Played a solo game today, Monterrey Jack, Darrell Simmons and Mandy Thompson were on my team. Jack was practically out half the game. He got trapped in the hospital by a ghost, which has physical immunity. None of my characters had any spells either, and they couldn't get to the magick shoppe either because of the ghost in the street. Jack didn't have any clue tokens, and his sneak only goes to 3, and the Ghost is a -3 evade. Basically, it was either have the will to pass the will check but not enough to fight with, or have the fight to pass the fight check (assuming you pass it) but fail the will check and go insane.

So Jack committed Sanicide. (sanity suicide). He just pushed into the Ghost, lost the will check and went to the Asylum. Was there a way around this? My other characters couldn't have defeated the Ghost either, I don't think, nor were they close. Jack just sat trapped for four turns, and I was hoping the ghost would move, but it ended up taking a long time before it did.

Probably not much you could have done. Any big nasty monster can trap you in a location, and the asylum and hospital are probably the worst places to get trapped because even going insane or being knocked unconscious won't escape the trap. Physical Immune monsters are rough early in the game, and the Ghost is particularly bad because it has a stiff combat modifier. The only thing you can do is evade it or send in the cavalry, but it sounds like you didn't have any good options. You had some bad luck to get that monster in that particular place.

The best defense here is to not be in that position in the first place if at all possible. There are enough physical immune and physical resistant monsters that it's worth trying to have a magic user, a decent magical weapon or a spell like Wither, Shrivelling, or Enchant Weapon early. Even a one shot item is enough to deal with a nasty situation in a pinch. There is a relative abundance of physical weapons, but magical ones are a lot more rare. That's what makes the physical immune and resistant monsters so powerful.

sgtkneecaps,

jhorner has provided a good response, to which I simply want to elaborate a bit. Tactically, you did the right thing in the end, as time is not on your side in Arkham . Better to lose the turn (or take the Madness card if you're playing with Dunwich Horror ) at the Asylum , than remaining trapped for a protracted period of time. In the interim, Monterey (by the way, the first Investigator I played, over 6 years and nearly 150 games ago) could be exploiting the board for Clue tokens, diving into Gates, etc.

My friend Julia will be along shortly for additional guidance, as I'm the RPG player and she's the much more tactical player. Either way, we would both agree that it's always better to do something than have an Investigator sit out a few turns.

Cheers,

Joe

LOL. Joe summoned me, so here we go. Let's look at some data:

- the Ghost has a combat rating of -3

- Monterey and Darrell have a max Fight of 5, while Mandy has a max Fight of 3, hence she's the least interesting character in the mix

- Physical Immunity implies you don't get any bonus from Physical Weapons, but this doesn't imply your Fight skill is nullified (when you perform a Combat check, you sum the Fight stat to the bonuses deriving from weapons; in case of a physically immune monster and a character having only physical weapons, it's simply F:ght + 0)

Hence, both Monterey and Darrell would have had 2 dice to kill the ghost, with Mandy in the mix allowing to reroll failures on one roll. Considering that the toughness of the Ghost is one, having Mandy in the mix is like saying that you need one success out of 4 dice. What are the odds that by rolling four dice we score at least a 5 or 6? Well, easy peasy:

- p(5 or 6) on 1 die is 1/3

- the antiprobability is 2/3

- the probability to roll zero 5 or 6 on 4 dice is hence (2/3)^4

- the probability to roll at least one 5 or 6 out of 4 dice is (1-(2/3)^4)=0.802

so basically both Darrell and Monterey without weapons would have had a good 80.2% to wipe away the ghost. Hence, it should not have represented a real problem, 80.2% is huge!

But in any case, as far as the strategy question is concerned, never allowed an investigator to be blocked for more than 1 turn, unless something catastrophic is happening: the game difficulty is based on the number of investigators in the mix. If they spend the game in an unproductive way, this is not changing the difficulty level, and will result in you having to play a more difficult game. So, have the blocked guy become insane, unconscious, kill him / her if he's not productive (I sense Joe shaking his head in the distance ). Investigators are just a way positive elements are put on the balance of the game, if they are not productive, they cannot counter effectively the mythos menace!

I think Darrell was trapped by a Dhole and a Mask Monster up at the top, and I slipped him into the OtherWorlds. Monterey could have 'fought it' but he didn't have enough dice to pass the will check if he had enough to fight it. That's why he committed sanicide. This was really early in the game, and I got a bad mix of monsters before I had time to really hit any shops.

There are enough physical immune and physical resistant monsters that it's worth trying to have a magic user, a decent magical weapon or a spell like Wither, Shrivelling, or Enchant Weapon early. Even a one shot item is enough to deal with a nasty situation in a pinch.

You're completely right. I should have used a magic guy. I think I wanted to try Monterey so bad I forgot about a balanced team :B

But thanks guys for the advice. I waited longer than I should have to make that decision, hoping the Ghost would have moved. Next time if there's really nothing else to do I'll dive in.

