Borealian
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Posts posted by Borealian
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One thing to keep in mind is that Julia is a master player of this game. What she finds easy makes us mere mortals tremble.
As you suggested, setup and teardown suffer a lot from separating decks, so we usually keep everything added in. I know there is one player who made a list of all cards for all decks, numbered them and roll a D100 (or whatever D is appropriate) to determine which card is drawn. He keeps all cards sorted according to expansion and then alphabetically so they can be found quickly. There is a video explanation for his system on youtube but I forget what it's called. We're more old fashioned and keep drawing until legitimate cards are found.
Our gaming group usually resolves encounters regardless of expansions used, precisely to add variety. We tend to resolve mythos cards that are not specific to expansions not used as well. Something that more serious players frown upon but that we decided made the game more fun is to cull the monster cup. Typically, we add only one of each very tough monster (colour from outer space, starspawn, cthonian, etc.) since even if you can sneak them, they make your lives miserable. For flavour, we then add theme appropriate monsters back to the cup. Another thing we tried was removing useless items from the item decks and also the spell deck, although we later added everything back since it got a little too easy. Remember to keep seemingly useless items that are character specific if you choose to go this route!
There are lots of ways to make the game more forgiving. If you're not having fun you should adjust the difficulty as you like until the players get to know the game a bit better. If you focus on the story-telling aspect of the game more than whether you win or lose it is likely you will have a great time regardless though!
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I know a lot of people who are on the fence about this game, particularly now that available editions are disappearing fast. The reason people have waited is that the price is more than a little steep. Many have pointed out that the game would work well set in the TI-universe. Surely, by now, the planners at FFG should have had time to decide which GW-licensed games are possible and profitable to turn into new editions without infringing on the license. It seems to me Forbidden Stars could be such a game. Like I said, many are wondering about this but who could provide an answer? So, this is something of an open question to FFG: is there any chance this game will be resurrected and supported?
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Which of those questions had the right answer as "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fthagn!"?
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You can almost fit all cards and tokens in one of the big boxes actually. I have very unsentimentally discarded boxes (let alone the tiresome inlays) after finding three of the large ones are enough. But then, I have also made cardboard boxes to hold cards that I can fit into the game boxes and these take a lot of extra volume. If you put all the boards, rules and dice in one box, there should be room left for something else, possibly character sheets (in my case location decks in their little deck boxes, as well as homemade stamina/sanity sliders and a little box containing some always-used tokens). The second box contains (almost) the rest of the cards, as well as most of the tokens, ziplocked and ready. I need a third box for expansion locations and some other expansion specific tokens. Without all those cardboard boxes I made, I'm pretty sure I could have slimmed it down to just two boxes though.
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Another alternative is to remake all the order tokens for house Tyrell. Get an arch punch in roughly the same size. Print scans (or photos) and glue them to cardboard about 1 mm thick (1/24"), then punch out new tokens. As long as you align both sides before gluing, it's a pretty easy and fast task to perform. In fact, you might enjoy it so much you make new tokens for ALL houses!
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No time! Draw an injury card and back to work!
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A conspiracy between banks and Cthulhu would explain so much! Also: congratulations!
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I don't know what you are talking about! I've had this game for ages! *nervously looking around* Oh yes! Ever since Fight or Flight Guys released it! Can't get enough of Father Dragon and Mother Udder and all their little tents! Off to save the Coward King!
CaptainMako reacted to this -
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I think I misunderstood the combat question: I was supposing the OP had already entered combat and done the horror check. Now that I re-read it, I realise it was meant differently.
(I think I got away with it this time, but I really should try the game sometime if I'm going to hang about on this forum. Julia and Tibs might be on to me.)
So, um, yeah. Guess I'm off to play some At the Gates of Horror Madness Horror with my friends. We'll be sure to yell "Cthulhu moose moose" every time we get three monster trophies in a row, and I expect they will end up on my hotel on Arkham Asylum, just like last time.
Julia and The Professor reacted to this -
1) When the manual uses the term "players", does this mean the number of real person(s) playing the game, or the number of investigators that are in play. Perhaps a stupid question, but the tutorials I've watched each used this figure differently when the same number of real people were involved.
Typically, the manual will refer to the amount of investigators. I'm not sure the amount of players is relevant. I know rules can refer to "player on your right", in which case I think it is alright to infer "investigator to your right".
2) How are the investigators' personal stories involved in gameplay? Each is read like there is an objective involved, and I've seen posts where players talk about completing some part of a story. However, I cannot find any information on this.
Personal objectives arrive with expansions. Specifically Innsmouth Horror. You also get relationships with Miskatonic Horror.
3) What's the inner sanctum at the Silver Twilight Lodge? How do you implement it? During my trial run, a investigator acquired membership and was at the lodge when the encounter phase came around The location ability says a regular encounter can be skipped by instead doing something with the inner sanctum. Again, I couldn't find anything about this in the manual.
The Inner Sanctum is an alternative location for members only at the Silver Twilight Lodge. To have an encounter at the Inner Sanctum, go to the Silver Twilight Lodge and draw a blue encounter card as normal during the encounter phase but read the part with the Inner Sanctum heading instead.
4) The FAQ's mention which items can and cannot be traded among investigators, but skills are not mentioned. Can these be give/traded?
No. Skills are not items and cannot be traded.
5) If an evade check is failed and combat damage is taken, can the investigator attempt another evade, or must he/she always enter combat afterwards?
You can attempt as many evades as you like, provided you are not knocked unconscious. Each new round of combat, you decide whether to fight or flee. If you fail your check, receive damage and let a new round commence. If you succeed, combat is over.
6) The train station allows for movement to other rail locations. Can the train station's ability be used at any rail location to move around, or is this ability limited to only the train station location?
