mageith
-
Content Count
733 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by mageith
-
-
Glasgow Scotland said:
We encountered the Werewolf last evening. I found myself in the same street location with wolfie hoping to pass through toward somewhere else and figured I would just have to fight the big guy. However wolfie is an evaside monster, and I failed my evade check. As I understand it, I cannot then fight the Werewolf. Since an evade of a monster in most instances in the game means the player can move on to complete his movement points, I did exactly that, ending my movement several squares away from the Werewolf.
I find this a bit confusing, since the Werewolf would have been a tough adversary, given the weapons and items I had at that time. It almost appears that failing your evade check and moving on is to the player's advantage.
Doesn't this "escape hatch" situation make the monster less scary, and not more scary?
Maybe we are doing something wrong, I don't know.
If you actually wanted to fight the Werewolf, you'd have to take the evade test, as you did, but if you failed then your turn ended. See page8 of Kingsport rules.
As the others pointed out, if you just wanted to pass him by, you just do, but remaining in the streets can be dangerous.
Also its not the neighborhood that's dangerous but only if the Werewolf actually enters your space("area"), so you wouldn't want to remain in the streets next to the Werewolf. At least I've always interpreted area to mean space, not neighborhood.
-
Dam said:
mageith said:
That's 33% chance of each expansion. That means Innsmouth and Kingsport is about right, Dunwich is slightly under emphasized (as if one were playing with just the base set and the xpansionthe way I believe they were playtested). The small expansions are slightly over emphasized. Of course the base set is very much under emphasized (as in all dilution schemes).How do you get DH under emphasized at 33%? With AH + DH, chance of gate opening in DH is just under 25% (25 in 103). Or are you referring to just any DH Mythos card (36 in 103)?
Yes. I am simply trying to simply represent how the the Mythos cards will come up as if I shuffled the base game and the expansion together, so 36/103. I still have to go way out of my way to awaken the Dunwich Horror though, even with the herald. I sometimes use my own herald which moves all monsters but green monsters toward the vortices as if they were black bordered. However I just can't bring myself to not go up to Dunwich at the first sign of activity, so we're seldom overwhelmed. Even after all my games, I can't remember defeating the Dunwich Horror but I think I've only tried once. If he does come out, its usually late in the game and I just soldier on despite his effects.
-
Anti Dilution: I have the mythos cards divided up by expansion in a large plastic card box I used to use for magic with dividers. Each game we decide on 1-3 expansions to play. Before each Mythos we roll 1 die. For example: Kiy and Innsmouth: On a 1-2 Base set mythos, 3-4 Innsmouth mythos, 5-6 King in Yellow mythos. Otherwise everything else is combined as normal (small investigator cards, Arkham encounter cards). If I use three expansions, I don't use the base set at all. If I want to emphasize a particular expansion I'll increase its dice roll chance at the expense of the base set.
That's 33% chance of each expansion. That means Innsmouth and Kingsport is about right, Dunwich is slightly under emphasized (as if one were playing with just the base set and the xpansionthe way I believe they were playtested). The small expansions are slightly over emphasized. Of course the base set is very much under emphasized (as in all dilution schemes).
If Curse of the Dark Pharaoh is in the game, there's plently of Exhibit items. For awhile I shuffled in the Exhibit items with the unique items but players could choose to discard the exhibit item without looking at it and draw the next unique item. Most did, so I stopped that.
I also sort the Other World cards to prevent Other World dilution. When a card comes out of one slot, say Dreamlands, we put in in the back of the next listed slot (Either other or the named place). The main problem with this is that Other and Dreamlands become very large and some of the newer Other worlds will empty out. Then we take the cards, by color, from the larger of the stack of Other or Dreamlands.
-
darknight said:
hmmm, i think dunwich might be the best first eh?
Do you really want to live forever?
-
That feels a bit mean.
It wasn't meant to mean. Not everyone has loads of cash to spend on expansions. Maybe they can only buy one. Why not get the best first. Innsmouth is tough but not nearly as tough as the Black Goat Herald nor as tough (apparently by the stats) as Kingsport. Both Dunwich and Innsmouth will throw the new owners for a loop for a few games but probably by then, playing only the base game, those folks will feel invincible.I'm not saying Innsmouth is the only choice, just that's it the better choice. You are even agreeing its the best expansion. "Everyone who claims Innsmouth is the best...is actually right, but ALLLLL of them are saying that AFTERRRR they bought all the other expansions."