I love probability, and Julia brings up a great point -- your chance to succeed may be better or worse than you think.. Obviously you don't want to compute your probability of success with everything you choose to do in the game, but if you are at a critical point and have a tough decision to make, it's not a bad idea to figure out your chances. Julia's calculated the odds for just about every situation you can find yourself in, I'm sure. If you want to see a reference, there's a complete list at http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Base_Probabilities .

Here are some handy rules of thumb that are pretty easy to remember that will help you estimate your chances. If you need to roll X successes and do not have any rerolls:

• Blessed (succeed on 4+): Your odds of success are 50% if you can roll 2X-1 dice.
• Normal (succeed on 5+): The odds are slightly in your favor (a little over 50%) if you can roll 3X-1 dice.
• Cursed (succeed on 6 only): The odds are slightly in your favor (a little over 50%) if you can roll 6X-2 dice.

The rules above hold true at least up to X=7, except for the cursed case, which holds at least up to X=3 (have not bothered to calc past that, because let's face it, if you are cursed and need 4 successes on a check, you're pretty hosed).

If you compare the number of dice you have to these results, you can tell if the odds are in your favor, and to what degree:

• If I need 2 successes on 7 dice, my probability of success is well over 50% because I'd need 5 dice to be over 50% (actual probability = 74%)
• If I need 4 successes on 10 dice, my probability of success is a little bit under 50% because I'd need 11 dice to be over 50% (actual probability = 44%)
• If I need 3 successes on 5 dice and I'm blessed, my probability of success is exactly 50%
• If I need 2 successes on 6 dice and I'm cursed, my probability of success is way under 50% -- I'd need 10 dice to be over 50% (actual probability = 26%)

In particular the case where you need 1 success comes up so often it's good to know:

1 die: 33%

2 dice: 56%

3 dice: 70%

4 dice: 80%

5 dice: 87%

6+ dice: >90%

I usually keep the first four cases committed to memory.

right. I should have used a magic guy. I think I wanted to try Monterey so bad I forgot about a balanced team :B

Not saying that you need to use a magic guy -- after all, always playing with a balanced team is boring. My point is that it is useful to have a way to hurt physically immune/resistant monsters if the team is lacking.

• A damaging spell (Wither, Shrivelling, Dread Curse of Azathoth, etc.)
• A magical weapon
• A very high fight score
• Reroll effects and/or lots of clues
• Someone that ignores/reduces monster resistance/immunities -- Zoey Samaras has this, as does the Professor Armitage ally
• Martial Arts skill (adds +2 to combat checks for each empty hand you have) -- Lily Chen starts with this
• A blessing -- Sister Mary starts with one

Julia,

Really? "kill him / her if he's not productive" ~

Welcome to Arkham where the ends really justify the means!

Cheers/Ciao,

Joe

Julia,

Really? "kill him / her if he's not productive" ~

Welcome to Arkham where the ends really justify the means!

Cheers/Ciao,

Joe

Hahah wow. That about sums it up, doesn't it!

So far I've never gotten to the final battle nor have i had an investigator devoured. Hopefully the King in Yellow will change that

I love probability, and Julia brings up a great point -- your chance to succeed may be better or worse than you think.. Obviously you don't want to compute your probability of success with everything you choose to do in the game, but if you are at a critical point and have a tough decision to make, it's not a bad idea to figure out your chances. Julia's calculated the odds for just about every situation you can find yourself in, I'm sure. If you want to see a reference, there's a complete list at http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Base_Probabilities .

Here are some handy rules of thumb that are pretty easy to remember that will help you estimate your chances. If you need to roll X successes and do not have any rerolls:

• Blessed (succeed on 4+): Your odds of success are 50% if you can roll 2X-1 dice.
• Normal (succeed on 5+): The odds are slightly in your favor (a little over 50%) if you can roll 3X-1 dice.
• Cursed (succeed on 6 only): The odds are slightly in your favor (a little over 50%) if you can roll 6X-2 dice.

The rules above hold true at least up to X=7, except for the cursed case, which holds at least up to X=3 (have not bothered to calc past that, because let's face it, if you are cursed and need 4 successes on a check, you're pretty hosed).

If you compare the number of dice you have to these results, you can tell if the odds are in your favor, and to what degree:

• If I need 2 successes on 7 dice, my probability of success is well over 50% because I'd need 5 dice to be over 50% (actual probability = 74%)
• If I need 4 successes on 10 dice, my probability of success is a little bit under 50% because I'd need 11 dice to be over 50% (actual probability = 44%)
• If I need 3 successes on 5 dice and I'm blessed, my probability of success is exactly 50%
• If I need 2 successes on 6 dice and I'm cursed, my probability of success is way under 50% -- I'd need 10 dice to be over 50% (actual probability = 26%)

In particular the case where you need 1 success comes up so often it's good to know:

1 die: 33%

2 dice: 56%

3 dice: 70%

4 dice: 80%

5 dice: 87%

6+ dice: >90%

I usually keep the first four cases committed to memory.

