So i am just wondering , now with Eldritch Horror out and expansions for it , will they continue producing Arkham Horror or they are finished with it ?

In My opinion Arkham Horror is great game and they should not shut down this project .

Looking forward to your answers ...

Nobody can give you a real answer about this but FFG, which never said anything official about this.

Eldritch is an interesting game, appealing for several people, while Arkham is a classic that is not necessarily addressing the same target as Eldritch. They keep on repriting Arkham and expansions: this is a good sign, because it means the line, despite the years passed since the latest expansions, keeps on selling.

Will Eldritch replace Arkham? Maybe, one day. Or maybe not.

My personal opinion is that Misaktonic caps off Arkham, and we won't see anything more from FFG. However, if you want to take your game further, there are several very good fan expansions you can (and should) print out. I recommend checking out the links in: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1035042/arkham-archive-of-fan-created-content

There are three questions here and three answers plus one. Here is my opinion on them:

Q1 Will FFG release any more 'stuff' for Arkham?

A1 No unless it is for Eldritch as well for example dice and maybe other accessories that are dual purpose

Q2 Will FFG keep printing it?

A2 As long as they make money from it and they feel it isn't taking away from their other markets yes please.

Q3 Will FFG make a new version?

A3 Who knows

Shteck,

Along with Jake Yet Again and Lilikin, I'm in full agreement that reprinting the game makes financial sense, but I personally don't see any more expansions to the game. To Julia's point, FFG personnel are the only ones who know and they remain tight-lipped about everything. I will tell you that I can almost guarantee that you'll never see another new board for AH, as too many players lamented over the playable surface size required...which is also why I think FFG chose wisely to make a world-wide map for EH, obviating the need for other board expansions...an idea that had a place in time many years ago.

Cheers,

Joe

I'm hoping for an eventual revision* when enough time has gone by, but that's it.

*Some expansions, who shall remain nameless *cough*BGOTW*cough*, could use revision now, but that's not a priority.

In My opinion Arkham Horror is great game and they should not shut down this project .

I agree that Arkham Horror is a great game and it will hopefully remain in print for years to come.

I disagree with a notion that a game is "dead" if it is no longer actively receiving new expansion material. This is not intended as a personal attack at you, Shteck, so hopefully you don't take it that way.

It seems to me that this is becoming a more and more common philosophy in the board game community - the idea that a game is only actively supported as long as it continues to receive new content. No doubt spurred by the increasing number of games that receive constant expansions.

In my opinion, a truly well designed game should not need expansions at all. The core game ought to come with everything you need, and expansions should be optional. AH does fall into this category for me, btw. despite the many, many expansions, I can still play "base game only" and leave with the feeling that I had a complete experience.

Long story short, as long as Arkham Horror remains in print, it will remain alive. Or, to quote a relevant author: "That is not dead which can eternal lie."

Thanks for the link here Jake Yet Again. I, for some reason, don't have it bookmarked and I really ought to since I have fabric maps for 2 of the expansion but haven't finished printing the rest of the components. Looks like I have a plan for next weekend.

I think the fate of AH will be closely tied to the success of EH. Any new AOs, investigators or monster figures released for EH in future expansions should be compatible with AH even if it means adding the AH cards into the EH expansion. There is a precedent for this in the runebound set of games.

Another thing FFG has been doing recently is reprinting revised versions of games, I wouldn't be surprised if AH received this treatment (updating the combat to like EH).

I'd say that reprinting revised edition of AH would inevitably create a cataclysmic shitstorm of "why should I buy the game again", "this is how you backstab your customers, FFG?", "et tu, Brute?", "why don't you just update the rules?".

The revised editions for runewars and dungeonquest came with downloadable rules that existing owners could use to play with their existing collections using the revised rules. If they wanted to update the gate placement to match EH a printable token sheet would be available.

The difference between a revised edition and a new edition is that existing customers don't have to buy anything extra and all existing expansions can still be used. Which one FFG go for will depend on how many components they want to change.

I think the fate of AH will be closely tied to the success of EH. Any new AOs, investigators or monster figures released for EH in future expansions should be compatible with AH even if it means adding the AH cards into the EH expansion. There is a precedent for this in the runebound set of games.

It's true that there is precedent for this sort of thing in the past for other game lines, notably the Terrinoth games. However, it's also true that they've been pulling away from that model with recent games.

For example, the original edition of DungeonQuest came with hero cards for Runebound, Runewars and Descent (1E, at the time.) For the upcoming revised edition of DQ, FFG has confirmed there will not be any components for other Terrinoth games included in the box.

I think FFG realized that things were getting a little out of hand when they were releasing the same heroes for D1E and RB in concurrent expansions. Each expansion added to one game implied a new expansion for the other. When RW came out, they quickly stopped with the parallel expansion idea. There likewise have not been any attempts to make RB or RW (or DQ) hero cards for any of the new D2E heroes.

I'm not saying you're wrong about EH generating new AH content, BTW. It certainly could happen, especially if it's just a new AO sheet that could be done in POD. I'm just saying they seem to have been shying away from the idea of one game feeding directly into another lately, from what I've seen anyway. I don't keep up with all game lines, after all. =P

Since descent 2nd edition came out none of the new descent hero's have made it into the other terrinoth games. This could be a change in direction for FFG or it could be because no new expansions have been released for those other games.

The difference between D2e and EH is that D2e started with all new hero's and EH inherited existing investigators.

