Hurt: Daisy Walker. I hate her portrait, I hate her gamebreaking ability, I hate thinking she's almost as powerful as a GOO. Hurt: Lily Chen. No **** way in hell I'm going to play an Oriental martial artist in a Lovecraftian game. THIS IS BLASPHEMY. (now I bet somebody will say "no, THIS IS ARKHAM!!!" ) Heal: Tony Morgan. He's amazing and I managed to win multiple games without ever going insane. Great Will and great Luck make investigators happy Agnes Baker, the Waitress 10 Akachi Onyele, the Shaman 9 Amanda Sharpe, the Student 6 Ashcan Pete, the Drifter 9 Bob Jenkins, the Salesman 10 Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist 10 Charlie Kane, the Politician 9 Daisy Walker, the Librarian 5 Darrell Simmons, the Photographer 10 Dexter Drake, the Magician 9 Diana Stanley, the Redeemed Cultist 9 Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger 10 George Barnaby, the Lawyer 10 Gloria Goldberg, the Author 9 Hank Samson, the Farmhand 10 Harvey Walters, the Professor 10 Jacqueline Fine, the Psychic 10 Jenny Barnes, the Dilettante 10 Jim Culver, the Musician 9 Joe Diamond, the Private Eye 10 Kate Winthrop, the Scientist 8 Leo Anderson, the Expedition Leader 10 Lily Chen, the Martial Artist 8 Lola Hayes, the Actress 10 Luke Robinson, the Dreamer 10 Mandy Thompson, the Researcher 10 Marie Lambeau, the Entertainer 10 Mark Harrigan, the Soldier 10 Michael McGlen, the Gangster 9 Minh Thi Phan, the Secretary 10 Monterey Jack, the Archeologist 10 Norman Withers, the Astronomer 10 Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist 5 Rex Murphy, the Reporter 10 Rita Young, the Athlete 9 Roland Banks, the Fed 10 Silas Marsh, the Sailor 10 Sister Mary, the Nun 10 Skids O'Toole, the Ex-Convict 10 Tommy Muldoon, the Rookie Cop 10 Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter 10 Trish Scarborough, the Spy 10 Ursula Downs, the Explorer 10 Vincent Lee, the Doctor 6 Wendy Adams, the Urchin 10 William Yorick, the Gravedigger 10 Wilson Richards, the Handyman 10 Zoey Samaras, the Chef 8

Hmmm Both the Sniper Rifle versions are good. Maybe the "usea Sneak instead of Fight" could apply to another weapon (I dunno, a Garrote maybe? or some Ninja-style shurikens?), should you want to "recycle" the idea. I'm starting to like the Outskirts effect better, though I's still allow claiming the monster as a trophy. Also, I'd add that "if you fail, nothing happens": there would be no sense in being damaged after failing!

We always do too. Especially for rumors (instead of placing Clue tokens on the card or whatever is required). We started doing it for money as well when invesgators with Alchemical process and retainers started to appear too often- always asking for more cash, or for some change.

Hurt: Patrice Hathaway and Daisy Walker (just broken) Heal: Bob Jenkins (A very good, all-round investigator). Agnes Baker, the Waitress 10 Akachi Onyele, the Shaman 10 Amanda Sharpe, the Student 9 Ashcan Pete, the Drifter 10 Bob Jenkins, the Salesman 10 Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist 10 Charlie Kane, the Politician 10 Daisy Walker, the Librarian 8 Darrell Simmons, the Photographer 10 Dexter Drake, the Magician 8 Diana Stanley, the Redeemed Cultist 10 Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger 10 George Barnaby, the Lawyer 10 Gloria Goldberg, the Author 10 Hank Samson, the Farmhand 10 Harvey Walters, the Professor 10 Jacqueline Fine, the Psychic 10 Jenny Barnes, the Dilettante 10 Jim Culver, the Musician 10 Joe Diamond, the Private Eye 10 Kate Winthrop, the Scientist 8 Leo Anderson, the Expedition Leader 9 Lily Chen, the Martial Artist 8 Lola Hayes, the Actress 10 Luke Robinson, the Dreamer 10 Mandy Thompson, the Researcher 10 Marie Lambeau, the Entertainer 10 Mark Harrigan, the Soldier 10 Michael McGlen, the Gangster 10 Minh Thi Phan, the Secretary 10 Monterey Jack, the Archeologist 10 Norman Withers, the Astronomer 10 Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist 7 Rex Murphy, the Reporter 10 Rita Young, the Athlete 10 Roland Banks, the Fed 10 Silas Marsh, the Sailor 10 Sister Mary, the Nun 10 Skids O'Toole, the Ex-Convict 9 Tommy Muldoon, the Rookie Cop 10 Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter 10 Trish Scarborough, the Spy 10 Ursula Downs, the Explorer 10 Vincent Lee, the Doctor 6 Wendy Adams, the Urchin 10 William Yorick, the Gravedigger 10 Wilson Richards, the Handyman 10 Zoey Samaras, the Chef 9