MATH?! Ugggghhh.

haha just kidding. That's a really good point! I'll have to keep all this in mind! There's so much to the game!

(sorry for double posting I didn't see the above two posts)

I'm not sure if i'm following correctly. The ghost should never move on its own as it has a yellow border and will "never" move. also, if you got stuck in the asylum you should have enough sanity to just eat the horror check. you only have to make one horror check per combat with a monster, it isn't like fighting it where you have to win/run/lose, you do it once and then engage in combat.

MATH?! Ugggghhh.

haha just kidding. That's a really good point! I'll have to keep all this in mind! There's so much to the game!

(sorry for double posting I didn't see the above two posts)

I know, some people embrace math and some people think Azathoth invented math.

Like I said, I don't do this all the time, because it's overkill. Most of the time it's fairly obvious which course of action is best. Sometimes it is useful to know what your odds are of succeeding though. If I have to decide whether or not to fight/evade that God of the Bloody Tongue or something else that could send me to the hospital/asylum (or worse), or if I have an opportunity to take a risk to get a reward, I want to have at least a rough idea what my chances are of success.

I've found the rough formulas are a good way to approximate your chances, and you can use them whenever you play without needing to carry around spreadsheets with exact probability tables. Honestly, even if you only remember the rule of thumb for the Normal case, it will cover a lot of situations: Take the number of successes you need, multiply by 3 and subtract 1. If you can roll that many dice, the odds are in your favor (chance of success is a little over 50%). The more or less dice you have, the better or worse your chances.

I'm not sure if i'm following correctly. The ghost should never move on its own as it has a yellow border and will "never" move. also, if you got stuck in the asylum you should have enough sanity to just eat the horror check. you only have to make one horror check per combat with a monster, it isn't like fighting it where you have to win/run/lose, you do it once and then engage in combat.

I got stuck in the hospital, and it was released into the street outside by a card I think. But you're right I had forgotten it couldn't move so again I shouldnt have waited

Julia,

Really? "kill him / her if he's not productive" ~

Sure. When a football player is injured, he's replaced by another player in his team. Arkham's more serious than football, and you cannot call a time-out nor send any replacement in. Hence, there's only one way out.

(Joe, God bless you, we need to play together at least twice in our lives! One Professor style, another Hamster-style!)

I'm not sure if i'm following correctly. The ghost should never move on its own as it has a yellow border and will "never" move. also, if you got stuck in the asylum you should have enough sanity to just eat the horror check. you only have to make one horror check per combat with a monster, it isn't like fighting it where you have to win/run/lose, you do it once and then engage in combat.

I got stuck in the hospital, and it was released into the street outside by a card I think. But you're right I had forgotten it couldn't move so again I shouldnt have waited

And with "I" you intend your character, right?

May I say the last week has been one of the best in the last months on this forum, due to the presence of new forces sparkling this community's life? Thank you all guys, this thread is a fulgid example of the fact this old game is still a lot of fun for many for many years to come.

Keep on playing, guys

And yes, I meant Monterey as me haha.

And thank you so much for being a part of this community. I know I'm a super noob but I'm learning so much and plating better each game

Who else had to look up the word fulgid? I did.

Who else had to look up the word fulgid? I did.

LOL I totally just did. were a shining g example apparently!

Julia,

I can't wait...when we play "Professor style", we'll break out the Chianti, bread, cheese, relax and let the game wash over us as we play ... when we play "Hamster-Style" we'll finish the game in abou t 17 minutes and then we can break out Lords of Waterdeep ...

Ciao,

Joe

Who else had to look up the word fulgid? I did.

LOL I totally just did. were a shining g example apparently!

I think Julia was paying us (and others) a compliment. Let's just smile and nod our heads, as if we understand.

LOL :D

Guys (since we're going totally off-topic...) if any of you is interested, that's my blog where I talk a bit about the "hot games" of the moment and of course there's also Arkham in the mix. Everyone's invited to pass, comment, open a bottle of Chianti and spend the night debating games together

JULIA, the Arkhamster

I only drink chianti with liver and fava beans :B fipsfissfispsfissfips

Sweet I'd love to follow your blog. Also, speaking of professor style, how do you guys make the atmosphere richer when playing? Can there be roleplaying involved?

Wow, I'm in with the cool kids now! *tear*.

I'm pretty sure that "role playing style" is a fancy way of saying "panicking at a more leisurely pace".

Of course, Julia and the Professor probably never panic anymore. Doom track one away from being full? Gates at the limit? Terror track at 10 and Arkham crawling with monsters? No weapons? Investigators have 4 sanity and 4 stamina BETWEEN them? Please -- that's not even worth breaking a sweat.