change the odds of getting weapons and other good stuff. I guess your post is the future development.
The problem with Tasks missions and other neat but unused things is that for the most part they aren't worth the effort, though the Tasks come close if you can get 5 clue tokens in four turns, for example. If I were to just concentrate on tasks and missions, I'd require that completing them was necessary for victory and so they'd be looked upon as rumors--bad things for the most part. Or give negative game points for uncompleted tasks and missions.
"Completing tasks and missions are part of the secret it takes to defeat the Ancient One. Unless all tasks and missions are completed, the last gate cannot be sealed nor closed and the wakening of the Old One results in certain defeat."
We play that the new investigator must be ready to go (card filled out and all investigator cards added without bothering anyone else) at the beginning of the Mythos Phase. This is not a rules answer but a convenience answer. Usually an investigator retires (a rare thing) as soon as his turn is done and right after receiving his 2nd I/M card.
Arkham Horror Statistics returns!
in Arkham Horror Second Edition
Posted
So very happy to hear this.
Keep up your strength.
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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." The statement refers to the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statisics to bolster weak arguments and the tendency of people to disparage statistics that do not support their positions.
"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States by Mark Twain.