Hi All,

In my last big package of games I got Elder Sign, and my wife noticing it also decided to order me Unseen Forces with some Amazon cards she had.

So now I have both, and I have a Revised Edition, but I was wondering if I should start playing with Unseen Forces right away or not? Other than a particular AO and its monsters, and bless/curse, it appears that it's an expansion that just adds more of everything to the base game. I've already played a few times now and have plenty of games(due to AO/Investigator combinations) left before I really feel the need to mix in the new content, but is it anything all that different that I shouldn't just combine them now?

Also, since I have correctly printed cards AND the replacement cards, should I leave the replacements in and just have some dupe locations?

I wouldn't go for double OW cards (replacements + original properly printed) simply because you'd skew the odds of drawing some of them, and this could make the game easier (or harder; should check the cards to be sure, but still, you got the idea).

As for your first query... I'd say mix the small cards in, but wait to add all the rest. UF makes the game different (richer, but also a little more difficult) so that maybe you can play the core set until you've done at least one complete rotation of AOs. Then add UF with Master Mythos out. Then add Master Mythos to the Mythos deck, so that, in the end, you maximize variety.

I'm gonna go ahead and say to play with everything. This is one of those few times where I would actually recommend it.

UF doesn't add many new game mechanics that will confuse you, and it does add more of the same: something that ES benefits greatly from.

I might recommend avoiding expansion AOs for a few games: especially Abhoth and Shudde M'ell. You kind of need to be ready to handle them. And, of course, leaving out the Master Mythos cards (only nine I think) wouldn't really hurt your experience.

Two of the greats offering different advice. What am I supposed to do?

I believe going forward I'm going to mix some things in. I'm still introducing it to my gaming group so I'm going to leave out the bless/curse for now. I'm sure they'd get it since we play Arkham but just to take our time with this since it might be a while before there's new content anyway.

Oddly enough, my wife bought me the expansion but I only bought the base game because I wanted to have an Arkham game she'd enjoy. She hates AH and won't play it but helps act as the overlord and keeps the game running and organized. After I explained that this is a severely stripped down version of Arkham played with some cards and dice she fell in love after we pummeled Hastur.

Tibs scored a good point while saying that UF adds mostly variety and not complexity once you decide not to go for expansion-specfic AOs. I guess that adding / not adding UF can be simplified mostly to the following query: do you prefer having a richer game immediately, or have to discover new bits after a while?

Be sure while not playing with Blessings / Curses to remove the Goat Spawn from the mix and in case you draw an item blessing someone, discard that card and draw a replacement.

Also beware that the Entrance for the core game was changed in UF, and buying ES is no longer an option.

If you want to play with a mix of the two, you should be sure you settled this down before some odd situation could arise. It's not a long or difficult task, tho, so, you go for it if you feel it's the right mix for you right now

Happy your wife's enjoying Elder Sign

I added it After a few Plays!

Yes, yes you should.

So I had the game group over again and finally got everyone involved to play through a few rounds of Elder Sign. I think I'm single-handedly scoring converts away from the TV and into the world of Arkham since anything Arkham Files has so far been the bigger hits with the group.

Now that the intro stuff is out of the way, we're moving on to Unseen Forces next get together. Of course I'll be testing it out with my wife long before then anyway.