How do people play this Mythos rumor? Given the way it's written, this rumor can be a tremendous boon to one's score and game if it happens early enough since it can usually be milked regularly for monster trophies with the added benefit of blocking other rumors from coming into play. There is rarely (ever?) a need to complete it. It's an easy way to get a high score in a League game too. In other words, it seems broken and too beneficial/lucky a draw.

I see a few options and wonder what house rules (if any) others use:

1. You choose which, if any, monsters to fight and in what order (I think this is the typical way most people play it)
2. Monsters are added each new Mythos to the bottom of a stack and fought or evaded in order from the top down as deeply as desired (FIFO stack)
3. Monsters are added each new Mythos to the top of a stack and fought or evaded in order from the top down as deeply as desired (LIFO stack)

Alternatively the options listed above could also include a change that stipulates all monsters must be fought or evaded and/or a change that says this rumor does not block other rumors from occurring.

I haven't tried it yet, but I like option 3 since it still gives the investigators a chance at milking the rumor, but they run the risk of a too-strong monster popping onto the stack in a way that makes it difficult to stop them from failing.

I disagree.

First, there is the problem of tough monsters. I'm sure we agree that failing the rumor has disasterous consequences. Sometimes a monster is drawn for the experiment that no investigator has reasonable odds of defeating. The earlier in the game the rumor is drawn, the higher the chance of this occuring. I suppose you could say that offsets the 'advantages' of drawing it early, point-wise. Bad rolls can be damning on the experiment as well, in addition to being threatened to go unconscious or insane, many monsters have harsher penalties. A bad roll against a dimensional shambler, a Servitor of the Outer Gods, an Elder Thing, or many others, can do far more damage than just KO-ing your investigator.

Most of the time a co-operative effort is needed to take down the experiment. Someone doesn't have a magical weapon, or can't take the sanity loss, etc, etc, usually you need to bring in more than one investigator to finish the job. This occupies several investigators for several turns, turns that they *arent* doing things like gathering clues and sealing gates. It is in this way that the experiment is particularly damning. The experiment eats time, and time is never on your side in A-H.

If you don't defeat the rumor quickly, by choosing not to, or if you simply can not, the experiment will continue to take up investigator turns as investigators try to kill some monsters to prevent the rumor from failing. This is a very bad thing indeed, the more time you have to spend on the experiment, the more likely you are to awaken the ancient one via things like too many open gates, DOR track, etc.

incidentally, Option 1 is how we play it.

awp832 said:

I see how time could be a problem, especially if only a couple investigators are playing, or if several board expansions are being used (thus spreading investigators out) -- in such situations, the Terrible Experiment could indeed become a deadly distraction. But this rumor (and most others) is a problem for such situations in any case and, as you say, should probably be quashed quickly before it gets out of control. In my experience, however, I find that much more often than not by mid-game a 4+ investigator team generally has one or more well-equipped street-sweepers in Arkham who have no trouble stopping by the Miskatonic U streets every 4-5 turns to drink heavily from the fountain. Not only that, but it's kind of fun. We usually cheer when the rumor is drawn.

The Terrible Experiment really isn't all that terrible in most games I play and is often (if not always) a welcome alternative to drawing almost any other rumor. It's too easy to manage and causes a disproportionate score for the effort it takes to do so. Can it go wrong and seriously hurt you? Of course! But what can't in Arkham?

I suppose another alternative one could use is to return the kills to the cup or remove them from the game -- but that would spoil all the fun.

Probably most of the rumors are easier to pass with more investigator..

However when I play usually using 4 investigator and only have the King in Yellow and Black Goat of the Woods exps, and I hate the Terrible Experience the most from all the rumors...

Thats just really takes away time. Not just to pass it but even just to keep in bay.. Usually I do get 1-2 stronger monster into it at the beginning. And if you have no magic weapon(because that thing can happen in an early game), even physical resistence, immune monsters can be deadly for your game...

(And if you fail the rumor, the ancient one awakens in the same time usually.. So thats really not the rumor I feel like laughing at)