With a caveat which may not really be a caveat. Maybe Dunwich is better after we bought all the others and maybe its the bunches of cards that does that, but we don't KNOW that because we already had bought all the other expansions! I just know that when I bought Innsmouth I took everything out except the base game and Innsmouth really, really worked and gave me the feeling (experience) that Lovecraft's best stories give. When I diluted it with other expansions lots of that was lost. Dunwich doesn't do that for me. King in Yellow did when I playing the touring version but it suffers from the same problems the base game does in terms of solving the Arkham gate puzzle.
I suppose most players are all-inners and for them Dunwich first is the way to go, but not all players are all-inners and are looking more for an experience than a mere game. If so, Innsmouth first IMO. If they buy Dunwich or the other expansions first they may not last long enough to experience Innsmouth. Now that would be a shame and that would be mean.
-
Failed Rita Young "Leave Me Alone!" "Rita must spend 1 Clue token or lose 1 Sanity each time she enters an area or location containing more than one monster."
Can she enter the Miskatonic U streets and combat multiple monsters in the Terrible experiment without sacrificing Clues or Sanity since they are not in an area or location?
If so, can she remain there (or anywhere where there are multiple monsters) and not lose Clues or Sanity since she has not ENTERED that area or location.
Flavor text: "After the attack, Rita found herself afraid to walk alone at night, much to her disgust."
-
I've played games longer that most of the people on this board are old and I think that Arkham Horror is the best board game ever. Until Arkham Horror came along, my daughter would never play a game with me and my wife would seldom play a game with me. Now we play 2-3 games every weekend. One member of my group is a 12 year old girl.
The two main drawbacks of the game are its length, though in the last game the 12 year old girl was ready to play again. The other drawback is also its main strength. It is cooperative. Not everyone is into cooperative games.
Once you solve the base game, you'll need an expansion, for sure. For what will at first seem impossible will soon be too easy. Innsmouth, Dunwich or King in Yellow will soon disavow you of that notion. I suggest Innsmouth but most others suggest Dunwich. If you have too small of table for those extra board expansions then go with King in Yellow. I'd try those before the other three.
-
jgt7771 said:
I'm with Avi. Everyone who claims Innsmouth is the best...is actually right, but ALLLLL of them are saying that AFTERRRR they bought all the other expansions. Do you all think Innsmouth would be so fantastic if your Investigator decks weren't bursting with all those cards? Let's not ignore the psychological whomp that Innsmouth came after months of lesser expansions for most of you grognards; you all had time to build up towering levels of anticipation.
DO NOT get Innsmouth before Dunwich; you NEED the DH cards first!
I stick with Innsmouth for two reasons:
1) It's by far the very best expansion.
2) It was designed to be played without all those bursting cards. (Though the very best card, the Elder Sign, will be more prevalent and will probably make up for any shortage of Swords of Carcosa or Flamethrowers or whatever bursting cards you think you'll be missing.)
And there's no reason to wait for ALL the other expansions. Two of the other expansions are really hardly worth having and certainly not before Innsmouth.
Dunwich is OK as the first expansion but as soon as you do you are beginning the short road into dilution. It will be diluted by other expansions and will dilute the other expansions.
Besides I thought you were a limited expansion player??
Your last argument is your best argument. But I'm not sure why you'd want others to go through the same heck of playing disappointing expansion after disappointing expansion before playing the best. Life is too short.
If after you've grown weary of Innsmouth, then buy the other expansions for some variety.
-
#1 Innsmouth: By far FFG's best effort since sliced corpses. In fact its best if there are no other expansions used. Adds much Horror feeling and adds pleasure because there is allowed some control of the horror by the players. Even with other expansions added, it does add some urgency. Innsmouth's denizens are not very friendly and get more unfriendly the longer the game goes on. Has some interesting investigators and some very tough and creative Ancient Ones.