Every rail location has the ability to let the investigator move to another rail location. You will find there is only ever one rail location on each board, thus playing only with the Arkham board you will find no other rail locations.
7) In regards to monster surges, the FAQ reads: " If there are more monsters to be placed than allowed by the monster limit, the players should decide where monsters will be placed." Does this mean it is up to the players to say where they are placed in Arkham, or whether they go to the outskirts vs. staying in Arkham at all? Further, do monsters generated by a surge even count towards the limit? I could not find this in the manual, and a player tutorial indicated that they do not.
Haven't read the wording in the FAQ but I think what they mean is that during a surge, the first player decides at which gates to place new monsters. The monster limit must stlll be respected and monsters within the limit should be placed as evenly as possible across the gates. Monsters in excess of the limit still go to the outskirts, until the outskirts, in turn, are full; at which point the terror level goes up and the outskirts are cleared.
Hope this helps you somewhat. I have a history of confusing rules so hopefully someone else will add their weight as well!
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Turns out I was completely wrong. From the FAQ:
Q:
When a location card says “a gate and a monster
appear,” which appearance is resolved first?
A:
The gate appears first, and any investigators at the loca-
tion are drawn through the gate. Then the monster appears.
Monsters that appear as a result of these encounters stay
on the board, count against the monster limit, can go to the
Outskirts, etc., as normal.
Q:
When a location card says “a gate and a monster
appear,” is a doom token added to the doom track?
A:
YesEDIT: And ninja'd too. Not my day.
Hunter Smith reacted to this -
You'll find the official answer in some of the FAQs. (I might not remember this correctly). When both a gate and a monster appear, you immediately fight the monster, just like when only a monster appears. If you lose, you are taken to the asylum or hospital depending on what happened and the monster remains in the location! If you win, you are sucked through the gate and delayed on the other side, just like when only a gate appears. You are not lost in time and space unless unconscious or insane in the other worlds.
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That is just awesome! Will have to redecorate living room.
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so I guess amazon is no longer an option
Free delivery overseas has probably been dropped.
Yes, it has.
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Now all you need are the pre-painted monsters and investigators!
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There are pretty good maps in "A World of Ice and Fire" from which you can guess approximate heights. I don't think there are any surveyor's maps to be found, not even on the Internet
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As far as I know, there is no real difference between the FFG editions of the base set. On the revised Arkham board, water locations are printed on the board whereas the original board needs a couple of tokens placed on those locations instead. I suppose the rules for water locations are printed in the revised rulebook as well while missing from the original. You will find the rules for these in the other expansions anyway.
All the expansion cards will sport a little symbol that reveals which expansion it comes from, although weirdly (and slightly annoyingly), that symbol will be in different places depending on the expansion. I think the investigator sheets might also bear this symbol somewhere. To tell which monsters come from which expansion, you need to consult the Arkham Horror wiki. Here, you can actually find out which investigators belong to which expansion as well, as well as which items, skills, allies, etc.
So go ahead and spend that sanity!
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It was a long time ago that I played Talisman 2nd ed. with my friends. The way I remember it, we were all a little disappointed that you could play as a Space Marine with a chainsword who was as weak as any of the other characters. His power armour was no match for the medieval weapons of Talisman! Nor was his chainsword all that great at ripping enemies to shreds. Gameplay-wise, we mostly stayed clear of the Timescape because it was just too chaotic. I remember there was a lot of frantic scrambling towards it as last ditch attempts to affect the endgame. It rarely worked, but when it did, it became legendary!
All in all, the theme of Timescape is an odd fit with Talisman, particularly in 4th ed. where all Warhammer references have been removed. Rules-wise, it would require a complete overhaul at any rate so it is hard to say how good a 4th edition version would be. Most of us will buy it regardless, no doubt.
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Would you play the same house on both boards (or a team with both instances of the same house)? Otherwise it could get a bit confusing with the ship and army tokens travelling between boards. It would also change gameplay a lot depending on which sides of the boards you decide to connect. It's certainly an interesting idea but I think it could be hard to find players dedicated enough to try it out because that is going to take a loooong time to play!
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From page 18 of the rulebook:
"Ship units may support adjacent combat in a sea area or a land area. Footmen, Knights, or Siege Engine units, however, may never provide support to combat in a sea area."
So, yes, Martell can support with their ships provided the sea areas are adjacent.
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Ok, so how does this work? If we publicly yearn for a Mansion of Madness expansion instead, do we get an Arkham Horror one? Actually, it's probably going to be stranger than that isn't it? Here goes:
Boy, I sure could do with an expansion to Hey, that's my
Shoggothfish!There. I said the words. I'm getting the expansion now.
...
Dang it!
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I think I automatically interpreted Oliver Grayson as being exhausted when his ability is used because the (apparently correct) alternative is full of madness. I'm sort of on the fence about how to treat him henceforth.
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As far as I remember, Miskatonic Horror was actually sold as the last expansion for AH. Before that, there was a regular publishing schedule with one big and one small expansion every year (I might be remembering things incorrectly, mind) whereas we haven't seen anything new for several years now. If anything more was released at this point, I would be very (pleasantly) surprised. I know fans were hoping for an Antarctic expedition or mountains of madness expansion but alas, nothing official seems to be forthcoming along those lines.
why the dices are all painted with the same color?
in Forbidden Stars
Posted
I think the design philosophy is that different types of dice have different colours but same type of dice all have the same colour. Firstly, there is less room for confusion if all dice of one type all look the same. Secondly, it makes things easier when designing expansions that might use new types of dice since more colours remain. Thirdly, another good reason is that quality control is much easier since you don't have to make sure that each box contains the correct number of each coloured die. Lastly (that I can think of), it's probably slightly cheaper to have just one colour.