You better believe it's possible to lose….Especially when you get at least 4 "At Midnight" cards every game like we do….
Some of the Ancient Ones are much tougher than others- I think Shub-N's the worst, followed by Ithaqua (yes, he's one of the tough ones in his Elder Sign incarnation)
I devised a very, very, very exceedingly simple variant to add to the difficulty of Elder Sign, even with the easiest Ancient Ones.
 
Here it is: one Green Die is locked all game, returned to the box: even Sister Mary can't use it. It only becomes unlocked during the Final Battle. That's it.
 
Believe me with this one simple change the entire game becomes a harrowing death-struggle for your heroes (but it makes Shub-N literally impossible to play against, so I never use it with that Ancient One)
If that's not enough of a challenge, once you've all picked starting Investigators return all but 3 extras to the box. If a replacement ever needs to be drawn but there's none of these 3 left, you lose! (wish I could print up a real nice Scenario card for these variants on Strange Eons)

Yeah I only see Grayson when he gets discarded.
 
I was going to design some neighborhood cards based on the novels, but it's going to take me a very long time to get through all of them. There are eight now? I've finished three.

I've always wished they'd do this- really small expansion packs like the Cthulhu card game gets every couple months or so . Maybe throw in a couple new Monsters...
 
Didn't realize Miskatonic added that much to the Location decks.

According to the Hitchiker's Guide- I mean, Wikipedia- Batman first appeared in 1939. The question arises, how old was Bruce Wayne when he first donned the Cowl? Probably at least 18-21 (I doubt Alfred would have let him fight crime till he came of age) Young master Bruce probably trained as best he could as a lad, then intensive training when he turned 18 (yes I'm going somewhere with this)
 
So... by 1939 he could have been as young as 18 but was more likely 25-30.
 
Which means....young master Bruce could have been old enough to have his own adventures in 1926 Arkham! By my reckoning he'd have been somewhere between 8-20 yrs old in '26. He'd certainly have been as old as Wendy Adams the urchin. No need for the cowl- young Bruce Wayne can go ahead and save Arkham anytime he wants!

Roland Deschain can show up anywhere, in any time or universe- so he could stop in Arkham to help our world with our little problem, on his way to the Dark Tower.
 
His Fight and Will would be incredible- but his Luck would be awful. I'd give him 7 Stamina and 3 Sanity, but he'd always reduce Sanity losses by one. Anytime he draws a monster, keep drawing till you get one with at least 2 toughness (because bad things always happen to Roland)
 
 
Batman could fit into Arkham- the name "Arkham Asylum" was borrowed from Lovecraft- he's a dark character. But what equipment would he have in the 20s? Batman never uses guns, there were no crime computers or Batmobiles back then. He'd rely more on his own skills than equipment.
Parhaps there'd be a permanent curfew out on the masked vigilante- like the "Martial Law" in Innsmouth, but only for him. No Allies allowed except for Ruby Standish (who's practically Catwoman) He's faced Mythos horrors already in the comic books.

Can't believe how this is going over like a lead balloon with my fellow Arkham inmates....
 
 
Not thrilled by the artwork at first glance. COC RPG fans might like the style of artwork, the paper rail and boat tickets etc, but it's very different from the lush style of A-H.  On first seeing the board I thought "Bleh- it looks like Fortune&Glory and Risk had a kid"- but then I watched the video a 2nd time and realized the board design is brilliant. Photos tacked to the map!! Hope there's a lot of secret locations (like Rlyeh) cause the simple board will start to look cooler with each added token.
 
Did you notice there's Brains and Hearts again? I like Brain and Heart tokens...
 
 
Not sure what sets it apart from A-H, cause you move around a board with roughly the same number of locations (if you don't count seldom-visited places like the Bank) fight enemies and have encounters at locations. But it looks simpler to learn and a lot less fiddly so it should draw in some non-Arkham players. The world-wide setting fits the Mythos theme: all this forbidden knowledge pieced together from remote places across the Globe, leading to some sort of shocking revelation and/or confrontation (Sure sounds Lovecraftian to me) We do plenty of globe-hopping in A-H via the Other Worlds; looks like in "Eldritch" we have to travel the hard way, by sea and rail. 
 
 
So I refuse to have my excitement dampened by all the nay-sayers. This preview could not have come at a better time (this has been a very bad week for me, personally, and I sorely needed cheering up) My coin jar should be full by the time it comes out, so we'll see how it holds up in the next couple previews- but right now those coins are burning a hole in my pocket. Can't wait to see how the various characters fare in a new setting- that's one thing I love about Elder Sign, seeing the new Investigators and AO's in a totally different setting (still haven't tried "Mansions" yet)