I'd say that reprinting revised edition of AH would inevitably create a cataclysmic shitstorm of "why should I buy the game again", "this is how you backstab your customers, FFG?", "et tu, Brute?", "why don't you just update the rules?".

Agreed on this one. Rules could be updated, some things could be slightly shifted, wording can improve, but all the encounters and the theme and everything is good as it is, so basically the game would remain as it is in the 90% of the component.

(sorry for being pedantic on this one: "tu quoque, Brute, fili mi", not "et tu")

It looks like "reprints" are coming out this month but besides corrected errata I don't think they are making any major changes to the game mechanics or rules. So FFG is not giving up on Arkham Horror.

Because they've invested in "reprints" I doubt there will be a "revised" version for sometime now - if ever. Unless the "reprints" are "revised", hopefully we can get clarification on that this month.

But if you like the game as it is, take good care of it. If it ever does go OOP you don't want to have to pay hundreds of $$$ for a copy on ebay down the road.

Well the lead designer on AH was Kevin Wilson, who doesn't work for FFG anymore. Richard Launius was the original designer of the 1987 edition of the game and he was brought on board to help with the new edition too, but I don't think he was ever officially an FFG employee in the first place.

Making new content for AH now would require someone new to sit down, figure it all out, and then come up with some good new ideas. Starting over from scratch with a 3rd edition would be much easier at this point, but I suspect FFG knows as well as we do that wouldn't go over well with the long-time fans.

Therefore, much like a spin-off to a popular TV series that's run its course, Eldritch Horror was born. =P

They could release a revised rule set for AH if they wanted to, but I don't know that there's that much to be gained without component changes (ie: reprinting cards to clean up their language.)

Allow me to disagree on this one, Steve.

First, short observation about Launius: agree, I don't know either if he ever resulted an official employee, but I can guarantee he's still around designing /helping designing games (I worked with him during one beta and one alpha in the last year).

Then Kevin. It is true that Kevin left, but he was responsible for several product lines, and some of these were continued by others: Wiz-War received two expansions, one designed by Jason Little, and another one designed by Nathan Hajek; Cosmic Encounters' new expansion was recently announced (fan expansions having an official release is something that could be interesting for Arkham's future, I think). This clearly wasn't the path followed by Descent, but Descent had many problems so that a new edition could be justified by this reason. Elder Sign got an expansion too, designed by Kevin even if at that time he was already away from FFG, and both Christian and Kevin said that the relationship is good and they could work together occasionally in the future.

So, I'd not link Kevin abscence to the destiny of Arkham. Arkham is just a very complex game that was expanded in the years to its limits (an additional board is improbable at this time, and so new mechanics); new content could arrive in form of Heralds & Monsters packs, or thematic mini-expansion, just like Forbidden Lore was for Eldritch.

Regarding Eldritch... I don't see it as a spin-off due to the imposibility of expanding Arkham, but more as an answer to those who asked to expand Arkham's life beyond Arkham. Several times fan asked about going to Antarctica or the Pyramids, and having a worldwide perspective of the Mythos, and Eldritch is great under this point of view.

Allow me to disagree on this one, Steve.

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Oh wait, that's one of the few non-FFG games I own. =P

Point taken. =)

There are several people here qualified to help with the design of a new edition of the game, if such a thing were desired.

or they are finished with it ?

NEVER!!!

The town of Arkham will always need our assistance......

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!Oh wait, that's one of the few non-FFG games I own. =PPoint taken. =)

Hmm..

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"

So another year and Arkham lies abandoned at the end of a dark and lonely alley.

Just did the In-Flight video for GenCon 2014. They really need to change the name of the company to Fantasy Flight Toys. They even put up a graphic showing how 'toy' games are their big sellers now, followed by box games.

I have to admit I haven't been as pissed at a company as I am at FFG for years. First they turn out the EH abomination, then they drop an expansion for all the whiners who never stop bitching, even when they get their 'version' of AH and the final slap in the face - Mountains of Madness. AH fans BEGGED for this expansion and nobody listened.

I guess for their next level to piss me off they might as well rent a bus or plane, fly up to Providence, go out to the cemetery and just piss on Howard's grave. That would make the scene complete.

I just thought that TSR and WoTC sucked but they could take lessons from these guys.

F.u.c.k. you FFG and thanks for nothing. You have taught me a costly, but valuable, lesson.

And I just want to make this clear - this is not about Arkham Horror at this point. This is about a company who has repeatedly shown a lack of respect for the customers who helped build their company.

Being an Elder Sign fan I was disappointed that it took 2 YEARS to get a mediocre expansion for the game when Richard was quoted at Arkham Nights saying there would be not one but two expansions. So a two year wait and who is going to do the second expansion? Kevin is gone and Richard appears to have moved on with new projects as well (as noted by his recent Kickstarter success).

Another item is the attitude taken by the company of not informing the fans about what is going on with AH and even last year after being asked twice about AH said they don't talk about product lines' future and then proceeded to spend the next hour talking about other product lines' futures...that's BS.

There are other items I could list but won't out of the respect I have for others in the AH community but I believe those items are wrong as well.

This rant has been a long time comin' so before I am dismissed as just another 'Arkham fanboy' understand that this is about the way a company treats its customers in general not just a single product line.

OK, well. That happened.

suicidepuppet,

Interestingly, Christian wasn't always like this, according to a friend of mine who knew him well 25 years ago when they both got into the business. As a side rant, I'm frankly surprised by the gag-order they place on their beta-testers (speaking as a beta-tester for several wargame magazines and Compass Games). They're not particularly user-friendly.

Cheers,

Joe