Hello there!
I'm new to the game, having just recieved the base set today. I have three friends coming up for the weekend for our first playthough. Is there any advice you could give for us to make the most of the first play? Are there any caveats we should be aware of, or hints that could improve our first experience?
Any tips would be awesome. I'm looking forward to playing the game and discussing it with all of you.
Welcome! I am glad you're interested in both the game and the community.
Here are some of my best recommendations:
Play a few games solo first. Once you've figured out most of the rules, it will make the game faster and less complicated for your friends. A lot of downtime will be created when you have to constantly check the rules.
When you do play, assign jobs to your friends. One person can be the guy who draws the random gate; one person can draw the random monsters. One person can draw and read encounter cards, etc.
Play against Azathoth or Nyarlathotep. Azathoth changes the rules minimally and there is no final battle to worry about; Nyarlathotep is an easy AO and makes for a generally quicker game.
Allow your friends to choose their first investigator. But only let them choose from these:
Their abilities are simple to understand—some are automatic. They also start with few spells (a pain for newbies to learn and to appreciate).
Make sure you explain in detail why a player has to make a certain check in combat. Also, teach them a lot of stuff as they play; as long as they know their main objectives, the fiddly stuff can be dealt with as you come to it. Constantly remind them the phases of a turn so that everyone is crystal clear on whose turn it is to do what.
Enjoy your game—I'm looking forward to seeing you on the forums!
Tibs said:
Welcome! I am glad you're interested in both the game and the community.
Here are some of my best recommendations:
Play a few games solo first. Once you've figured out most of the rules, it will make the game faster and less complicated for your friends. A lot of downtime will be created when you have to constantly check the rules.
When you do play, assign jobs to your friends. One person can be the guy who draws the random gate; one person can draw the random monsters. One person can draw and read encounter cards, etc.
Play against Azathoth or Nyarlathotep. Azathoth changes the rules minimally and there is no final battle to worry about; Nyarlathotep is an easy AO and makes for a generally quicker game.
Allow your friends to choose their first investigator. But only let them choose from these:
Their abilities are simple to understand—some are automatic. They also start with few spells (a pain for newbies to learn and to appreciate).
Make sure you explain in detail why a player has to make a certain check in combat. Also, teach them a lot of stuff as they play; as long as they know their main objectives, the fiddly stuff can be dealt with as you come to it. Constantly remind them the phases of a turn so that everyone is crystal clear on whose turn it is to do what.
Enjoy your game—I'm looking forward to seeing you on the forums!
Hey Tibs, thanks for the tips.
Going on your suggestion, I'm going to run through a scenario this evening to flesh out the mechanics.
There must have been an error in printing with my set; after opening the box I realized that 7 of the 8 Ancient Ones are written in Spanish. Even more strange: 3 of the Investigator cards are Spanish on the statistics side, and English on the story side!
I guess I will be playing against Cthulhu for my first couple of times until I get this all sorted out.
Cheers!
Wow...talk about taking a Madness, hopefully there is a way FFG can send you out replacements...this game aint cheap.
Best of luck agaisnt Cthulhu...he isn't exactly beginner material.
Wow, yeah man. Contact FFG customer service. They're usually really good about replacements. Especially for such hilarious mistakes as those.
Phibby said:
Wow...talk about taking a Madness, hopefully there is a way FFG can send you out replacements...this game aint cheap.
Best of luck agaisnt Cthulhu...he isn't exactly beginner material.
Tibs said:
Yes. Contacted customer services, they were more than happy to send along a replacement deck.
I had to look over the deck three times to make sure I wasn't striken with insanity.
This weekend should be a lot of fun though. I look forward to playing and relaying our experiences here in the forums.
Have a great weekend!
Tibs said:
Allow your friends to choose their first investigator. But only let them choose from these:
Their abilities are simple to understand—some are automatic. They also start with few spells (a pain for newbies to learn and to appreciate).
As far as the base game investigators go, I don't think there are any truly broken or misunderstandable investigators, as long as you remember that Harvey Walters ability only affects Sanity losses, not costs. Unless you have a problem with Sister Mary, as some people do.
Motoma said:
Hello there!
I'm new to the game, having just recieved the base set today. I have three friends coming up for the weekend for our first playthough. Is there any advice you could give for us to make the most of the first play? Are there any caveats we should be aware of, or hints that could improve our first experience?
Any tips would be awesome. I'm looking forward to playing the game and discussing it with all of you.
Play a few practice games first. Read the manual very carefully. Many many times. As far as manuals go ;') it's not exactly the best. Make some extra copies of the back page of the Arkham Horror manual and distribute one to each player. It has lots of useful information on it.
