So I got hooked onto this game just a few weeks ago and have played it almost every other day both with friends and solo. I loved it so much that I searched for the expansions, found a great deal and got them all... and now I am overwhelmed by what to do with them.

As I'm still new to AH I haven't even opened the boxes yet as I don't want to kill my brain with all the new rules and gameplay options but I was wondering can I combine the investigators and ancient ones into the base game without adding the other parts of the game or are they specific to the story/game of the expansions? Is there anything in the expansions I can combine with the base game that won't dilute the game or make it overly complicated? I still feel I'm a few games away from being able to play without referring to the rule book.

Any advice/comments would be appreciated.

1) Yes, absolutely. FFG brilliantly designed all the AOs and Investigators to be usable irrespective of expansions, even the ones they come in. The one sort-of exception is Silas Marsh, who gains an ability when in aquatic spaces (the vast majority are on expansion boards) but he also suffers a penalty when drawing Innsmouth Look cards (which are only used in expansions). This is again brilliant because those two contrary effects are hand-in-hand so in a no-expansion game he'll have neither a dominant power nor dominant penalty.

2) I love to shamelessly plug this because I honestly think it helps, but I uploaded a file to BGG that prepares ten "scenarios" that introduces you to each expansion. It sounds like it would be perfect for you:

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/69008/introductory-and-expansion-scenarios

If you are a new player AND have all the expansions for some reason, I would recommend playing each alone with the AH board, and nothing else mixed in. So you are looking at a few games (not many in the scheme of things)

• AH
• AH + Pharaohs
• AH + Dunwich
• AH + King in Yellow
• AH + Kingsport
• AH + Black Goat
• AH + Insmouth
• Ah + Lurker
• Ah + Mmiskatonic

I would recommend adding in just AH + The Expansion of your choice + JUST the additional cards for CORE + The Expansion from Mmiskatonic Horror. So play AH+Dunwish but TAKE OUT all of Pharaoh.

This will allow you to play the game and build up not only a understanding of what the expansions bring but also gain a better ability to cope with the rules rather than getting a ton of them at once.

Once you have gone though the entire set you can start to cherry pick what components you want included in every game no matter what and what components you only include when you add a individual expansion.

Remember there are so many GOO's, Heralds, Guardians, Investigators and items you will pretty much always be able to have a new experience.

Those scenarios look amazing Tibs. Also a nice guide to picking monsters when you want to emphasize an expansion or GOO theme - just what I was looking for. Thanks!

Wow you're lucky! You're at the start of a HUGE adventure.

I'd say add the expansions one at a time, I really don't think they were designed to use all at once- I gather that's what Miskatonic is for, to retro-fit things for people who insist on throwing in all expansions at once. Let the others sit there like books on your shelf, future chapters of the series beckoning to you...