#2 Dunwich: A lot of fixes from the base game are included and lots of cards added, especially investigator (little) cards. It too is best if no other expansions are included. Otherwise is just adds more gates (which was important and necessary) and the ever intriguing madness and less intriguing injury cards. Adds more Ancient Ones and Investigators. Dunwich is actually an amalgamation of several stories and several themes. The Dunwich Horror is usually easily prevented from coming into play if players pay attention. On the other hand, he's the toughest monster in the game and you may want to let him arrive just for the thrill on Sentinel Hill.
#3 King in Yellow: Carries its theme very well. Makes the terror level significant with Blight cards and also incites the terror level to rise a bit faster. Has option to use only King in Yellow Mythos cards which will give you a run for your money. You've got to play it that way at least once. I play it that way a lot. Does not add Ancient Ones or investigators.
#4 Curse of the Dark Pharaoh. Great theme and use of theme and doesn't add much difficulty, in fact, may even make the game slightly easier due to very powerful exhibit items. Others complain of badly worded cards, but I say just let the first player make a ruling and get on with the game. Adds all sorts of encounter cards, investigator cards and allies. Does not add Ancient Ones or investigators.
#5 Kingsport. Adds some interesting investigators and Ancient Ones. Rift mechanic is clunky. Has an above array of strong monsters. It adds difficulty without adding an equal amount of pleasure. Adds Epic Battle cards that makes the base Ancient Ones more formidable. I'd buy it again, but don't play with it as much as the others.
#6 Black Goat of the Woods. Corruption cards and Cult encounters are new but clunky and have little effect without the very tough herald. Adds several tough stationary monsters and some weak monsters. Needs work. I could have easily lived without it.
-
Avi_dreader said:
Actually, I'd be willing to argue that if you have J.F. and one of those two allies, your team would be best off adjusting tactics to allow her to complete her mission as a top priority.Jacqueline has to have two allies, not draw two allies.
-
Yes, it helps a lot. $2 is a lot of money to pay on stray cats, especially for a slim chance to become Beloved. I think Mystic cards would be a bit too common, but at least it will have the same chance no matter which expansions you use. Perhaps if a Mystic card is replaced with another Mystic? (Clearly, with Atlach-Nacha this would be impossible).
Well someone does have to have a Bast token, which they usually don't.
Prevention is very easy. But I usually don't send anyone over until one track has 3 tokens, so sometimes I get burned. But rifts in Kingsport is definitely the way to go.
Prevention is easy but costly in terms of time if someone wants to spend a few turns up in Kingsport, but what usually happens is the Mythos card is drawn that opens a rift.
[Daisy] can only use your spell reduction and tome reduction once each per round for us. I didn't change focus. I also give her a random Unique tome rather than the best tome in the deck. Even still, I don't think that modified ability is subdued to the point where she's earned a bonus focus point.
She's still above average, but not way above average as before. After the last game with her, I'm thinking of reducing her further to just allowing one saved sanity per turn, either for reading a tome or casting a spell. I'll look into the focus reduction, too.
83% more monsters that emerge from expansion board gates.
I missed that it only applies to expansion boards. Thanks.
-
Dam said:
mageith said:She can only use your spell reduction and tome reduction once each per round for us. I didn't change focus. I also give her a random Unique tome rather than the best tome in the deck.Gimme De Vermiis Mysteriis first, then we'll talk other Tomes.
You think so? I did win a game once with it but "first" I'd rather have a tome that allows me to cherry pick a spell just for me, though it seems is always a non spell user who gets the "Liver of Iron" and it takes half a game to get it into the right hands--mine.
-
All players must read encounters in sinister voice.
That definitely should be required!
If you want "thematic" to mean "having fun instead of sticking to all rules", then we throw in our difficulty rule. No expansions, heralds, or guardians are used with ancient ones we have yet to defeat by gates/sealing. Epic battle cards are not used for ancient ones we have yet to defeat in final combat (the idea that Tsath isn't a challenge without epic battle cards is silly).
Mostly this makes a lot of sense except for "no guardians". I'd probably allow a guardian after the Old One beat us. I wish I'd thought of your idea when I started playing.