Avi_dreader said:
Play a few practice games first. Read the manual very carefully. Many many times. As far as manuals go ;') it's not exactly the best. Make some extra copies of the back page of the Arkham Horror manual and distribute one to each player. It has lots of useful information on it.
That's a really good suggestion; I would not have noticed the summaries on the back of the manual right off if you hadn't mentioned it.
Thanks for the tip!
Motoma said:
Avi_dreader said:
Play a few practice games first. Read the manual very carefully. Many many times. As far as manuals go ;') it's not exactly the best. Make some extra copies of the back page of the Arkham Horror manual and distribute one to each player. It has lots of useful information on it.
That's a really good suggestion; I would not have noticed the summaries on the back of the manual right off if you hadn't mentioned it.
Thanks for the tip!
Just don't take them as rules summaries. There's alot of obscure (but important rules) scattered in the manual in haphazard ways. Still, they do sum up many common situations and it's probably the clearest part of the manual. You're welcome. Good luck ;'D
Tibs said:
Allow your friends to choose their first investigator. But only let them choose from these:
How about adding Joe Diamond (or was it Diamond Joe, or something Diamond, meh) to the list? Not only does he have a good focus and a good weapon, he gets extra dice when spending clues.
Knuckles Eki said:
How about adding Joe Diamond (or was it Diamond Joe, or something Diamond, meh) to the list? Not only does he have a good focus and a good weapon, he gets extra dice when spending clues.
I seem to recall Tibs stating that n00bs should first get around the idea that 1 Clue = 1 die, before introducing them to Joe (or something along those lines).
Dam said:
Knuckles Eki said:
How about adding Joe Diamond (or was it Diamond Joe, or something Diamond, meh) to the list? Not only does he have a good focus and a good weapon, he gets extra dice when spending clues.
I seem to recall Tibs stating that n00bs should first get around the idea that 1 Clue = 1 die, before introducing them to Joe (or something along those lines).
how about the most experienced player use Joe so he can help the others in closing gates and killing strong monsters?
Ok. Newbie question. Playing my first game solo and here is the scenario where I'm "stuck". A gate has just opened that adds the tenth doom counter - Yig is about to awake. However, my investigator was at the location where this gate just opened so she is pulled through the gate into an Other World and is delayed.
So Yig is awake and romping through Arkham, Jenny is delayed in the Dreamlands - how do I resolve the final battle?
Any thoughts
S
Ps I would have searched the forums but the search feature seems to be disabled
shamus said:
Ok. Newbie question. Playing my first game solo and here is the scenario where I'm "stuck". A gate has just opened that adds the tenth doom counter - Yig is about to awake. However, my investigator was at the location where this gate just opened so she is pulled through the gate into an Other World and is delayed.
So Yig is awake and romping through Arkham, Jenny is delayed in the Dreamlands - how do I resolve the final battle?
Any thoughts
S
Ps I would have searched the forums but the search feature seems to be disabled
That doesn't need searching, just reading the rules
:
"THE FINAL BATTLE
When the Ancient One awakens, any investigators that
are lost in time and space are immediately devoured
and eliminated from the game. The surviving investigators
must face the Ancient One in the final battle!" (p. 22)
Regardless of whether you're in Arkham or the OWs, you're still alive, so you're available for the final battle.
Also, strictly, you add the doom token then place the gate counter, so the ancient one awakes before the investigator actually gets sucked through.
Thanks and thanks. Now off to do battle
S
Hi all - A newbie here. I have just finished my first game of this & really enjoyed it. I was wondering if anyone could answer a couple of queries for me (I couldn't see the answers in the booklet, although I've ended up reading it so many times that words have lost all meaning).
1. When a gate opens and a monster comes out does the monster proceed to move on that phase also?
2. If the monster does not move from the gate location (like yellow card monsters) and your character moves to that location does the gate takes precedence and suck you in before you can deal with the monster?
3. With air monsters with no characters in surrounding streets - if there is no character in the surrounding streets does it's trip into the sky then descent onto your character count as all one move in the mythos phase or does it move up into the sky as one move then the next mythos phase descend?
4. If there is a monster surge that takes you over the monster limit the remainders go into the outskirts - but if you have another surge that makes you reach the outskirts limit you put the monsters back in the monster cup & raise the terror level. However if you go 3 over the outskirts limit for instance would you put all the monsters back into the cup up to the limit then the remaining 3 monsters stay in the outskirts?
Sorry these are basic questions but my head felt a bit like I'd gone ten rounds in the ring after playing it!