Uhhh the Outskirts thing is a very nice idea indeed! Maybe you could tweak it by allowing such use only in the Uptown Area? (Just a random suggestion). Hmmm how about a +4 to Combat Checks Movement: exhaust and spend 1 Movement point to make one Combat check vs. one monster in the outskirts. If you fail, nothing happens. (I'm not sure about the "you can't claim it as a trophy": I agree it would make sense, but it would also eat too much text space on the card). The "Sneak instead of Fight" idea came not just for tematic sense, but also 'cause it really gives the idea of "hide and wait (so you don't move much), spot & study your target (which allows you to keep a high Will), but also be prone to sudden, close attack (high will = low fight). I'll try both options in my next games. I'll tell you about then

A +3 Rifle wouldn't make much sense to a gun nut like me. Would it be a .22 pea gun?? If we consider the standard rifle in the game, chambered for a -say- .30-06 round, the bonus would just be the same. With some bonus added. Of course, I'd be among those people yelling "Shut the **** up Gott and let us just play", so, I will.

Geeze, the bolding didn't work!!! And I can't edit my posts (I don't know why, but they always apear as if they were posted 1 hour later, so editing is disabled.) ...

LOL would you believe this? When I first logged in, I was actually thinking of starting this poll again!!! HURT: Daisy Walker. So annoyingly broken. HURT: Amanda Sharpe. So painfully boring. HEAL: Dexter Drake. (Mariana kind of messed things up so it was unclear whether she healed Dexter or Trish, so my vote will fix things up- I love Dexter anyway So, here's the list UPDATED: Agnes Baker, the Waitress 10 Akachi Onyele, the Shaman 10 Amanda Sharpe, the Student 9 "Ashcan" Pete, the Drifter 10 Bob Jenkins, the Salesman 10 Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist 10 Charlie Kane, the Politician 9 Daisy Walker, the Librarian 9 Darrell Simmons, the Photographer 10 Dexter Drake, the Magician 10 Diana Stanley, the Redeemed Cultist 10 Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger 10 George Barnaby, the Lawyer 10 Gloria Goldberg, the Author 10 Hank Samson, the Farmhand 10 Harvey Walters, the Professor 10 Jacqueline Fine, the Psychic 10 Jenny Barnes, the Dilettante 10 Jim Culver, the Musician 10 Joe Diamond, the Private Eye 10 Kate Winthrop, the Scientist 10 Leo Anderson, the Expedition Leader 10 Lily Chen, the Martial Artist 10 Lola Hayes, the Actress 10 Luke Robinson, the Dreamer 10 Mandy Thompson, the Researcher 9 Marie Lambeau, the Entertainer 10 Mark Harrigan, the Soldier 10 Michael McGlen, the Gangster 10 Minh Thi Phan, the Secretary 10 Monterey Jack, the Archeologist 10 Norman Withers, the Astronomer 10 Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist 10 Rex Murphy, the Reporter 10 Rita Young, the Athlete 10 Roland Banks, the Fed 10 Silas Marsh, the Sailor 10 Sister Mary, the Nun 10 "Skids" O'Toole, the Ex-Convict 10 Tommy Muldoon, the Rookie Cop 10 Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter 10 Trish Scarborough, the Spy 10 Ursula Downs, the Explorer 10 Vincent Lee, the Doctor 8 Wendy Adams, the Urchin 10 William Yorick, the Gravedigger 10 Wilson Richards, the Handyman 10 Zoey Samaras, the Chef 10

I usually do this: -I pick an expansion that I'm not going to use for the current game (e. g. King in Yellow). -I write an Excel file associating Custom cards to such expansion's cards (e.g. "Press Pass = Sniper Rifle", "Riot = Pope Ratzinger", and so on). -whenever any such expansion's card is drawn, we check it out in the table. It's not the best method, but allows us to play without printing or using glue on cards. The main bright side is that this way you can't recognise custom cards in the decks.

That's a nice rule. We don't usually fight Ancient Ones since we consider that kind of victory a "draw", but i remember seeing a Blessed Joe Diamond with a Fight Skill Card and a Shotgun removing about half the AO's Doom Track. At first, I would have thought of such a rule to work according to and Investigator's Focus, but I prefer Kevin's way- so that investigators are somehow rewarded by their almost vain efforts.

