I've been playing games for a long time. In the last two years, or so, pretty much the only game I've played is Arkham Horror. What makes this game fun for me?

30% cooperation required. My first cooperative game was Shadows Over camelot. I probably played 25 games of it. Only once was I the traitor. I was caught and it was my last game. I'm not sure if being the traitor was what did it, but probably I figured out the game and it became just a matter of convincing others to believe me.

30% Controlled randomness. While much of AH is made up of randomness, the randomness is controllable in that I know that the Newspaper is usually safe and Wizard's Hill is usually dangerous. There are other examples. The stuff I don't like abou AH is when the randomness is not controlled, like the Monster surges adding a doom doken with the Black Gate and the unmodifiable single dice rolls that determine my fate and certain encounters that needlessly happen without me being allowed to have a skill check. (There should be some few encounters so terrifying and overwhelming that can happen.) My first controlled randomness game was Knight's of Camelot. I wore out one copy of that game and bought another.

15% The game can beat me. Over half the time, the reason the game beats me is because I or my group made incorrect decisions. Though sometimes it beats me when I don't make mistakes, If the game beats me "fairly", that's OK.

15% The game is long enough to be significant. I have Pandemic. It's fun, but it's gathering dust. Saving the world in 30 minutes is not nearly as much fun as taking 3 hours to do it.

I expect these percentages will probably change as I hear responses. What makes this game fun for you?

I have to say that before Arkham, i was never much into board games. Infact, i have always hated them. Especially Monopoly and Risk. Mostly because i seem to have HORRIBLE luck at rolling die. I wont go into the stories. That and all of those games seems relatively Pointless, without any action.

Arkham I find, brings lovecraft's (and others) stories (altough imperfectly ) to life and adds an AI to the game which forces you to cooperate in order to win. With my group, we seem to have found a balance between cooperating and racing to be Number One. We Almost always end up in final combat though, Which in my opinion is the best conclucion to a game (after getting the epic battle cards). One of my favorite games was one were we lost to Shud by ONE success. Not one doom token, but one success.

So yeah, that controlled randomness your talking about is great and keeps the game interesting. So is the working together but still being able to argue over who gets the most credit for win And the fact that the game is litteraly out to get you.

But my favorite thing about playing is just the "bringing the mythos to life" type feeling, its an atmosphere that just drives me completely crazy.

In a good way...

My group first picked up Arkham Horror because we were tired of lpaying Risk, Axis and Allies, etc. and having the same players win. It grew old, so we wante a cooperative boardgame. I can't quite remember why or how we happened upon Arkham Horror, but I just remember driving to the local hobby store after school and picking it up. We haven't looked back since.

Its great because its cooperative. Plus its really a social game too. We can open it up, play a bit, and catch up on each other's lives. Its fun because its hard, its not a guaranteed victory. Its one of the few games that I really feel accomplished when I win.

I like Arkham because it captures the feel of a role-playing game, without all the outside work. I like working with a party to achieve a goal, there are plenty of options to keep the game interesting over dozens of re-plays, and every expansion just adds to the game. I like playing in cooperative games, where you are trying to beat something other than the other players. With the current league, I also am being drawn back to the arly days when we used to lose against the game more often than winning, which is another thing I like about it. It is just so much fun, and offers such a wide range of play experience.

The randomness it that each game is different!

It doesn't, I always lose.

j/k

But seriously, I always lose

kroen said:

:'P I told you how to win. Abuse your brother (preferably verbally) until he agrees to cooperate for the sake of Arkham and the world.

Even solo I lose... but maybe it has to do with the fact I'm playing with 3 investigators trying to cover 3 boards... you're playing solo right? how many investigators do you play? what's your average win/lose ratio?

Cooperation is the number one thing for me. I love cooperation so much that I modded the DOOM boardgame so that you don't need a demon player.

The vast expanse of the game and its replayability is another. With all the expansions mixed in, the random encounters are so varied and unpredictable. I don't see the same set of encounters over and over every game. And I know that I'll see brand new stuff every game, and when a rumor comes up I can say "wow it's been a while since we've faced this."