1. When a gate opens and a monster comes out does the monster proceed to move on that phase also?
Yes. Make sure you do the different actions that happen in the mythos phase in the correct order:
1) Open gate at location shown (unless there is a gate or an elder sign there already)
2) Put a random monster at the location (or two if playing with more than four characters)
3) Move all monsters according to the symbols and colours shown
4) Do whatever the text tells you to do. If this spawns more monsters, they do NOT move this phase, as the movement has already occured.
2. If the monster does not move from the gate location (like yellow card monsters) and your character moves to that location does the gate takes precedence and suck you in before you can deal with the monster?
No. Again, you need to keep to the correct order of doing things in the phases they occur. You have to fight/evade monsters either when you want to leave a location with monsters in it or you end your movement in a location with monsters. Getting drawn into the gate occurs in the Arkham Encounter Phase, instead of getting the normal encounter card there.
3. With air monsters with no characters in surrounding streets - if there is no character in the surrounding streets does it's trip into the sky then descent onto your character count as all one move in the mythos phase or does it move up into the sky as one move then the next mythos phase descend?
The second interpretation is correct. Just like black bordered monsters, flyers can only move "one square" - they start in the street and move to the sky location. Their symbol needs to come up again for them to move down from the sky again (in one of the following rounds)
4. If there is a monster surge that takes you over the monster limit the remainders go into the outskirts - but if you have another surge that makes you reach the outskirts limit you put the monsters back in the monster cup & raise the terror level. However if you go 3 over the outskirts limit for instance would you put all the monsters back into the cup up to the limit then the remaining 3 monsters stay in the outskirts?
The monsters go into the outskirts one at a time. As soon as you have exceeded the number allowed in it, remove all of them and raise the terror level. Then start again from scratch to add the rest, again, one at a time. If the outskirt limit is low enough, this can mean that the terror level rises multiple times from a single monster surge.
crimson said:
1. When a gate opens and a monster comes out does the monster proceed to move on that phase also?
Yes. Make sure you do the different actions that happen in the mythos phase in the correct order:
1) Open gate at location shown (unless there is a gate or an elder sign there already)
2) Put a random monster at the location (or two if playing with more than four characters)
3) Move all monsters according to the symbols and colours shown
4) Do whatever the text tells you to do. If this spawns more monsters, they do NOT move this phase, as the movement has already occured.
2. If the monster does not move from the gate location (like yellow card monsters) and your character moves to that location does the gate takes precedence and suck you in before you can deal with the monster?
No. Again, you need to keep to the correct order of doing things in the phases they occur. You have to fight/evade monsters either when you want to leave a location with monsters in it or you end your movement in a location with monsters. Getting drawn into the gate occurs in the Arkham Encounter Phase, instead of getting the normal encounter card there.
3. With air monsters with no characters in surrounding streets - if there is no character in the surrounding streets does it's trip into the sky then descent onto your character count as all one move in the mythos phase or does it move up into the sky as one move then the next mythos phase descend?
The second interpretation is correct. Just like black bordered monsters, flyers can only move "one square" - they start in the street and move to the sky location. Their symbol needs to come up again for them to move down from the sky again (in one of the following rounds)
4. If there is a monster surge that takes you over the monster limit the remainders go into the outskirts - but if you have another surge that makes you reach the outskirts limit you put the monsters back in the monster cup & raise the terror level. However if you go 3 over the outskirts limit for instance would you put all the monsters back into the cup up to the limit then the remaining 3 monsters stay in the outskirts?
The monsters go into the outskirts one at a time. As soon as you have exceeded the number allowed in it, remove all of them and raise the terror level. Then start again from scratch to add the rest, again, one at a time. If the outskirt limit is low enough, this can mean that the terror level rises multiple times from a single monster surge.
Thanks so much for all those answers efidm, it's really appreciated - I just need to remember the phase orders are gospel.
I'm having my tonsils out next week and have 2 weeks booked off work so I'm hoping I can get some serious time in on this after the first week of feeling sorry for myself.
I had my first games in the weekend. Both were solo. However, after each game I reread the rules and found stuff I missed. I found this link in one of the other threads here (from Coltsfan76) to a flow chart of the basic game phases + rules http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/23313
It looks fantastic and will be a great help on my next game.
I do have one question. About the final battle with the Ancient One. I've been rolling successes and as I play solo have been removing Doom tokens per success (i.e. by # of players). However, looking at the flow chart, all the successes of a round are reset when a Doom counter is removed, so it looks like I've been playing it wrong (I thought it was too easy!).
Is this right .... first round of attacking the AO, I roll 3 successes. I remove 1 Doom counter (the other 2 successes are lost) and then the AO attackes?
S
No, that's actually wrong.
You need a total number of success equal to the doom track * # of investigators.
So with a solo investigator game, you get to remove one doom token for each success.
It seems like the way you were doing it before is correct, not the flowchart.
Ok. Thanks. That's good.