Yeah, ok, it's just about "choosing your path"- but that doesn't prevent'em from getting a "free gift". I don't know, this game is becoming more similar to Dragon Ball than to a Lovecraftian Horror tale.

So, yesterday we played a game, and I drew Tony Morgan, the Bounty hunter. His personal story's "pass" condition grants him a nice $15 if he collects 4 Monster trophies. But his "fail" condition has him to discard all his monster trophies, but from that moment he also gains 1 Clue Token whenever gaining a newmonster Trophy. So, guess what: he starts with 3 Clue tokens. "Failing" is very easy if you start collecting clues, and in my opinion, it's even better than gaining $15! i did it yesterday: I managed to collect 2 clues on the very first game turn: I hadn't got any monster trophies yet, so i didn't lose any, and was able to play the whole game with a new, Clue-generating ability. I was amazed. I checked out some other Character's personal stories, and saw similar "positive failure" conditions. Then I suddenly realized that this is too broken: if an investigators "wins" something by both failing or succeeding, this means, basically, a "free gift". I'd understand if this was developed to improve the weaker ones, but some of them are just balanced enough (like Tony). THey didn't need this kind of tweaking. Monterey Jack's Personal Story is almost outrageous: he's got the worst WILL / SAN ever, and he's got to collect 3 Monster Trophies in order to pass. And, should he gain 5 Clus, he fails and losess his special ability unless he pays Clue tokens for it. That's f****** lame.

Hmm I don't like the Sniper Rifle: It costs far more than the Shotgun, and doesn't grant the same lethality: of course, there's a *slight* chance you'll keep rolling an endless chain of 6's, but that's not a point. I'd still prefer the Shotgun and the 6= double success mechanic. So, I coud some advice for you: 1) rule it like a shotgun: +5 to Combat check, 6's = double success, $8 value. or 2) just rule it like "when using Sniper Rifle in combat, you may exhaust it to use Sneak instead of Fight". (Yes, this also means that you don't have to exhaust it if you use it with Fight). For a +5 bonus, I'd just price it $7. Also, try using the following image: it's better than a real photograph

I agree with Ricedwlit- though we usually allow Rumors to immediatly enter in play: we just love playing it "straight and hard"

I mean: nothing fould forbid them to introduce a new monster which devours you if you fail any check against it (evade, horror or combat). Since monsters and GOOs are Lovecraftianly cruel, they're kind of welcome.But I wonder whether they actually test some messy mechanics (like Personal Stories), or Investigators: People have been discussing (and despising) Daisy Walker (the Librarian) for being so ridicolously overpowered. Now the story repeats with Patrice the violinist: compare her to, say, Vincent "loser" Lee or Monterey Jack (which is my favourite character ever anyway ), and you'll laugh to tears. I'm not going to discuss about the above mentioned investigators (there are enough threads around about'em): i'd ust like to know your impression. I just find it so strange that they carefully planned fixed parameters about the $25 value of starting possessions, and the total amount of Skill point & Focus, without caring much about overall balancement. Also, I really wonder why only investigators from the base AH game got one Special Ability, while *almost* all the new characters (from DH, KH and IH) got two- often each being as powerful as a "full single one".

Oh mamma mia, We just won our very first game vs. Cthulhu today! 3 players, all playing 3 SAN investigators (Gangster, Soldier and Bounty Hunter- A team chosen on purpose ): We won in some 6 game turns by closing all gates, with only one Monster Surge. We hadn't been playing vs. Cthulhu for 2 years: our last experienca proved to be quite traumatic. So, yes, I'd say that a GOO difficulty is actually based on players' perception A LOT.

Well, I admire and agree with those people who manage not to read all cards after owning the game for motnhs or years But you know, many locations (stable ones mainly) are visited very rarely, so you can't blame curiosity I think I have seen people having encounter at Ma's or the Police station just some 3-4 times in 3 years, while the Unnamable, Woods, Unvisited isle (everybody hunting down John Legrasse like a fox ) and Witchhouse get visited no less than 5-6 times per game. Encounters are becoming a bit monotonous there. We managed to have River Docks being visited more often by using them like the Train Station, so that you can travel by there to Kingsport or Innsmouth, arriving into a different location than the train one. This helped a lot.

Well, the Servants of Glaaki are nasty indeed, but they never appear in some 50%-70% of our games. Unless a Mythos card says "Terror level goes up" or the "Southside Strangles" rumor appears, we usually manage to keep Terror do 0 and all Allies safe. Talking about the Servants, the only ones I'd worry about are the skill and Clue-discarding, while the others are easily bearable, *usually*. But tell you what: whether Glaaki is easy or hard, I just love it

I don't mean to be rude, but why don0't you just read all the encounter cards? Joey apperas at Hibb's and (if I remembercorrectly) at River Docks and Ma's Boarding house. THat's why they call him a "rat" Oliver Thomas is the Curiosities Shop's owner, and I don't remember seeing him elsewhere.