The third element is the adventure theme. It's awesome to play solo sometimes when I don't have anything better to do. Video games just don't offer that tactile experience, and many board games don't capture the adventure theme in such a way that it doesn't have to be played as a campaign.

Finally, I love the challenge. But I guess if a game didn't have much of a challenge, it wouldn't be a very good game

kroen said:

I find that the bare minimum number of investigators to make a fair challenge is 2, plus 1 for every board expansion. If you're using Kingsport and Dunwich, then roll with 4. At 4 you should be able to win by seals usually, and by closing gates and final combat once in a while.

but 4 sounds like waay too much micromanaging

kroen said:

I play almost exclusively solo with four investigators and at first I thought it was a bit much micromanaging. But after a while I started thinking of the investigators as a team and then things got much easier, so much so that I don't think I'd ever go back to fewer than four. WIth four investigators someone is always able to do something - which always keep the game interesting.

Back to the main issue, I'd have to say Arkham is fun because it is so varied -- each game is different, be it in the way the AO interacts, to which expansions you use, etc. Never a dull moment.

ricedwlit said:

^This. Even when you think a game is going smoothely, it always manages to throw a curveball your way that completely destroys your current strategy, forcing the players to adapt. The replayability factor is huge.

Of course, what initially drove me to buy the game was the theme, even though I wasn't that into Lovecraft before I bought it.

I've always been a huge fan of RPGs, but the coordination and time required to put them together is often simply impossible to pull off. I love Arkham because it falls very neatly into the gap between an RPG and a traditional, abstract board game - it doesn't require the massive set-up of an RPG, but it contains a narrative element absent from something like Monopoly or Risk. Being a huge Lovecraft fan helps as well.

I only own Arkham, but I suspect that other Fantasy Flight Games are quite similar to Arkham in this respect, and I suspect Arkham won't be the last FFG addition to our collection.

The cooperative aspect is pretty important. Otherwise, who wouldn't want to be playing the part of Ithaqua raining down awfulness on the unsuspecting populace?

The everyday people getting sucked into madness and horror is perfectly Lovecraftian. I've always loved the mythos and just before the FFG version was announced I was pondering whether I should pony up $60 for a used Chaosium one on ebay.

Another big plus for this game is the lavish production. The components are beautiful.

Lastly, it is truly epic. Huge, lots of bits, plain folks trying to save the world. Perfect.

Bring me more.

Of all the boardgames i now play, I find Arkham play the most engaging. There is always a sense of immediacy and importance to your actions in the game with a good thematic setting. And of all the games I’ve played since my board game resurgence, these sessions always stand out in my mind.

Game time is about 2-3 hrs (give or take) i've got kids now, and can't always afford to play a 6-8 hr long game of Twilight.

I love the co-op play , that aspect makes it easy to incorporate newbies (a few weak players won’t ruin the game, they actually add entertainment)

This game will NEVER play the same 2 times in a row. There are dozens of Investigators and Ancient Ones. And the sheer volume of random elements (cards, dice, etc.) really contributes to a unique experience every time.

Expansions: all the expansions really add some good unique mechanics to the game in addition to more of what you love about the basics. And because of all the additional expansions you can easily ramp up (or down) difficulty as you become more skilled at the game.

RPG-a-riffic! I was surprised by how immersive of an RPG feel the game had. I thought it would just be about “chit pulling and die rolling” (which incidentally is the first track on my new hip-hop album) but when playing (especially with others) it became very engaging.

The cooperative aspect coupled with the RPG-like nature on a boardgame is what seals it for me. Plus, the negotiatians between the players have never been more extensive than within Arkham Horror. At least, that is so with our group.

Plus AH has a great message board community

kroen said:

I can win about 70% of the time with three randomly selected investigators in all expansion games. Although I should say as a disclaimer that I count final battle victories as victories (even though I don't go for them, I prefer to win by seals, and I dislike playing against AOs that are easy to beat in the final battle— if I draw one, I'll usually redraw another one).

