and it's usually never that challenging (lost only once in 38 games played)

Julia, have you played against the Arkham Nights Yog-Sothoth with, say, 5+ investigators? I am, as my name implies, an obsessive gamer - I have a tendency to get OBSESSED with a single game (or maybe two) and play it for days or even weeks as my sole entertainment until I pick something else and move on. Not intentionally; it's just how my brain works. But Arkham Nights Yog-Sothoth is what ended Elder Sign for me and is why I all but disappeared from these forums after haunting them day and night for however long it was I did that. Trying to play against him with a high number of investigators is what broke me. I don't like broken games, and it seems that in that situation, it's broken. I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to come back until I get a response from the developers on that - it will bother me too much. I'm not good at letting little things go - games come as a complete package in my twisted head.

Obsessive Gamer,

sorry, I haven't played with the new Yog. But I know what you mean, having heard many complaints about it, and everyone more or less agreed it was completely broken. Not so sure about what to say, but don't be bummed by a single promo item: usually promo items are created for collectors / to celebrate something, and they could be off balance. Also the Oliver Grayson ally card for AH, IIRC, created some sort of discomfort and some problems with loops.

JULIA

Well, it is reassuring that it's not just me! I'm on a Civ V binge right now, but as you can see I'm back on the forums, so I might come back to Elder Sign. I'm still fascinated by Tibs' skill dice...

Anyway, sorry for hijacking this thread.

:laughter: do not tempt me, I often wonder about forcing collegues to play instead of talking about illness and the old age coming. Definitely ES would represent an interesting variation from the usual routine.

As for the time... in one of our latest games we sealed Glaaki away in a 3-Mythos time (doom track at zero; investigators: Monterey, Kate, Jenny, Mandy). Clearly, we were a little lucky, but still, we win on average after 5.8 Mythos (let's say six) with on average 4 doomers on the doom track, so the game never lasts more than 25-30 minutes and it's usually never that challenging (lost only once in 38 games played)

Elder Sign might be the perfect game for that! God knows it helps me face my own mortality..... Games are, quite seriously though, nature's pain killer. I think they only say that laughter is the best medicine due to it's ability to distract our mind. An' if someone is suffering from temporal obsession like that, well at the least they need a distraction.

I think I understand the 5 minute win too. It's still impressive that you can play three days in 5 minutes though! For me this game is still quite challenging the faster I play it. I can beat "solve the puzzle." I'm not sure I've beaten Elder Sign yet if that makes any sense. There are too many occasions where I look at what the difference to my game would have been had I made a different choice, and I would have lost.

Sometimes not being any smarter than anyone else has it's advantages! You're games last longer! A good visual metaphor for this game would be that picture of a nurse with a shotgun standing between a shaggoth and her patient. (I still want to see one of a shaggoth standing between a pregnant woman and a bathroom door *heh* Short fight.) You know she CAN win but you also know (even better) that she CAN blow it too.

An' that's how I love my games!

and it's usually never that challenging (lost only once in 38 games played)

Julia, have you played against the Arkham Nights Yog-Sothoth with, say, 5+ investigators? I am, as my name implies, an obsessive gamer - I have a tendency to get OBSESSED with a single game (or maybe two) and play it for days or even weeks as my sole entertainment until I pick something else and move on. Not intentionally; it's just how my brain works. But Arkham Nights Yog-Sothoth is what ended Elder Sign for me and is why I all but disappeared from these forums after haunting them day and night for however long it was I did that. Trying to play against him with a high number of investigators is what broke me. I don't like broken games, and it seems that in that situation, it's broken. I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to come back until I get a response from the developers on that - it will bother me too much. I'm not good at letting little things go - games come as a complete package in my twisted head.

What are the Arkham Nights? I don't see that adventure in my copy. Why did Arkham Nights/Yog-Sothoth end this game for you?

As for your obsession there are many that actually think it's the key to winning or losing. Judging by this year's EVO results I'd say there is plenty of support for that theory. You want less obscure? Watch the DotA tourney and then ask the top 8 if they play anything else. (8 MILLION for a DoTa tourney win this year. Awesome!) They don't. Besides you are watching many disparate dynamic equations unfold simutaneous and instaneously. What's not to obsess?

If that's how you like your games though? As research practice as well as solving dynamic equations then may I make a suggestion? Mage Knight. You're Welcome! *grins*

You might love/obsess (really is there ANY difference if we're honest with ourselves?) about Pathfinder the Adventure Card Game as well. It just won't have as much research to do.

Xodarap,

Arkham Nights is an recurrent event scheduled during Fall and devoted to lovecraftian games produced by FFG. It's hosted in Roseville, Minnesota, and every year partecipants at the event receives some gadgets. On these occasions, some revised AOs were released, both for Elder Sign and Arkham Horror. If you search for "Elder Sign" on the boardgamegeek.com website, you'll find a list.