So, as you point out, this is not exactly thematic. For, thematically, we only have once chance to defeat the awakening Old One or the world is destroyed. However since there are 24 Old Ones and 48 investigators and hundreds of alternate earthly universes I'd still probably recognize this and a great house rule for an organized group starting out. Even so, it would take a long time to defeat the all the Old Ones and save all the universes. How often does your group get to play
-
Doing it this way means that it is theoretically possible to "farm" a location, because you know that as long as you stay there for long enough, you're certain to get all the encounters eventually. However, in practise no-one in their right mind would ever do this because
b) there are so many Arkham encounters that you'd never get through all of them in the course of the game
We often go to the train station or newspaper hoping for a free ride or retainer, of which there are several. I often remind the players that they can shuffle the encounter deck if another player recently got one of those and that encounter is now on the bottom. They always decline. Not sure why.
Slightly more frivolous is our attitude towards certain monsters. The "High Priest" monster's full title (in the Mythos) is the High Priest Not To Be Described; consequently, it is forbidden in my player group to mention that particular monster's name, or tell any other player what it does, since both those things could be considered "description." If someone does describe the High Priest, the usual response is the stern instruction "Sssssh! He's NOT TO BE DESCRIBED."
That's funny. Too bad there's only one of him.
-
(1) First off, I keep my AOs in one face-down pile. When I choose the AO for the game, I roll a d6 and count down from the top of the stack, and pull that AO. This way I won't see the same AO in at least 19 games. I do the same thing with Heralds and Guardians, but for Guardians I take the top one on a 1-3, middle on a 4-5, and bottom on a 6.
Do you play a guardian every game? Probably not. If not, how do you decide this is a game for one? Same with heralds.
(2) I remove Young Zoog from the allies and shuffle the remaining 33. I deal 11 to Ma's and put the other 22 in a stack. Each time an ally is supposed to be returned to the box, I remove one from the Ma's deck and two from the other deck. When an investigator gains an ally from an encounter or for starting equipment, he take it from the 22 stack. If he is ever allowed to take an ally of his choice (Recruit ability, or in some rare encounters), he takes from the Ma's deck. The idea is that 2/3 of allies are available via encounters, rather than a measly 1/3.
Zoog gone permanently? Kind of complicated, but I like it.
(5) While using the Bast guardian, it costs $1 to receive a Bast token, and if The Story Continues is drawn, Bast checks the 1st player for the requirements first, then continuing clockwise until she find an investigator who qualifies. It's bull that only the 1st player can acquire such an expensive and rare title.
I like the rules. Has it helped? We still charge $2 and follow the rest of your rules but give Bast cards if a Mystical card is drawn. Still it's only happened once in maybe 15 games with the Bast guardian.
(6) Encounters are read up until either a choice has to be made or until the end of a sentence that had a skill check in it. Sometimes the sentence will describe the outcomes, or one of them. The reasoning is that sometimes, you know what the consequences of your actions are.
Tried that but the cultists rebelled.
(7) If an investigator goes unconscious and does not take an injury card, he must discard half his non-spell items, half his money, half his total trophies (both monster and gate) and his retainer. The idea is that if you're unconscious, someone might rob you. Why would you lose clues? The explanation for the trophies is that there's no way to lose them ordinarily, and they represent both literal trophies and experiences. It's the literal I employ in this case. (8) If an investigator goes insane and does not take a madness, he must discard half his total spells and allies, half his clues, half his total trophies (both monster and gate) and his retainer. This idea is that if you go insane, your memories and knowledge get compromised, not necessarily your things. Why would you lose items? Trophies count as experiences in this case, rather than literal objects.
Sounds very thematic. However I suggested something less drastic and the cultists rebelled. I wish FFG had made the madness/injury cards more than just an option.
(10) Rifts that open appear in Kingsport, in the location shown by the 4th rift progress token. Why would they only open on other boards and never in Kingsport? Regardless of where rifts are, they will add doom tokens at the same rate, and any investigators who wish to stop the rifts will have to deal with all the monsters being spewed out into Kingsport. A perfect compromise.
We actually place gates in Kingsport based on the 4th rift progress marker. We also use the alternative progress markers that places one on each location, even the Kingsport head. When a gate does appear up there, it usually kills us, so it may be too rough.
(12) We actually do something special with the Epic Battle deck:
- Shuffle the red cards, making sure the End of Everything card is on the bottom.
- The green card that activates a Sinister Plot is placed on the top.
- Randomly place 1 green card on top of that for each elder sign token on the board. Then put two more green cards on top. So with 5 seals on the board, all 8 green cards would be used. With 0 seals, there would be 3.