What's your strategy then? do you ignore rift? because 3 investigartors can't possibly spare one to relax in kingsport... I think I'll start playing with 4 investigators and see how it is.

p.s. do you play with heralds? guardians? I don't play with heralds but I do play with guardians and sometimes even with the easy difficulty cards and I still lose. what's your secret?

kroen said:

Maybe you should just build it up gradually, playing each expansion until you've got a good win rate before adding the next.

Never mind Nevermind Never you mind

pittplayer said:

Really? Wow! Where? Send me a link!

thecorinthian said:

me too but wait if he sends us the links it will no longer be a great message board community!

kroen said:

Rifts tend to eventually break open in my games, but I tend to leave them alone for a bit early game and try to delay them from opening later on (one of my investigators often cycles through). There's not much of a trick to it, I basically make sure that my investigators are well equipped, I'm willing to hunt for retainers (at the newspaper) and even money launder (if I'm desperate, but I prefer not defrauding the bank), I'm also very careful about getting a strong ally for an important character ASAP (or Professor Rice if possible). I never get deputized and almost never buy skills. Sometimes I'll shop at the common item store instead of the unique item store (if I'm desperate for a weapon and nothing good came up in the starting equipment, but it depends on how little money my investigators have between them). I've never played a game with a guardian (nor do I intend to). Pretty much the only locations I ever visit are science building (for clues), church (for blessings— only if I think the AO is about to wake up), the asylum/hospital (although I tend to prefer just going for the madness or injury rather than paying two bucks and spending a turn or two to get healed— if I draw something crippling, I'll just deliberately get the investigator a second madness/injury with zero items/dollars on him and then retire him to get a new investigator). Newspaper and shops are pretty much where I spend most of my time when I'm not picking up clues. I try to cycle shoppers, and clue gatherers, and other world sealers (and naturally, the heavy weapons tend to go to the other world sealers, although sometimes not, if I think they have stats or items capable of allowing them to evade monsters I'll go for that instead, sometimes, it depends on the circumstances). And of course, I try not to be too rigid about how I play, because there's always some pain in the ass rumor, or environment, or monster popping up (not to mention the possibility of just having gates swarm without surges— which requires taking one of the guys off duty to close a gate instead of sealing it). I'd say my biggest trick for winning is A)I play ruthlessly B)I manage risk (I like to have a backup plan with a little backup stuff, and I'm not worried about sacrificing investigators if it looks like the game is turning against me) C)I don't get distracted. Players who go around exploring Arkham lose. I'm not saying it isn't fun. I'm not saying I don't know where many encounters are, but I tend not to dig for particular encounters (unless I have Darrell). The trick to winning is managing your sealing and gate number, while making sure you're equipped well enough to make it through the gates ::shrug:: I don't think it's *that* hard.

One last bit, unless a rumor comes up 99% of the time, the first thing I trade trophies for is an Ally. If you can get a +2 fight ally, well, your game just got a hell of alot easier (especially if they come with something else too)— one of my favorites is Erica Carlyle, when she's available. Believe it or not, if I had a choice between her and The Messenger, I'd probably pick her. I'd rather have an extra 6-10 cash than be able to pass a few will checks. I view cash as one of the most important resources in the game and always go for it so I can do more shopping at the curiosity shop (assuming I have enough weapons for one investigator).

I usually don't play with gaurdians, but when I do, I don't feel they add to the game difficulty too much. Ghroth makes sealing victories a pain in the ass, but if I were playing with him or The Black Goat, I'd start stocking up for a combat victory (unless I was playing against Azathoth). I'm not going to play the odds that I can pull off a sealing victory with a ten doom track, it's just too improbable (which isn't to say I won't seal gates, but I don't expect to win that way and make sure my characters are properly equipped for a final battle)— even if one makes the unlikely assumption that a double doom token card won't be drawn. For the KiY or Tulzscha I don't modify my strategy much since they don't speed up the game much even though they can both be pains in the ass. I don't usually play heralds though unless I'm in the mood for a treat :')

correction: HAD a great community!