The AO Obsessive Gamer was referring to is a revised version of Yog whose ability can trigger a series of devouring resulting in the destruction of the whole party. An evident error in design, clearly, because it's over-punishing for larger parties (if that doom token is placed on that space, you lose the game. Not really funny, especially considering it's doom token n.3)

On the subject of Arkham Nights , it's a great time, but you get 85% of the folks from the greater MN area. My girlfriend and I went to the 2011 event in which we pitched our card holders and had a great time playing Arkham Horror and Elder Sign with Richard Launius. If you're from out of town, it's a wonderful chance to meet with folks who absolutely love their games and nearly 48 hours of continuous gaming.

Has there been any news on Arkham Nights for 2014?

Not yet, but IIRC they usually announce it somewhere later during the year

Xodarap,

Arkham Nights is an recurrent event scheduled during Fall and devoted to lovecraftian games produced by FFG. It's hosted in Roseville, Minnesota, and every year partecipants at the event receives some gadgets. On these occasions, some revised AOs were released, both for Elder Sign and Arkham Horror. If you search for "Elder Sign" on the boardgamegeek.com website, you'll find

The AO Obsessive Gamer was referring to is a revised version of Yog whose ability can trigger a series of devouring resulting in the destruction of the whole party. An evident error in design, clearly, because it's over-punishing for larger parties (if that doom token is placed on that space, you lose the game. Not really funny, especially considering it's doom token n.3)

Um, maybe it's just me but aren't I supposed to feel BAD if I missed a super special promo?

As for Arkham Knights that sounds like fun but I wonder what else there is to do in Roseville? Or for that matter Minnesota. If I'm travelling I usually like to make a vacation of it. Then again the chance to play Elder Sign and Eldritch Horror for 48 hours. To try Arkham Horror again for myself and decide once and for all if I want to get FFG's next "RuneBound" and it's 7,478.2 expansions (sorry folks but that's why they call them bandwagons) To play in a real (don't ask.) game of Mansions of Madness and see what people mean when they call it "Lovecraft's Descent." Sounds tempting huh?

It's always about the investment though. Do I want to attend a huge gaming event or do I want to buy more games? I'm already way behind in Descent expansions and still haven't decided about Skull and Shackles yet.... still for those of us who may not make it but would LOVE to see the games and folks who do is there any chance of a Webcast?

Don't worry about the language. The translator was good enough to make me understand your question So, there's a little nuance you have to consider:

- Carolyn's ability can be used once per day

- The Ancient One attacks once per day

Hence, every day Carolyn will heal one Sanity point to herself, and every day Hastur will deal her two Sanity damage, so, in the end, she'll be driven insane. Just a little slower than any other investigator, clearly.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply, it helped, but there is a similar issue with Cthulhu when he attacks every detective reduces by 1 or health or sanity, but what determines the choice is not clear, even if we assume that Carolyn will reduce your health, then if the team has Vincent Whether they will be able to treat each other again in motion, and in this case, Cthulhu will be defeated.

Cthulhu works on maximum Stamina / Sanity, which represent the maximum value you can have. Carolyn and Vincent can heal your Sanity / Stamina up to the maximum and cannot be in any way interfere with Cthulhu's attack. For instance:

- Harvey has 7 San and 3 Sta max.

- Cthulhu attacks, forcing Harvey to lose one max point in either San or Sta.

- Harvey decides that Cthulhu's attack will reduce his max San, and now he has 6 San and 3 Sta max

This value has nothing to do with the remaining Sanity / Stamina of a character. You can have Harvey with 2 remaining points of Sanity, but his maximum is always 7 (or 6, in the example). Were Carolyin in the party, she'd have healed him, but by 1 point of Sanity, bringing his remaining points to 3, but not modifying his max (hence, if Cthulhu already attacked, this means 6 max for Harvey)

When Cthulhu attacks, players decide if to lower the maximum of San or Sta. As soon as one of the max values reaches zero, that character is devoured.

Thanks for the answer, I realized what a mistake. You really helped.

Glad it helped If you have other questions, keep'em coming, there's always someone watching over this forum ready to help

Because exodarap was asking about it, http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/93628-slightly-scarier-yog-sothoth/ A link to the topic with Yog-Sothoth. I already said my bit about him last year, where he is extremely unbalanced in a 5+ player game, and likely isn't balanced for 4 either. There is fun but challenging, and frustrating. I can see why people would have a bad taste about the game if their first or second experience was running into this.

On the very first topic: the player as owner of the die may reroll his magically locked die in another attempt if he wishes to do so.

It is very clear in the rules ... and the iPad version allows it too.

To all the champs boasting and posting about their awesome 99% wins, it is odd that even the simplest rules get fuzzy and not answered correctly. So now ... how about posting the real loss ratios of the computer controlled versions ...

"But but but the iPad version is so much more difficult". Not really that it would support the 80% fixed wins (decided by 11 players btw) into a 30% catastrophe.

Yeah sure Monsters are placed randomly and yeah of course some Elder are very difficult, but even with the medium sized bosses everyone loses more than have "awesome 99% wins on the iPad".

The explanation is rather simple. No rules "interpretations" in the digital versions.