- Instead of drawing the top card, we roll a die and count down from the top. Therefore, as the battle draws on, the chances of getting a red card increase.
- If the roll meets or exceeded the number of cards remaining in the deck, you get the card on the bottom: The End of Everything.
None of these chances are to core gameplay, all are to theme. Some make the game easier, some make it harder. All make it much, much more fun!
My cultists rebel at anything more than basic final battle. Final battle is similar to a draw. If an investigator is ever devoured for any reason he goes to the devoured stack, not to return until all other investigators have been devoured or all Old Ones sealed away. However if we defeat the Old One in final combat, he goes to back of the Survivors stack and can come up again (as can the Old One).
Here are a couple rules I employ in the interest of gameplay, rather than theme: (1) Patrice's ability to lend clues only works on adding to skill checks, but nothing else (not towards sealing, not towards Small Dust, etc). This forces her to have to personally lay down a seal once in a while.
She needs to have something to do. She's very boring otherwise.
(2) Daisy only has 1 focus, and may only use her spell-reduction ability once per round. I knew that ability was too good at first glance, but when I did the math I noticed they had given her a bonus focus point!
She can only use your spell reduction and tome reduction once each per round for us. I didn't change focus. I also give her a random Unique tome rather than the best tome in the deck.
(3) For each monster that emerges from a gate (just opening or monster surge), I roll a die. If the result is less than the number of expansions I'm using, I add one more monster. This counters gate dilution in Dunwich and Innsmouth when expansions are added by making them produce more monsters.
Aren't you an all inner? That means you have 83% more monsters. How is that affecting your terror levels?
-
avec said:
Why would she trade an elder sign for five clue tokens? How would she be able to find an elder sign in the first place? It sounds like you want to give her a personal story that she automatically fails. But Patrice (the official version anyway) is still way too powerful, no matter what her personal story is.No one would trade in an elder sign for 5 clue tokens unless they were going to lose something in addition. I was suggesting that she would lose the ability to freely give away her clues. Her current fail condition is that she loses sanity or stamina. So not only would she gain 5 clue tokens but she would save her sanity, etc.
Her personal story would be close to an auto fail, but not quite. Since she can give clues to other investigators for skill checks, then she can reasonably prevent her failure, at least for a while. Once she obtains her elder sign she no longer can fail and she's back on her normal powerful track, but the team is down one elder sign. The question becomes whether its worth it the them and her to sacrfice and elder sign to allow her continue to freely spread her clues around.
Of course, the main problem with fixing a charater with the personal stories is that personal stories is a variant that doesn't have to be used.
On the other two, we pretty much have major concept differences, though I can count on one hand the number of times the healer ever healed anyone but himself. With a speed of 3 and having to waste a turn in the same space as another investigator its just not worth it very often. If he's healing was widened he could do his reason for existance and other jobs too. Currently, I try to use Vincent as a monster stomper since he can take the hits and still come back. He's not much good for anything else being slow and weak. Everyone once in a while he'll get the heal spell and that's fun though. Otherwise is usually isn't fun. Being needed is fun however IMO.
-
Avi_dreader said:
If it's a Herald, it's not a "house rule" though ;')Great Concept! I print out all my rule adjustments, formerly known as house rules. So now I don't use house rules either! Thanks a bunch! You have given me a new found freedom!
-
avec said:
Encounter cards are always drawn, even when location abilities are used. Some encounters replace the location ability.We just started making it optional a few games ago. Of course now the players are beginning to realize not all locations are created equal.
@ Kkat: We've always read the encounters outloud. In fact, it wasn't long ago it was pointed out to me this is actually a house rule. Until then I guess I didn't realize there would be rule otherwise. I can't imagine how boring it would be if everyone read their own encounters, especially silently. Faster though, but worth it?
-
What house rules do you employ to make the game more thematic?
-
avec said:
Thanks, mageith!I don't see much difference between "increase" and "restore." Maybe "regain" would be best, since that's what is used for St. Mary's ability. I haven't play tested Vincent's story yet, so maybe it's still too hard. On the other hand, I let him start with a Mi-go brain case, which is often quite handy in getting to another investigator's location.