Yeah, she's **** broken- even more than Daisy Walker the Librarian. We ruled noth of them so that their player MUST choose only ONE of their special abilities: that seems to fix them well. Think about it

KGT, come on, how can you put Glaaki as your #1 hardest GOO??? It is one of my favourites indeed, but I consider it to be among the easiest Ancient Ones. Not as easy as, say, Yig or Azathoth, but I'd say Cthulhu, Atlach and Quachil are waaaay harder. I'd agree with you if your chart was just about your tastes- but I quite disagree if it just ranks them by difficulty. Ah... Quachil Uttaus. My favourite Ancient One ever, and they did an amazingly fine job in putting him into Arkham Horror. The dust decks are the creepiest thing I ever saw in this game. We love him so much So, here's my top 5 in terms of difficulty- #1 is the hardest of course. -5 Eihort: I'm not so sure it has to be among the hardest 5, but I find it to be quite unbeatable in Final Battle. Its parasites are just a lovely thing though. -4 Quachil Uttaus: well, the dust deck is creepy and dangerous, but being devoured is often a small issue: sometimes it even helps you in getting rid of a weak investigator. Also, when you're drawing from the 3rd deck, you can just give all your items to another investigator before facing the unavoidable. Final battle vs. Quachil is impossibile, but who cares? Azathoth is even worse since "he wins. Period." -3: Ghatanothoa: one of my favourite GOOs ever. I love playing Russian Roulette with it, and its random way of immediatly devouring investigators is even more dangerous than Quachil's -2 Cthulhu: oh boy, I've been playing this game for 3 years, and I never, ever won against Cthulhu. I must admit that we're so pissed off with him that we often skip to another GOO if Cthulhu is randomly drawn. -1 Atlach-Nacha (or whatever its name is): with Cthulhu, you could seal gates, at least. This GOO is just a nightmare come true.

Actually, I think this spell is very useful. At least, it's more useful than Voice of Ra (one of the most useless spells in ym opinion). Its usefulness depends on which Ancient One you're struggling against: it's quite pointless if you're facing Glaaki or, say, Yig... But it can save your life while facing Shudde M'ell, Quachil Uttaus, Eihort (*especially*) and others.

Admiral142 said: @ Gott - I look forward to seeing how he works out for you Gott! I hope he's fun! thanks for the suggestions also; I gave him the foreign tongue ability because the rooftop run ability is meant to be very powerful. I could make rooftop run less powerful though, and give him a story continues card to power it up... thanks again! I tried him yesterday night: we played two games and I found him working fine and balanced when using the following adjustments: -Rooftop Run only gives 1 extra movement point. -I didn't use "Foreign Language", replacing it with "Bushido" (-1 to all skill checks if he loses his Katana). Luckily I never lost the weapon in both games, but moving just 1 space is not that strong: it allows you to kill multiple, adjacent enemies, or to kill any monster that just exited a gate and then jump in the gate itself... or just enter any location and have an encounter there. It's nice. Maybe, you could change the Rooftop Run to "Once per turn".I really like playing the ninja: while I don't like ninjas very much, I found your character very funny and well-made. One of the best custom investigators I ever saw! Why don't you post his "story so far" and work on a Personal Story, along with its pass/fail conditions?

After being in both Italy and the US, I'd say yes: the crappy Euro thing just managed to get all prices rise by some 50% in a few years. I wish salaries increased that much too. But you know, Arkham Horror games sell for some EUR 20-25 (small box expansions) and 45-50 (big boxes), so finding a new release like Innsmouth for "just" 40 bucks, well, it's luck.

I like the Ninja too, and I'm going to play it this very night! Just my advice: His main ability is very nice- and I'm not sure it is *that* overpowered, though I'd just give him 1 extra movement point only: ok, it would allow you to "jump" to any adjacent monster, investigator or location, but his base speed of 4 just compares him to any Speed 5 investigator. The -1 to all skill checks doesn't sound good to me: if his problem is a "foreign language", I'd restrict the -1 to Lore and Will checks (for Encounters only). BUT: I'd just remove the "foreign language" thing and add the following: BUSHIDO: Upkeep: If Fujibayashi (oboy, I'd change hisname if I were you ) has not the Katana with him, he suffers a -1 to all Skill checks. This would prevent him from giving it to other investigators (I'd hate seeing Joe Diamond wielding a .45 and the Katana, rolling +7 combat checks with the "6= 2 successes" bonus). I'll try this out and tell you.