Kobold Curry Chef said:

Well-written and argued, KCC!

I'll tell you what...about the only good thing about discovering Arkham Horror four years late is that I don't have to gnaw my fingernails off in anticpation of Innsmouth. I still have 5 expansions to get through as is

I like the herald, both thematically and mechanically.

My only problem stems from the fact that unless it's provided in the new rulebook FAQ, we'll need an immediate answer as to how we're supposed to deal with the number of extra successes based on the total toughness of plus symbol monsters on the board required to kill Cthulhu should he awaken.

Normally with AOs this wouldn't be a problem. Dagon just gives Cthulhu more 'hit points' and the new number of total successes needed to defeat him is (Doom track=13)*(#investigators)+(toughness of +monsters). But Cthulhu regenerates one eye after his attack.

So my question is: at what point are the extra hit points removed from Cthulhu when you fight him? For the players, the best option would be to remove them first, before any eyes are 'popped.' That way Cthulhu doesn't regenerate anything back in the meantime. But if the extra successes are removed once all eyes are removed, he'll get to grow some back if it takes more than one round.

This wouldn't be a problem either if you just added that many Doom tokens to Cthulhu start of battle as the total toughness is, but it specifically mentions on the Herald that it's a number of extra successes, a number that doesn't depend on the number of investigators.

Also, if they meant that it's a number of extra successes required to remove each eye/Doom token, they would say: "...that many extra successes to remove each Doom token from Cthulhu..." instead of what it says now (not to mention that it could make Cthulhu insanely hard to defeat).

Seems to me, that ruleswise the simplest way to deal with this is to have the extra successes required first, before any Doom token is removed. Another way would be to divide the extra hit points with #number of investigators, then add that many extra doom tokens Start of Battle, which Cthulhu could regenerate, effectively making his doom track longer for the Final battle, but what to do with the remainder? Could he regenerate them although it's not a full Doom token? But in the normal Final battle agains C, if in the first round investigators inflict damage on him that isn't sufficient to remove an eye, Cthulhu doesn't regenerate it either (at least, not the way we play it: he only regenerates if his actually missing Doom tokens from the full track.)

Bel-Shamharoth said:

I already asked that question on this messageboard and it was answered by Kevin: you take away the additional successes required for the toughness of the plus monsters first, before removing Doom tokens.

If an investigator is devoured as per that Innsmouth look card we saw and the adding of the Deep One Rising token awakens the GOO, does the player get to start a new investigator?

Bel-Shamharoth said:

Here's what I'd do. Multiple number of Investigators by Number of doom Tokens. (e.g. 4 x 13 = 52) Add any plus monsters (Let's say there are three) = 55. Put that much money on the Ancient One. Each hit removes $1. If the big C gets to zero dollars he wanders off to eat sushi in Ry'leh. At the start of the Big C's turn he regains a number of dollars equal to the number of players (four in this example).

I think DoR is a decent piece of design. Early on it's not going to be much of a threat. The more successful the investigators are, the more likely that a town full of Mythos worshippers are going to get uppity

Given that there are likely to be unstable locations in Innsmouth, what about this for a strategy: Send an Investigator to Innsmouth, hoover up the clues there and put all bar one onto the Federal Raid Track. When the natives are about to get restless and kick off, send someone up to make the final phone call. Six (Seven if you have to reach the central bar in the middle, not just fill the track?) extra turns of safety to play with...

Also, is it me or does the Fed Track have different colours around the Clue outlines. You might only be able to place clues in matching coloured neighbourhoods. If this is the case, you might want to leave the final "phone call clue" to the train station (?) in Innsmouth. (Does innsmouth have a station. In the story i seem to recall the line was never completed)

Jake yet again said:

There are multiple ways that a Deep One token can be put down. It's quite possible to have several tokens places in one turn, particularly if a group of monsters all wander into a vortex during a single Mythos phase. This won't be like Kingsport, where it's pretty simple to calculate how long you are safe.

Also, is it me or does the Fed Track have different colours around the Clue outlines. You might only be able to place clues in matching coloured neighbourhoods. If this is the case, you might want to leave the final "phone call clue" to the train station (?) in Innsmouth. (Does innsmouth have a station. In the story i seem to recall the line was never completed)

If Innsmouth in the game follows the story, then the train will not be running. Instead, we'll have a bus station downtown. I'm sure it'll have a train depot icon on it, though, since train, bus, same thing as far as the game is concerned.

You are correct. There are three pairs of colored spaces on the Feds track. Each pair corresponds to an Innsmouth neighborhood, and you must be in that neighborhood during the Upkeep phase to drop your clues there. The clues can come from anywhere, I believe, but you must visit all three neighborhoods to fill up that track.

Overall, I agree with your strategy, at least until I learn how often Deep One tokens will pop up outside the Mythos Phase.

If we have a bus going to Innsmouth that would mean, thematically, that it's controled by deep ones. Seems like people could be barred from Innsmouth under certain conditions (like terror track or raid) unless you have your own transportation. Even making it so you can only travel b/w towns every other turn could make things dicey.

Gatha said:

Excellent point!! I do wonder why the "Barred from Neighborhood" cards from Dark Pharoah didn't make their return for this expansion. It would have suited Innsmouth very well.

awp832 said:

No. Heralds and Guardians are discarded from play when the AO awakens. Only the abilities that affect final battle will be considered before Dagon is "deactivated." Same is the case with Dark Pharaoh and Dunwich Horror.