I was trying to make Vincent and Jenny's stories easier, since they aren't particularly powerful investigators. For Jenny, my thinking was that the gate trophy represents some knowledge of the mythos. This tells her, among other things, which cultists are bribable. After a well-placed bribe of $5, the cultist looks the other way while Jenny escapes with Isabelle. I suspect you're right that her official personal story is a side investigation involving Isabelle. It just seems too demanding for an investigator like Jenny.
For Patrice, her Ominous Dreams ability gives her clues when certain bad things happen. It seems odd that she also receives clues when something good happens (becoming free of the Watcher). I gave her a +2 to Luck since, with the Watcher gone, it's like a curse has been lifted. Also, she was following the advice of a gypsy, and you get a +2 to Luck when Anna Kaslow joins you.
Now that I think about it, you could also say that the Watcher has been "harrying" Patrice. In that case, being free of the Watcher would be like losing the Harried card, which would increase her focus.
I agree with making Vincent's story easier. So easy he should pass it without half trying. Just let him gain five clues instead of having to spend them somewhere. before killing three monsters (though I don't see that killing aliens that want to devour him as breaking his Hippocratic Oath). That gives him 2 movement (very valuable for him, but only equal to a motorcyle) and neighborhood healing (not really much of an improvement). Overall still a below average investigator. I gave him town healing.
Jenny: I'm not sure I agree that cultists are or should be bribable. They are fanatics IMO. Again her goal is to give up a turn (and a dangerous one at the Unvisited Isle) and five clue tokens. For that she gets +1 Speed and +1 Lore (I don't think I've ever used Jenny as a magician.). She needs the Speed but she is giving up a lot to get it. ( Bob only has to have 5 clue tokens anywhere, for example.) I'm not sure getting a gate trophy is easier (though it at least probably adds to the team effort and she can used the saved clue tokens to seal it.) Again, I'd say if she can just collect the clues before the terror level reaches 3 should have been enough. I suppose taking them to the Unvisited Isle is necessary for the story. By then, however, she should have been able to buy herself plenty of protection, though.
Patrice: Denying her five clues and giving +2 luck instead still leaves her the best investigator, IMO, by a lot. I'd probably give a really, really hard personal story and one easy to fail. Her failure penalty (losing a Sanity or Stamina each time she inspires) almost makes her a reasonable character. I failed the personal story last time I played her and even with those detriments she still was far and away the best investigator in the game and was instrumental in the victory. At least she had to work at it harder.
Right now I play Patrice's only power is that she can trade clues to other investigators. She still gains clues with her personal story and on the 9th doomer. Clues don't rain down on her anymore. She's kind of fun that way. But if I were to adjust her via her personal story I might say that if any investigator fails a skill check before she pass her PS, she fails her PS. That way there's a big demand on her clues.
Now I don't really see the reason for passing having to keep unique items is related to her story, though but since it is I can see other players just giving her the money to buy enough unique items and voila! success. I'd put her pass requirement difficulty similar to Mandy's (five elder signs on the board). Since her back story requires her to get something to rid her of her evil spirit: I'd make it hard to get and valuable, like an Elder sign (which she must then return to the box
) to gain her five clue tokens. So other investigators can give her their Elder sign (How likely is that?). All she has to do is get rid of it! I think I like it! -
Dam said:
Kkat said:
If there are rules questions, you go with what the First Player says, not what any of us say. Okay, so the Bootlegger starts out with a Bank Loan... does that mean he starts out with an extra $10? It does if your First Player says it does, no matter what anybody else including the makers of the game claim the intention was.So, screw official errata/clarifications? Why limit the First Player omnipotence to just iffy stuff, why can't he also overrule the rules as well? Why play with rules at all?
The rules are a great place to start! But I for one will not be limited by them. I doubt that there's a player on this board that doesn't use house rules either on purpose or accidently. I'm usually pretty formal in my house rules and write them up on a strange eons template. Most are designed to make the game more thematic and usually a little more difficult but not all of them. (Mostly because I don't want the skew the stats very much.
The house rule I know you play with is that when you randomly your Characters you "mulligan" one if you played in the last game. I think you also do that with Ancient Ones, but not sure. Sometimes your mulligan will make that particular game easier and sometimes harder.
-
GalaxyUC said:
Hello,I'm looking for a little guidance on what publications to read in relation to Arkham Horror. I have read several Lovecraft essays and have found only a handful of the monsters and characters used in Arkham Horror. I have read Mountains of Madenss, Innsmouth Horror, Dunwich Horror, Haunter of the Dark and of course Call of Cthulhu. however, I cannot find were a lot of these quotes come from or what the Small Box expansions are based on. Can you folks out there help me find where most of the content from the Arkham Horror game comes from? For example, there are several female characters/allies in the game, however, none of Lovecraft's writing contain any women. I've also never seen Zombies, Ghosts, Mummies or Ghouls in any of his publications. A little help?
Attractive women are hard to find in Lovecraft. I haven't found any actually. A mummy is in the Horror in the Museum. Ghouls are in Pickman's model and Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. Ghouls aren't your D&D or Warhammer Ghouls however. They are aliens, I think. Also if you go to the Off topic section, Vicimizer will answer all your questions. I have yet to run across ghosts and zombies, per se unless you count Keziah Mason in Dreams in the Witch House. She may be a ghost or just a figment of dreams.
When I started playing Arkham Horror I know next to nothing about Lovecraft. Now I've read a lot of his stuff. It's really helped my enjoyment of the game. Essentially some of the Arkham Horror locations are references to a Lovecraft story with a few locations thrown in to create the feeling of a town. I haven't actually found references to most of them however.
The small box expansions are based on the writings of other Horror writers as far as I can tell. The only one I've read is the Repairer of Reputations which has a little to do with the King in Yellow. It's also quite well written IMO.
-
Dam said:
mageith said:
It's wimpy that you get to choose the order of monsters you fight at any time, isn't it? But you can (and probably do). OTOH, it's just a rule.It's wimpy that the first player gets to choose the order in which monsters are placed on gates too. So I randomize any choice I have. One can randomize any of one's wimpy choices can you not?
I don't like take your pick, cherry-picking. Much prefer that you either A) take your free ignore and ignore all monsters in the location or B) pass on your ignore and take on all monsters.
I don't see it as much different than picking which monster you deal with first when there are more than one monster in a location or picking the gates out of which monsters come when all gates don't have monsters. OTOH I think just when to deal with monsters is one of the most confusing rules for new players, of which I have taught dozens.
The only time I can remember fighitng monsters coming back from the Other Worlds is if ALL OF THEM are very, very weak because I don't want to mess up my chances to seal the gate by some bad dice rolls. That way I can move on my next turn. I suppose a good reason to cherry pick would be if I had a weapon that exhausted and I then could use it each turn. Anyway, I could play it either way but it looks like FFG is giving investigators a little break here.
Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.
-
avec said:
I modified a few personal stories:
Vincent's pass condition: Each time Vincent uses his Physician ability to increase the Stamina of another investigator, place a token on this card. If there are three tokens on this card, place "The Doctor Is In" in play.
Changed from: If Vincent discards five Clue tokens in a street area during the Upkeep Phase, place "The Doctor Is In" in play.
Jenny's pass condition: If Jenny is at the Unvisited Isle during the Upkeep Phase, she may spend $5 and a gate trophy to place "Reunited" in play.
Changed from: If Jenny is at the Unvisited Isle during the Upkeep Phase, she may spend five clue tokens to place "Reunited" in play.
Patrice's pass effect: Patrice gains +2 Luck
Changed from: Patrice gains five Clue tokens
I really like Vincent's as it seems more to character. But do you really mean "increase"? I'd use the term "restore". However I think it's actually much more difficult to accomplish than sacrificing 5 Clues.
Jenny's is ok, but easier, IMO. especially the $5 part. What's the flavor story behind it? It seems like Clues are more fitting. However I am not entirely sure why they are discarded in the original personal story. I guess Jenny's clues are specifically to help her find Isabelle and not more generic mythos clues.
Patrice's same thing. I see the game reason. I don't see the flavor story.
Are there any AH investigator reviews online?
in Arkham Horror Second Edition
Posted
avec said:
It would have been nice if FFG had given each investigator a star rating (0-5 stars) to indicate an investigator's power relative to the other investigators. If you were playing with Patrice or Vincent, it would be good to know what you were getting into.
Of course, we on the boards could endlessly quibble about the accuracy of any given star rating.
mmm I always thought FFG attempted to make balanced investigators and just didn't do it. Sounds like you think they deliberately made some much better than others.